Patriots Rumor Butler & Saints working towards finalizing a deal (Thread now UFC Pats Fans Event)

[jah]

He had a verbal agreement with KC that he backed out of.

Emmanuel Sanders' agent blasted for negotiating tactics in signing with Broncos

Ah, forgot about that blast from the past. Just like no one remembers the one day Frank Gore was on the Eagles...

 

[Huckleberry1]

The umpteenth thread speculating about Butler.. whole lot of drama, that all could have been avoided if Butler had a competent agent instead of an ambulance chaser from Alabama..

Somebody knew a guy, and that guy aka "the agent" is an idiot to have let this whole mess gotten this far..

Two days of negotiation and no deal, something is quite odd about this whole mess.. if the Saints wanted him that bad, he probably would not have left the building yesterday without a contract.

I don't think it's that odd, I think that he still wants to be paid like a UFA when he is still a RFA. I don't think the Saints offered him the 6-8 a year the Patriots supposedly offered as an extension last year but I also don't think they offered him the 14+ he wants now. I'm guessing they offered him around 10 million AAV with 20 guaranteed and he wants the 65/5/40 guaranteed Gilmore got.

The best case scenario for the Patriots is Butler refusing a deal like that and returning to NE to play out his deal. If he wants the money he seems to be asking for that is how and when he gets it, and playing his ass off and being a part of another winner next season is without question in his best interests. He can't blame the Patriots if he rejects New Orleans offer. They can continue trying to get another team to offer their first and 65 million but that's completely on them.

 

[Todd Bradley]

I don't remember him calling the Collins trade.
No one is right about Jimmy g yet. And Lombardi was talking comp before schefter was the first to say he wasn't being traded.

Perhaps do some research then?

 

[1960Pats]

I get that players want respect and that, even when talking about a $10M versus $12M contract, that is a lot of money, even if it seems like a relatively small difference in comparison to both deals.

Still, Butler is being given the opportunity to be set for life. For a guy who worked at Popeye's three years ago, he sets himself up as a potential poster child for a greedily athlete, whether that reputation is deserved or not. Most RFAs are not even offered any type of long-term extension, and two teams have now expressed interest at one point but both reasonably have required him to take a discount considering his contract and status as a non UFA. Many guys have gladly taken the money, and I don't think they regret taking a certain $20-30 million deal and regret not holding out another year for $35 million.

Just saying, if he rejects the Saints offer and insists (stubbornly) on getting UFA money a year before he is traditionally entitled to it, and he suffers a major injury, that would be some story for a guy who made $8 an hour at Popeyes who was not satisfied with a tremendous sum of money and ended up back in the financial rat race of most of society. He has made some good money now, but how could he look back at himself, should he suffer a major injury, and badly regret how greedy he was in hindsight?

Take the offer, Malcolm. You've earned it. Don't play with fire and embrace your opportunity for an early pay day. Invest your money wisely and there will be no difference in your lifestyle till death do you part.

I see Butler as someone who earned what he achieved, especially since he worked at a Popeyes and wasn't given the Manning type free ride into the NYFL.

I also wouldn't call Butler greedy any more than I'd call the Pats cheap. Butler sees a chance to get around the Pats strict RFA position, and if he ends up with guarantees beyond 1 year and 3.9 million then he and his agent will be successful. Who knows, maybe they're worried about an injury and want the bigger payday now.

 

[IllegalContact]

I see Butler as someone who earned what he achieved, especially since he worked at a Popeyes and wasn't given the Manning type free ride into the NYFL.

I also wouldn't call Butler greedy any more than I'd call the Pats cheap. Butler sees a chance to get around the Pats strict RFA position, and if he ends up with guarantees beyond 1 year and 3.9 million then he and his agent will be successful. Who knows, maybe they're worried about an injury and want the bigger payday now.

I don't think he's greedy.......I think any NFL player should look to load up as much as they can as soon as they can.....it's a short career, get it while you can

 

[Ring 6]

Perhaps do some research then?

Why? I don't believe it happened. Feel free to show me proof thatvlimbardi predicted Collins would be traded and I will change my opinion. Seems to me he had a lot to say about why after the fact not that he predicted it. I could be wrong.

 

[DSting]

I wonder if a concern of Butler's is that he may be viewed as CB2 in NE. Does that hurt his chances of a bigger contract in the future? Does he want to go somewhere and be viewed as CB1?

 

[IcyPatriot]

Sean Payton: Trading Brandin Cooks was opportunity to get better defensively

"I think, for us, it's improving defensively, and we're looking closely at all of our options to do that. He was a player, when I talk about Brandin, that we weren't actively shopping him. A handful of teams had called regarding possibly acquiring him. He's someone that, he's a fantastic guy.

Someone who worked really, really hard here. We knew coming out of college the makeup was fantastic. He came in and had, I think, a lot of success, and I think ultimately one of the challenges sometimes especially here in this offense is the ball gets spread around some. And yet you're looking at a player that had over (1,100) yards receiving, and it really got down to an opportunity to help improve our team, possibly defensively. And we'll be able to look at it three years down the road with what we're able to do with the first-round pick and then also the additional third-round pick."

