Belichick is vague on benching Butler

Patriots coach Bill Belichick apparently does not have time to explain why he benched cornerback Malcolm Butler in Super Bowl LII. “I appreciate the question, but it would be a much longer discussion,” Belichick said in a Monday conference call. “There are a lot of things that go into that. In the end, the final decision is what I said it was.”

Which was, oddly, that they wanted to use other players in the secondary and not one who played over 97 percent of the defensive snaps during the season.

He said he thought that not playing Butler, whose interception won Super Bowl XLIX for the Patriots, gave them “the best chance to win.”

Belichick denied that the decision had anything to do with player discipline.

Butler said he felt as if the Patriots “gave up on me.” He said he believed he could have made a positive difference for the team in a game that saw the most combined yardage in NFL history.

Butler played just one special-teams snap and no defensive snaps.

Butler is an unrestricted free agent this offseason. He’s one of many holes the team would need to fill from a defense that gave up 538 yards in the Super Bowl. Another is defensive coordinator Matt Patricia, who was hired as the head coach of the Detroit Lions on Monday. Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels is expected to get the top job in Indianapolis this week.

Belichick and owner Robert Kraft are also scheduled to meet to clear the air over the trade of Jimmy Garoppolo that left the Patriots without a successor to 40-year-old Tom Brady at quarterback.