Report: Patriots Held Malcolm Butler Out Of Practice For Three Weeks After Showing Up Late
BOSTON (CBS) -- It's been a mystery surrounding the Patriots for the past couple of weeks: Where is Malcolm Butler?
The man who saved the Super Bowl with arguably the most unbelievable game-clinching play in the history of football's biggest game has been absent from the team's OTA sessions. Nobody quite knew why.
Now, we do. Butler has been given the Jonas Gray treatment. And then some.
The Boston Herald's Jeff Howe reported Wednesday afternoon that Butler missed a flight to New England due to weather, therefore making him late for the first OTA session.
As a result of being late, the team decided to hold him out for three weeks of practice.
That ... seems excessive.
Gray, you'll remember, emerged from obscurity to rush for 201 yards and four touchdowns against the Colts in mid-November. He appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated and was the man of the hour ... until he slept through an alarm clock and showed up late to the Patriots facility a few days after the game.
Gray was given the ball just 20 times for the rest of the season. He touched the ball four times in the playoffs, and he was inactive for the Super Bowl.
Yet while many blamed Gray's tardiness for the relegation to the sidelines, that wasn't really the whole story. The real story is that the Patriots picked up LeGarrette Blount a few days after that Colts game. And LeGarrette Blount is a whole lot better than Jonas Gray. That's just a fact.
Had Blount suffered an injury and missed time, Bill Belichick would have had little choice but to insert Gray. That never happened, and it was Blount who ended up bowling for 148 yards and three touchdowns against those same Colts in January.
This situation, however, seems quite different.
Howe reported that Butler missed his flight due to weather issues. Howe reported that Butler tried to fly to New England a day before OTAs began.
For what it's worth, Butler is from Mississippi. OTAs began on May 26. That was the same time period when storms ravaged Houston, which shares the Gulf of Mexico, sort of, with Mississippi. This AP headline notes that severe weather hit Mississippi at that time, with the threat of tornado looming. Assuming Butler was in Mississippi, the excuse of "bad weather" in late May is not a complete "dog ate my homework" excuse. If tornadoes cancel your flight and you can't get to Massachusetts, a three-week ban from practice seems harsher than harsh.
UPDATE: Mark Daniels of The Providence Journal reported that Butler couldn't get out of Atlanta, where all flights were grounded.
While the full details won't fully surface publicly, there's clearly something to this story behind the scenes. Butler, too, emerged from obscurity to becoming a household name in the matter of just a few seconds, after he intercepted Russell Wilson at the goal line in the final minute of Super Bowl XLIX. The Patriots were toast, and they were about to lose their third Super Bowl in eight years, until Butler made a one-in-a-million play. It was Jonas Gray times one million.
Even with all that attention, though, Butler didn't exactly spend his whole summer parading around the U.S., flaunting his riches and wealth. In fact, it was kind of the opposite. Tom Brady passed on the opportunity to take home a free truck for being the Super Bowl MVP, and he instead let Butler have it. Most people who learned that news thought, "Oh, that's nice. Butler doesn't make much money relative to his teammates, so he could probably use new wheels."
Butler did make the most of his opportunity, making the media rounds and even presenting an award alongside Julian Edelman at the Grammys, but he took a noticeable step out of the spotlight after that initial few months.
Indeed, he did not sound like he had an inflated ego when he wrote a piece for The Players Tribune.
"I'm definitely just enjoying the ride and being respectful and appreciative to the fans. Without them — and my coaches, teammates and others who've supported me along the way — none of this would have even been possible," Butler wrote.
He also wrote: "I don't want that play to define me. I don't want to be a guy who had one great moment then disappeared. Getting to the NFL is hard, but staying there is even harder. There's always someone out there gunning for your job. Last season, I was that guy trying to take someone's job. Now, because the hard work I've put in — and yeah, because of that interception — I have a chance to lock down my spot on the roster. And when I do, I'm guarding it with my life."
So it seemed, at least from afar, that the kid had his head screwed on straight. The three-week ban from practice sessions -- practice sessions which Belichick states are fairly important sessions -- would seem to indicate one of two things. Either Butler is a menace behind the scenes, arguing for a new contract or something, even though that's not possible. Or, Belichick is really flexing his muscle as a master of discipline in Foxboro, making no exceptions for anybody.
Howe's report seemed to indicate it's more of the latter.
"The team source said Butler was very disappointed to be held out of practice, but he treated it as a lesson learned and has brought the right attitude to Gillette on a daily basis," Howe reported.
Whatever the case may be, there's no doubt that both Butler and the team are hurt by this three-week absence. The Patriots, of course, waved farewell to Darrelle Revis, Brandon Browner, Kyle Arrington and Alfonzo Dennard already this offseason, so Butler figured to take an increased role on the defense this year. Only in his second year after going undrafted out of the University of West Alabama, Butler could certainly use the work.
For now, this will be chalked up to Bill being Bill. It is, as always, what it is.
Read more from Michael Hurley by clicking here. You can email him or find him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.
