FOXBOROUGH – Kayshon Boutte was riding high.
Days after catching a go-ahead touchdown to help lift the Patriots over the Titans the receiver was back at his Massachusetts home doing what he loves — playing with his 3-year-old son, Kylan.
The father-son combo kicked the soccer ball together and then ran around the backyard with their dog, a 100-pound, 1-year-old Cane Corso named Bella.
The receiver was exhausted and recovering from his second straight road game, but in this moment, his enjoyment of being a dad exceeded his need for sleep
“You just gotta learn how to balance life outside of football,” Boutte said. “It can be tiring, but I mean, it’s all worth it.”
Boutte’s football journey hasn’t been easy, but the 23-year-old is finally on the right path and in a place he always knew he would be: as a sure-handed, capable receiver in the NFL.
After signing with LSU out of high school, that looked like a given. He was projected to be the next in the line of great Tigers receivers.
A broken ankle during his sophomore year at LSU led to two surgeries and a long recovery. The setback cost him in performance, draft status, money, and reputation.
An elite prep sprinter, Boutte didn’t have the same burst in 2022 after a coaching change at LSU, a disappointing season led him to declare for the NFL draft after his junior season.
The wide receiver fell to the Patriots in the sixth round of the 2023 NFL Draft.
“I wasn’t gonna sit there and beat myself up about it,” Boutte said. “The only way to get through it was work.”
Boutte never stopped believing.
In his third season with the Patriots, he looks like the player who sparked such high expectations early on. Those who know him say Boutte’s resurgence in New England shouldn’t be a surprise.
“I always knew I could get back to where I was,” Boutte said. “I just think everybody stopped believing for a second. I feel like now, everybody’s back on the train. It’s kind of how it goes. But I don’t really buy into too much of the noise. Just be me at the end of the day.”
ORLANDO, FL – JANUARY 02: Team Pressure wide receiver Kayshon Boutte (15) during the 2020 Under Armour All-America Game on January 02, 2020 at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, FL. (Photo by Mark LoMoglio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
A natural talent
Boutte was bored, so naturally, he went outside to play with Ali.
The black lab seemed giant to Boutte, who was 5 years old. To entertain himself, Boutte chased the family dog around his family’s property.
But when Ali chased him, Boutte realized how athletic he was. As years passed, it got harder and harder for the black lab to catch him.
“You know how they always say, you run faster when you’re in fear?” Boutte said. “It was just that thought of a dog chasing me and then just running away from it. I think you really reach your full speed by doing that. And I think that’s when I started getting into the track and running the football.”
Growing up in New Iberia in Southern Louisiana, Boutte started playing football when he was 5. He was a standout on the track and a legend in youth football. By middle school, he was getting recruited to other high schools, but opted to stay and play in his hometown for Westgate.
“Every time he touched the ball, he was scoring. He just had exceptional speed,” said Westgate coach Ryan Antoine, who first saw Boutte when he was in sixth grade. ”You could tell he was just a natural athlete. He was just different.”
The year before Boutte arrived, Westgate was 0-10. He went to high school as a running back, where the team showcased his elite speed. Even before his first game, Boutte made a list of goals. He wanted:
- To earn a football scholarship to LSU
- Win a Louisiana state championship in track.
He crossed one of those off as a freshman, winning the 400-meter state title. He also added a state championship in the 60-meter dash to his resume. Boutte also set Westgate High School records in the 100 meters (10.97), 200 meters (21.25), and 100-meter hurdles (15.47).
Moving to receiver as a sophomore helped him achieve the other. It took him two seasons to achieve one dream, signing with LSU.
“I’ve never had a kid that wants to compete like Kayshon,” Antoine said. “It could be shooting the basketball, it could be walking outside, it could be getting first to lunch. Kayshon is going to compete, and he’s not going to stop until he’s the best at it.”
LSU wide receiver Kayshon Boutte runs the 40-yard dash at the NFL football scouting combine in Indianapolis, Saturday, March 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)AP
Boutte returned too early
When he arrived on campus, Boutte had high expectations.
At LSU, wide receiver coach Mickey Joseph had a type. He only wanted to recruit athletes whom he thought could be first-round picks. That’s why he successfully recruited Justin Jefferson, Ja’Marr Chase and Terrace Marshall.
After Jefferson, Chase, and Marshall’s time in Baton Rouge was over, Joseph had a plan to restock LSU’s receiver room. It started with Boutte (class of 2020), Malik Nabers (2021), and Brian Thomas (2021).
“(Boutte is) one of them. He’s at the top of the charts, talent-wise,” Joseph said. “I didn’t deal with you if I didn’t think that you were going to be a high draft pick one day… He ran into some injuries, but I always thought he was first-round talent.”
