Darius Butler...what's the story?

[Triumph]

Thankfully Mcourty isnt like Butler.

Butler has looked like Duane Starks out there.

 

[upstater1]

Re: Have We Seen the End of the Butler Era?

Bodden started 14 games and played in 15. http://www.ufpi.com/literature/acqfastener-216.pdf

Was he hurt? Because there is no way in hell that Wilhite is a better CB than Bodden.

No, he wasn't.

 

[Defsoul]

Re: Have We Seen the End of the Butler Era?

Bodden started 14 games and played in 15. http://www.ufpi.com/literature/acqfastener-216.pdf

Was he hurt? Because there is no way in hell that Wilhite is a better CB than Bodden.

I think Bodden didn't start against Tennessee because of his poor performance against Denver. I can't remember why he didn't play against Houston in week 17 though.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Look on the bright side. Lots of people railed against the McCourty pick and said if we took a CB at all it should have been the one Rex and Tanny smartly chose...

Kyle Wilson buried deep on Jets depth chart | ProFootballTalk.com

I think Butler may have been the victim of his own circumstance. He and Bodden were pretty tight this off season, like their on field tandem was a foregone conclusion. With all these kids who struggle to get up to speed/snuff here I have to wonder if they aren't one of the ones Brady was talking about earlier this season when he said that attendance at workouts is one thing, how you spend your time once you bolt out of them is another. Are you rushing home to watch game film or play video games and chill and plan your weekend... All these kids have talent or they wouldn't have been drafted. It's a rare talent that allows you to succeed absent exceptional drive, focus and work ethic. Attributes that are often more prominently displayed by lesser raw talents.

I even remain concerned about Bodden simply because he's never performed well absent his next contract being on the line and we've already handed him $10M of his $22M deal. So I really hope Darius gets his act together and fights his way back into the starting mix. Something Wheatley seemingly hasn't been able to do after flasing some promising skills as a rookie.

 

[mgteich]

Belichick indicated that he would be more involved in coaching players this year.
One of Belichick's specialities is the secondary.
All the corners were hand-picked by Belichick. Three are his own 1st or 2nd rounders.
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There really is not much excuse for poor play by the secondary. The secondary should have been GREAT with Bodden playing. With the front seven playing well, the secondary should be in good shape.
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That being said, Belichick will need to take a hard look at each of the members of the secondary at seasons end. We SHOULD be looking at our future. If not, we will need to draft yet another corner.
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BOTTOM LINE
I expect Butler to improve and for us to be in very good shape for the next couple of seasons when Bodden comes back. And we should be able to something out of Arrington, Wilhite and/or Wheatley as backups.

 

[VJCPatriot]

Butler is young and he needs to work on his game. That's for sure. BB's defense is not easy to grasp. I hope Butler can get the defense down so that all he does is react. Because physically, I think he has the tools to be a starting CB in the NFL. But he's got to earn it. Right now Arrington is playing better, that's why he's starting.

 

[SuperPatsFan]

You know, some posting styles are really distracting.
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Some members use extraneous characters to separate their sentences and paragraphs.
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Eliminating such characters would make posts much more readable.

 

[Garbanza]

I think Butler's confidence is shot to hell. A db, a young db, better have real thick skin and a short memory. Butler lacks both, it seems.

 

[Armen Da Pats Fan]

I think Butler's confidence is shot to hell. A db, a young db, better have real thick skin and a short memory. Butler lacks both, it seems.

I hope that's all it is because I think you can coach that up.

If they feel he just doesn't have the talent, however, he is in much deeper doo-doo!

 

[Triumph]

Re: Have We Seen the End of the Butler Era?

No, he wasn't.

Makes no sense. Wilhite svcks.

 

[convertedpatsfan]

For what it's worth, Butler earned his first practice player of the week award last week. Sounds like a lame thing, but look at some of the winners of the award who have risen up the depth chart and taken on a more substantial role since their awards:

Chung - week 1 winner emerges from an uneven rookie season to become one of our best defensive players.
Brown - week 3 winner goes from PS to 53-man roster to contributing on game-day.
Fletcher - multiple winner (weeks 3/4/5) who continues to rise up the depth chart and played some significant snaps for us the past few weeks.
Crable - winner in weeks 4 and 5, and starting to contribute, played some significant snaps for us the last few weeks as well.

Might mean nothing. But it might be the first sign that he's ready to emerge.

 

[Triumph]

I even remain concerned about Bodden simply because he's never performed well absent his next contract being on the line and we've already handed him $10M of his $22M deal. So I really hope Darius gets his act together and fights his way back into the starting mix. Something Wheatley seemingly hasn't been able to do after flasing some promising skills as a rookie.

I think NE needs to address the CB position again in this coming draft.

I would not be surprised to see Wheatley down the road next year. BB is patient and will give a guy time to develop - Chad Jackson and Maroney - but there comes a point when you have to pull the plug. Wheatley is there.

Butler is likely still around for a 3rd season, but I dont know about Wilhite.

 

[BTTA]

This is another one of those posts that BB had better read, because it is clear that he doesn't know how to evaluate CB talent, is keeping players on the team who suck, and is missing his opportunity to hire talented evaluators who have been unfairly marginalized to posting their wisdom on this Board.

 

[Triumph]

This is another one of those posts that BB had better read, because it is clear that he doesn't know how to evaluate CB talent, is keeping players on the team who suck, and is missing his opportunity to hire talented evaluators who have been unfairly marginalized to posting their wisdom on this Board.

Do you mean like what many of us said about Chad Jackson, Bethel Johnson and Maroney?

 

[upstater1]

This is another one of those posts that BB had better read, because it is clear that he doesn't know how to evaluate CB talent, is keeping players on the team who suck, and is missing his opportunity to hire talented evaluators who have been unfairly marginalized to posting their wisdom on this Board.

You're jumping to conclusions. Belichick has a long played some guys ahead of others who ended up excelling. It's not a new thing. Who can forget, Michael Bishop higher on the depth chart than Tom Brady? Adrian Klemm was Belichick's binky for many seasons. Greg Spires didn't cut the mustard. Kato Serwanga over Tebucky Jones (well, granted, that's not a great example, but Kato Serwanga?). Replaced Bodden with Wilhite after Bodden had a tough game. With Belichick, don't assume anything.

 

[crowell33]

This is another one of those posts that BB had better read, because it is clear that he doesn't know how to evaluate CB talent, is keeping players on the team who suck, and is missing his opportunity to hire talented evaluators who have been unfairly marginalized to posting their wisdom on this Board.

Thats pure gold !

 

[VJCPatriot]

For what it's worth, Butler earned his first practice player of the week award last week. Sounds like a lame thing, but look at some of the winners of the award who have risen up the depth chart and taken on a more substantial role since their awards:

Chung - week 1 winner emerges from an uneven rookie season to become one of our best defensive players.
Brown - week 3 winner goes from PS to 53-man roster to contributing on game-day.
Fletcher - multiple winner (weeks 3/4/5) who continues to rise up the depth chart and played some significant snaps for us the past few weeks.
Crable - winner in weeks 4 and 5, and starting to contribute, played some significant snaps for us the last few weeks as well.

Might mean nothing. But it might be the first sign that he's ready to emerge.

BB commented on that in his press conference. Apparently Butler was doing a real good job in practice.
I think that's a good sign and hopefully his good play in practice carries on into the game itself.

 

[JMarr]

Butler is one of Deon Sanders' "disciples." That's enough to tell me that Butler probably struggles in "getting" the Patriot Way. Not that BB hasn't brought in these types of guys before, but more often than not, it doesn't work out in the end.