Is this Kendrick Bourne's year? Bill Belichick 'very excited' about Patriots WR

Last year was supposed to be Kendrick Bourne's year.

That was until the team actually got on the field for practice and things started to fall apart in New England. But there were a few months when Bourne seemed like the Patriots player most likely to break out.

In 2021, Bourne signed with the Patriots in free agency and finished with 55 receptions for 800 yards and five touchdowns while playing just 51% of the team's snaps on offense. In turn, he recorded his best-ever PFF grade (75.6) with his highest total in yards after the catch (395), yards per route run (1.99) and contested catch rate (72.7%) of his career. His drop percentage (3.5%) was also the lowest of his career.

With numbers like that, you'd think he was due for a massive 2022 season.

But of course, you probably also know that he did not have a massive 2022 season. The Patriots' passing offense was a disappointment from top to bottom. Offensive playcaller Matt Patricia lost command of his offense, both schematically and emotionally. It was clear he didn't have the respect of his players nor the skill set to coordinate an offense. (Patricia's background is on defense.) Bourne saw a substantial evaporation of playing time, targets, catches and receiving yards.

He finished 2022 with 35 catches for 434 yards and one touchdown on 41% of the team's offensive snaps. And the advanced stats showed he had a rough year, logging the second-worst PFF grade of his six-year career (63.6). His drop percentage more than doubled to 7.9%, the second-highest of his career. He fumbled the ball twice and tied his career-high with four penalties. Quarterback Mac Jones threw two interceptions while targeting Bourne.

Early in 2022, Bourne seemed to fall out of favor with the coaching staff. When he got on the field, the mistakes only continued to pile up. With all those mental mistakes, he wasn't making a good case to get more work.

This year isn't supposed to be Bourne's year. But maybe that's why it will be.

Bourne's position on the depth chart is protean. The team carried six receivers at the 53-man deadline: DeVante Parker, JuJu-Smith Schuster, Bourne, Tyquan Thornton, Demario Douglas and Kayshon Boutte. New England added receiver Jalen Reagor, a 2021 first-rounder, to the practice squad, which also features quarterback/receiver Malik Cunningham.

Because of that deep group, there's not a lot of fanfare around Bourne. Smith-Schuster signed a three-year, $33 million deal with New England during the offseason. Parker signed an extension. Thornton was a second-round pick just last year. Douglas, a slot receiver and sixth-round rookie, has gotten a fair amount of buzz during training camp. 

Douglas has been so good, in fact, that he played just four snaps with the offense in preseason. The Patriots didn’t need to see any more from him. He has secured a role on the offense, and they definitely didn't want to show him off to the rest of the league. (Belichick loves his secrecy.)

With all those players, it's easy to lose track of Bourne. Even so, Bourne might be as likely as any of those players to rise to the team's WR1 role — or, at least, lead the team in catches and receiving yards.

"Very excited to see him play this year," coach Bill Belichick said Monday on WEEI sports radio. "He's put in the work and it looks like he's definitely ready to go."

Now that feels substantial, doesn't it?

It's not often that Belichick admits he's excited … about anything. 

We're talking about the grumpiest coach in the history of the league. And he's excited about Bourne, the guy who was in — and couldn't get out of — the doghouse last year.

"KB's worked really hard this year," Belichick said on WEEI. "It started during the offseason program. He started off in good shape. He's been able to be a regular participant. He's been healthy, he's been on the field, he's worked hard. He's been very consistent in his route running, in his assignments, anticipation and catching the ball. He's really had a very good spring and very good training camp."

That bodes well for Bourne, particularly in that he's impressing his coaches with consistency. It's a boring word — but when it's put alongside route running and assignments, it means something. Want proof? Well, the team wasn't even listening to trade offers around Bourne ahead of the 53-man deadline, per The Athletic's Jeff Howe. The Patriots wanted to keep Bourne.

"I appreciate Bill. Bill's stuck with me," Bourne said Aug. 30 when asked about the trade rumors. "I struggled last year personally. He's always pushing me to be better. It's always about getting better, and I feel like Bill encourages me every day. … He could've just been, ‘Whatever.' But he's always pushing me. And this year, I want to go my hardest I've ever gone. It feels good. I'm glad to be here and this is where I'm supposed to be."

As much as the other receivers in his group are getting hyped, there's also arguably more uncertainty surrounding each of them. Parker has played a full NFL season just once in his eight-year career. Smith-Schuster's undisclosed knee injury, which required surgery this offseason, is "a mess" and "could explode at any time," according to MMQB's Albert Breer. Thornton is on injured reserve after an unimpressive training camp. And while Douglas and Boutte shone in camp, they're late-round rookies who are unlikely to see the field often under Belichick.

While the Patriots might not have initially planned to make Bourne a big part of their offense in 2023, he might just be an X-factor. It could help, too, that Patricia is gone and Bill O'Brien is running the offense.

"I think scheme is a big part of players — how we feel, what we want to see and how it can make us be better players." Bourne told reporters. "We always want to improve. We want to be better as a group every day. I think we're in that where we know we're improving every day."

Take Bourne's praise with a grain of salt. He was the first person to tell the world about the Patriots changing their scheme in 2021 under Patricia, and Bourne was a big fan of that adjustment in its early phases. He later criticized that scheme — "We just need to scheme up better," he said in December 2022 — when it clearly flopped. So it's not like Bourne's early praise for O'Brien is an indisputable omen for the Patriots' offensive success. But Bourne is back to being optimistic, particularly about his quarterback, who seems to favor Bourne when they're on the field together. 

"I feel like Mac is in a great place as a leader and I think that trickles to the whole team. Believing in him and believing in each other — I think we're going into the game with a lot of confidence," Bourne said.

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It's not likely that Bourne — or any other Patriots receiver — tops 1,000 yards this season. No Patriots receiver has eclipsed that mark since Julian Edelman in 2019. But Jakobi Meyers led the team in receiving yards for the past three seasons, and he's now with the Las Vegas Raiders. 

There will be opportunities for Bourne, who has the versatility to line up in the slot or outside with equal effectiveness. That gives him even more of a chance to get on the field at a high clip in 2023 and finally enjoy that breakout year that seems overdue.

Prior to joining FOX Sports as the AFC East reporter, Henry McKenna spent seven years covering the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Follow him on Twitter at @henrycmckenna.