Bourne stood out during Thursday's practice as one of the Patriots' most active wideouts, Phil Perry of NBCsportsboston.com reports.
Perry notes that the effort -- which featured Bourne catching three of his four targets, including a toe-tapping grab along the sideline -- followed a relatively quiet start at training camp for the wideout over the first week of practice. As the coming season approaches, Bourne will look to earn a consistent role in a Patriots WR corps that also includes newcomer JuJu Smith-Schuster, DeVante Parker and 2022 second-rounder Tyquan Thornton. As long as all four are healthy, Bourne's target volume could fluctuate, but the 28-year-old has the ability to re-emerge as a factor in deeper PPR formats if he ends up logging steady snaps, either out of the gate or as the 2023 campaign progresses.