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Report: Malcolm Butler looking for a raise

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Cornerback Malcolm Butler was one of 17 players who didn’t participate in Thursday’s voluntary organized team activity. While the reason for his absence is not known, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was related to his contract status. Butler has told teammates and friends he plans to push for an adjustment to his contract before the 2016 season, and staying off the field in voluntary workouts would be a decision that limits injury risk and also could be viewed as a statement to the organization that he’s unhappy with the status quo and/or the movement/specifics of contract talks.

Source: New England Patriots- ESPN

Malcolm Butler Contract Analysis

Mike Reiss reports today in his must-read Sunday notes column that Malcolm Butler’s absence from at least media access to Thursday’s OTAs could be related to that he’s looking for the Patriots to sweeten his contract.

Butler is one of the big four of free agents the Patriots will have to deal with next offseason, the others being Dont’a Hightower, Jamie Collins and Jabaal Sheard. Hightower seemed like the one that most of us thought would get done first since his high cap number could be reduced to open up more overall cap space.

malcolm butler contractNow Butler could change things, or perhaps accelerate the timeline a bit. It’s been a while since the Pats have had a contract hold out during the offseason, and it brings back some bad memories, often in the past this has not ended well.

There’s no question, Butler deserves a raise but as is always the case with the Patriots and money, there could be a disconnect between how much Butler thinks he should get and what the Patriots are willing to pay him.

Butler stepped right into the top cornerback spot last season and despite some hiccups, he always bounced back and had a Pro Bowl season. The Patriots deployed him on the quickest opposing receiver, including the likes of Antonio Brown and Odell Beckham Jr.. Even when Butler gave up catches he was always right around the ball.

I feel comfortable calling Butler the most promising young Patriots cornerback since Ty Law. He has it all — can play press man, has a short memory and is physical in every aspect.

Butler will be a restricted free agent next offseason, so the Patriots were hoping they could get him for both 2016 and 2017 at a far lower rate than a team would have to pay their best corner.

Put it this way — last season Butler was making 1/32nd what Darrelle Revis made. That’s obscene value and Butler surely took note.

So now the Patriots money dance begins once again. We’ve seen both ends of the spectrum — in Deion Branch’s case in 2006 it ended with the player getting shipped out of town long before he should’ve been. Or in Richard Seymour’s case the Pats gave him a raise for the final year of his rookie deal after he held out, then worked out another deal the following offseason.

The Pats have been hesitant to give out top dollar long-term deals to cornerbacks in the past, but Butler is different as is the game now. You need man coverage corners to compete against good quarterbacks and Butler is the Pats best man coverage corner.

Hopefully they can avoid things unravelling like they did with Branch and find some common ground sooner than later. Is Butler willing to keep sitting out into training camp? Or was this a one-time message hoped to spur some early action?

The Pats have plenty of contract work to do on defense and while we thought Butler would get a new deal eventually, it might happen sooner than later now. But Hightower and Collins remain the first priorities and that could complicate things if Butler wants to play hard ball now.

Tweets of Note from Patriots OTAs

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We got our first glimpse of the 2016 Patriots on Thursday, albeit a depleted squad that was missing a lot of heavy hitters for whatever reason. Still, there’s some fun stuff to consider as we still sit two months out from the start of training camp.

Here are some tweets that stood out:

That’s a lot of firepower, but if you’re into panicking about guys missing from a practice in late May be my guest. Gronk, Harmon, Vollmer and Branch are probably the biggest surprises. There were no reports of offseason surgery for any of them, but at least with Gronk, there’s no need to risk any of these vets. They all know what they’re doing and at this point it’s probably better to let the new guys and rookies get more reps, especially with the first team.

That’s my quarterback. Enjoy it folks, it’s not going to last forever and we’re getting closer and closer to the end with each passing offseason. But for now… WE STILL GOT TFB!

Never put too much weight into any of this, but generally it sounds like they all looked pretty good and it’s always nice to see a rookie cornerback pop up with an interception in one of his first practices.

End of May? Don’t matter. BB wants everyone locked in at all times and this was probably a surprising first lesson for many newbies.

So, so excited to see what kind of damage Gronk and Bennett will do together this year.

Holy hoodie, how fast do DJ Foster’s legs go? That right there is some quickness.

Poetry in motion.

Princesses, Pirates & Patriots: A Charity Tea with Lil’ Mayo

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVGhOpYkB60

If you missed any of the super cute videos the Patriots put together with Jerod Mayo’s daughter Chya the last couple seasons, they were totes adorbs. And though Jerod retired this year, Lil’ Chya is just starting her career and it looks like she’s got a bright road ahead of her.

Lil' Mayo is back!

Lil’ Mayo is back!

This Sunday, April 24th, Chya will be hosting Princesses, Pirates & Patriots: A Charity Tea with Lil’ Mayo at Mirbeau Inn & Spa in Plymouth from 11am – 2pm. Kids can dress up as their favorite princess, pirate or Patriot and are encouraged to bring an activity, arts & crafts kit or creative toy to donate. All proceeds will benefit the Boston Medical Center.

It will be a memorable family event including balloon artistry, face and nail painting, child-friendly games, and more, as well as a great way to show kids how to give back to the community!

