A Thought About Malcolm Butler

Butler divided time with Dennard as being our active #5 or inactive #6 defensive back. While he had a fine season for a UDFA, and a great SB, I don't think that it is reasonable to expect that as a 2nd year UDFA, he will be our starting nickel back.

IMHO, I hope that Butler will continue to improve (better than Dennard and Ryan before him) in his sophomore year and be part of lots of winning game plans. Our big 3 for 2014 were Revis, Browner and Arrington. I expect that to continue. HOWEVER, I certainly hope that Butler will be getting more reps than Ryan or Dennard, more than the 16.6% of the reps that he had as our #6 DB in 2014.

I still think Butler will overtake Arrington.

mgteich said:

Butler divided time with Dennard as being our active #5 or inactive #6 defensive back. While he had a fine season for a UDFA, and a great SB, I don't think that it is reasonable to expect that as a 2nd year UDFA, he will be our starting nickel back.

IMHO, I hope that Butler will continue to improve (better than Dennard and Ryan before him) in his sophomore year and be part of lots of winning game plans. Our big 3 for 2014 were Revis, Browner and Arrington. I expect that to continue. HOWEVER, I certainly hope that Butler will be getting more reps than Ryan or Dennard, more than the 16.6% of the reps that he had as our #6 DB in 2014.

Click to expand...

What I fear is that Arrington has been exposed, Wilson threw the ball even though Arrington was in good position regardless of who he was covering. If Arrington is starting next season expect him to be a target early and often. It will be like the way teams went after McCourty after his rookie year. He may be in good position but will never adjust and go for the ball.

I don't really understand the question.

Belichick obviously wants 5 or 6 CBs on the team, most of whom will see regular action in specific packages and as game-by-game matchups dictate. Butler has clearly solidified his spot in that rotation. All things being equal, it looks like Dennard is probably the odd man out. Assuming they can get everyone signed:

Revis
Browner
Arrington
Butler
Ryan
(cheap newbie)

In year two of this defense, I would expect even more sophisticated changes week-to-week to fine-tune the matchups.

Look at the alignment on the interception. Was Butler or Browner "on the slot receiver"? I think the old concepts don't necessarily apply to the way Belichick is starting to morph his secondary in various packages.

Butler cannot avoid the pats second year corner curse

meatface said:

Butler cannot avoid the pats second year corner curse

Click to expand...

Butler is used to defy the odds. I wouldn't bet against him.

hwc said:

I don't really understand the question.

Belichick obviously wants 5 or 6 CBs on the team, most of whom will see regular action in specific packages and as game-by-game matchups dictate. Butler has clearly solidified his spot in that rotation. All things being equal, it looks like Dennard is probably the odd man out. Assuming they can get everyone signed:

Revis
Browner
Arrington
Butler
Ryan
(cheap newbie)

In year two of this defense, I would expect even more sophisticated changes week-to-week to fine-tune the matchups.

Look at the alignment on the interception. Was Butler or Browner "on the slot receiver"? I think the old concepts don't necessarily apply to the way Belichick is starting to morph his secondary in various packages.

Click to expand...

Ultimately, I don't really think it matters too much who ends up taking over the CB5 spot, or who takes over the CB4 spot. The point is that we have adequate depth and talent there, which was my argument all summer long when commenting in these types of threads.

Many here spent the entire summer talking about how L.Ryan would surely be moving full time to safety, due to not being able to see any time at CB. Obviously, that wasn't nearly the issue that about 9/10 people here saw with several threads on the matter per week.

As always, these "problems" have a way of working themselves out, through injuries and/or players performing both better and worse than expected. The solution is to have a good 5-6 players at the position, which is what we saw this year.

All of the other questions are just to pass the time in the offseason

The NFL is all about match ups. The more variety of corners and receivers we have, the better. Ty Hilton is still in arrington's back pocket. I wouldn't count him out yet.

vuudu said:

What I fear is that Arrington has been exposed, Wilson threw the ball even though Arrington was in good position regardless of who he was covering. If Arrington is starting next season expect him to be a target early and often. It will be like the way teams went after McCourty after his rookie year. He may be in good position but will never adjust and go for the ball.

Click to expand...

Every season, Arrington gets beat on a few deep passes where he doesn't turn around people think it signals an upcoming downfall. He's now been a significant contributor for five seasons. If there was a major flaw to expose, then it would have happened before now.

Sciz said:

Every season, Arrington gets beat on a few deep passes where he doesn't turn around people think it signals an upcoming downfall. He's now been a significant contributor for five seasons. If there was a major flaw to expose, then it would have happened right now.

Click to expand...

I'd also think that it may be safe to assume that we can avoid some of those types of mismatches with 6'5" receivers in the future.

