Malcolm Butler and Dion Lewis next Sunday

[FCB02062]

Nows the part where the media relitigates the Malcom Butler super bowl situation....so ****ing tedious

 

[1960Pats]

The thing with Butler for me always was that he never was particularly physically gifted (relative to NFL level corners). All he achieved was through sheer force of will and hard work. Which on some level is sometimes more impressive than watching a highly talented player. Because Malcolm had to try hard on every snap and he was able to earn his way into the CB1 conversations in those 3 years with us.

The issue with this is that as soon as just a little bit of his physique goes (e.g. he jumps slightly lower, hip speed...) he will have immediately issues keeping this up because at his position you really can't outwork your body. If small decline happens to more gifted players they can still make up for it.

Now I am not claiming that BB/Caserio saw it coming and thats why they did what they did but I think it is obvious why they didn't give out the big contract but offered him a smaller one in the offseason of 2017.

It is a shame that Butler let all of this go to his head and had a pretty below average season last year.

Butler did a lot of the little things that won games.

Remember the comeback win at Pittsburgh last year when the Steelers made a big play and got the ball down to the 10 with a chance to tie or win the game at the end? After the 1st down TD pass was overturned because the Steeler TE didn't keep control it was Butler who made the key tackle that kept the clock running and forced Roethlisberger to rush a throw on 3rd down that was picked for the win.

Butler also had a knack for reaching in and stripping the ball from receivers after they caught passes at key moments.

 

[203Pat]

I’ll never understand the “fans” that can’t wait to dance on a player’s grave after he leaves. Butler made a play to win us a Super Bowl, arguably the biggest play in Super Bowl history. Unless the player was a dink or trashes the team after the fact I will never understand the glee some get watching an ex-Patriot struggle.

 

[raduray]

Did anyone see this article stating that Butler requires remedial coaching?
Titans' remedial messages to Malcolm Butler a big concern

 

[luuked]

Butler did a lot of the little things that won games.

Remember the comeback win at Pittsburgh last year when the Steelers made a big play and got the ball down to the 10 with a chance to tie or win the game at the end? After the 1st down TD pass was overturned because the Steeler TE didn't keep control it was Butler who made the key tackle that kept the clock running and forced Roethlisberger to rush a throw on 3rd down that was picked for the win.

Butler also had a knack for reaching in and stripping the ball from receivers after they caught passes at key moments.

For every little thing he did right he often screwed up more things by being overly aggressive. I am not trying to bash him at all but once the entire contract situation happened in the offseason he turned more often into a liability than a net positive. If we had a similarly deep secondary as we have this year he would have been benched during the regular season.

He was great in 2015 and pretty damn good in 2016. Those were years where he was playing well with occasional issues. 2017 turned that on its head and he played poorly with occasional highlight plays.

 

[RobertWeathers]

For every little thing he did right he often screwed up more things by being overly aggressive. I am not trying to bash him at all but once the entire contract situation happened in the offseason he turned more often into a liability than a net positive. If we had a similarly deep secondary as we have this year he would have been benched during the regular season.

He was great in 2015 and pretty damn good in 2016. Those were years where he was playing well with occasional issues. 2017 turned that on its head and he played poorly with occasional highlight plays.

He simply is not the same player .

From a schematic standpoint I hope Tom picks on him all day long.

I question if the even made him a legitimate contract offer and not the token one which was reported

 

[RobertWeathers]

Did anyone see this article stating that Butler requires remedial coaching?
Titans' remedial messages to Malcolm Butler a big concern

Interesting comment from Ryan re: MB putting too much pressure on himself trying to live up to the contract.

I hope he turns it around.....next week.

 

[luuked]

I question if the even made him a legitimate contract offer and not the token one which was reported

As much outrage as the contract offer caused a year ago it seems that once again BB and Caserio valued a player perfectly well. Even more so I think that they anticipated that since Butler relied on going 100% most of the time he would fall off quicker than players more physically gifted than him and had outs after the first 1-2 years.

That being said they can make him less of a liability if they would play him as the #2 that gets over the top help. The only issue is that you really don't want to do this with a player has almost the same cap hits as Gilmore has in 18 and 19. This eats up a lot of resources AND you have to find another player to play the WR1s. And with a dead cap hit of 24m this year and 18.5 next year they are stuck with him with no recourse.

 

[luuked]

Interesting comment from Ryan re: MB putting too much pressure on himself trying to live up to the contract.

I hope he turns it around.....next week.

Last year we heard the opposite: he got burned and overly aggressive because his contract was ending and he needed to showcase his talents for FA. Now the big contract he got to sign has become an issue ? Please..

 

[RobertWeathers]

As much outrage as the contract offer caused a year ago it seems that once again BB and Caserio valued a player perfectly well. Even more so I think that they anticipated that since Butler relied on going 100% most of the time he would fall off quicker than players more physically gifted than him and had outs after the first 1-2 years.

That being said they can make him less of a liability if they would play him as the #2 that gets over the top help. The only issue is that you really don't want to do this with a player has almost the same cap hits as Gilmore has in 18 and 19. This eats up a lot of resources AND you have to find another player to play the WR1s. And with a dead cap hit of 24m this year and 18.5 next year they are stuck with him with no recourse.

Yep. It's clear BB made the right call. Gilmore > Malcolm.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Last year we heard the opposite: he got burned and overly aggressive because his contract was ending and he needed to showcase his talents for FA. Now the big contract he got to sign has become an issue ? Please..

