Mike Vrabel proud of Patriots receiver for showing growth on and off field

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Mike Vrabel proud of Patriots receiver for showing growth on and off field

Mark Daniels · MassLive

Mon, Jan 12, 2026 ·

3 min read

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FOXBOROUGH – Mike Vrabel is proud of Kayshon Boutte .

This season, the Patriots receiver has shown growth and maturity on and off the field. His strides as a player have been seen routinely and were on display in the team’s wild-card win over the Los Angeles Chargers .

Off the field, Boutte also opened up about his struggles with gambling addiction in a heartfelt essay on the Players’ Tribune. Vrabel said he appreciated the receiver being vulnerable.

“That’s not easy to do. I told him I know that that will help a lot of people,” Vrabel said. “I would say he’s a private person, but I’ve seen a lot of growth from him personally. It’s important to him. His team means a lot to him. He competes. He seems to always kind of come through when we need him, just like he did again last night.

“For him to be able to open up and share those things publicly as candidly as he did, I was really proud of him. I said that immediately when I saw. Just shows a lot of growth. That’s not easy to do.”

Boutte penned an article titled “ How The Hell Did I Get Here??? ,” where he revealed he lost $90,000 while illegally gambling as a minor at LSU. Boutte also told a story of him trying to quit during his first training camp with the Patriots .

The story was published last week, and Boutte said he wanted to raise awareness for gambling addiction.

Boutte was on pace to surpass the 900-yard mark this season before a hamstring injury set him back. The 23-year-old finished this season with 33 receptions, 551 yards, and a career-high 6 touchdowns.

On Sunday, the receiver played a big part in the Patriots’ win over the Chargers. The receiver finished with four receptions, on four targets, for 66 yards in his playoff debut. That included a 42-yard catch to set up a field goal in the third quarter.

“It feels good. It’s the first time in my career. That’s my first playoff game. I feel like I performed pretty good, too,” Boutte said. “It was great. The defense played great. The offense left a couple plays out there, but finished in the end. It was pretty cool at the end of the day, everybody playing together. We talk about hosting home playoff games and finally got to host one, and we did what we had to do.”

When asked about his big catch, the receiver said it was simple.

“Drake threw a ball, and I made a play,” Boutte said. “The rest is history.”

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