I am confused. My understanding is that Butler has not signed his tender, and if he has not signed his tender, then is he allowed to negotiate a contract with the Patriots that makes the tender irrelevant? And if that is the case, would he - with permission - be able to negotiate with the Saints, in a non-tender way, whereby the Patriots could then trade him to the Saints for fair trade value (not the 11th pick), and then the Saints could sign him to an extension?
Or to simplify, since he hasn't signed the tender, is the 11th overall pick now an automatic price for the Saints to Butler, or are there ways around that? I thought that's what happened with Welker.