Three years later, another New England Patriots undrafted free agent with the surname “Butler” figures to make an impact as a rookie.
No, we’re not suggesting rookie defensive tackle Adam Butler, in five months, will make a Super Bowl-clinching play, as cornerback Malcolm Butler did in 2014, but he’s a lock to make the 2017 Patriots after sitting out of Thursday’s preseason game against the New York Giants.
That logic seems backward, right? You can’t make the club from the … sideline. But sitting out of the final preseason game actually is a very good indication that a player will make the Patriots’ initial 53-man roster.
Belichick dove into the topic of playing time in the fourth preseason game last week during an appearance on WEEI’s “Dale & Holley with Keefe” when asked about the NFL’s new roster cut system, which eliminated the trim to 75 players, creating one big cut from 90 players to 53 after the final exhibition game.
“Everybody’s not playing the whole game,” Belichick said. “It’s not like a normal regular-season game. Once you take the first group out, you take out, you call it, 40 guys.”
How many players stayed on the sideline Thursday night against the Giants? Forty-two.
Adam Butler, standing on the sideline with a big smile on his face, without a helmet in his hands and with star defenders Trey Flowers, Dont’a Hightower, Devin McCourty, Malcolm Butler and Stephon Gilmore, was among that first group.
The Patriots added an impressive group of undrafted free agents this spring, including linebacker Harvey Langi with $115,000 guaranteed in his contract, tight end Jacob Hollister with $90,000 guaranteed, cornerback D.J. Killings with $31,000 guaranteed, wide receiver Austin Carr with $30,000 guaranteed and five more undrafted rookies with guaranteed money.
Butler was in a group of 10 undrafted free agents who signed with the Patriots with nothing in his contract guaranteed. Guaranteed money is a good tell a player received heavy interest on the open market. That Butler didn’t get any shows teams weren’t exactly kicking down the door to sign the 6-foot-4, 300-pound defensive lineman from Vanderbilt.
They’re kicking themselves now.
Butler was a standout in training camp practices with the Patriots, joint practices with the Jacksonville Jaguars and then in preseason games against the Houston Texans and Detroit Lions as an interior pass rusher and penetrator. He was running with the Patriots’ first-team defense way back in the beginning of August and never stopped.
The Patriots’ interior defensive line seemed uncrackable. Alan Branch, Malcom Brown, Vincent Valentine and Lawrence Guy all were locks to make the roster, and there was no reason to believe the Patriots would carry a fifth player. Unless someone blew them out of the water, that is.
Butler falls into that category, which is why he was the only Patriots rookie to be included in that “first group” Thursday night along with a crowd of impressive veterans. It helps that Butler is different than Branch, Brown Valentine and Guy, all of whom best can be categorized as space eaters. Butler is the type of player, similar to a Mike Wright, Dominique Easley or Jarvis Green, who you throw in the middle of your defense on third down to get after the opposing quarterback.
Butler might be the Patriots’ next great undrafted free agent find. Maybe not. But this is no longer undue hype. Belichick clearly sees something in his rookie interior pass rusher that leads to him to believe Butler did enough through three preseason games to prove he undoubtedly deserved a spot on the Patriots’ 53-man roster.
Thumbnail photo via Marvin Gentry/USA TODAY Sports Images
