Butler's agent in search for 1st rounder + big contract

[long distance]

People act like the player has no leverage, he can just go to practice and dog it and pretty much force himself out.

He can pretty much be a waste of $3.9 million if that's the way him and his agent want to play it.

Gilmore is under pressure from game 1, if he turns out to be worse than Butler who gets run out of town.

They've given up $40m guaranteed for a question mark when they could of had a known performer for less.

Its not how people act. Butler indeed has no leverage. His faith is entirely in BBs hands unless he finds a 1st + big contract which seems unlikely.

If his frustration gets the better of him (sitting out, not playing his guts out) he will hurt himself further. Its not too difficult - even for very good players - to find themselves on the outside of the league. Historically good and extremely deep class of corners is coming to the league. That's 30+ new corners. Plus some Butlers nobody cares for at the moment as well. He is playing with fire.

 

[long distance]

 

[MainePatsFan26]

Kind of feel bad for Butler because his agent is doing him no favors. No team is parting with a 1st round pick to give him Gilmore money or else they would have just signed Gilmore.

But just so people are ready for it if and when they can't find a team do that Butler's idiot agent will likely advise him to sit out as long as he can without it effecting his UFA status. So could be very possible Butler doesn't play until I think week 9.

I'd expect more from an agent, but I wonder if the Pats are trolling Lombardi. Get him to float the 1st round draft pick idea publicly and when it fails, get Butler to see his agent is overvaluing him. The other scenario is that an overanxious team gets snared in and gives us a 1st round pick. Either way, we win.

The only way we don't is if Butler and his ego become too much for him to remain a Patriot. If that's the case, though, it just proves he needs to be shipped out all the more.

 

[MainePatsFan26]

Its not how people act. Butler indeed has no leverage. His faith is entirely in BBs hands unless he finds a 1st + big contract which seems unlikely.

If his frustration gets the better of him (sitting out, not playing his guts out) he will hurt himself further. Its not too difficult - even for very good players - to find themselves on the outside of the league. Historically good and extremely deep class of corners is coming to the league. That's 30+ new corners. Plus some Butlers nobody cares for at the moment as well. He is playing with fire.

Would anyone be a fan of letting Hightower go and putting our faith in having two solid to elite corners? With teams likely having to play from behind against us, I'd like to have a number of legitimate cornerbacks and safeties -- and defensive ends -- rather than spend the major dough on linebackers. We've had good luck with churning through linebackers these past years on the cheap. Corners are another story: investing in elite guys at that position will help to slow other teams down who are trying to keep up with Brady, Edelman, Gronk, Cooks, White, Lewis, etc. How does spending the farm on Hightower, no matter how great he is, provide us the advantage of having a fantastic group of corners?

 

[patsfan13]

This really has escalated. Either way, I will always be ok with the player being selfish in the off-season. Butler has been nothing but a great soldier during the season but he owes no one nothing but himself in the off-season.

I don't begrudge him at all.
He did his part here to earn whatever he gets, from who ever gives it to him.
It's business, not personal.

I agree, this issue here is the inexperience of his agent dealing with the NFL rather than squeezing an insurance company for $$$. He screwed up this process and (inadvertently) hurt his client.


The 'agent' is a putz.

 

[patsfanincleveland]

Well that's on his inexperienced, incompetent agent. It's pretty much an unwritten rule that when a player wants a deal before they are a UFA that they take less to buy off the low-cost team controlled years (see Gronk) If Butler went to the Pats and said 4 years/$40m he would get it. Instead Pats have him for $3.9m this year and have no incentive to give him a huge deal and yet he's sitting there wanting 5 years/$65m after 2 years of good play. There is absolutely no reason why the Pats would give that a year earlier than they should unless they had an incentive to which was Butler giving them a discount but getting a bump in pay.

Add in the fact that this draft is loaded in secondary personnel.

Highly doubt that anyone is giving a 1st with this draft.

