What WR Kendrick Bourne could bring to the Washington Commanders

Breaking down what free agent WR Kendrick Bourne could bring to Washington

The Commanders hosted veteran wide receiver Kendrick Bourne for a visit on Tuesday. Bourne was released by the Patriots last week after roster cuts and Visited Washington a day after visiting with the 49ers on Monday. Bourne has a clear link to both teams, having signed with the 49ers as an undrafted free agent in 2017, which was Adam Peters’ first year in San Francisco. He spent four seasons with Peters before leaving in free agency to join the Patriots, where he played for four seasons with before being cut last week.

At the time of writing, Bourne has yet to sign with either team and could well decide to visit other teams. In San Francisco, there’s an immediate path to the field for him due to injuries but once those injuries heal, he could find himself down the depth chart. In Washington, he would probably start the season as the fourth or fifth receiver on the depth chart, but there would likely be more consistent opportunities for him to play. Noah Brown’s injury history suggests he won’t be available for every game while rookie Jaylin Lane is unproven to this point.

So it will be interesting to see what Bourne decides and he may well wait for a better opportunity elsewhere, but should he end up with the Commanders, what would Washington be getting? The situation is reminiscent of last season, when the Commanders signed Noah Brown after teams cut down to their initial 53-man roster. Watching Bourne did actually remind me of watching Brown last year. He shares a lot of the same traits that Brown has which made Brown a key contributor last season.

Here we see an example of a quick out from Bourne. The route itself isn’t anything special, it’s just a simple five-yard speed out, but the catch is what is important here. Bourne shows the ability to make an adjustment to a throw that’s a little high and a little outside. The throw from the quarterback has to be placed in such a way to avoid the defender playing off and driving down to undercut the route. The quarterback throws it high and outside to protect the ball from the corner and trusts Bourne to make the adjustment. Bourne makes the necessary adjustments to pull in the ball and still get both feet in bounds to complete the pass.

Those kinds of adjustments show natural hands, which are always a quarterback’s best friend. Being able to adjust to different throw locations gives the quarterback flexibility to place the ball in different areas when he needs to, but also helps bail out the quarterback from inaccurate throws.

On this play, Bourne runs a slant from the outside left receiver spot. At the snap, he takes a few steps forward and uses a quick stutter step before breaking inside on the slant. He separates from the cornerback, but the throw from the quarterback is behind him. Bourne manages to twist his body in air and reach back behind himself to make the catch and save the ball from the cornerback in coverage, completing the catch.

It’s another example of how Bourne is a natural hands catcher and can give his quarterback a nice margin for error on his throws because of that skill. That will help him quickly build trust and rapport with a new quarterback. Another thing that will help build that trust with a new quarterback is his willingness to come back to the ball to protect throws.