Pricing for this afternoon is $55.00 per adult and $35.00 per child 12 years of age and under, exclusive of tax and gratuity.

To schedule your reservation, please call 877-MIRBEAU (877-647-2328).

Patriots 2016 Preseason Opponents Announced

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The offseason continues to slowly drip by, with the Patriots 2016 preseason opponents being announced. The Pats will play:

  • Aug 11-15: vs NO
  • Aug 18-22: vs CHI
  • Aug 25-28: at CAR
  • Sept 1-2: at NYG

It’s a good bet the Pats will take advantage of the Belichick-Sean Payton connection once again and set up some joint practices early in training camp, and could possibly do the same with the Bears. Those are always a good chance to get some quality work in against another scheme and style.

What I like about this preseason schedule is that it gives the Pats a nice cross section of pretty good teams to prepare them for the regular season. They’ll get to see practice time and a drive or two of a great passer in Drew Brees, a half of an okay passer in Jay Cutler, and one of the best mobile quarterbacks in the game in Cam Newton in the all-important third preseason game.

And yes, the Pats scrubs and hanger-ons will get to see Eli and the Giants for the first time sans Tom Coughlin in the final preseason week.

The full schedule should be released in the next month and that should be fascinating to see how the 2016 campaign lays out. It’s not the cake walk the 2015 schedule was, and is far closer to the hard road 2014 was. Of course as we saw, playing some great teams prepared that 2014 team well for the playoffs, though remaining healthy was the bigger key.

Patriots 2016 Opponents

Introducing the PatsPropaganda Forum

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As you’ve probably noticed things have been slowly evolving here on the new version of the site and today I’ve added a forum where we can chat. After moving on from Tumblr one of the things I liked but lost was the ability to take and answer questions through their platform, so I’m hoping that this forum will help replace that and give me a chance for some back and forth with you guys.

I’ve kicked things off with a couple questions about two areas I think are at the forefront this offseason — what kind of a third linebacker should the Pats pursue and what to do with Chandler Jones. I’d love to hear your thoughts on these topics and anything else that is weighing on your mind as we get going into Free Agency and then the draft.

You’ll find an easy link to the forum in the top navigation menu and as always, any thoughts, comments, tips, ideas, etc for the new version of the site are always welcome.

Jerod Mayo Announces Retirement

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Mayo's speed and leadership set him apart.

Jerod Mayo takes the field as a rookie.

From this Instagram post it looks like Jerod Mayo is retiring, a move not entirely unexpected. At the very least the Patriots weren’t picking up his option and now this now clears almost $7 million dollars from the Pats’ cap number.

First, a quick look back at Mayo’s career. He was taken 10th overall in the 2008 draft and immediately stepped into a starter’s role in an aging defense that was about to be completely turned over. Mayo was the constant during that turnover and missed just five games in his first five years.

There wasn’t a lot of talent around Mayo from 2008-2011 and with his excellent speed he wracked up 341 tackles in those four years. By all accounts he was a consummate Patriot, and despite the injuries of the last few years, was still always around the team, being a leader and helping in any way he could.

Still, I think there was always something missing with Mayo and that was his big play ability. He just never got over the hump to be a player who made critical plays in critical moments.  For his career in the regular season he had just three interceptions, eight forced fumbles and 11 sacks. In eight career playoff games he had just one forced fumble. No interceptions. No sacks.

I remember a lengthy pre-game chat between me and Erik Frenz discussing how Mayo was a “tackling machine” but he just wasn’t the impact player you really wanted him to be.

Of course you can’t always judge a player by their stats, but there’s some truth in there. Still, Mayo did a ton for the Patriots and I shudder to think to what depths the defense of 2008-2011 would’ve sunk to without Jerod Mayo making the calls and cleaning up the trash.

Best wishes to Mayo and his family as he turns to the next chapter, whatever that may be.

For the Patriots, they get some much-needed cap relief and can start to formulate a plan on who’s getting paid next. Mayo’s departure certainly reinforces the need for a middle linebacker, but it will be interesting to see what kind of linebacker the Pats’ target. Collins and Hightower are seemingly best used on the outside, along the line of scrimmage in the regular package, with Collins sliding off the line in sub-packages.

The Pats need a dedicated run-stopper in the middle, but also someone with the kind of range to drop into the flat. This doesn’t have to be a three-down linebacker, but he does need to be better than Jonathan Freeny was in 2015.

Assuming that Butler and Ryan are the starters next year, do you feel good with Coleman, Roberts as the primary backups?

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You know I really do, and throw in Leonard Johnson too who came in mid-season and played with a good physical edge. I’d bring back Tarrell Brown as well just for some depth but overall I think you have to be impressed with the job Butler/Ryan/Coleman did this year.

You mentioned Darrell Roberts who’s a rookie a lot of people forget about. He showed a lot of promise last summer and could be a big X-factor. We just can’t assume we have the kind of injury luck again next year, especially when corners are often one of the more injury-prone positions.

Look back at the corners over the years and it’s hard to find a better group than this one. But if we’re being honest it wasn’t exactly a murderer’s row of QB/WRs this year. 2014 had a far higher degree of difficulty and 2016 will be more in line with that tough schedule.

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