Malcolm Butler Mega Thread

[supafly]

If Patricia ends up signing him, that would shed some curious light on his Super Bowl benching and absolve him from the decision.

Not necessarily. If anything, it provides even more mystery to the situation.

Patricia may be more desperate, or have a different set of rules, or believe that his overall secondary/defensive play can help to mask Butler’s weaknesses more than the 2017 Patriots.

No matter what, it hardly absolves Butler.

 

[JayNM]

If Patricia signs him, it becomes clear that it was BB's order to take him out (which isn't surprising) but also that it was BB only who couldn't trust him, for whatever reason

I still don't know why he was benched (I've seen multiple contradictory reports, but it's been awhile. Do we have clarification on it yet?) and I am still pissed that he did not see the field in the SB (except for 1 ST snap, which makes the thing even more puzzling, since he was being punished, why suit him at all?).

I hope he gets a good contract. Undrafted, SB hero, worked his ass off to deserve it.

 

[JayNM]

Not necessarily. If anything, it provides even more mystery to the situation.

Patricia may be more desperate, or have a different set of rules, or believe that his overall secondary/defensive play can help to mask Butler’s weaknesses more than the 2017 Patriots.

No matter what, it hardly absolves Butler.

Maybe he never agreed with BB's decision to bench him. It's the easiest explanation, IMO

 

[The Brandon Five]

It wasnt about breaking a team rule to the best of our knowledge.
To the best of our knowledge he had a terrible week of practice bolstered by starting the week ill, and wasn’t with the game plan in practice. Zero snaps seems to be a function of having a melt down on game day when he realized he was cb3.

What game plan? That couldn't possibly have been the plan. That D was atrocious.

 

[supafly]

Maybe he never agreed with BB's decision to bench him. It's the easiest explanation, IMO

True, Jay, but that goes hand in hand with my reasoning as to why Patricia may be more receptive to having him on his team. It could be any of the 3 reasons that I listed, or some combination of them. At any rate, it doesn’t absolve Malcolm Butler in any form.

 

[fnordcircle]

I don't like this storyline. The NFL writers clearly lost the thread somewhere. Should probably just write this Malcolm Butler character out of the script. Doesn't make sense anymore.

Honestly it felt like they brought in a new showrunner for the season finale or something. Whole episode just felt off.

Just a really weird way to resolve a character's arc.

 

[BTTA]

He made the final play.
That doesn’t overcome checking out for another one for whatever reason he did that.

My life would be so much better and easier if I could find this much certainty on a day to day basis.

 

[IcyPatriot]

Anyone who has not yet moved on needs to join a Malcolm Butler support group.

I believe Chris Stevenson runs one.

 

[Deus Irae]

Not necessarily. If anything, it provides even more mystery to the situation.

Patricia may be more desperate, or have a different set of rules, or believe that his overall secondary/defensive play can help to mask Butler’s weaknesses more than the 2017 Patriots.

No matter what, it hardly absolves Butler.

Well, yeah, it kinda does.

 

[supafly]

Well, yeah, it kinda does.

I dunno, Deus. It’s an extremely touchy subject for most of us. After hearing the news, I told my wife tonight that “BB lost us a SB” and she came back with reminding me that they may have not even made it that far without Belichick, and that it’s difficult to speculate as to how bad Butler’s mistake may have been in terms of getting benched. I don’t know if she’s onto something or not; after all, she’s a damned Cowboys fan.

I understand that having your DC lobby for you tends to make it appear as though he may have some inside info that Butler’s punishment was too harsh, and it probably was, but that goes back to the 3 things that I listed. Maybe Patricia has a different moral compass, or believes that his defense has some different nuances that could help mask Butler’s weaknesses? Maybe he just has some dough to burn and recognizes the positives that Butler could bring? Any way you look at it, I still fail to see how it totally absolves Butler of any wrongdoing, that’s all. Just my opinion, obviously.

 

[supafly]

My life would be so much better and easier if I could find this much certainty on a day to day basis.

You and me both, man. Just being honest.

 

[IndianPat]

BB said that benching Butler was not disciplinary. The only other explanation is performance related. Another poster mentioned illness and lack luster performance in practice due to weakness from illness. If such was the cause, it would be a one time blip as Butler is otherwise a very good NFL cornerback. Patricia knows what he will be getting in Butler and that is a very important factor in building a team.

 

[holyredeemer]

If Patricia signs him, it becomes clear that it was BB's order to take him out (which isn't surprising) but also that it was BB only who couldn't trust him, for whatever reason

I still don't know why he was benched (I've seen multiple contradictory reports, but it's been awhile. Do we have clarification on it yet?) and I am still pissed that he did not see the field in the SB (except for 1 ST snap, which makes the thing even more puzzling, since he was being punished, why suit him at all?).

I hope he gets a good contract. Undrafted, SB hero, worked his ass off to deserve it.

The whole Butler contract situation was handled poorly. The second we signed Gilmore, you just knew it was going to go downhill from there. Honestly, I’m shocked it even lasted as long as it did. I have no idea how Butlers camp contributed to it, or the Pats organization, but either way, it really doesn’t look good. Years down the road, all parties involved are going to look back on this and wish they had done some things differently.

