I've been thinking about Butler and his future. Let's be honest: there are two sides to the Butler coin. One side is that he clearly has talent and works hard and has seemingly made himself into a very good corner - so far. The other side is that he's still an UDFA who had to come to a rookie free agent tryout in order to have a shot at making the team last year, and he's only really played in a handful of NFL games, relatively speaking. So we don't really know what he is.
His contract is as follows:
2014 - $420,000
2015 - $510,000
2016 - $600,000
Insanely cheap money for a #1 corner in this league. Look here (
Cornerback Contracts and Salaries | Over The Cap) to see what corners make in the NFL.
If Butler continues to play like this (and even improve), after next season, as a free agent, he'll be in position to make huge money. Probably something north of $8 million a year.
So the question is: Should the Patriots consider extending Butler now, for, say, $3 million a year over a 5-6 year period? It's not an easy call.
For the Pats:
Obviously the motive here would be to secure Butler for less money than he'd possibly make on the open market. Thus, if he really is a true #1 corner, he'd give them #1 corner production for way less, thus making him an incredible value. But the risk is that Butler is NOT a true #1 corner, and they end up with a big commitment to a guy who hasn't really demonstrated a track record of excellence.
For Butler:
Especially if $8 million of the $15 million is guaranteed, that's more money in one shot than he's ever imagined making in his lifetime (probably). For an UDFA from a division 2 school, yeah, this would represent an enormous payday, and life security. However, it's a risk, because what if he really is a true #1 corner? He's giving up a huge payday after the 2016 season.
So.... Good idea or not? What say ye, Patsfans?
