TennisBallHead
Rotational Player and Threatening Starter's Job
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CLICK HERE to Register for a free account and login for a smoother ad-free experience. It's easy, and only takes a few moments.Add in the fact that the outsider is getting more than twice what you are and isn't as good at the job.
While I do understand and don't entirely disagree with your premise, I just wanted to add that Thomas was magnificent in his first season and contributed very much to a near undefeated season, and we have no idea what Gilmore will look like in NE's system. And conversely, we have no idea what Butler will look like if ever we have to watch him play in another team's uniform. How many examples of this have we seen in the last 17 seasons going both ways?It's not a good look to **** around and leverage the **** out of your own players (Wilfork, Mankins, Butler) while paying ridiculous contracts to outside stiffs like Adalius Thomas and Happy Gilmore.
While I do understand and don't entirely disagree with your premise, I just wanted to add that Thomas was magnificent in his first season and contributed very much to a near undefeated season, and we have no idea what Gilmore will look like in NE's system. And conversely, we have no idea what Butler will look like if ever we have to watch him play in another team's uniform. How many examples of this have we seen in the last 17 seasons going both ways?
Gilmore played in a different system, a blitz heavy one, that often left him on an island. And yeah, he got burned a few times and had moments of inconsistency. I said this in a thread the day he was signed. But you know what, he's also a rising star in the league and has far more upside than Butler. Whatever difference in terms of which player is actually better would only be marginal and extremely difficult to quantify beyond the fact that Gilmore is a much more physically gifted player. Butler has been awesome for us and I wish the situation didn't break down the way that it did. But Butler also got beat and had bouts with inconsistency. Decker, in multiple games if memory serves, made Butler his b*tch and that's not up for debate, for instance. And while he was extremely competitive in the 2015 opener, Brown's statistics in that game were incredible. It happens. As the saying goes, "The other guys get paid too." Does that make Butler terrible? Of course not. Does it mean he shouldn't get paid? Of course not. But to split hairs now between the two players is ridiculous. Bill shelled out money at a position he seldom does, including when the GREAT Ty Law was here, and the fact that he did it this time says to me that he sees something in Gilmore that the board apparently does not see. It also says to me that he sees something he may not see in Butler; otherwise, he maybe would have issued Butler more than what they offered him earlier in 2016 and we likely wouldn't be having this conversation.
It sounds in his more recent statements and actions that he knows his agent FUBAR'd the situation by reaching entirely too far. He got caught in the crossfire. I truly believe Butler would rather stay in NE (just my hunch, not based on anything I've read or heard), and I think he regrets (as do I) that the situation became the sh*t show that it is currently. This could be his way of trying to salvage things and ultimately staying in the Flying Elvis. Why go somewhere else to get paid if you can get paid where you are and still have a leg up on everyone else in terms of winning? Who else has the greatest of all time QB and Coach?At the 15 minute mark in the Quick Slants podcast in the below article, Tom Curran says he's heard that Butler is in agent shopping mode. That could be a step in the right direction for those of us who hope he stays.
Quick Slants Podcast: Is Malcolm Butler looking for a new agent?
The only thing "not a good look" is this statement. If we never gave a "bad look" we'd have 43 players and no cap roomIt's not a good look to **** around and leverage the **** out of your own players (Wilfork, Mankins, Butler) while paying ridiculous contracts to outside stiffs like Adalius Thomas and Happy Gilmore.
It's not a good look to **** around and leverage the **** out of your own players (Wilfork, Mankins, Butler) while paying ridiculous contracts to outside stiffs like Adalius Thomas and Happy Gilmore.
It's not a good look to **** around and leverage the **** out of your own players (Wilfork, Mankins, Butler) while paying ridiculous contracts to outside stiffs like Adalius Thomas and Happy Gilmore.
So, you never worked in a Union shop. OK then move along because everything you say does not apply.Let's say you do a really, really good job at your company, and for good measure, your background was very modest and you had to fight to even get an interview in the first place. Then, the company goes and hires an outside guy with your exact job title and pays him more than what you were asking for. Are you really gonna be like "it's best for the company so I'm happy!"? I sure wouldn't.
BB whom we all trust clearly thinks Gilmore is the more valuable corner than butler. Why can everyone just accept that?
BB whom we all trust clearly thinks Gilmore is the more valuable corner than butler. Why can everyone just accept that?
