Kayshon Boutte’s move from New England to Houston didn’t come out of nowhere. The wide receiver made that clear Wednesday, when he spoke publicly for the first time since the Patriots sent him to the Texans a week earlier.
Boutte said the trade request he made in the offseason was tied to the reality of the Patriots’ receiver room. New England had brought in Romeo Doubs on a four-year, $68 million deal and then added A.J. Brown in a trade with Philadelphia that cost the team first- and fifth-round draft picks.
“They did pay two guys to come in and do that job. Sadly, it is the way it is,” he explained. “Being that it’s a contract year for me, I sought a bigger role.”
That shift pushed Boutte down the depth chart. Even after a 2024 season in which he started at times and finished with 42 receptions for 719 yards and seven touchdowns, he entered training camp as the Patriots’ WR4 behind Doubs, Brown and DeMario Douglas.
The situation may have looked even worse from the outside after head coach Mike Vrabel’s comments following the preseason finale in Cleveland. Vrabel said Boutte “probably would have been inactive” on game days this season.
Boutte didn’t treat that as a shot.
“I feel like what Vrabes said in his media interview, it wasn’t anything bad,” Boutte pointed out. “I wouldn’t say I’ll use that as fuel.
At the end of the day, he said that. It was an honest opinion.
He said that, he spoke his truth, and pretty much move forward from it.”
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