Yea. I took it as Ryan was manufacturing an excuse for Malcolm's ****ty play.

 

[IndianPat]

There are four people on the Titans who are (or should be) eternally grateful to Bill Belichick:
Mike Vrabel, Dion Lewis, Malcolm Butler and Logan Ryan (not so much - he earned his payday in a red hot CB market). Vrabel was pissed at BB for a long time and has said that it took him years before he understood that BB was looking out for him (his long term career in the NFL) by shipping him out of Patriots.
In the same fashion, I think BB was looking out for Butler by not playing him in the SB. I have a feeling that BB felt his pain when Gilmore got the contract and did not want to expose an unfit Butler in a final game that would lowered Butler's value. Posters may bash my reasoning - putting a player's economic value before team goal, etc. But, these emotions do come into play - imagine how eternally grateful BB is towards Butler for making that PLAY. James Harrison said on a TV show with Bayless that Brady told him before the SB that Philly would post a ton of points on us (Harrison was expounding to the breadth of Brady's knowledge extending to even his opponents offenses). It may be that BB knew his team's short comings were the same with or without Butler playing.

 

[mgteich]

I agree that we should celebrate a player that had one great play for us, one of the most important in our history. There were lots of others. I remember a field goal on a snowy day.

It seems natural to think that Butler was a $15M a year player until he left.

I’ll never understand the “fans” that can’t wait to dance on a player’s grave after he leaves. Butler made a play to win us a Super Bowl, arguably the biggest play in Super Bowl history. Unless the player was a dink or trashes the team after the fact I will never understand the glee some get watching an ex-Patriot struggle.

 

[rochrist]

He simply is not the same player .

From a schematic standpoint I hope Tom picks on him all day long.

I question if the even made him a legitimate contract offer and not the token one which was reported

The 'token' one was a pretty good one. Better than he deserves in retrospect. 6 years, 66 million with 25 guaranteed.

 

[RobertWeathers]

The 'token' one was a pretty good one. Better than he deserves in retrospect. 6 years, 66 million with 25 guaranteed.

Yeah. I dunno know. Yates says it was the last offer but it must have come before Gilmore's.

 

[Kdo5]

I’ll never understand the “fans” that can’t wait to dance on a player’s grave after he leaves. Butler made a play to win us a Super Bowl, arguably the biggest play in Super Bowl history. Unless the player was a dink or trashes the team after the fact I will never understand the glee some get watching an ex-Patriot struggle.

I still love Malcolm and really do root for him to succeed. So it is sad to see that he is struggling over in Tenn.

 

[zipster9]

I hope Gronk plays. I'd still have Patterson play some RB. You don't want Michel to get in too early, since next week is a BYE.

Gronk, Edelman, Gordon, Hogan with White.

Who do you double up?

 

[TheBostonStraggler]

Frequently enough the case is, and is likelier than not the case with MB, a new player goes to a new team with new coaches and new teammates along with a new system, and player doesn't play the same as he did for his previous team.
That's a ton of changes to adapt to. It's just reality that not all players find a way or even can adapt in a productive way.

MB had a span with the Patriots where he played well. That level was unfortunately not the same toward the end of 2017. Was that sign of things to come? I have no idea. It's hardly unique to MB to have a bad span of games -- just like it isn't unique to MB to go to a new team and not perform at the level he had set with a previous team. Just is what it is.

IMHO, nothing but my hunch, MB's level in 2015 is probably his high water mark he may not see again. Regardless, he made the Int heard round the world, crucial to the Patriots' SB win, made a name for himself, played a span of upper tier level CB play(a notoriously difficult position to maintain a high level on), and parlayed that into what should be a lifetime of financial security. No one needs to feel bad for MB. For a UFA he hit one seriously lofty height.

 

[1960Pats]

For every little thing he did right he often screwed up more things by being overly aggressive. I am not trying to bash him at all but once the entire contract situation happened in the offseason he turned more often into a liability than a net positive. If we had a similarly deep secondary as we have this year he would have been benched during the regular season.

He was great in 2015 and pretty damn good in 2016. Those were years where he was playing well with occasional issues. 2017 turned that on its head and he played poorly with occasional highlight plays.

I'm not saying his mistakes didn't happen. I just didn't notice them as much.

 

[jah]

There are four people on the Titans who are (or should be) eternally grateful to Bill Belichick:
Mike Vrabel, Dion Lewis, Malcolm Butler and Logan Ryan (not so much - he earned his payday in a red hot CB market). Vrabel was pissed at BB for a long time and has said that it took him years before he understood that BB was looking out for him (his long term career in the NFL) by shipping him out of Patriots.
In the same fashion, I think BB was looking out for Butler by not playing him in the SB. I have a feeling that BB felt his pain when Gilmore got the contract and did not want to expose an unfit Butler in a final game that would lowered Butler's value. Posters may bash my reasoning - putting a player's economic value before team goal, etc. But, these emotions do come into play - imagine how eternally grateful BB is towards Butler for making that PLAY. James Harrison said on a TV show with Bayless that Brady told him before the SB that Philly would post a ton of points on us (Harrison was expounding to the breadth of Brady's knowledge extending to even his opponents offenses). It may be that BB knew his team's short comings were the same with or without Butler playing.

RE: Logan Ryan -- Titans fans seem to consider him one of their best defenders, although not with a ton of enthusiasm. Must be the same solid player he was here. I mention this because I think it's often assumed he busted for them.