Patriots WR reveals he ‘walked straight out the building,’ almost quit football as a rookie

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Patriots WR reveals he ‘walked straight out the building,’ almost quit football as a rookie

Chris Mason · MassLive

Thu, Jan 8, 2026 ·

2 min read

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Kayshon Boutte ’s NFL career was almost over before it started.

In a new Players’ Tribune article titled “How The Hell Did I Get Here???” Boutte detailed his battle with gambling addiction. The Patriots wide receiver, who suffered a broken foot at LSU that didn’t heal properly, said he was so exhausted during his first season in Foxborough that he almost quit.

“My rookie year, I almost walked away from the game,” Boutte wrote. “Forreal. After my last year at LSU, I went straight into draft training, then to the combine, then OTAs….. There was never really a break for over a year straight, I would say. And that was hard. I was just so tired physically, mentally, emotionally, everything .

“One day during training camp, we were sitting in a meeting, and I just got up and left. I walked straight out the building. I told our GM that I was done with football. I didn’t want to play anymore. Of course, he called me and tried to convince me to re-think it. Then my agent called me. And I sat in my car and thought about it deep.”

A sixth-round pick under the Bill Belichick regime in 2023, Boutte had played football since he was 5 years old. In the parking lot at Gillette Stadium, he contemplated whether he could live without the game.

“I listened to what my heart was telling me,” Boutte said. “One of the worst things in life to live in is regret . So I could either drive away from the facility, away from the stress, away from the frustration — away from my destiny. Or I could get out of the car. And yeah, thank God I got my ass out the car."

The Patriots are certainly glad he decided to stick with it, too.

Boutte has blossomed during his third season in New England . A legitimate deep threat for Drake Maye , Boutte has caught 33 passes for 551 yards and six touchdowns, becoming an integral part of the Patriots passing game.

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