Drake Maye had one of his best practice days of the entire summer on Monday, and receivers A.J. Brown and Kayshon Boutte were contributors in the highly effective passing game.
In the case of Boutte, he may not have been a standout on Monday the way that he was on Saturday, but he continued to get reps with the starters. And the longer that goes on this summer, the more it looks like the fourth-year wide receiver will be sticking around in Foxboro for the foreseeable future.
“I just think the longer this goes — because at this point, if he goes to a different offense … I don’t think he’s making a monster contribution somewhere else, either,” Phil Perry said on the latest Patriots Talk Podcast. “I just feel like with each passing day, he’s going to be here.”
Perry added: “Now I think the team would be open to dealing him if they ended up with some kind of very strong offer, but they know what he brings to the table. He’s a reliable guy, he’s been productive the last two seasons, and so I could see them keeping maybe seven wideouts.”
Tom E. Curran echoed Perry’s point that at this point of the summer, it may be too late for Boutte — who reportedly requested a trade this offseason — to learn a whole new playbook and earn starting reps with a different team.
“He has to be incorporated into an offense to take advantage of his skills, which are oftentimes contested catch throws in the middle of the field as well as on the perimeter,” Curran said, adding that it’s not as simple as sending Randy Moss on a go route and chucking a deep shot up the sideline.
Speaking of deep shots, Maye connected with A.J. Brown on a long bomb during Monday’s practice.
“Boy, A.J. Brown beat his man, and then it looked like initially like Drake Maye might have overthrown him by a few steps, but A.J. Brown — nice to see — found another gear, tracked it down, nice long touchdown,” Perry said. “Drake Maye was finger in the air, he was happy about it. Mike Vrabel giving the touchdown sign. So they were all sorts of fired up.”
Maye also looked to Brown for a drive starter in a situation with the Patriots’ offense backed up in their own territory with 1:15 on the simulated game clock.
And in addition to the overall numbers (15-for-17 passing), Perry came away impressed with some specific aspects of Maye’s game.
“Two things from Drake Maye specifically that impressed me, it wasn’t just the numbers,” he said. “Really good touch to all levels of the field, and the anticipation was there. And then I thought some of the pocket mobility was very good, too. There were occasions where there was a body near him, there might have been a pressure, but he slid, stepped up in such a way that he was able to buy himself more time. So really, I think maybe one of his best practices of the summer.”
Also in this episode:
- What the Devon Witherspoon deal realistically means for Christian Gonzalez and the Patriots
- Assessments of the Patriots’ running game
- The team’s guard depth nearing an emergency level
