Malcolm Goes! To Tennessee
(A brief pause while we celebrate the A+ wordsmithing in that headline. With a second book being published later in the year I’m officially a Man of Letters now and have to keep the wordplay at a high level.)
Well that escalated quickly. It’s not like we didn’t see Malcolm Butler’s departure a moral certainty, washed away in a flash flood of tears when he was told he was sitting out Super Bowl LII. Even the suddenness of it isn’t a surprise given he’s considered one of the best free agents at any position.
If anything is a surprise, it’s how much people out of the Patriots organization thought of him. The Titans’ GM is Jon Robinson, who served in different capacities in the Pats scouting department from 2002-13. Which means he wasn’t here when Butler was, but he’s still a branch off the Belichick personnel tree. And the Titans rookie head coach is, of course, Mike Vrabel, who is … well, Mike Vrabel. And they thought enough of Butler to not only sign him for as much as $61 million, but for $30 million guaranteed, which by the standards of cornerbacks is considered a metric shit ton. If I’ve read this correctly (a dubious proposition at best) that is more guaranteed money than all but two other corners in the game are making.
Which just piles another block of mystery on top of the enigmatic Jenga pile that was the decision to bench him in the first place. Do any of us think that if Belichick really thought Butler is a bad guy, uncoachable or breaking down physically and about to cost someone a mountain of money that he’d let two of his proteges be the ones writing the check? Not for a second. If Butler really was a malcontent he’d have waved Robinson and Vrabel off and let him sign with someone he’s got a grudge against to destroy them from within. Like Baltimore or Indy. So this either means Robinson and Vrabel vehemently disagree with the player assessment of the man they owe their careers to or that Belichick really does like the kid. And I’m not sure which of those makes the least sense.
For Butler, this is a great American success story and you have to feel great for the man. He came from nothing. He had to sandwich two trips to community college around a failed attempt to stick at Alcorn State. Went to West Alabama. Went undrafted. Was forced into duty late in Super Bowl XLIX and made a good four or five critical, game-saving plays before making the one he’ll be remembered for the rest of time. And then rather than just let that be his one hit – the 201-yard, 4-TD game to his Jonas Gray or the “I Try” to his Macy Gray – he kept plugging and made himself into one of the top cornerbacks in the league. And now, one of the richest.
For the Patriots, it means that free agency hasn’t even officially started yet and they’ve already lost two of the guys who made game-winning plays in their fourth championship just four Super Bowls ago. At least we’ll never, ever stop having this: