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Why Kendrick Bourne isn’t worried over lack of touches so far during training camp
"Of course you want the ball, but it’s about the team."
Kendrick Bourne and Bill Belichick have said and done all the right things when it comes to the wideout’s hopes of a clean slate in 2023.
After a disappointing 2022 campaign where the 27-year-old receiver was seemingly phased out of an already lackluster New England offense, Bourne opted to point the finger at himself for his dip in production.
Noting earlier in the offseason that he “didn’t give the team my best effort,” Bourne spent most of the summer in the weight room. He gained 15 pounds of muscle after weighing just 190 pounds last year.
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Belichick was quick to praise Bourne’s efforts to turn the page when asked about the receiver’s growth entering his third season in Foxborough.
“Every way,” Belichick said of the ways that Bourne has improved. “Physically it was good, mentally it was good, participation was good. He was good on the field, good off the field. Yeah, he had a really good offseason.”
Unfortunately for Bourne, those offseason efforts haven’t translated into tangible production out on the gridiron. At least through the first few days of training camp.
Through four full practices, Bourne has spent most of camp with the rest of Mac Jones’ expected offensive; JuJu Smith-Schuster, DeVante Parker, Hunter Henry, Mike Gesicki, and Tyquan Thornton.
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But despite those featured reps, Bourne has yet to catch a pass during competitive team drills so far. In these four practices, he’s only been targeted twice.
It hasn’t exactly been the start that Bourne was looking for. But the promising pass-catcher isn’t getting caught up in the good and bad from four days of non-contact practices.
“Of course you want the ball, but it’s about the team,” Bourne told reporters following Sunday’s practice at Gillette Stadium. We don’t count stats. It’s all about the game. So I just gotta be prepared in the game, and coming into practice like I’m going to get the ball every time, running my route like I’m going to get the ball, and in the game, it will come together.
“Just making sure I’m getting touches. If I’m not getting it in practice, I have to make sure I’m getting touches with the jugs. Just catching with the teammates before practice or whatever. Just so that I know I’m getting catches. It’s all about the game for me, though.”
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A bounce-back season from Bourne will be welcomed by Mac Jones and a Patriots offense that completely unraveled in 2022.
After reeling in 55 catches for 800 yards and five touchdowns in 2021, Bourne was limited to just 35 receptions for 434 yards in his second season with New England. His lone touchdown came in Week 16 against the Bengals.
All season long, Bourne seemed to be stuck in Matt Patricia’s doghouse, with his candid comments on the state of New England’s play calling likely hurting his cause.
Despite his sub-standard play and evident frustration in New England’s dysfunctional offense last fall, Bourne seems ready to start fresh.
Even with his lack of touches in the last week, Bourne offered up plenty of praise for Belichick and his relationship with New England’s head coach.
“That’s just my guy,” Bourne said of Belichick. “We have a good relationship. I enjoy being coached by him. It is really awesome for my career and to be able to just say that when I’m done, whenever that time is, it’s an honor to be close to someone like that. I know after football, I’ll be able to talk to him, call him, through whatever it may seem like, I have a good relationship with him.”
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Bill O’Brien’s arrival in Foxborough should offer hope that New England’s offense is due for a return to normalcy. If O’Brien is looking to surround Jones with dependable options on offense, Bourne’s chemistry with the Patriots QB in 2021 stands as an already solid foundation to build from.
Bourne will still need to prove his worth during camp. Both Smith-Schuster and Parker sit ahead of him on the receiver depth chart, and he will need to compete for snaps alongside players like Thornton and even rookie Demario Douglas.
But after being left rudderless on a flimsy Patriots offense in 2022, Bourne believes the pieces are there for New England to make some noise in the months ahead.
Ideally, Bourne is part of that winning equation.
“I think it’s about staying ready, personally,” Bourne said of his approach this season. “There’s a plan the coaches have. You’ve got to follow it. You can’t get into starting and if I’m in or not. That moment might come where you might be the biggest player of the game and you can change the game, so personally, that’s what I think about.”
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