 

[supafly]

BB said that benching Butler was not disciplinary. The only other explanation is performance related. Another poster mentioned illness and lack luster performance in practice due to weakness from illness. If such was the cause, it would be a one time blip as Butler is otherwise a very good NFL cornerback. Patricia knows what he will be getting in Butler and that is a very important factor in building a team.

Butler certainly had some weaknesses, and one could argue that they were on display this year more than most, but it’s tough to dispute the notion that he’d have been an improvement on the likes of his replacements.

Bademosi, Rowe, Richards—how we deployed Chung, etc. It’s hard to believe that Malcolm Butler would’ve been worse. That said, it’s also tough to argue with the greatest HC of all time, which leaves us with a mystery that is never likely to be solved.

 

[supafly]

The whole Butler contract situation was handled poorly. The second we signed Gilmore, you just knew it was going to go downhill from there. Honestly, I’m shocked it even lasted as long as it did. I have no idea how Butlers camp contributed to it, or the Pats organization, but either way, it really doesn’t look good. Years down the road, all parties involved are going to look back on this and wish they had done some things differently.

No doubt. Since I’m being brutally honest tonight, I’m not the biggest fan of signing Gilmore, for multiple reasons. I just never had a good feeling about it.

It’s quite possible that my NFL talent evaluations need some improvement, but your comment is one of the reasons why it seemed to be like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Again—there’s a good chance that I’m way off since Belichick is obviously the GOAT in terms of HC, and knows 1000x as much as I do, but I was a fan of trying to retain Butler and spending (or saving) the money for wiser investments.

 

[Deus Irae]

I dunno, Deus. It’s an extremely touchy subject for most of us. After hearing the news, I told my wife tonight that “BB lost us a SB” and she came back with reminding me that they may have not even made it that far without Belichick,

Both of those things can be, and probably are, true.

and that it’s difficult to speculate as to how bad Butler’s mistake may have been in terms of getting benched. I don’t know if she’s onto something or not; after all, she’s a damned Cowboys fan.

All parties who've weighed in on the record have stated that it was not for any non-performance issue, and that includes Butler and Belichick. Now, it's true that they might be lying, but that would be a place where the Lions chasing after Butler would come into play.

I understand that having your DC lobby for you tends to make it appear as though he may have some inside info that Butler’s punishment was too harsh, and it probably was, but that goes back to the 3 things that I listed. Maybe Patricia has a different moral compass, or believes that his defense has some different nuances that could help mask Butler’s weaknesses? Maybe he just has some dough to burn and recognizes the positives that Butler could bring? Any way you look at it, I still fail to see how it totally absolves Butler of any wrongdoing, that’s all. Just my opinion, obviously.

It's the same CB they rolled out there for 17 other games during the season. It's the same CB they tried signing to an extension before the season. It's the same CB that saved a SB win with a great break on the goal line, and then became a starter for the team. If that same CB is now being pursued by his (now former) DC, that says something about that DC's faith in the CB. That faith might be misplaced, but it's there (assuming reports are true).

I'm not sure what wrongdoing you're thinking Butler did but, in the absence of any credible evidence of such wrongdoing, it's probably not the place to hang your hat, IMO. The Butler story was basically like the Wickersham article, with a bare framework of stuff that seems to have been true, but with almost everything beyond the barest of minimums being either embellished or flat out lies.

 

[supafly]

I'm not sure what wrongdoing you're thinking Butler did but, in the absence of any credible evidence of such wrongdoing, it's probably not the place to hang your hat, IMO.

That’s a good question. I suppose that I just have a hard time with the decision in itself, and the idea that Belichick could bench one of his best defensive players for the wrong reasons, but as time goes on, it’s looking as if though that’s exactly what may have happened.

At any rate, lots of good points by you, but I think that I still stand by my original comment that this doesn’t necessarily absolve Butler from any wrongdoing, even if the HC overreacted to that wrongdoing. Again—just my personal opinion.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

Butler also won us a Super Bowl

He did..but you can also argue Hightower won us that as well...that stuff at the 1 right before the pick was the tackle of the game..that doesn't happen..we have 4

 

[TheFlyingWedge]

Not necessarily. If anything, it provides even more mystery to the situation.

Patricia may be more desperate, or have a different set of rules, or believe that his overall secondary/defensive play can help to mask Butler’s weaknesses more than the 2017 Patriots.

No matter what, it hardly absolves Butler.

If Butler signs with the Lions, it absolves PATRICIA from being on board the decision to bench Butler.

 

[supafly]

He did..but you can also argue Hightower won us that as well...that stuff at the 1 right before the pick was the tackle of the game..that doesn't happen..we have 4

True. It’s weird to think that in the past 5 SBs, we were basically outplayed in at least 4, if not all 5 of them.

The Seahawks obviously win 9/10 times in that situation, and we lost 3 other ones. Also, it’s hard to believe that a 28-3 comeback is going to happen that often.