Malcolm Butler’s return to the Patriots this offseason following a one-year retirement was unexpected, almost as unexpected as the teary eyed former Super Bowl hero failing to play a single down of defense in his final prior game in New England, the Super Bowl LII shootout loss to the Eagles.
“I didn’t expect to come back to New England,” Butler said with a smile on a Monday Zoom call with local reporters. “But I always had respect for the New England Patriots, Mr. Kraft, Jonathan Kraft, Bill Belichick and one thing I learned man, you never burn your bridges down. You handle situations as a man and as a grown up. If I didn’t do that I don’t think I’d have the opportunity to come back here. So I’m pretty sure I made a good decision by acting like a grown man.”
No, the now 32-year-old Butler didn’t offer up any new information regarding his benching for Super Bowl LII other than revealing that he and Belichick discussed the issue in the immediate aftermath of that game.
“I ain’t got too much to say about that. I’m trying to live in the present,” Butler said. “You can’t think about the past all the time. I moved forward from that. I know it will always be there but I haven’t said anything to anybody about anything. So, maybe you are going to have to keep doing your research or whatever you have to do. Because I’m here for the Patriots and I’m here to be peaceful.”
Originally leaving New England when he signed a five-year, $61 million contract with the Titans just weeks after the controversy of Super Bowl LII, Butler retired last summer for personal reasons as a member of the Cardinals when he was “not prepared mentally” to compete. Butler admitted he was surprised that Belichick and the Patriots called him this offseason, but he’s clearly glad to be back in Foxborough on a two-year contract worth up to a reported $9 million.
The return is a marriage of need. New England badly needs cornerbacks after seeing Stephon Gilmore and J.C. Jackson move on over the last year, while Butler needed an opportunity to get back into the NFL.
“I came out of retirement because I love the game of football, I love the game. I’m blessed to have another opportunity to play thanks to the Patriots,” Butler said. “I’m here to help the team. My role is going to be whatever I make it. I’m here to lead. I’m a veteran and I’m going to do whatever to help the team.”
Which of course wasn’t something Butler was given a chance to do four years ago against the Eagles. But, whatever happened in Super Bowl LII, Butler says it hasn’t been too difficult to keep from going public with his side of that strange, infamous benching.
“No it wasn’t hard. Because like I say, you keep business in house. I shared my feelings with Bill Belichick,” Butler said. “We had a talk about it like grown men. And that’s what we did. That’s the past. I’m in the present. It’s what, 2022 now? It’s a whole different…four years later now.
Can’t live in the past all the time.”
The one aspect of the past Butler is willing to live in is in regards to his performance. A Pro Bowler in New England in 2015 and a guy who’s had multiple interceptions in each of the last six seasons he’s played, the former undrafted rookie who notched the greatest interception in Super Bowl history against the Seahawks has faith his skills have not eroded and that he can be the same player he was last he took the field in Tennessee in 2020.
“Yes sir,” Butler said. “I’m confident I got it. I worked hard. I didn’t sit on the couch all offseason. I’m confident in myself. And I think I wouldn’t be here if the Patriots didn’t think the same.”
