What is your take on Malcolm Butler ?

I remember he played well vs Emmanuel Sanders

He played outstanding in the 3rd/4th of the SuperBowl

Lots of potential for sure. Hopefully he was able to pick up on a few things from Revis (aside from greed)

ran a 4.4. for the Pats.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...ng-combine-not-only-path-to-stardom/23562617/

Chan gailey tipped them off, says here.

http://heavy.com/sports/2015/02/mal...contract-salary-super-bowl-xlix-interception/

When evaluating Butler one simply has to look at how he's played when given the opportunity to play. Was he ever out of position? Not often. Did he get beat like a drum? Rarely. Was he ever benched for poor performance? Yes and no. While he was benched for his special teams performance, he's never been pulled for his play as a corner. As a matter of fact, he's been called upon in place of others who were struggling and outplayed them.

I think the most compelling thing here is comparing his skills in relation to the others on the roster. He bypassed Dennard, who not too long ago was looking like a fairly decent #2 corner. That in and of itself is very telling. Moreover he looked much better in his limited time than Ryan and Arrington ever have on the outside.

There are a lot of areas he can to improve upon, namely his functional strength in press coverage, matchup recognition and game awareness. I'm not suggesting that Butler will ever be a shutdown corner or anything like that, but I can see him being an ascending player who if he keeps playing like he did in the Super Bowl will be an integral part of the Patriots defense this season. For a guy that has been beating the odds to even get to this point in his professional career I wouldn't bet against him.

McCourty will move back from S to CB1 and Butler will be CB2. This is going to be a good tandem for us I believe.

I will be bolder than most. Either he turns into a starting, pro bowl type CB or he is the guy we all remember for "the play" and that is the last thing we remember....

No one really knows what the ceiling is on this kid. He may have peaked in SB49, and everything from here on is going to be a let down.

Here are some things we do know... (and slightly more predictive of future success that his speed in the 40):

- He impressed the coaching staff enough to make the 53-man as an undrafted rookie
- He leapfrogged Logan Ryan, who played pretty decently as a rookie.
- He leapfrogged Alfonzo Dennard, who was a starter for us; and he actually squeezed Dennard right off the active roster.
- On second and goal from the 1 yard line, with the Superbowl on the line, Belichick and the defensive coaching staff decide to put him on the slot ahead of Kyle Arrington, who has been beloved by the staff in Foxboro for years
- Brady says "A guy like Malcolm who makes that type of quick, instinctive plays, that's one of his strong suits. I don't think it surprised any of us players because that's what his skill set is." Also says, "He's been picking me off all season in practice."
- Belichick says, "He had a couple of interceptions in practice and I remember walking off the field with [defensive coordinator Matt] Patricia and [cornerbacks] coach [Josh] Boyer, and we were all saying, ‘this guy is probably going to make a big play in this game because that’s the way he’s practiced.’ It certainly turned out that way. Malcolm is an instinctive player and he has explosive quickness."

The way the roster stacks up right now, looks like he is our starting corner, even if we sign a veteran or use an early pick on a CB.

As for his ultimate potential: he could be nothing more than he has been for us so far... a useful slot corner. Or if he continues to grow his game at the rate he's been learning over the last 12 months, he could become a really important player for us. Seems like he has been a sponge for the coaching he's been getting.

If Brady and Belichick describe him as a quick, instinctive playmaker... well, that sounds pretty good to me. Don't be biased by the fact that he's undrafted from Western Alabama. How many corners in the NFL do you think they would describe in those terms?

Since we have so little to go on during games, I think that the best info on him comes from his substantially greater time in practice. The word is that he picked off Brady more than any other back. And it's not like the other guys were not trying. I think that this is why BB kept him on the roster: his promise, athleticism & coachability.

Belichick commented that his performance in the practices just before the SB were so good that they predicted that he'd do something special during the game.

