Getty Malcolm Butler warms up before a game.
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here is one moment that New England Patriots fans are dying to get to the bottom of and it appears that won’t be happening anytime soon.
Malcolm Butler returned to football this offseason after spending the 2021 season away from the game. The Patriots brought him back to help fill the massive hole that was created when J.C. Jackson left New England to sign with the Los Angeles Chargers.
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The last time Butler was with the Patriots, the cornerback’s time in New England had a dramatic ending as he was benched for Super Bowl LII. Speculation began rather quickly trying to rationalize why the Patriots’ best corner spent the entire game on the sidelines as New England got torched by Nick Foles and the Philadelphia Eagles offense. The Eagles quarterback threw for 373 yards and three touchdowns in the game.
Butler spoke to the media for the first time since making his return to New England and was asked about remaining silent on the events that transpired in 2018.
“It wasn’t hard,” Butler said about not talking publicly about his benching. “You keep your feelings in house. I had a talk with Bill Belichick, we had a talk about it like grown men…it’s 2022, you can’t live in the past.”
Maintaining Relationships
While Butler has made his way back to New England, it isn’t something that he expected to happen. When speaking on Monday, he said that he didn’t expect to be back with the team.
“I didn’t expect to come back to New England. But I always had respect for the New England Patriots – Robert Kraft, Jonathan Kraft, Bill Belichick. One thing I learned, you never burn your bridges.”
No matter what the reason is that Butler was benched, an easy way to burn a bridge would have been to speak publicly about the incident. The fact that Butler remained quiet all these years ensured that he had the opportunity to come back to New England.
Patriots fans will be quick to remember one player who decided to take the opposite approach of Butler. Antonio Brown publically attacked Robert Kraft, ensuring that there was no way he would ever return to the team after the comments he made about the owner.
While Brown did end up apologizing, a return to New England does not seem to be in the cards.
Butler is “locked in”
Butler told reporters that he stepped away from the game in 2021 because he mentally wasn’t ready for the season and thought that it was the best decision for his family.