Butler: ‘It is what it is’
No hard feelings on way out of Foxboro
Malcolm Butler is just like nearly everyone else.
The former Patriots cornerback, who signed a fiveyear, $61 million contract yesterday with the Tennessee Titans, never got a definitive explanation for his highly controversial Super Bowl benching. He still hasn’t spoken to Pats coach Bill Belichick since the team departed Minneapolis, but Butler did his best to surmise why he didn’t take a single defensive snap in the loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
“I never got a reason,” Butler told the Herald last night in a wide-ranging interview. “I feel like this was the reason: I got kind of sick. I went to the hospital. They probably thought I was kind of late on the game plan; I wasn’t as locked in as I should be and could have been a matchup deal. It could have been anything.
“But Bill Belichick has been doing this for a very long time. He took a veteran out of Super Bowl XLIX (against the Seattle Seahawks) and put in a first-year rookie, and that turned out right, so you could never question his decision. It didn’t work out right (against the Eagles). It didn’t work out the best for me or him or the New England Patriots.
“But I can say he won more than he lost, so it is what it is. I always have love for New England, Bill Belichick, Mr. Kraft (Bob, the team owner), all those guys. Life just goes on.”
Butler’s perspective was remarkable a month after the most difficult night of his career. A week before Super Bowl LII, he was treated in a Boston hospital for flu symptoms and flew to Minnesota a day after the team, though he attended all three practices during the week, albeit in a limited capacity for the first workout.
Butler cried multiple times on the sideline before and during the game, and he only played one snap in punt coverage. That decision was criticized by his teammates, who have universally backed him over the past month. Yet, Butler was able to compare his case to that of Kyle Arrington, whose second-half benching in Super Bowl XLIX yielded the opportunity for Butler to make the most historic interception on the game’s greatest stage.
So Butler graciously conceded to Belichick’s track record and was adamant there was no love lost for his original organization.
“I’ll always have love for New England,” Butler said. “From the custodians to Belichick, all the way to Mr. Kraft, I love those guys, my teammates. I like everything about New England, especially the fans. Those fans, they really had love for me and they still do. I will always remember where I came from, and I never could forget.”
As it’s turned out, Tom Brady has been Butler’s greatest supporter, as recently as last night when the quarterback wrote on Instagram they’d be “brothers for life.” But they’ve communicated plenty of times over the last month.
“It means a lot,” Butler said. “I got several calls from Tom Brady before the Titans contract. After the Super Bowl, I got a couple calls from him. He was really concerned, and he just wanted to know what was going on or whatever.
“I really appreciate that from him.”
Butler felt the love from a number of angles, whether it was his teammates or the fan base on social media. Unsubstantiated rumors cast Butler in an unfavorable light in the fallout from the Super Bowl, but he essentially came out unscathed.
“I just had to keep moving, man,” Butler said. “I recovered pretty fast. You can’t change the past. Whatever happens, happens. I just had to keep moving forward. I always knew I had a bright future ahead of me. It was just time to move on. Even when you’re not ready to move on, you’ve got to move on, so I just kept moving on, just tried to keep my confidence up and rebuild everything from the ground up.”
Of course, Butler landed comfortably with the Titans. They pursued him more aggressively than any other teams in free agency, and it helped that they guaranteed $30 million of his contract. He’ll reunite with former Patriots cornerback Logan Ryan, who served as a recruiter, and Butler was impressed by first-year Titans coach Mike Vrabel, who had his own storied career as a linebacker with the Patriots. Growing up in Mississippi, Butler was also a big fan of former Titans quarterback Steve McNair, and his southern roots were an important factor in his relocation.
Plus, Butler knew he earned that big-money contract through the better part of four seasons of production, and he was thrilled that the conclusion to his Patriots tenure had no bearing on this job search. And with that, he did his best to put a bow on his Pats employment as he closed that door to embark on a new chapter with the Titans.
“Most definitely, that wasn’t a ‘we feel sorry for you’ contract,” Butler said. “That’s a ‘we know your worth, what you’ve been through, how hard you go on the field’ contract. I deserve it. If it’s God-willing, he’ll show that I can get more, but I’m very, very satisfied and happy for everything I’ve got. I’m going to try to outplay what I’ve got. I don’t want more, but that’s the mindset I have. I’ll try to outplay what I’ve got. If it’s God-willing, I’ll be out there ready to rumble.”