In the actual negotiation between the Titans and Butler’s camp, the Super Bowl benching never came up. Malcolm Butler has eight career interceptions. “We’ve talked about this numerous times - fairly comfortable with the decision that we’ve made,” Vrabel said. It didn’t prevent Robinson and Vrabel, both former Patriots, from signing Butler to a big deal. It didn’t prevent Matt Patricia and the Lions from reaching out to Butler’s camp at the start of free agency. You’ve got to pull yourself up and go dominate like you know how to dominate.’ ”īut Butler can move on now, because the benching didn’t hurt him in his quest for a big contract. “People are scared to talk about it, but if you’re any kind of competitor, don’t you think that’s going to light a fire under you?” Jackson said. The Super Bowl XLIX hero became a Super Bowl LII goat.īutler didn’t shy away from using the Super Bowl snub for motivation this offseason. Butler left the locker room in a huff, made a brief comment to ESPN about how he would have been able to help the Patriots, and vanished from New England forever. He didn’t, though, as he played just one snap on the punt team all game. He played 98 percent of the snaps all season. I respect because he said, ‘I did what I did, and I made the decision that I thought was best for the team.’ ”īutler thought the same thing would happen in the Super Bowl. “Nobody took a chance on Malcolm Butler, so you’ve got to be grateful for that. “At the end of the day, you have to give Bill Belichick, Robert Kraft, and those guys a lot of credit,” said Johnny Jackson, Butler’s trainer and mentor since his college days at West Alabama. Everyone in Butler’s inner circle remains grateful to the Patriots and the opportunity they gave Butler. I’ve got nothing but respect for those guys.” It didn’t end the right way, but I’m a Tennessee Titan, I have moved on from that. Those people were good to me while I was there. “All that would do is cause more confusion and things like that. “That could do nothing but mess myself up, bro,” Butler said on Thursday, following a training camp practice. All offseason, he has not said a bad word about the Patriots. He has had every opportunity to rip Bill Belichick for the decision to bench him, or to rip the Patriots’ organization for embarrassing him and potentially torpedoing his free agent value.īut Butler doesn’t. Stan Grossfeld/Globe staffīutler’s approach has been to take the high road. It’s unclear when his documentary and book will be released.Malcolm Butler (left) played four seasons for the Patriots, but only one snap in Super Bowl LII. He worked out for the Miami Dolphins in October but has yet to sign with another team.Īsked whether he still has hopes of playing again, Butler said he is working out and has yet to file his retirement papers. The 32-year-old participated in spring practice and training camp with the team but was placed on injured reserve in mid-August and released with an injury settlement two weeks later. It was just a respect thing or whatever.”īutler’s Patriots reunion was short-lived. But you never know who you’re going to meet or where you’ve got to go back to. I’m not going to bring no attention to myself if I don’t need to. “That probably could have been why,” said Butler, who came out of retirement to rejoin the Patriots. The undrafted Super Bowl XLIX hero never publicly bashed Belichick or the Patriots following the benching, even after he signed with the Tennessee Titans a month later. “(Belichick) didn’t give me an explanation,” Butler said, “But all the rumors that were going around (about) why I didn’t play - if I did something so bad, why did I come back?”īutler was asked whether the Patriots signed him last year as a sort of thank-you for his professional handling of the situation. Sox Transactions, Trades, and Free Agentsīill Belichick’s refusal to explain why Butler - who’d played 98% of snaps during the 2017 regular season and 100% in the Patriots’ first two playoff games - only saw the field for one special teams snap in New England’s Super Bowl loss fueled wild speculation about the reason for his demotion.īutler didn’t address any of those rumors directly but asked why the Patriots would have brought him back for a second stint last spring if he’d committed any serious team rules violation.Malcolm Butler Teases Revelations About Super Bowl Benching
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |