Reiss suggests the Pats might be concerned with Butler off the field

[Huckleberry1]

Well put.

I'm suspecting B.

Why would Belichick muddy a player's name in the middle of trying to trade him?

 

[JayNM]

This isn't the first time we see this kind of report on a Pats' player who is on the verge of leaving.

This "off-field concern" only happens when the Pats are not re-signing the player. If they were, the reports would he is a hard-worker and never misses practice and film studies so what happens outside is not important.

It's a bit off-putting to see those reports on Butler. The guy never did anything but work in my eyes. I dont care what he does outside of practice if it's not absurd.

Honestly, I think that stuff is 100% not important. Unless they're leaving, then it becomes "part of why" he's leaving. Gronk is prove of that. The pats are always ok with his partying cause it doesnt distract him on the field. I wonder if we ever part ways, all those antics will become "bothersome" and "just one more reason why the pats didnt hold on to him"

 

[varjao]

I'm 31 and single and

 

[MassPats38]

I don't think Reiss is claiming that to be the case. He listed possible theories for why Butler remains up in the air, and that statement - "When you bring a player on to your team, you get everything that comes with him -- on and off the field" - is true of players generally in terms of contract decisions made by the Pats.

He is pretty clear he has no information to support that theory, but it is a theory. The problem with most contract negotiations is you hear agent rhetoric with little from the team or player, which leads to a widely inaccurate view on what is really happening. Remember Mankins had stormed off to Oklahoma in frustration and wanted nothing to do with the team when his first interview had him 15 minutes from Foxborough working out with the offensive line the whole offseason?

 

[bormio]

I don't think Reiss is claiming that to be the case. He listed possible theories for why Butler remains up in the air, and that statement - "When you bring a player on to your team, you get everything that comes with him -- on and off the field" - is true of players generally in terms of contract decisions made by the Pats.

He is pretty clear he has no information to support that theory, but it is a theory. The problem with most contract negotiations is you hear agent rhetoric with little from the team or player, which leads to a widely inaccurate view on what is really happening. Remember Mankins had stormed off to Oklahoma in frustration and wanted nothing to do with the team when his first interview had him 15 minutes from Foxborough working out with the offensive line the whole offseason?

Generally good reporters do not muse about theories in print - about theories for which "he has no information".

 

[Raymond]

Well, Malcolm may not realize, but married men live longer......well, it seems longer.

 

[IllegalContact]

Well, Malcolm may not realize, but married men live longer......well, it seems longer.

depends on your definition of living

 

[yopats]

Obviously I don't know what Butler does in his off hours but I think that was what he was suggesting, not other things.

Bingo!

 

[borg]

Twelve months from now, Reiss is going to eviscerate UFA bachelor Julian Edelman...The Impregnator

 

[Tuck]

I've noticed in the past with Reiss that when he throws stuff like this out there it means he's been hearing things from players, coaches and others close to the team but can't come out and say it. Instead he offers it up as an op/ed.

Interesting possibility. I assume you're saying Reiss uses op/ed pieces like this as a device to report off the record conversations that he's been a part of. Do you have any examples supporting the theory?

 

[Mack Herron]

All the evidence is against any off field concerns with Butler. Instead, Reiss was right in his last take where he said Butler was exactly the kind of player we want to keep around. Another scenario is that Butler is taking the Hightower tour. BB is letting him explore the market to see what his value is above and beyond the draft picks (#1 or similar) a team would have to fork over to the Patriots to get Butler. He has $4M in his hand in NE. Looking at the Saints cap room, I question whether he will land the deal he is looking for there, as compared with taking the $4M here and getting a big payday next year.

 

[BlueThunder]

Funny....If my boss gave me a 4 million dollar contract...I THINK I'D BE SET FOR LIFE !!

 

[MassPats38]

Generally good reporters do not muse about theories in print - about theories for which "he has no information".

When people generally (and here) are musing the question of what is going on with the Butler situation, yes they do. He stated clearly that is a possibility that explains why such a problem might arise. He also states there is no evidence available to him that would suggest it to be true in Butler's case. If this drama is true, then something is causing the rift and no reports of Butler or the Pats explain it.

