In dynasty, you’ll often hear of a young player as a “Devy Darling”. This is usually in a negative vain, directed at a player that devy managers were more enthused about than the NFL turned out to be.
There is no better example of this than once heralded recruit and former LSU wide receiver Kayshon Boutte.
Once thought of as the No.1 receiver prospect in all of college football, an up-and-down final season and a half, both on and off the field resulted in Boutte falling all the way to the sixth round of the NFL draft in April.
The New England Patriots ended Boutte’s draft slide with the 187th overall pick. A fall nobody would’ve predicted before October of 2021.
On October 9th, 2021, Boutte suffered a season-ending injury that would be the beginning of a tumultuous 18-month period leading up to the NFL draft back in April.
On top of questions surrounding his commitment to rehabbing his injury and a new head coach Brian Kelly coming to town, Boutte also dealt with allegations of some off-field issues, as well as the birth of a child. That’s a lot for any college student to deal with.
Despite all of this, I believe Boutte is a screaming buy in dynasty formats.
The Recruit
Boutte was a 5⭐️ recruit, and the WR2 in the 2020 24/7 composite. He was recognized as an Under Armor All-American and projected as a future 1st rd pick and given a player comparison of Stefon Diggs by 24/7 National Scouting Analyst Gabe Brooks.
Why does this matter? In a previous Devy Astrology article, we took a look at how recruiting rankings could be used to identify future difference-makers for our fantasy rosters.
In doing research for that article, I came across a pair of highly recruited wide receivers that slipped in the NFL draft, but have since become stars for dynasty managers.
Amon’Ra St. Brown (4th round) and, ironically enough, Stefon Diggs (5th round) were both 5⭐️ recruits coming out of high school.
Both, like Boutte, hit the ground running their freshman seasons, becoming key contributors to their teams. All three were early enrollees to the NFL draft, and, for whatever reason, ended up slipping in the process.
The Player
Boutte burst onto the scene as a true freshman in 2020. He capped off his season by setting the SEC all-time single-game receiving record with a 308-yard performance versus Ole Miss.
As you can see by the above charts, on a per-game basis, Boutte was on par production-wise with both Diggs and St. Brown right up until the time of his injury.
His junior season was a disappointment production-wise, but, he did produce a 23% market share of receptions and a 24% market share of receiving yards over the final seven games of the season.
His best game was a 6 reception, 107 yards, 1 touchdown performance in the SEC Championship game versus eventually two-time National Championship Georgia Bulldogs.
The Situation
New England is desperate for playmakers in their wide receiver room.
With veteran role players DeVante Parker and Kendrick Bourne as their leading returning receivers, the Patriots will look to free agent signing JuJu Smith-Schuster to play a big role.
I don’t think it’s a stretch of the imagination to think Boutte could carve out a role in this shallow receiver room.
For my money, he’s the most talented pass catcher on the team. Will he follow in the footsteps of Diggs and St. Brown, and prove to the rest of the league they made a mistake in passing him on draft night? That remains to be seen.
The Cost
According to current DLF dynasty data, Boutte is going off the board as the 234th player overall, WR98!!!!!
There is literally zero downside to taking a shot on a player as naturally talented as Kayshon Boutte at that cost!
