Cornerback Malcolm Butler will reportedly sign a five-year contract with Tennessee worth more than $61 million.
When he was benched in Super Bowl LII, his departure was considered a done deal.
Today, it figures to become one.
The NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported on Tuesday that cornerback Malcolm Butler will indeed leave New England, agreeing to terms with the Tennessee Titans on a five-year contract worth more than $61 million (with more than $30 million of that guaranteed) that should be signed once the league year begins at 4 p.m. today.
The deal marks a substantial raise from the $3.91 million restricted free agent tender Butler played for with the Patriots in 2017 and will reunite him with fellow cornerback Logan Ryan, a teammate of his in Foxboro from 2014-2016.
In two of the most unlikely developments in recent Patriots history, Butler’s time with the team ran the gamut, taking him from Super Bowl hero to Super Bowl zero.
A rookie free agent out of Division II West Alabama who’d started just one game all season, Butler burst upon the scene when he entered Super Bowl XLIX, jumped a slant route by wide receiver Ricardo Lockette and intercepted Russell Wilson’s last-minute pass in the end zone to preserve the Patriots’ 28-24 win over the Seattle Seahawks.
A fourth-year player who’d started all but one regular-season game during the year, Butler was seen crying on the sideline during the national anthem and didn’t play a single down on defense while that unit was exploited by backup quarterback Nick Foles and the Philadelphia Eagles’ offense in the Patriots’ 41-33 loss in Super Bowl LII last month.
Admittedly, Butler’s play during the year had been inconsistent. Still, the benching of a player who’d participated in 97.8 percent of the team’s defensive plays during the regular season was nothing short of shocking.
“We put the players and the game plan out there that we thought would be the best, like we always do,” head coach Bill Belichick said after the loss.
Butler appeared in 59 games, starting 48 over his four seasons with the Patriots, totaling 204 tackles, eight interceptions and 47 passes defensed in that time. He appeared in 11 postseason games, starting seven, registering 31 tackles, the one Super Bowl game-saving interception and seven passes defensed.
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