Wide receiver Kayshon Boutte is one of the most interesting players in the rookie draft class of the New England Patriots given his upside.
There is plenty of potential inside the sixth-round draft pick, which led an NFL analyst to compare the LSU product to one of the top current wide receivers in the league.
NFL Films senior producer and ESPN’s “NFL Matchup” analyst Greg Cosell recently said on the “Inside the Birds” podcast that he sees some of All-Pro wideout Stefon Diggs in this year’s 187th overall pick.
“If he reached his ceiling and can play to (his physical) traits all the time, I thought there’s a Stefon Diggs comparison to be made,” Cosell said per ESPN’s Mike Reiss. “Keep in mind, Diggs came out of Maryland as a fifth-round pick and the 146th player chosen. That’s what I was comparing him to, not Stefon Diggs in the last number of years as arguably a top-five receiver in the NFL. No one thought that of Diggs when he was a fifth-round pick and 146th player chosen. Boutte is a fascinating player.”
Boutte and Diggs have very similar measurables — both stand at six-feet tall and weigh around 200 pounds — but that’s an incredibly lofty comparison. But Boutte does have a chance to replicate what Diggs did as a rookie in 2015 with the Minnesota Vikings. In 13 games that season, Diggs tallied 52 receptions for 720 yards and four touchdowns.
Diggs really took off during his fourth year in the NFL by registering his first 1,000-yard receiving season and having one each year since then. That type of ascension would be extremely difficult for Boutte to match.
Boutte, who isn’t even a lock to make the Patriots roster out of training camp, fell in the draft after a substandard junior season with the Tigers along with not showing well at the NFL Scouting Combine. But he did reach the 100-catch mark at LSU faster than anyone else in the school’s history.
What version of Boutte the Patriots get will go a long way in determining if they have any impact player at the position — like Diggs is — or just another receiver that failed to amount to anything.