Maybe BB is getting MB's agent schooled because the only type of team that would agree is a serious contender missing only a CB.

Houston is the only team that even remotely fits that.

What's interesting is a 4/40 million this year gets MB to a second contract. A 5/65 million next year is academic.

 

[DarrylS]

This is a classic example how a "guy" with no knowledge of how these things work somehow becomes involved in the world of sports agents, can really f... things up for his client.

I think he should get "paid" but first of all sign the tender.. then things can happen for Malcolm, the Collective Bargaining Agreement has Malcolm by the short hairs..

Butler, because of his agent, is coming across as a petulant child right now.. and that seems to be an unfair portrait of him.

Fire your agent Malcolm get better advice...

 

[Kargetina]

It's a really unfortunate situation that i really think was escalated by the Gilmore signing.

From Butler's perspective, he's a Super Bowl hero that went on to replace Darrelle Revis the very next year, made the Pro Bowl and then this year became an All Pro, Top-5 PFF graded corner in the league being a major part of the best Pats defense since 2003/04.

We sign a guy that has never been an All-Pro, a CB that hasn't played a playoff game in a 5-year career to a record contract, insinuating in one way or another that Butler is not the #1 CB for this team regardless of what he's done the last 2 years.

So now, even after all he's done for the team, if he stays here, he becomes CB #1B at best, playing for $4 million while the other guy that hasn't done anything for this team and doesn't even have individual credentials of Butler gets to play for $13 million.

I'm not surprised that he wants out. We are a ruthless organisation, that's what makes us the very best, only we could give up Chandler Jones and Jamie Collins and become the best rated defense in the league. But from an individual perspective it's hard to accept how insignificant you really are, unless you are Tom Brady.

On the other hand, we don't know what made the Pats splash all that money on Gilmore. Did they think Butler is gone after this year so they had to secure a #1 CB? Did they think pairing Gilmore with Butler would be creating a Top-3 secondary but didn't expect Butler and his team to react like they have? All speculations at this point.

I, as a fan, am very disappointed in any case. Yes, everyone is replaceable but we root for the players as much as we do for the team. There's no team without individuals. And Butler's has been a humble kid who became the rarest of things, a Super Bowl hero who didn't let the moment define him and gave us two great seasons after. However this ends, i will always greatly appreciate his contributions to my favorite team.

 

[SuperStang83]

However, two teams that might be interested in Butler are the Eagles and Titans as both of them have two 1st rounders this draft.

I'm pretty sure the Eagles only have one first rounder. They traded their original one to move up and get Wentz. The one that they have is the one they got from the Vikings for Bradford.

 

[1960Pats]

Can't say what Butler will or won't do but, Mankins legit got screwed on a long ass rookie deal and then the weird CBA extending RFAs and he showed up mid season in shape and ready to go. Butler hasn't even played long enough to be an UFA. He's got nothing to whine about.

I haven't heard Butler whining.

 

[Le Numéro Douze]

Once no one bites, I think the situation will become salvageable. The Patriots are letting him explore and they probably hope he and his team will realize that they have severely overrated the market for an RFA with a first round tender. No one will give us a 1st for the right to overpay Malcolm. It might drag a few weeks, but I am confident Malcolm will be on the field in September. Next year? Probably not.

 

[nowayback]

Btw he had a big part in winning a SB, but a few plays before our "shutdown " corner almost lost a SB .
Just like the Pats don't take into consideration what he has done for them, Butler doesn't takes take into consideration that the Pats made him . Fair enough, but it goes both ways in this situation .
He could be 29 when the pats have to let him go . He is not Sherman or Revis .
I cant imagine anyone giving a 1st in a deep draft and esp cb's and 13 a year. His only chance is a team gives a 1st but pays him 8-10 a year.
No matter what the worst scenario for Pats is they get a 1st and he is gone . I'll take that . Rather he stays for 2 yrs though .

 

[1960Pats]

Maybe Butler should stop being a crybaby and worry about himself instead of focusing on what everyone else has in their bank accounts.

