LSU wide receiver Kayshon Boutte, who was once projected as a first-round NFL draft choice, fell to Saturday's sixth round where he was selected by the New England Patriots as the No. 187 overall pick.

Boutte was considered one of the best receivers in college football until he broke his ankle in the sixth game of his sophomore season at Kentucky in 2021.

He underwent two surgeries, missed all of spring practice a year ago and had a statistically mediocre season last year with 48 catches for 538 yards and two TDs.

Part of his subpar performance was due to mentally overcoming his injury and partly to the slow development of new starting quarterback Jayden Daniels and his reluctance to throw the ball downfield for the first six games of the season.

Boutte also didn’t have an impressive NFL combine. His 40-yard dash times were 4.5 and 4.67 seconds and then he bypassed running the 40 and most of the other tests at LSU’s Pro Day.

He finished his LSU career starting 21 of the 27 games he played and had 131 catches for 1,782 yards and 16 TDs.