Because everyone thinks they are very brilliant since they watch this team for three hours every week on television. If I had a dime for every time over the last fifteen years that Belichick has been right despite going against the outside perception...
I think that the Gilmore signing was first and foremost due to this: One in hand is worth two in the bush. Could the Patriots have extended Butler? Maybe; maybe not. It sounds like Butler's expectations as an RFA were pretty far apart from what the Patriots were offering him, and probably his theoretical expectations next year as a UFA were also pretty far off. With Gilmore, they felt the price was worth it and made the deal while they could. It's a dangerous game playing around with #1 cornerbacks, and the Patriots postseason success has often come down to whether or not they have an elite guy out there. Bottom line is, had they not signed Gilmore, it would be very risky knowing that Butler is the only remaining option without a lot of confidence that a deal even gets done.[/QUOT
Let's say you do a really, really good job at your company, and for good measure, your background was very modest and you had to fight to even get an interview in the first place. Then, the company goes and hires an outside guy with your exact job title and pays him more than what you were asking for. Are you really gonna be like "it's best for the company so I'm happy!"? I sure wouldn't.
Some of these metaphors are off the mark and not really applicable. Butler signed an exclusive contract as a nobody who couldn't get a job anywhere except NEP. Thus, the contract he signed quite paltry, but he was happy to have a job. After performing very well quickly, he got a slight pay increase on that contract, and now gets a decent increase in the last year of the deal, though it is still a lot less than he would make if he was free and not under this exclusive contract. In the last year of this contract, he decides he wants a new contract and argues with his employer over it. His employer offers to extend his contract with a decent pay increase but he has to finish out the last year of this contract first. He balks at this and continues to demand being paid "what he's worth" despite still being under contract. He then starts talking to other companies and seeing what they would be willing to pay him. His company starts getting tired of this behavior, so they go out and sign someone else to a new contract who had just finished up their prior contract with their previous employer, and they pay this person what he's worth because he's out on the open market. Butler is now upset about this, and finds it unfair that someone else is getting paid what he wants to do the job he's here to do.
The point is, you sign a contract, and you have to honor the contract. You don't get to decide at the end that you want to get a new contract RIGHT NOW, and then get upset when your employer gets tired of your shenanigans and brings in someone else who DOES get paid. You can say that other person is "an outsider" but every player is an outsider until they're signed here. Butler doesn't "deserve" that money more because he has history here. He's still under the original contract he signed. He doesn't get to demand to be paid market value when he's still under contract. It doesn't work like that, in NE or elsewhere or most other industries.
Not necessarily, it just means that what the Pats paid was the going price for Gilmore's services moving forward. Just like BB knew that he wasn't going to match the $10 million a year that Ryan got. Obviously you can say that BB thinks more of Gilmore than Ryan. BUT he you can't say that about Butler, BB knew, that he has control over Butler for another year for 3.9 million. Now 3.9 million seems like a very small amount for a top flight CB, BUT he is still on his rookie deal, he has made a boatload in playoff money (not to mention the free truck) and pay inceptives. Next year Butler's worth is going to be in the 10 million a year neighborhood. You can't compare Butler to Unrestricted Free Agents, because, he is not one.
Where Butler screwed up was last year, coming off a full year as a starter, knowing full well he had another year left on his paltry rookie contract, and then almost assuredly he was going to be hit with the first round tender, Butler should have had his peeps working on an extension. I think the Pats would have given Butler a nice bump in pay over these last two years if they could decrease the amount it would have cost them to keep him after next year. Say the Pats offered Butler a 3 year extension, averaging 8 million a season over the five years of the contract. Butler would have seen a nice signing bonus, that money would already be in his account earning interest. So Instead of making $600,000 last year and then 3.9 million this year, he would have made considerable more, but given up money on the back end of that contract.
But now, that he is one year away from UFA, it makes no sense for the Pats to give him a Gilmorish contract now, when they can control him for two more years at half that money, if they were to use the franchise tag next year.
I would say "awesome". The backfield looks awesome. Sure, it'd be less imposing, but if DM, Chung, Harmon, and Gilmore are out there with whomever emerges (Rowe, Jones...) we're more than fine.
Why should anyone put stock into your evaluations than Bill Belichick's? Gilmore's deal shows that he is better at the job. He has had a different defensive coordinator every season and plays for a very undisciplined defense. As for Gilmore getting more than 2x the amount of Butler, that's been covered many times. There are tons of guys around the league outperforming their rookie contracts who could make the same argument. Butler is not a UFA.