Malcolm Butler was a sparingly used undrafted rookie before he etched himself into NFL lore, intercepting Russell Wilson on a pass at the goal line with 20 seconds left to clinch the Patriots’ Super Bowl XLIX victory over the Seahawks nine years ago.
Over the next two seasons, Butler established himself as one of the top cornerbacks in the NFL, helping New England win another Super Bowl, the miraculous 28-3 comeback over the Falcons, two years after his heroics.
By the end of his fourth season, Butler found himself mysteriously benched for Super Bowl LII, a 41-33 loss to the Eagles, and he contends he never was given a reason why.
The surprising decision by Bill Belichick, who never revealed why he benched Butler, will be the subject of the ninth episode of “The Dynasty: New England Patriots” docuseries on Apple TV+, and director/producer Matthew Hamachek says Belichick’s decision caused a rift within the team.
“Really what the players talk about at least is this incredible tension between Bill and Tom [Brady] by that point in time leading up to that Eagles Super Bowl,” Hamachek said on “Maggie and Perloff” on CBS Sports radio. “And then eventually, what happens when you lose, right? What happens when the sort of winning-cures-everything sort of aspect of this story doesn’t continue to happen?
“And there’s a journalist that we talked to who was actually in the locker room after the Super Bowl against the Eagles. And half-jokingly but also half-serious sort of says it almost felt like there was a mutiny within the team after that loss because of how much it meant to them, and how they felt as if they had given every — one of the players talks about, ‘I felt like I had put my body, everything on the line for this,’ and to not even get an explanation at the time as to why this decision was made, he says, ‘I feel like we got cheated a little bit.’”
Hamacheck said earlier this month during an appearance on WEEI that “there is no definitive answer” as to why Butler was benched, but it does appear the March 15 episode will reveal how much strife the move caused in the locker room.
“We asked pretty much everybody that sat down in the chair who was around, or even not around, when this happened, and a lot of them don’t know,” Hamacheck told “Maggie and Perloff.”
“There is a person who, in our ninth episode when we deal with this, I think gives the biggest hint yet as to the reason why this happened. I think more importantly, what you start to realize — and this is from my perspective sitting in the chair and talking to the players who were there — is how mentally exhausting being part of the Patriot program was. I think they all bought into it and went through that because every year they knew they could compete for a championship.”
The Patriots hoisted the Lombardi Trophy once again a year after the controversial decision, defeating the Rams in Super Bowl LIII in Tom Brady’s penultimate season with the team.
Butler, though, was not around. He signed with the Titans in free agency on a five-year, $61 million contract with $30 million guaranteed.
The Titans released him in early 2021 after three seasons, and the 33-year-old hasn’t played in the NFL since.
He signed with the Cardinals after his Titans released but retired for personal reasons before the 2021 season.
Butler unretired and rejoined the Patriots in 2022 but was released before the season.