 

[maineman209]

All that I feel I can reasonably surmise about the "Butler situation" is ...

- After performing at a very high level for 2+ seasons, he doesn't want to sign a contract to play for $3.91M NON-GUARANTEED. I don't blame him even a tiny bit and I don't believe that any animosity toward the Pats on Butler's part needs to be involved in his decision to take this course of action.
- He also doesn't particularly want to play for whatever the Pats have offered (and I have no reliable information on what that might be). Again, no animosity required on Butler's part. While it's possible that Butler is feeling some resentment/animosity, it ain't necessarily so.
- Butler and his agent almost certainly understand that it's highly unlikely that another team will be willing to pay significantly more than whatever the Pats have offered AND give up a high 2017 1st-rounder as per the formal RFA offer sheet process.
- So, they're shopping Butler around to other teams looking for informal contract offers that exceed whatever the Pats have offered (no an unreasonable course of action at all, IMHO).
- They're hoping to find a team willing to make such an offer that is also willing to compensate the Pats with something of less value than a high 2017 1st-round pick, but something that will still be acceptable to the Pats. I can't realistically estimate the chances of this actually happening beyond thinking "it's possible."
- Although I don't really know what pick-trade compensation might be acceptable to the Pats, it seems reasonable to guess that it would very likely need to include at least a 2017 second round pick (and very possibly a bit more in 2017/2018 picks and/or a player). If that guess is accurate, this means that the effective practical deadline for this part of the process with Butler may be the start of Day-2 of the Draft.
- The rumored trade with NOL ultimately may not be the only option on the table. There may well be another team with an offer that's acceptable to Butler who might be waiting to see what CB prospects go off the board during the first round before pulling the trigger on a deal.

There's also a possibility that Butler agrees to terms with the Pats on a long term contract. That could still happen at any time.

 

[unoriginal]

I get that players want respect and that, even when talking about a $10M versus $12M contract, that is a lot of money, even if it seems like a relatively small difference in comparison to both deals.

Still, Butler is being given the opportunity to be set for life. For a guy who worked at Popeye's three years ago, he sets himself up as a potential poster child for a greedily athlete, whether that reputation is deserved or not...

[snip]

Take the offer, Malcolm. You've earned it. Don't play with fire and embrace your opportunity for an early pay day. Invest your money wisely and there will be no difference in your lifestyle till death do you part.

Many NFL players that come from unprivileged backgrounds like Butler does do not just look at these contracts from a personal finance perspective and a professional respect perspective.

They look at it from an "extended family" finance perspective, and a community respect perspective.

Recall what Revis said when he was explaining his mercenary contract negotiations. Each million dollars represents another friend or family member that can afford a house and send their kids to college.

Butler may not be looking at a $20 million dollar contract and thinking, "I'm set for life" because he may see himself as the newly-minted don of an extended network of people, all of whom are struggling to get by on $8-an-hour Popeye jobs, and all of whom will respect him for life if he brings home the bacon for them.

 

[Soul_Survivor88]

This is a weird offseason.....

 

[RobertWeathers]

The Osweiler deal is killing Houston. The could have been in play for Malcolm and Jimmy.

 

[MitchKumstein]

This is a weird offseason.....

yep. Weirdest off season since 2007

 

[Kontradiction]

Sean Payton: Trading Brandin Cooks was opportunity to get better defensively

And a starting CB tandem of Breaux and Butler is a hell of a start in that direction.

 

[Soul_Survivor88]

The Osweiler deal is killing Houston. The could have been in play for Malcolm and Jimmy.

Belichick wanted Cooks, so it had to be New Orleans.

Bill must love his gumbo, am I right?

*post-joke rim tap*

 

[Soul_Survivor88]

The Osweiler deal is killing Houston. The could have been in play for Malcolm and Jimmy.

Kinda intriguing if you think about it.... Brady lobbing touchdown passed to DeAndre Hopkins?!?!?

 

[Ring 6]

Belichick wanted Cooks, so it had to be New Orleans.

Bill must love his gumbo, am I right?

*post-joke rim tap*

He got cooks. He can trade butler and Jimmy g any where.

 

[BobDigital]

I do hope the Saints are better this year. The playoffs would be more interesting if Brees could be in the hunt for another super bowl trip. It makes the entire NFL better when your best QBs get to play late into the year.

 

[Soul_Survivor88]

He got cooks. He can trade butler and Jimmy g any where.

The original trade was rumored to be Butler for Cooks and a swap of draft picks, but the Saints wanted to get the deal done sooner so NE gave up its #32 instead. The #32 pick is a placeholder, until more details could be worked out to trade Butler

 

[Ring 6]

The original trade was rumored to be Butler for Cooks and a swap of draft picks, but the Saints wanted to get the deal done sooner so NE gave up its #32 instead. The #32 pick is a placeholder, until more details could be worked out to trade Butler

That's a rumor.
and the deal stands. The patriots have no obligation to trade butler to NO. And NO had no clue what butler would want in a contact.
You can't say the patriots are stuck trading butler to only NO because someone speculated something.
What if butler wants to go elsewhere? What if a different team offers him, and the patriots more?