The Patriots finally drafted a wide receiver on Saturday, selecting LSU wideout Kayson Boutte with the 187th overall selection in the sixth round.
Boutte is an interesting player. He was projected to be among the top receivers taken a year ago, but suffered an injury toward the end of 2021. He ended up having not quite as impressive a follow up season in 2022, which saw his stock drop.
However, looking at the film, he’s a player who appears to have a fair amount of upside. Most of his plays came from the slot, and he’s deceptively quick getting off the line and he does a great job of finding open space in the defense.
Boutte has impressive speed given that he’s a fairly bulky player at 5’11”, 195-pounds, but he uses his size well. He’s tough, and watching footage of him, he’s a player who was really solid when it came to contested catches. He also looked pretty fearless going over the middle and catching the football, but when he gets the ball in his hands, he does a great job of slipping past defenders in the open field and getting plenty of yardage after the catch.
He was also used on a fair amount of sweeps, which is a part of his game that we’ve seen used at times with both Jakobi Meyers and Kendrick Bourne.
He also has fairly good acceleration after the catch, as well as terrific body control, and he catches the football away from his pads with his hands. He also has good awareness of his feet around the sideline.
The 33rd Team called him, ” a talented first-round-caliber player due to what he does with the ball in his hands and his impressive instincts. He is a playmaker and can create yards.”
Here’s a look at some of his highlights:
Here’s the full list of 2023 Patriots Draft picks.
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
