Kraft: Patriots don't intend to trade Malcolm Butler
Malcolm Butler's future remains in limbo, but if New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft gets his way, the star corner won't leave town.
Speaking to reporters Monday from the NFL's Annual League Meeting in Phoenix, Kraft said there is no intention to trade Butler.
"We have an offer sheet out to him and I know he has the ability to go out in the market and get someone to sign him," Kraft said. "I hope he's with us and signs his offer sheet and plays for us. I have a great affection for him. He was part of probably the greatest play in the history of our team."
The Patriots placed a first-round tender on the restricted free agent, which would pay $3.91 million in 2017. New England has balked at giving the 27-year-old a long-term, big-money deal.
Butler met with the New Orleans Saints earlier this month. After the meeting, Saints coach Sean Payton glowed about the "sharp" corner's intelligence and ability.
As a restricted free agent who has yet to sign his tender, Butler could sign an offer sheet from another team, which the Patriots would have the right to match. If they did not match such an offer, the Pats would be awarded that team's first-round pick (in the case of the Saints it would be the No. 11 selection).
The Patriots could also work out a trade with another club like New Orleans, but such a deal could only be completed after Butler signed his tender.
Another alternative is to have Butler remain in New England this year and play on the restricted tender before hitting the open market next season. This is the option Kraft is most likely referring to with his Monday comments.
After the Patriots gave a hefty contract to cornerback Stephon Gilmore at the start of free agency, leaving New England seemed the only route for Butler to get paid.
In the end, coach Bill Belichick will be the one pulling the strings on any move -- unless Kraft surprisingly changed gears and meddled in the process (something we don't see happening).
If they lost Butler, the Patriots would still have a need at corner. So perhaps the team can convince their Super Bowl hero to sign on for one more season before cashing in long-term.
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- By Kevin Patra
- Around the NFL writer
- Published: March 27, 2017 at 04:02 p.m.
- Updated: March 27, 2017 at 05:08 p.m.
Malcolm Butler's future remains in limbo, but if New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft gets his way, the star corner won't leave town.
Speaking to reporters Monday from the NFL's Annual League Meeting in Phoenix, Kraft said there is no intention to trade Butler.
"We have an offer sheet out to him and I know he has the ability to go out in the market and get someone to sign him," Kraft said. "I hope he's with us and signs his offer sheet and plays for us. I have a great affection for him. He was part of probably the greatest play in the history of our team."
The Patriots placed a first-round tender on the restricted free agent, which would pay $3.91 million in 2017. New England has balked at giving the 27-year-old a long-term, big-money deal.
Butler met with the New Orleans Saints earlier this month. After the meeting, Saints coach Sean Payton glowed about the "sharp" corner's intelligence and ability.
As a restricted free agent who has yet to sign his tender, