Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Undeniable: Patriots’ Kayshon Boutte Shining Early at Training Camp

Episode Date: July 28, 2026

New England Patriots wide receiver Kayshon Boutte is turning heads at training camp, erupting from trade speculation to highlight-reel dominance. Can Boutte’s chemistry with rookie quarterback Drake Maye make him impossible to bench—or trade—despite earlier offseason plans? The battle among Boutte, Kyle Williams, Romeo Doubs, and Pop Douglas is heating up, with each receiver eager to seize vital snaps before preseason cuts loom. Nick Cattles breaks down the dynamic Patriots receiver competition, Christian Gonzalez’s poised response to Robert Kraft’s contract comments, and the risks of participating in padded practices amid high-stakes negotiations. The conversation explores Drake Maye’s early struggles and late-session precision, A.J. Brown’s ongoing challenge to build rapport with his new QB, and encouraging flashes from tight ends Hunter Henry and Eli Raridon. With injuries affecting Carlton Davis and Rhamondre Stevenson, can the Patriots’ depth hold as they push through a pivotal camp stretch? Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms 🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-patriots/ Locked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft, & More 🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/leagues/nfl/ #patriots #newenglandpatriots Everydayer Club If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Join all the action at https://FANDUEL.COM to play Daily Dingers and make your free pick on who’s hitting a homer this MLB season. KALSHI For a limited time, Download the Kalshi app and use code [LOCKEDON] to get up to $500 in bonus credits when you trade $25. Square Get up to $200 off Square hardware when you sign up at https://square.com/go/lockedonnfl! #squarepod Gametime Today's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Kayshan Booty is turning training camp into his own personal highlight reel and making a statement to stay in New England. This is Lockdown Patriots. You are Locked on Patriots. Your daily New England Patriots podcast. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. What's happening? I am your host, Nick Cattels. On today's show, Drake May starts off slow, but eventually cooks at Tuesday's practice.

In the second segment, Christian Gonzalez responds to Robert Kraft's revealing comments from over the weekend. But first, Kishan Booty is making his mark loudly. Kishan Booty could be going from undesirable to undeniable. So far in camp, the Patriots have had three competitive practices. They put on shells for the first time on Tuesday. And during those three competitive practices, not counting Monday's walkthrough, Kishon Booty has gone from the trading block to possibly this team's best receiver. Kishon Booty again with a play of the day on Tuesday.

Evan Lazzar posted another day, another Kishon Booty highlight. He gets behind Kevin Byard on a deep ball from Drake May for a 40-plus yard touchdown. Phil Perry posted about that play. Great concentration and hands from Kishon Booty. Kayshan Booty added another touchdown later in practice on a busted coverage. He also made a sliding catch in between Christian and Dallas and Craig Woodson. I love the response. Love, love, love, love the response from Kishan Booty.

There are a couple of different ways this story could have gone. Kishan Booty could have whined. He could have complained. He could have coveched. He could have held in and said, thanks, but no thanks. I'm going to watch from the sidelines. He could have held out. Yeah, he would have received some fines,

but he could have held out and said, you put me on the trading block. It was all over the news this entire offseason. I'm not happy. Trade me or cut me. Kishon Booty did not do that. Kishon Booty is out there in practice. Every day, fully participating,

staying focused in 100% unequivocally bawling out with the opportunities that he has been given. You want to talk about being a professional? You want to talk about handling your business the right way? Kishon Booty is handling his business the right way. You know, every time we discuss Kishan Booty during this off season, and we talked about the possible trade of Kishan Booty. I have said, trading Kishan Booty was more of a case of the Patriots doing what's best

for the player. That's the proper context. If you are going to trade Kashan Bouti, you're doing it for maybe a couple reasons. You're doing it because Kishan Bouty is not going to have the type of opportunity in snap rate that he would like to have in his final season under contract. So you would be sending Kishan Bouty elsewhere so he could get some more snaps. He could get more targets. He could have more catches, which means.

more money. You would be doing quote unquote right by the player. You could trade Kishan Bouti because you'd get a great return. But I think at this point, as we get closer to August, it's rather obvious that great return is not coming to New England for Kishan Bouty. And when looking at the numbers, you said, well, hey, look, Kishan Bouty moving on, you slide Kyle Williams in. But Kishon Bouty, if Kishon Bouty continues to perform, at this type of level. I mean, he doesn't have to make a spectacular play every practice. But if he continues to be this team's best offensive player or one of their best

offensive players, he's going to earn more snaps. He's going to earn more snaps than I would have expected this upcoming season. At some point, you can put it on paper all you want. You can draw up the hypothetical scenario of Kyle Williams leapfrogging receivers becoming that third guy. You could talk about Pop Douglas being used more. And those are all things we have discussed ad nauseum before this training camp began. But the fact is, whoever plays the best earns the reps and Kishon Booty, if he continues to perform, Mike Vrable is going to put him out there on the field. And he and Josh McDaniels, Mike Vrable and Josh McDaniels, will have a conversation and say,

he's undeniable. We might not have wanted it to play out this way. We might have wanted to move on from him and develop Kyle Williams and give Pop Douglas more opportunities. We understand that A.J. Brown and Romeo Dobbs, as far as status goes in that room, are the one and the two respectively. But we can't ignore this anymore. And that really is the job of Kishan Booty. Booty needed to walk into this camp and prove to the football world, prove to the Patriots, that no, you can't get rid of me.

You might have wanted to get rid of me because in your best plan, the young receiver behind me and Kyle Williams would end up taking my spot. But I'm not going to allow that to happen. I'm going to go out here. I'm going to be the ultimate professional. And I am going to ball out and make plays. and I'm going to make it very hard for you to say goodbye to me, whether that's cutting me or trading me. And I'm going to make it very hard on that young quarterback,

your franchise guy and Drake May, I'm going to make it very, very hard for him to say goodbye to me. Don't get it twisted. Drake May is the other part of this equation. And as Kashan Bouty is making play after play early in camp, Drake May is throwing him the football. and their chemistry is obvious. And I'm just going to have to guess here that if this continues,

Drake May is not going to want the team to trade Kashan Bouti, even if you could get a better pick than you thought you could get right now, down the road. It's going to be very difficult for the Patriots to tell Drake May, yeah, we know. We know you guys have instant chemistry. We know Kisham Bouty has been a big play waiting to happen. downfield. We understand that, but we're going to move on. Difficult. I would love Kyle Williams

to get going. I would love Kyle Williams to be the third receiver on this team because you invested a third round pick in him in 2025. But Kyle Williams has to earn it. Nothing is given to you. I mean, you can start with an equal amount of reps. You can start by giving Kyle Williams some more opportunities, which really haven't come to fruition this early in camp. But you can certainly try to strategize and plan that Kyle Williams will get as many looks as Kishon Booty. But if Kishan Booty is the one out there making plays and Kyle Williams is not, at a certain point, it is what it is. Kyle Williams has to take this from Kishan Booty because now you're in camp. All the conversations, the hypothetical conversations that we had about trading Kishan Booty,

every single one of those conversations was before camp and it was with the idea of you want to open up more reps for Kyle Williams. But the Patriots, they weren't able to trade Kashan Booty before camp. So now camp has begun. And now it's a fight. It's a race. And Kay Shan Booty is telling Kyle Williams, if you want it, come and get it. He's telling Romeo Dobbs, if you want it. it, come and get it. Pop Douglas, you want it, come and get it. It's a message being sent by

Kishan Booty early in this camp without a shadow of a doubt. And if this type of camp continues, the Patriots are not going to give Kishan Booty away. At the time of the draft, and Albert Breer has said this on 985 and NBC Sports Boston, the Patriots, they would deal the Kayshan Booty if they could get a fifth round pick in return. Well, if Kishan Booty continues to do this, do you think the Patriots are just going to send them away for a fifth round pick? If Kyle Williams fails to make the move, do you think the Patriots are just going to be cool trading booty for a fifth?

The Pop Douglas thing, maybe it doesn't work out perfectly the way the Patriots hope that it will. Will the Patriots then just pivot and give up booty for a fifth round? counter. Very difficult, very difficult to imagine that happening. Now, yes, maybe you get into the season and Kyle Williams gets better and better and better. Pop Douglas, you find a way to use him more and it's working. And then you go to the trading deadline and maybe you get more for Kishan Booty and with a little bit more development for Kyle Williams, you feel comfortable in doing that. Maybe you wait, you just play it out. Kishon Booty walks in free agency and you get a comp pick. Maybe the rest of the league still doesn't believe in Kashan Bouti, and they suppress his market,

and maybe he doesn't get the type of money that he thinks he's going to get or that you think he's going to get, and you end up bringing him back on somewhat of a team-friendly short-term deal. At this point, the way camp has gone, and we're just going right here, right? After Tuesday's practice, the only thing we could do is talk about how Kishan Bouty is performing right now, and the way this wide receiver room looks right now. Anything is possible at this point. Now, I don't think Kisham Booty is going to be the number one receiver. A.J. Brown's got that locked down.

But anything is possible. And if Kishan Booty continues to perform like this at practice, man, you just can't deny the dude anymore. And you've got to say, yeah, the plan made sense. The plan made sense all off season. We thought it was best for the football player. best for us to try to develop Kyle Williams and get more from the other guys, but it didn't shake out that way. And Kishan Booty had a tremendous camp. Those other guys,

they weren't up to it. And so this is a competitive football team. And you've got to earn the spot. And Kishan Booty earned his spot. Now a reminder, it is early. And there's a lot of time for the wide receiver competition to unfold. But Kisham Booty has been the highlight real. of this camp so far. How did Christian Gonzalez feel about Robert Kraft, publicly discussing their negotiation? Find out next. This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network,

now the number one sports podcast network, your team every day. Today's episode is sponsored by Square. If you've ever tapped to pay and thought, man, that was quick. It's probably Square. Whether you're selling lattes, cutting hair, Square helps you run your business

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deserves better tools. Square helps you sell, manage, and grow without slowing down. And right now you can get up to $200 off Square hardware at square.com slash go slash lockdown NFL. That's SQA-R-E dot com slash G-O-O-C-K-E-D-O-N-N-FL. Run your business smarter with Square. Get started today. Thank you for making us your first listen and for being an everydayer. Christian Gonzalez, he was the talk post-practice. All the attention after this practice on Tuesday was over had to do with Christian Gonzalez. All of the attention was on him. And of course, with what Robert Kraft said over the weekend, putting the offer on the table,

that would make Christian Gonzalez the highest paid cornerback in the history of the game. It would be the biggest contract the Patriots have ever given a player. After Robert Kraft said that over the weekend, you knew for a fact that when Christian Gonzalez stood in front of the media, he was going to. to be asked about Robert Kraft's comments. And he was. And this is what he said, transcribed by Doug Kite of the Boston Herald. Quote, everybody knows what Mr. Kraft has done, a ton of respect for Mr. Kraft and what he's done for this franchise. It's just something we don't want to handle in the media. It's just something we don't want to handle in the media.

I keep that with the team and my team and go on about that. So Robert Kraft comes out, publicly says what he said, maybe trying to apply pressure on Christian Gonzalez, on Christian Gonzalez's reps, maybe trying to control the message, win some PR. And Christian Gonzalez first shot to stand in front of the media and be asked about that, said it's just something we don't want to handle in the media. Now, you could read that a couple of ways. You could read that. Christian Gonzalez isn't happy with Robert Kraft and wanted to send a message back to the owner. I heard what you said. I respect you. But it's something we don't want to handle in the media.

Let's keep this behind closed doors. Let's not create all these headlines. Let's take care of business as quietly as we can. So there's no doubt. You could read that as Christian Gonzalez asking Robert Kraft, why are we making this public? Or there's another possible look at this. And it's just Christian Gonzalez's stance on what's going on, right? It's Christian Gonzalez being consistent. It's Christian Gonzalez and his representation saying, we're not going to go into the media with this stuff. So it is possible. There is a world where Christian Gonzalez is not necessarily upset at Robert Kraft for saying what he said, but he's just standing by his principle.

In essence, the owner can say what he wants to say. But we don't want to handle this in the media. Is Robert Kraft part of the we? And he's including Kraft and sending a message? Or is he just simply sending? I don't want to talk about it. My agents don't want to talk about it. So you could read it either of those two ways. But no matter what he was saying and no matter who the we was referring to, if Robert Kraft was included or not, it's clear that Christian Gonzalez is drawing the line. He's drawing the line and he's handling these talks.

quietly, professionally, letting his team do it. And I think that Christian Gonzalez is, is handling this situation as well as you possibly could. It might come across as cold. It might come across as emotionless. But that's the way to do it. When you're in a negotiation, if you're going to be hot-headed, if you're going to flap the gums at every turn, that's not going to work out. It's going to end up causing more pain and more frustration and anger, maybe even disappointment than anything else. So yeah, it is emotionless the way Christian Gonzalez is handling it,

but that's also emotionless could be called professional. I have more thoughts before I get to those thoughts. Don't forget if you're checking us out on YouTube to click that thumbs up, give us a like, throw a comment in as well. I would love to hear from you about Kishan Booty. How are you feeling before camp? How are you feeling right now after, you know, three spectacular plays from Kishan Booty early in this camp?

So don't forget to like, don't forget to comment, and don't forget to subscribe. We are aiming for 11,000 subscribers by week one in Seattle. Christian Gonzalez, he's not giving any cheap shots, right? He's not taking cheap shots. he's not getting angry. He's not calling anybody out. I mean, even in the comment, before he said it's just something we don't want to handle in the media,

he gave the ultimate respect to Robert Kraft. Everybody knows what Mr. Kraft has done. A ton of respect for Mr. Kraft and what he's done for this franchise. Flowers, flowers, flowers. And then we don't want to handle this in the media. The other part of this, of course, is Christian Gonzalez continues to practice. He was asked about that. Evan Lizarre posted, Gonzalez mentions the loss in the Super Bowl as a reason why he has been a full participant in training camp amidst ongoing contract talks.

Phil Perry posted, Gonzalez is asked why he's been willing to practice without a new deal, quote, These are my guys. It's hard to just sit and watch, unquote. And then Perry posted on if Gonzalez will be a full participant for padded practices. Gonzalez responded, quote, I'll be out here. I believe he was asked again. He said, I will be out here. So Gonzalez, these are my guys.

This is my team. I'm not going to sit there and just watch. I'm going to be involved. I'm going to be out there side by side with my fellow DBs. How about padded practice, Christian Gonzalez? Yeah, I'm going to be out there. I'll be out there, bet on it. And Christian Gonzalez, you know, throughout the offseason, we heard he wants to be a leader.

He wants to be a leader. He has said as much. He wants to be a leader. This is being a leader. This is true leadership. This is selfless. It ultimately is a risky decision for Christian Gonzalez to be out there practicing, fully participating.

They put the pads on. He's going to be out there running around. And he's trying to work on a contract extension. that is selfless. It is being the ultimate teammate. It is the team first approach. You want to talk about it, talk about it. But I care about you being about it.

And Christian Gonzalez can sit there and tell us he wants to be a leader all that he wants to tell us, but he's got to prove it. He's got to show it. And that's what he's doing. That's what he's doing. This is true leadership. Lead by example. Yeah, I got a big contract.

trying to work out, not worried about it. Focus on the task at hand. I want to be the best teammate that I can be, which means I am fully participating. Meanwhile, Gonzalez's importance was highlighted during Tuesday's practice because Carlton Davis left practice early. I said a couple of weeks ago, maybe even just a week ago, that one of my concerns was the health of the older players on this team. And one of the first guys I mentioned was Carlton Davis. He got through last year. He was seemingly banged up every week.

He would go out for a couple of plays and then find his way back onto the field. But his history is his history. And before last season, his history told us that he was good to miss at least one month every single year of his career. So he leaves practice. Some people speculating it was a hamstring. We'll see. Charles Woods next corner up

also left practice that might have been an illness he left he came back he left again with the help of a couple of trainers it was very humid on Tuesday so we'll see the Patriots have an off day on Wednesday

they are planning to be in pads on Thursday so will Carlton Davis be out there probably unlikely will Charles Woods be out there if it was an illness, hopefully. Drake May warms up. AJ Brown is still trying to settle in and more coming up. This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network,

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network. Now the number one sports podcast network. Don't forget to like, comment, subscribe, rate, review, help a brother out. I expected Drake May to respond after Sunday's inaccurate practice. I had said you go back an episode or two ago, look, this happens. Drake May has been inaccurate in the past. He has stretches of inaccuracy. Usually he responds. Usually the next time out, he's much better. Now on Tuesday, he got off to a slow start, but he eventually heated up. Posted, Drake May came on late with dimes, Takeshoshan Booty and Hunter Henry for big plays. Andrew Callahan posted.

Drake May finished strong today, hitting deep throws to Hunter Henry and Ramandre Stevenson. Mark Daniels posted seven on sevens. Drake May was four for seven. 11 on 11th, Drake May was 10 for 14. So as the practice got going, Drake May got going, and he looked much better towards the end than he did the beginning,

which leads me to say, we have seen Drake May's accuracy have to find itself, so to speak, in both practices and games early on. So it's not just what I mentioned a minute ago, that he has bouts of inaccuracy, but he responds to those bouts. A lot of times it's at the beginning of practices. we've discussed this before how Drake May at the beginning of games will sometimes just airmail a couple of throws. And so I've asked this question now, the third year running, can the Patriots get Drake May? Can Drake May get himself to just slow down a little bit, not be so geeked up?

because it does feel like when when he has the issues with the inaccuracy it's at the start and sometimes he calms down he heats up most of the time last year he did that but there is this habit there is this habit of him being a little too amped up and not being sharp to start can they figure that out hopefully Drake may a j brown speaking of figure it out. Start of Tuesday's practice wasn't great. Taylor Kyle's posted May and AJ Brown not on the same page again, uncatchable throw on a curl route. More from Taylor Kyle's. Drake May went back to AJ Brown on the next snap, but Brown went vertical when May seemed to think he'd break off his route. Miscommunication. Lacking a little bit of chemistry there. Andrew Callahan posted. Slow start for May

and Brown through three plus days of training camp with a ways to go on day four. When Andrew Callahan posted this, Drake May was one for seven with a pick when targeting Brown and team drills. The only completion to that point was a wide open quickout. And Callahan mentioned that May and Brown are far off on deeper routes. Then as Drake May got better throughout the practice, the connection between Drake May and AJ Brown got better. Evan Lazar posted after two early misses,

May connects with Brown on a short juke route, isolated on Kindle-Vildor. Brown turned it up field and looked like he would have had significant yards after the catch. Callahan posted. May and Brown have connected on their last two passes, short completions on a return route, and a short end.

So it started off Rocky, able to complete a couple of passes, later on in the practice. So far, Drake May throwing to AJ Brown is three for ten with an interception. But I will preach patience. We have to have patience. These guys have to work through it. The more reps they have, the better.

I'm not worried about these issues, so to speak, unless it's happening two, three weeks from now. Hopefully there's a practice. It could be Thursday. It clicks. And everything is off and running from that point. The tight ends. The tight ends heated up on Tuesday. Evan Lazar posted Drake Macy's man coverage, puts one on a platter for Hunter Henry on a corner route.

Henry got over the top of the safety and made a nice catch through some contact. That safety, I believe, was Kevin Byard. Henry had another nice catch. And, you know, the guy is just the ultimate pro. He's the ultimate pro, you know, 31, 32 years old, out there in camp doing work. A couple of really nice catches from Hunter Henry on Tuesday. How about Eli Rairden? The early returns?

Good. Eli Rairden is showing flashes. Greg Bedard, after the walkthrough on Monday, wrote, The Patriots are definitely ramping up Eli Rairden, and he looks good as a pass catcher. On Tuesday, Taylor Kyle's posted Eli Rairden with his second impressive box-out catch of camp, this time making a contested grab versus Del Pettis on a crosser. Evan Lazzar posted, Eli Rairden had a nice zone settle slash adjustment on a play action crosser from Tommy DeVito, saw the linebacker sitting inside of him and settled in the void.

Good route running by the rookie. these are the types of things you want to read when we're talking about Eli Rarity. I don't anticipate him being a huge impact player this year. But if he's out there within the first month of this season and he's going to be out there. But if he's out there making plays, that's a great sign. He's making adjustments against zone. That's one of the things we discussed before. the draft. One of the reasons why I really like Eli

Rairdon and I loved the pick. It was because when he was at Notre Dame, he showed the knack to find those spaces, to find those areas against zone. And the fact that he can work the intermediate. He knows when to sit. He knows where to go. And so he showed that on Tuesday, the adjustments against zone. And if you can figure that out, It's crucial because then you're just otherwise working your one-on-ones, you're working your matchups. But if the quarterback can trust you in zone coverage and he knows you know where to be,

he's going to throw the football to you. Exciting potential for Eli Rairden. One more note, Ramandre Stevenson left practice on Tuesday early. He did not talk after the practice. He was scheduled to. Don't know if it was an injury or an illness. Again, it was very humid on Tuesday. Tuesday. There was somebody who was at the practice, I believe just a fan or somebody posted.

I hope I'm not disrespecting that person, but they posted that they saw Ramadre Stevenson getting sick on the sidelines multiple times. So it could have just been the heat, had a tough day, and had to get off the field. We will see what happens again. Thursday, the Patriots are expected to be in pads. Things heat up. That wraps up this edition of lockdown Patriots. Reach out to me on Twitter at Nick C. Don't forget to like, comment and subscribe on YouTube. Thank you for making Lockdown Patriots your first listen. For your second listen, check out Lockdown NFL scouting. Kyle Crabs and Joe Marino will make you the most informed NFL fan this offseason.

Find Lockdown NFL scouting on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. Have a great day. We'll talk to you next time.