Bourne’s absence from Friday’s preseason game is raising some eyebrows.
The New England Patriots signed Kendrick Bourne last offseason to a three-year, $22.5 million contract.
At the time, Bourne was considered an under-the-radar free agent, and he quickly got up to speed as one of New England’s most electrifying players and personalities, along with finding a real connection with then rookie Mac Jones.
Bourne instantly became a fan favorite and spent the majority of his offseason in New England with Jones and other receivers to further build on a promising first season. In his first year with the Patriots, he tallied 55 catches for 800 yards and 5 touchdowns, all career-highs for the 27-year-old who went undrafted in 2017 and spent his first four seasons in San Francisco.
Bourne quickly got into the New England scheme as a versatile receiver and explosive playmaker with the ball in his hands. However, due to the complex Patriots offense and bringing a rookie quarterback up to speed, many believed his great season could have been even better, especially if the team let Jones air it out a bit more.
This offseason, in a very un-Belichickian way, New England started to gear their offense towards a more Shanahan, west coast, zone run blocking scheme, which is much different than the traditional New England offense we have seen for 20-plus years.
For many, including myself, this seemed like a great opportunity to tailor an offense for tight end Jonnu Smith, who struggled in 2021, and for Kendrick Bourne, as both of those players are great athletes and playmakers with the ball in their hands. But come training camp, New England was spreading the ball around the field, and Bourne was nowhere to be seen. It has clearly been an unusually quiet camp for him thus far.
When joint practices began, Bourne was getting reps with the second unit and not the usual first unit. But he was one of the many involved in the fighting throughout the week, throwing punches and eventually getting ejected by the team.
Bourne was seemingly non-existent through the remainder of the joint practices and didn’t even suit up for Friday night’s game, nor was he in attendance.
Could the Patriots be sending a message to him?
It’s not unusual to think Bourne could be getting the cold shoulder from Belichick, as it’s happened to players like Jonas Gray, Chase Winovich and notoriously, Malcolm Butler during Super Bowl LII, due to an altercation with Matt Patricia.
It wouldn’t be an over-exaggeration to think something similar happened with Matt Patricia again, who has been calling the plays all camp.
This is purely speculatory, but could Bourne and Patricia have argued about why Bourne was being removed from camp, after sticking up for his teammates in joint practices, or could the frustrations of the new offense, lack of production and demotion be the reason he might have snapped at practice and earned an ejection?
It is unclear at this time what exactly is going on with Bourne, but there is an aura of similarities to the old famous “Bill’s Doghouse,” that many veteran players find themselves in, and seemingly have to earn their way back into his graces.
It will be interesting to see what happens next week against Josh McDaniels and company, as the Patriots will head out to Vegas for joint practices with the Raiders. Unfortunately, they’ll be down one less receiver in Tyquan Thornton. Will players like Tre Nixon or Lil’Jordan Humphrey take more snaps from Bourne?
If so, there’s a chance he could be on the way out of New England. But his contract and connection with Mac Jones should keep him on this roster for at least the time being.
We can only hope this is nothing more than an injury from last week, and there is no bad blood in the water.
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