Malcolm Butler has earned his status as one of the Patriots’ most important players
COMMENTARY
A complete ranking of the relative importance of each player on the Patriots’ 53-man roster might be a fun exercise for a bye week. But the bookends of that categorization are apparent without even a blink of serious consideration.
Tom Brady is No. 12 in your program and No. 1 by virtually any measure that considers greatness, achievement, effect on winning, and so on. Including this one.
Rob Gronkowski is No. 2 if he isn’t 1A, and I will hear that argument for the latter.
Then there are the six players on the back of the roster that account for Nos. 48-53. It’s pointless naming names since this bottom half-dozen is always subject to change, with practice squadders and stay-in-the-area-just-in-case VentroneBrothers types rotating in and out of those spots depending upon the opponent and the condition of the rest of the roster. It took me half of last season to figure out the difference between Cameron Fleming, Darius Fleming and Vern Fleming. I’m pretty sure at least one of them is still a Patriot.
(I will agree, however, that if Tavon Wilson isn’t among the bottom six, then he must have knowledge of some secret Bill Belichick doesn’t want revealed — perhaps what Pink Stripes means.)
But it’s that other roster territory – behind Brady and Gronk, but before the interchangeables – where the most compelling discussion of relevance can be found.
The Patriots have an abundance of excellent, versatile and intelligent players who fit what Belichick and his staff are trying to accomplish. There are at least a dozen players, probably more, who qualify as important but perhaps not quite critical to the cause. The challenge, or at least the cause for certain debate, is identifying those who absolutely are essential beyond Brady and Gronk.
I think Julian Edelman qualifies at this point, and I suspect you’re nodding in agreement, yes? Left tackle Nate Solder might too given the importance of his position and the threat of more playing time for Marcus Cannon should he ever miss significant time. Devin McCourty is Essential, capital E, given his diverse skill-set and smarts as a traffic cop in a defensive backfield that has seen its two starting cornerbacks in the Super Bowl — and two experienced backups — depart in the offseason.
Which brings us to the other essential player, whose performance Sunday in the silencing of the Bills happens to be the impetus for this exercise:
Malcolm Butler has become one of the few players the Patriots cannot afford to lose.
In the context of how the offseason played out, this does not qualify as a surprise. The great mercenary Darrelle Revis got his championship and returned to the Jets. Brandon Browner, who worked well in tandem with Revis but apparently didn’t fit in the post-Revis system, was let go, as were backups Alfonzo Dennard and Kyle Arrington. By the dictation of circumstances, Butler was going to be an important player this season.
In the context of his career so far, Butler’s performance in such a key role in just his second season is both remarkable and inspiring. He first earned lots of buzz in last year’s training camp as a rookie free agent out of West Alabama. After making the club, he was mostly an afterthought during the regular season, earning the ninth-most snaps among Patriots defensive backs. But when Arrington faltered against the Seahawks in the Super Bowl, Belichick turned to Butler. In the parlance of that particular team, he did his job – and etched his own permanent place in our sports lore.
That declaration is not an exaggeration, by the way. I will forever argue that his interception of Russell Wilson at the goal line – a play that required extraordinary preparation, anticipation, guts and athleticism (still don’t know how he caught the dang thing) – is the most crucial single play in the history of American team sports given the magnitude of the moment and the legacies at stake.
What’s been confirmed through 12.5 percent of the Patriots’ 2015 regular-season schedule so far is that Butler is not Timmy Smith or Larry Brown, a one-shot Super Bowl star who endures a descent into professional oblivion that even a permanent place in an NFL Films highlight reel cannot prevent.
The Patriots’ faith in him – apparent in the decision to enter the season with Butler carrying the responsibility of the de facto No. 1 cornerback – has been both justified and rewarded. Sure, the Steelers’ Antonio Brown put up huge numbers with Butler in coverage in the opener. It’s not that the coverage was bad; it’s that Brown puts up huge numbers on just about everyone these days. I’m not sure the 1977 version of Mike Haynes could shut him down entirely.
Butler followed up the opener with a terrific performance Sunday against the Bills, including the second-most spectacular interception of his career, a diving snag of a Tyrod Taylor pass in the first half. He was in the vicinity of a late touchdown reception by the Bills’ Robert Woods, but Butler very well may have had an interception had he not stumbled slightly in coverage.
Even still, he nearly made the play, showing off a crazy vertical leap but just missing the well-thrown pass.
It helps that Butler is such an easy player to admire, not just because of his story, but because the humility with which he has apparently handled his ascent. (No, I’m not holding the missed flight to OTAs against him. He’s done everything right since and didn’t let his heady offseason affect his preparation or conditioning for the new season.) And his immediate reaction after the interception – tearful, grateful and instantly overwhelmed – was as authentic as it gets.
I’ll confess, I wish Revis – who was probably the Patriots’ third most-essential player a season ago – were still here. Browner, too, to a smaller degree. It would be a treat to watch those two and ascending Butler work together to torment opposing quarterbacks.
But it didn’t work out, and if you doubt that Belichick knows best, I suggest you watch the mesmerizing Do Your Job film another half-dozen times or so. The practice footage in which Butler is coached up to read and react to what would be the fateful, famous (or infamous) pass route is confirmation enough. Before Belichick put Butler in a position to succeed, he was the first to recognize, way back in 2014 training camp, that he could succeed.
Butler is already essential. He may even be the Patriots’ best discovery since the 199th pick of the 2000 draft. Considering the speed of his ascent so far, I can’t wait to see what else he does and where else he goes from here, even as we know that his defining moment already has been achieved, his legend permanent even though his career is still so new.
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