When looking at the Patriots' receiving corps for the 2026 season, most of the conversation has surrounded what A.J. Brown can do to elevate the offense and how his new teammates will ultimately benefit from his presence.
Within that, however, is the uncertain future of Kayshon Boutte, as trade whispers have followed him throughout the offseason and have ramped up after he chose not to attend OTAs and participated in a limited capacity at mandatory minicamp.
Aside from the Brown acquisition and how that impacts Boutte's role on the team, he's set to play out the final year of his rookie contract. If the Patriots don't plan to keep him around beyond the 2026 season, most analysts and fans urge the team to trade him now.
The problem is that he was a key contributor to their offensive success last season, and he's become an asset for Drake Maye on game day, so trading him would certainly be risky.
Knowing all of that, some Patriots legends, like Julian Edelman, have started commenting on the ongoing situation, particularly how Boutte has handled it, and the former receiver is not exactly a fan of how he's gone about it.
Julian Edelman is far from a fan of how Kayshon Boutte has handled this offseason
During a recent episode of his podcast, Games with Names, Edelman spoke about Boutte choosing to stay away from the Patriots this offseason and the rumors that he's saying he wants to be traded after the team acquired Brown.
Given his experience in the league, specifically with the Patriots, Edelman had a lot to say, and it was clear that he's not supportive of how Boutte has chosen to go about this offseason so far.
"I don't know if Boutte is handling this correctly...I don't know what the communication is, but if this is on him sitting out, that's probably like the last thing you want to do. ...So like, what leverage does he have? Is his leverage that he has 36 catches, and he wants to get traded? I've been in that situation where you bring someone in, and you get your feelings hurt, but this is the National Football League."
He's not wrong about his initial comments because, if anything, Boutte might be making it easier for the Patriots to move on from him, even though they might not have been seriously considering it before he stayed away from Foxboro.
But at the same time, it's not entirely wrong for him to feel like he might be the odd man out and would rather be on a team that will presumably use him more than what his future looks like now that Brown has taken over the WR1 role.
That still doesn't make the situation much better, as Edelman continued to state, and he even went as far as to say that Boutte and the rest of the receivers will actually benefit from Brown's presence, and that's something they don't appear to be thinking about.
"There's going to be new players every year. I think you probably want to be out there to see where you're going to create your role. ...I would have handled it a little differently. He's a great [player]. And the thing is, he's going to benefit from this. Like, A.J. Brown is going to take all of the coverage, and then you're going to get real one-on-one coverage, down the field Boutte throws all of the time. He's going to have more opportunities."
Where's the lie?
On top of it all, having multiple productive receivers is nothing new for Josh McDaniels, and if anything, he's shown that he can utilize them throughout a season with ease.
We've seen it with Randy Moss and Wes Welker in the late 2000s, and although Boutte might not compare to someone like Welker, it's still noteworthy that he was also overlooked and worked hard to become a legitimate weapon in New England, much like the current Patriot is trying to do.
Boutte now has a chance to make that happen, but it's going to be up to him to prove he wants to do that, as Edelman says. Otherwise, he's only making it easier for the Patriots to move him, and even a trade doesn't guarantee he will be integrated into that offense more than he is in New England.
The grass isn't always greener, as they say.
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