As you mention, Arrington was a huge contributor throughout this past season. Many were praising him in the weeks leading up to the SB.

as other mentioned, you have to stop looking at it as the #1, #2, #3 cornerback, etc

its about specific roles you fill on the team, when we play a team w/ a bigger but slower #2 WR, you use browner as your #2 CB, if the offense plays TY Hilton or other such smaller + quicker WR on the left, then arrington is your go to guy

its about "doing your job" and BB will start to use his corners to their most effectiveness while doing their sternghts

arrington should have never been on a 6'5" guy, that was a coaching mistake when you have browner sitting on the sidelines

reason arrington was in was b/c Seattles main recievers are quicker and smaller guys, but when matthews started having an impact, he should have been changed

supafly said:

I'd also think that it may be safe to assume that we can avoid some of those types of mismatches with 6'5" receivers in the future.

As you mention, Arrington was a huge contributor throughout this past season. Many were praising him in the weeks leading up to the SB.

Click to expand...

Exactly, I'll add Arrington just came off a game where he pretty much shut down T.Y. Hilton.

I think they put Revis on Baldwin, Browner on Kearse, and Arrington was probably set to take Lockett. Matthews at 6'5 was making catches 9-10 feet in the air. I don't think Butler could do much about that either. Browner was a better matchup on Matthews, and what they went to. I'm not sure they went Butler on Kearse, maybe Butler is more physical.

hwc said:

I don't really understand the question.

Belichick obviously wants 5 or 6 CBs on the team, most of whom will see regular action in specific packages and as game-by-game matchups dictate. Butler has clearly solidified his spot in that rotation. All things being equal, it looks like Dennard is probably the odd man out. Assuming they can get everyone signed:

Revis
Browner
Arrington
Butler
Ryan
(cheap newbie)

In year two of this defense, I would expect even more sophisticated changes week-to-week to fine-tune the matchups.

Look at the alignment on the interception. Was Butler or Browner "on the slot receiver"? I think the old concepts don't necessarily apply to the way Belichick is starting to morph his secondary in various packages.

Click to expand...

Browner fighting the pick (ensuring a wasted wr route), giving Butler a quick either or read. Excellent situational coaching, and even more exceptional execution.

Sciz said:

Every season, Arrington gets beat on a few deep passes where he doesn't turn around people think it signals an upcoming downfall. He's now been a significant contributor for five seasons. If there was a major flaw to expose, then it would have happened before now.

Click to expand...

It's on the outside...

I agree with all the comments, except the comment that we don't have a #1 and #2 corner. Revis and Browner played over 90% of the defensive reps in the last half of the year (Revis all year). They are are #1 and #2. I agree that Belichick uses game plans and focuses on match ups much more than other coaches. Even if Browner is in the slot, I would still call him our #2 corner.

But this is a nitpick.

I just wanted to underline (as is needed every year) just how important Arrington is to our defense. We have one of the very best secondaries in the league, with decent quality in our two backups. Even our #6 has been a quality starter for us.

I agree that Butler and Ryan will be important role players, especially if someone is injured. Against top passing teams, they will get significant work. But, barring injuries, none other the top three will be expected to play more than 30% of the defensive reps. After all, even if there are matchups, almost all reps are in the base or nickel which will have Revis, Browner, Arrington on the field, with safeties McCourty, Chung and occasionally Harmon. Barring injuries, the rest only come in for reps as a dime back or when there is an extreme mismatch, which happened in the Super Bowl.

It was interesting Riess mentioned today that Butler ran a 4.4 a his private workout here. He's going to breakout next year.

Count me in the Butler breakout year candidate. If Revis is back I have a feeling we're not gonna see too much of the 2nd year DB slump we've watched in the past. Someone like Revis doesn't just add a single shutdown guy. He also helps the entire DB unit by sharing technique, being a great film study, and giving them someone amazing to strive to be like that they see everyday. Revis really is extremely important to this defense. As a Butler supporter since the second pre season game I can't wait to see what he's capable of, he's sort of been like browner this year in that he seems to be quite the spark plug for this defense. If the Patriots can get an extension done with Revis I see our secondary being top tier for a couple years.

Butler is not a one hit wonder, kid was turning heads in camp and the pre season. Plus he is hungry, he wants to be great and that will take him there, his heart...

Dennard is good as gone with a 1.4 million cap savings by cutting/trading him. He's on the final year of his deal and is horrible in the slot. I can't see him winning any snaps if he made the team.

Logan Ryan just isn't an NFL man CB. He has ability though and should be moved to safety.

That leaves:

Revis CB1
Browner CB2
Arrington NB
Butler DB + main backup outside CB

Butler's ceiling is replacing Browner as the CB opposite Revis and his floor is a valuable CB4 vs the Colts, Steelers, and Broncos.

Sciz said:

Every season, Arrington gets beat on a few deep passes where he doesn't turn around people think it signals an upcoming downfall. He's now been a significant contributor for five seasons. If there was a major flaw to expose, then it would have happened before now.

Click to expand...

It has happened. He sucks on the outside, and he's susceptible to being beaten deep. Those are major flaws.