When you consider surprising moves in the past, they frequently have this sort of twist reported after the fact. Reiss is close to the Pats and actually works with the team (He is on All Access, and seems to be on pretty good ground with the team iteself). He seems to have a pretty good feel for the pulse of the team. Throwing out a theoretical possibility from a list is not ridiculous using the approach of "Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth." Suggesting that might be true is a different issue, and unfortunately those stories tend to arise after transactions of this sort.

 

[signbabybrady]

I been warning you guys about Reiss for a few years now. Dudes just another ESPN puppet. He tries to stick to his old ways but every now and then he goes all ESPN. He will probably blame this on his editors somehow too in attempt to keep his name clean.

 

[VrabelMayeWin]

All the evidence is against any off field concerns with Butler.

That's not exactly true, he has a "past" of some kind :

From the archives: Super Bowl hero Malcolm Butler a rags-to-riches story

But in one fell swoop his football career almost came to crashing halt. After five games during his 2009 freshman season, Butler was kicked out of school. (Though he wouldn't confirm the reason, the only arrest on his record shows a charge for possession of drug paraphernalia.)

I'm not trying to suggest he's a bad guy but what you said really isn't true as he's been kicked off a team before.

 

[Mack Herron]

That's not exactly true, he has a "past" of some kind :

From the archives: Super Bowl hero Malcolm Butler a rags-to-riches story

But in one fell swoop his football career almost came to crashing halt. After five games during his 2009 freshman season, Butler was kicked out of school. (Though he wouldn't confirm the reason, the only arrest on his record shows a charge for possession of drug paraphernalia.)

I'm not trying to suggest he's a bad guy but what you said really isn't true as he's been kicked off a team before.

That is old news. The Patriots signed him and offered him an extension after that. He's been a model player in NE.

 

[Ian]

Just a side note, people need to remember that Mike never puts anything out there unless it's 100% accurate and purposely has held off on many stories others jumped have jumped all over about other players (that were really in poor taste) because he refuses to do it before making sure he had all the facts first.

So my guess is he knows something, and the fact he's not going to really trash him by telling us the details doesn't make him a bad reporter. It just shows the discretion and restraint he has that a lot of other guys don't while trying to give the fans some sort of explanation as to how it ever got to this point. People are trying to find out why the Patriots paid Gilmore what they did and left Butler without a new deal and potentially gone from this football team. Reiss essentially revealed that there's more to this than we might have thought, so at least it now makes a little more sense.

 

[VrabelMayeWin]

That is old news. The Patriots signed him and offered him an extension after that. He's been a model player in NE.

It's old news but it's still part of who he is. Maybe it's old but it is what it is, it happened and it's part of him.

 

[FCB02062]

Just a side note, people need to remember that Mike never puts anything out there unless it's 100% accurate and purposely has held off on many stories others jumped have jumped all over about other player (that were really in poor taste) because he refuses to do it before making sure he had all the facts first.

So my guess is he knows something, and the fact he's not going to really trash him by telling us the details doesn't make him a bad reporter. It just shows the discretion and restraint he has that a lot of other guys don't while trying to give the fans some sort of explanation as to how it ever got to this point. People are trying to find out why the Patriots paid Gilmore what they did and left Butler without a new deal and potentially gone from this football team. Reiss essentially revealed that there's more to this than we might have thought, so at least it now makes a little more sense.

...and likely Jonathan had Reiss "put it out there"....

 

[yopats]

That's not exactly true, he has a "past" of some kind :

From the archives: Super Bowl hero Malcolm Butler a rags-to-riches story

But in one fell swoop his football career almost came to crashing halt. After five games during his 2009 freshman season, Butler was kicked out of school. (Though he wouldn't confirm the reason, the only arrest on his record shows a charge for possession of drug paraphernalia.)

I'm not trying to suggest he's a bad guy but what you said really isn't true as he's been kicked off a team before.

Was thinking the same thing after reading Reiss's article.