Kayshon Boutte earned the Patriots’ honor after a ridiculous workout in which he imitated the Bengals star
FOXBORO – Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez deserves most of the credit for holding Bengals Pro Bowl wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase in check in Week 1, but wide receiver Kayshon Boutte deserves a share, too.
Boutte, who was Chase’s teammate at LSU in 2020, imitated the Bengals wide receiver in practice last week and was named Practice Player of the Week by the Patriots.
“He’s always been a great presence all week,” wide receivers coach Tyler Hughes said Thursday. “His role was similar to Ja’Marr Chase. He ran all of Chase’s routes, he gave us great insight into those routes, and what I noticed with him was he took a lot of reps last week. He ran down the field, ran all the way back. Just his drive and the pace that he coached really kept the guys under pressure and helped all the other practice players and scout players up their game because I think they saw him show his leadership and his intent in what he was doing. He had a great week for us.”
Gonzalez allowed Chase to catch three passes for 15 yards when the two met. Overall, Chase had six catches for 62 yards in the Patriots’ 16-10 win.
Boutte recalled having a monster practice on the scout team against the Patriots defense.
“I think I performed well. I think I got over 200 yards in one day, a couple of touchdowns, and just did what I always do,” Boutte said.
Wait, this is what Boutte does every day in training?
“No, not every day, because it’s pretty difficult to get all the yards every day,” Boutte said.
Boutte also wouldn’t go so far as to boast that he had a better eye on the Patriots than Chase himself.
“I wouldn’t say that, but I would say I helped them prepare for Ja’Marr Chase,” Boutte said.
Boutte was active in Sunday’s game but did not play on the field. The Patriots instead used Ja’Lynn Polk, DeMario Douglas, KJ Osborn and Tyquan Thornton at wide receiver, while rookie Javon Baker did not play.