The above-mentioned receivers all went in the first round except Marshall, a second-round pick. Boutte’s downfall came from the ankle injury and new coach Brian Kelly’s staff, who didn’t know him.
In 2020, when Chase and Marshall opted out of the COVID season, Boutte became the Tigers’ top option. In his last game, the true freshman set an SEC record, catching 14 passes for 308 yards and three touchdowns against Ole Miss.
Boutte caught nine passes for 148 yards and three touchdowns in the first game of his sophomore year. Five weeks later, however, his world came crashing down. On Oct. 9, he suffered his broken ankle. Eight days later, LSU coach Ed Orgeron was fired. The chain of events was catastrophic.
Boutte needed multiple ankle surgeries and still has two steel plates and six screws inside his leg. The recovery was brutal. After graduating from crutches, Boutte made his way around the LSU campus on a motor scooter. As the depression set in, so did embarrassment.
This once-promising receiver fell off his scooter one of the first times he was making his way around campus.
“I was a little hurt at first,” Boutte said. “Depressed, just trying to figure out how to get through everything, not being able to walk. Now crutches. Now, scooter, falling off the scooter, trying to get used to the change.”
The next season, Brian Kelly took over at LSU. Despite the surgeries and Boutte’s diminished speed, the program cleared him for offseason activities in June after holding him out in the spring.
Joseph knew it was wrong.
“They brought him back too early. That’s not knowing the kids. If you know, Kayshon, he’s gonna tell you, ‘I’m good, coach, I’m ready to go,’” Joseph said. “But as a coach, you gotta know the kid and say, ‘Ah, he’s not good. He’s not moving right.’ But if you didn’t recruit him, you don’t know the way he moved in high school. You don’t know how he moved when he first got (to LSU).
“When they were talking about playing him, I said, ‘This is too early. He’s gonna end up damaging the ankle again.’”
It was difficult for Joseph to watch Boutte play in his final season at LSU. He shuddered when he saw him run at the NFL Combine.
As a senior in high school, Boutte ran a 4.37 40-yard dash. At the Combine, Boutte ran a 4.50, and his draft stock plummeted.
MIAMI GARDENS, FLORIDA – SEPTEMBER 14: Kayshon Boutte #9 of the New England Patriots is congratulated by head coach Mike Vrabel after scoring a touchdown reception against the Miami Dolphins during the first quarter in the game at Hard Rock Stadium on September 14, 2025 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Rich Storry/Getty Images)Getty Images
Newfound maturity
Boutte was 20 years old when the Patriots drafted him. Three years later, he’s still one of the youngest players on the roster. After having success early, he needed to mature.
In 2024, he was arrested for underage gambling and fraud charges after placing bets on sporting events while at LSU. Charges were dropped when Boutte completed a gambling awareness program, and due to him not placing bets against himself or the team.
As a rookie, he caught two passes for 19 yards and was buried on the depth chart by Bill Belichick after failing to get his feet in bounds on a fourth-quarter pass in his first NFL game.
In his second NFL season, Boutte became openly frustrated with his lack of targets, revealing that he “demanded” to see more passes in a game against Houston.
Even from afar, Antoine could see Boutte’s frustration.
“It pissed me off. Kayshon is near and dear to me,” Antoine said. “I know how great of a person the kid is, and so people saw something that’s in a totally different light.”
Joseph was worried too. He visited Boutte during a game in Miami during his rookie season. He got the sense that the receiver wasn’t gelling with Belichick and gave him a pep talk. Joseph told him to keep his head up and not to do anything that would make him look bad with the Patriots staff.
“It looked like Belichick really didn’t care for him too much,” Joseph said. “I think (Mike) Vrabel runs a different ship. I think it’s a better culture, better atmosphere. And it fits him.”
The low points have made this season sweeter for Boutte and those who have always been in his corner. After realizing he needed to grow up, that’s happened, on the field and at home.
His maturation has been one of the biggest storylines of the Patriots’ 2025 season.
This year, he looks like that five-star recruit. Before suffering a hamstring injury in Week 9, Boutte was on pace to surpass the 900-yard receiving mark this season. He was second in the NFL in yards per reception (18.7) and tied for eighth in touchdown catches. The receiver returned to action last week in Cincinnati.
“I’ve watched so many people turn their backs on him. I’ve watched so many people forget about who this kid truly is,” Antoine said. “And now he’s humbled, and now he’s hungry, and now he’s back to the Kayshon I always knew.”
Part of his growth came at home. The newfound maturity that’s come from fatherhood has led to better results with the Patriots.
Four days after he played soccer with his son, Boutte was an in-game captain for the Patriots’ matchup with the Browns. The receiver finished with 75 yards and a touchdown that day. He’s proud of who he’s become.
“You mature as life goes on. As much as you go through is as much as you’re gonna grow, honestly,” Boutte said. “I think just part of what I went through shaped me and who I am today.”
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