I haven't seen or heard Butler crying.

 

[Kontradiction]

Btw he had a big part in winning a SB, but a few plays before our "shutdown " corner almost lost a SB .
Just like the Pats don't take into consideration what he has done for them, Butler doesn't takes take into consideration that the Pats made him . Fair enough, but it goes both ways in this situation .
He could be 29 when the pats have to let him go . He is not Sherman or Revis .
I cant imagine anyone giving a 1st in a deep draft and esp cb's and 13 a year. His only chance is a team gives a 1st but pays him 8-10 a year.
No matter what the worst scenario for Pats is they get a 1st and he is gone . I'll take that . Rather he stays for 2 yrs though .

What? The coverage was about as good as it could get on the circus catch and he actually showed enough awareness to see that the receiver had caught the ball and pushed him out of bounds.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Btw he had a big part in winning a SB, but a few plays before our "shutdown " corner almost lost a SB .
Just like the Pats don't take into consideration what he has done for them, Butler doesn't takes take into consideration that the Pats made him . Fair enough, but it goes both ways in this situation .
He could be 29 when the pats have to let him go . He is not Sherman or Revis .
I cant imagine anyone giving a 1st in a deep draft and esp cb's and 13 a year. His only chance is a team gives a 1st but pays him 8-10 a year.
No matter what the worst scenario for Pats is they get a 1st and he is gone . I'll take that . Rather he stays for 2 yrs though .

The more I think about it , the more unlikely a team will give up a 1st and sign him to a fat deal.

 

[FoxboroFlyer]

The more I think about it , the more unlikely a team will give up a 1st and sign him to a fat deal.

I agree.
What other team is gonna want to deal with his agent?
Guy is hurting his client in a big way.

 

[DaBronxPats14]

What Pats gave Gilmore twisted Butler's Agent and he ran with it from there. This just spiraled out of control and with all these reports it doesn't look like it's going to end up good keeping him. I hope I'm wrong.

 

[long distance]

Would anyone be a fan of letting Hightower go and putting our faith in having two solid to elite corners? With teams likely having to play from behind against us, I'd like to have a number of legitimate cornerbacks and safeties -- and defensive ends -- rather than spend the major dough on linebackers. We've had good luck with churning through linebackers these past years on the cheap. Corners are another story: investing in elite guys at that position will help to slow other teams down who are trying to keep up with Brady, Edelman, Gronk, Cooks, White, Lewis, etc. How does spending the farm on Hightower, no matter how great he is, provide us the advantage of having a fantastic group of corners?

I don't think its a game of one or the other.
Pats clearly wanted to keep both. They'll bring back every one that agrees in the ballpark of their evaluation.

Good point on corners re. game flow though.

 

[farn]

Unattached to the players, and perfectly fine with moving on from whomever BB feels the team should...

But to all of a sudden characterize Butler as greedy or incompetent or the type of person who will mail it in for 2017 is beyond ridiculous. By all accounts, he has been a good teammate. His production and effort have been remarkable. NE has greatly benefitted from both his talent AND his undrafted status (freeing lotsa $ for others).

I'm ok w Butler moving on. But I have nothing but good things to say about his stay in NE if "this is it".

 

[long distance]

The frustration of Butler of course is understandable. There's ego, expectations, but there are also market implications.

With Gilmore signed Butler is not clear #1 CB anymore on Pats . but maybe also in league minds. So its not only about having to swallow certain demotion after a great season but also concern about possible market reaction if he plays out the tender . especially if BB puts him in Ryan's role in 2017 which is likely; what would be best for the team could hurt his market value next march.

So, as much as I would love to see Gilmore and Butler play together, I believe two #1 corners on one team is not the most organic situation and the natural thing is that Butler indeed finds new home.

But BB will not give him away under value so if he doesn't sign the tender before the draft he might find himself in dangerous territory.

I love Malcolm on the field. But..

No man is an island - and that goes double for Butler.