Malcolm Butler Super Bowl Benching Explained

By Djack

The big question after the Super Bowl was why did Malcolm Butler get benched. Days later rumors came out that he was smoking weed, was late to curfew, and got into a dispute with the coaches. Well, Devin McCourty put all those rumors to bed when he said the team knew all week that Butler wasn’t going to play and no one was shocked by the decision. Didn’t seem like Butler knew or Eric Rowe, but who knows, I guess we’ll never know the full truth of the matter. McCourty insisted it wasn’t an off the field character issue that got him benched and that he didn’t want those rumors to deter teams from signing Butler in free agency.

Unfortunately, Butler would’ve been better off if it was an off the field issue that got him benched because the reality is much worse. It didn’t take me long to find why Butler was benched after it was revealed that it wasn’t off the field related. Turns out Belichick actually thought Butler was a detriment to the team and that’s why he was benched. Don’t believe that’s possible? Well, maybe this article will help convince you other wise. http://boston.cbslocal.com/2018/02/16/one-football-reason-why-malcolm-butler-didnt-play-patriots-super-bowl-lii/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

Pretty compelling stuff, looks like Belichick did have reasoning behind his hypothesis. Unfortunately, the experiment didn’t go as planned, and the hypothesis failed miserably. I don’t care how Butler played, Eric Rowe is never the solution to any problem. Congratulations Bill, you played yourself.

As for Butler, I’m sure he won’t be back in New England next season. Where he lands, I have no idea, although after seeing that article I’d be hesistant to pay him big DB money. If he was able to hit the market last offseason he would’ve been paid top 5 DB money, but now I’m not so sure. Amazing how he went from Super Bowl hero to Super Bowl zero in a few short years.