The New England Patriots needed to reshape their wide receiver depth chart to enhance quarterback Drake Maye in his second year. In surrounding him with upgraded talent and coaching, the Patriots are giving Maye the tools he needs to be successful in his second year.
The wide receiver position was heavily emphasized in the offseason by signing veterans Stefon Diggs and Mack Hollins and then drafting Kyle Williams in the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft. With Week 1 in the books, we can examine the hierarchy of New England’s wide receivers.
The Patriots featured five wide receivers in Week 1, and with Maye dropping back to pass 46 times on Sunday, there’s a large enough sample size to gain knowledge on how Maye distributed the ball and to whom.
Kayshon Boutte was the most productive receiver and he proved to have chemistry built in with Maye from last year. Behind Boutte were Diggs, Hollins, DeMario Douglas, and Williams.
- Boutte: 8 targets, 6 receptions, 103 yards
- Diggs: 7 targets, 6 receptions, 57 yards
- Douglas: 7 targets, 2 receptions, -2 yards
- Hollins: 2 targets, 1 reception, 3 yards
- Williams: 1 target, 1 reception, 12 yards
The wide receiver target share is a clear indicator of how Maye feels about his options, but it’s the personnel on the field that shows how the coaches feel about the position overall. Here is a rundown of the total number of passing plays and routes run for the Patriots’ wide receivers in Week 1, per Pro Football Focus.
- Boutte: 45 pass plays, 44 routes run (58 snaps)
- Douglas: 40 pass plays, 39 routes run (45 snaps)
- Diggs: 37 pass plays, 37 routes run (34 snaps)
- Hollins: 22 pass plays, 21 routes run (36 snaps)
- Williams: 5 pass plays, 5 routes run (7 snaps)
It’s worth noting that five of Boutte’s six receptions went for first downs. He displayed a great understanding of defeating the zone coverage by finding the open areas within the defense and was a reliable target downfield for Maye.
Kayshon Boutte Has One of the Highest Offensive Snap Counts on the Patriots
Another factor that can be looked at is the number of snap counts a player gets. It shows how often a player is on the field, and in Week 1, it was Boutte who had the highest offensive snap percentage for a non-lineman or quarterback with 82.86 percent.
Boutte and Douglas are the only two wide receivers on the team that have over a year of experience of playing with Maye, and they both showed to have chemistry with Maye in the preseason, but it’s been Boutte who’s been the top target and he’s capitalizing on the opportunity, unlike Douglas who saw a high number of targets (7), but he wasn’t able to do much with them despite scoring a touchdown.
The wide receiver hierarchy through Week 1 looks like this:
Boutte, Diggs, Douglas, Hollins, Williams
Maye trusts Boutte, and that’s the most important part of all of this.
One last note. It’s worth mentioning that tight end Hunter Henry is heavily involved in the passing game and is one of Maye’s most trusted options. Henry finished Week 1 tied with Boutte for the most targets (8), and he had the second-most yards (66). I didn’t include him in this because the focus here is on the wide receivers.