The state of Louisiana has officially dropped charges against the New England Patriots wide receiver.
After being arrested in January over allegations of illegal sports betting during his playing days at LSU, the state of Louisiana has dropped the charges of underage gambling and computer fraud against New England Patriots wide receiver Kayshon Boutte. While further developments on the matter remain under review, the 22-year-old is permitted to participate in all off-season team activities moving forward.
Going into the 2024 season, Boutte’s spot on the Patriots’ roster was always going to be far from a guarantee — regardless of whether the charges were dropped or not. Although New England’s receiving corps projects as one of the league’s worst, the franchise selected two wide receivers — Ja’Lynn Polk (second round) and Javon Baker (fourth round) — in April, making Boutte’s role even cloudier as kickoff approaches in less than two months. In addition to the two rookies, veterans Kendrick Bourne, DeMario Douglas, K.J. Osborn, and JuJu Smith-Schuster are all listed ahead of Boutte on the Patriots’ depth chart. Even Jalen Reagor and Tyquan Thornton project as better bets to make the team than the second-year man out of LSU, rendering Boutte useless in all formats of fantasy football.
The state of Louisiana has dropped the underage gambling and...
New England Patriots wide receiver Kayshon Boutte was ...
New England Patriots rookie wide receivers Demario Douglas ...
New England Patriots wide receiver Kayshon Boutte was arrested for betting on football while he was attending LSU.
While playing at LSU, Kayshon Boutte placed over 8,900 bets, including betting on himself and LSU Tigers games. Boutte reportedly created a fake FanDuel account to place all the bets and was arrested on a felony count of computer fraud and a misdemeanor count for betting under the legal age limit of 21. The report states that Boutte’s bets including betting on 17 football games including six LSU games.
Boutte’s professional career could be in serious doubt moving forward. The Patriots do know of the matter, but have not elaborated on Boutte’s future for now. Ian Rapoport has also reported that the NFL are conscious of the situation and stated “We are aware of the matter but have no further comment at this time.”
Boutte only had two receptions for 19 yards in his rookie campaign. In deeper dynasty leagues you may hold him for now, but is droppable in shallower leagues.
