The ongoing rumors about trading Kayshon Boutte throughout the offseason became reality last month when the Patriots agreed to send him to the Texans for a second-year safety and a future 7th-round draft pick.
It was a move that not many fans agreed with at the time or since, and although Mike Vrabel shared a brutally honest look behind the curtain when he said that had they kept Boutte, he likely would've been a healthy scratch more often than not, the regret from trading him is already being felt.
It took just one game to look like one of the biggest mistakes this Patriots team made all offseason.
The easy assumption would be that they were missing his production, and that has led to the feeling that the Patriots lost this trade. While that's partly true, it was more because of Romeo Doubs's poor performance and A.J. Brown leaving the game in the third quarter, right when the Patriots needed to pick things up.
The offense showed a noticeable drop in performance after his exit, and that likely wouldn't necessarily have been the outcome if Boutte were still around.
Trading Kayshon Boutte is already negatively impacting the Patriots in more ways than one
From the time he was drafted in the sixth round in 2023, Boutte continued to mature and develop into the kind of explosive receiver that once had him labeled a first-round prospect. He was what the Patriots needed after years of terrible luck with the receivers they drafted or traded for, and appeared to be on a trajectory to be a WR2 in this year's offense.
He continued to steal the spotlight at practice throughout the summer, and the idea of having a receiving corps led by Brown, Boutte, and Doubs almost seemed too good to be true. And apparently, it was.
Because they felt differently, despite knowing that he was a proven performer, the Patriots moved on, assuming that their wide receiver room was jam-packed after acquiring Brown and signing Doubs in free agency.
That wasn't completely invalid, but this was the first time that they had the luxury of having too many talented receivers on the roster. It should have been reason enough to keep him around for the 2026 season, and maybe even longer.
Boutte would have been a huge help in a game like Wednesday's loss, both before and after Brown's third-quarter injury, and he could have helped Drake Maye avoid three costly interceptions that inevitably led to their demise.
He probably wouldn't have had that frustrating drop we saw from Doubs, or the bobble that helped the Seahawks grab an interception. On top of that, Mack Hollins could have had help with Boutte stepping up to the plate in the fourth quarter, instead of being the only one to move the chains late in the game.
Obviously, we'll never know what would have happened or what could have happened if Boutte were still on the team, but the speculation won't go away any time soon.
That means Doubs needs to have an impressive performance as soon as next week, and fans better cross their fingers that Brown doesn't have to be sidelined for too long. Otherwise, we'll be hearing a lot about Boutte for the foreseeable future, even more.
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