Image courtesy of New England Patriots 

FOXBOROUGH – Hearing your name in trade rumors during a contract year is nothing new for NFL players, but it doesn’t make it any easier.

The uncertainty of waking up in a certain city one day and possibly having to move your whole life to another is as stressful as it gets.

Kayshon Boutte has been living that professional nightmare pretty much all offseason, yet continues to work his ass off daily. While he’s tapered off a bit – although he had a phenomenal catch deep on Saturday – his early dominance during the first week of camp was impressive.

The way Boutte has carried himself the last two seasons and especially this offseason has been a remarkable turnaround from the guy who quite possibly could have been out of the league before he ever got his career started.

That professionalism is going to stick with his position coach Todd Downing for the rest of his career.

Speaking to reporters before a walkthrough on Sunday, I asked Downing about Boutte’s work in the midst of all the unknown and his face immediately lit up.

“It’s an example I will use for the rest of my coaching career,” he said bluntly. “The way that he has just been a pro and shown up every day, I have a great relationship with Kayshon and I value that a lot. So, I’ll keep our conversations private, but I will tell you this…

“He is an absolute joy to coach and I’m really glad he’s in the room.”