Kendrick Bourne seems quite happy with Patriots' change at offensive coordinator

BOSTON -- Kendrick Bourne is coming off a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Year for the New England Patriots. From the outside, it sure seemed as though a large percentage of the reason for that significant downturn was due to the receiver ending up in the doghouse of Matt Patricia and Joe Judge during the preseason.

Now, though, it's a new year. And based on everything Bourne said about new offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien after an OTA practice on Friday, it's not difficult at all to deduce that he's elated about the coaching change.

"Bill's familiar with what he's doing, so it feels good," Bourne said of O'Brien. "You can tell he knows what he's doing in all areas of the offense -- receiver, lineman, running back. He knows offense a lot, so it feels good."

You can tell he knows what he's doing is certainly the type of comment you don't hear a player say about a professional coach too often, but it's indicative of Bourne's new baseline expectations for an OC after last year's failed experiment with Patricia and Judge. In fact, Bourne made sure to repeat that exact same line.

"He's doing well. He knows how to engage with all of us, I feel like. He knows our traits right now and he knows where to put us, so it's been good," Bourne said of O'Brien. "We're still learning each other as a group, but he's doing well. You can tell he knows what he's doing."

Without saying it directly, Bourne seemed to be saying that last year's offensive coaches didn't know what they were doing. So a reporter stated that interpretation directly to Bourne. He didn't try too hard to dispel that notion.

"It just feels good. Change is good. It's something we needed, I feel like. It's good," Bourne said. "It feels good so far, so yeah, if that's what it's gonna be, then it's better so far."

Bourne was asked what gets him most excited with O'Brien's offense, and his answer once again suggested things are a lot different from last year.

"Just how it feels. It feels good. It feels fast. Just exciting, man. Everybody's on the same page," Bourne said. "You can feel the growth already, so that's the most exciting part. I feel like we're gonna know exactly what we're doing and who we are -- figuring out who we are quickly."

While the questions focused heavily on the coaching, Bourne took on some of the blame for his 2022 season himself. He said he added some muscle and has dedicated himself to being able to help the team in ways that he felt he didn't do last year.

"I was very disappointed in myself and my play and everything, how the year went, so just giving myself the best opportunity to be the best I can be for the team," he said. "I didn't give the team my best effort, so personally, we all as players need to bring what we can -- be our best -- so that we can give the team the best opportunity to win. And I felt like I didn't do that. So, like I said, I've been grinding, trying to get bigger, weighing more, and just being a more solid receiver to be able to do more."

Bourne went from catching 55 passes for 800 yards and five touchdowns in 2021 to catching just 35 passes for 434 yards and one touchdown last year. To him, the stats don't even tell the whole story, but he already has good reason to believe 2023 will be a lot different.

"Just a bad year. I want to get better every year. I feel like I didn't get better. I don't really go off stats. I just go off how I feel, how I looked, and I just wasn't in a good place," he said. "So now I just want to avoid that. So it was a good learning process, it was good to happen to me and it's always good to learn from hard times, struggling times. So that's what I learned."