All of his comments that I've read ("not going to be a one-game wonder", "more work & keep improving", etc.), plus what I've seen from him in games, are all positive.

If confidence (& a certain amount of GUARANTEED forgiveness from the coaches & fans) are a CB's security blanket, Malcolm is playing with House Money. (For about half a season, anyway...)

I really like Butler, but go back and watch Sterling Moore vs the Ravens in 2011 AFCCG...

Yeah, but Sterling Moore got a job playing in a secondary that was so desperate they had recruited Troy Brown to help fill out the depth chart. The overall talent level was not nearly the same.

edit: correction... that year, they recruited Julian Edelman to play in the secondary, not Brown.

Mcp1982 said:

I really like Butler, but go back and watch Sterling Moore vs the Ravens in 2011 AFCCG...

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I don't understand what Sterling Moore has to do with Malcolm Butler. Moore bounced back and forth between the 53 man roster and the practice squad throughout 2011 and 2012.

Despite the deepest secondary in the NFL, Butler was solidly on the 53 man roster from week 1 through the SuperBowl of his rookie year and had bounced last year's starter, Dennard, on the active game day roster. He saw regular game action and not only because of injury and roster desperation.

Doesn't seem like much of a comparison to me.

Mcp1982 said:

I really like Butler, but go back and watch Sterling Moore vs the Ravens in 2011 AFCCG...

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Moore was often getting beat but he had great hands and never gave up on a play.

I especially remember him getting roasted by DT against the Broncos early in 2012 yet somehow sticking his arm in an stripping the ball from behind as DT was strolling into the endzone. I think Malcolm has a lot of that scrappy play stuff in him but to my eye he was always in very close coverage and his abilities were noticed early on in preseason. Moore was kind of a "we gotta find someone who at least can make some good things happen" guy.

Moore is still in the league and not as a ST-only player anyways.

Sterling Moore has turned into a #2 CB that deflected 13 passes last year... so citing him agrees with others (and my own) beliefs that Malcolm Butler can be a starting CB and making a huge play can be the catalyst for that.

I have no idea

You can't predict how he'll perform given playing time but, based on what we've seen, I don't think you can put a ceiling on his potential. Given his junior college background and one season as a spare, you have to say he's just starting to learn.

He could be a phenom or a bust at this point.

If he were a free agent and Al Davis were still around, he could have leveraged that interception into a Larry Brown type of deal; I'm thinking along the lines of 7 years, $88M.

I think Butler will be a star. Extraordinary story. Seems like a good guy who's had some bad luck. I just hope all the fame is not too much of a distraction.

I never heard a plausible explanation for Butler's 4.6 combine 40 time. If it was injury, why wouldn't Butler have just called his agent and said, "you know, I was injured, let's re-measure it". Similarly if it was just a bad start. It's not like it's that hard to take a 40 reading, it takes 5 seconds (6 seconds in the case of Tom Brady).

One of the greatest of the Belichick genius stories.

The thing, who among us hasn't felt at one time or another that some grade or some evaluation or some award or whatever was unfair? It's just, most people don't have a Belichick willing to look behind the numbers and save the situation. For most of us, nobody cares, like in the Gray poem.

Moore's play wasn't an anomaly. I only watched a couple Dallas games this year and in both he made similar plays where he was beat and stripped the ball as the receiver tried to secure it. Some guys just have a knack for a certain skill set.

Hopefully Butler's is jumping routes to secure victories! Besides they didn't switch his number to 24 for nothing.

PATS16N0 said:

No clue, but according to some people on this forum, he's the next Revis because he got an interception.

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Ah, but what an interception!

It is difficult to assess what and how he will do, as I believe that one of the starting CB's are not on this roster right now.. I suspect that BB has something in the works, via trade or any eye on someone during June cuts..

I do think my eyeball tells me he has a lot of raw talent, hopefully he takes advantage of that talent and continues to improve..

Whether he can be a full time effective corner in this league is a premature discussion...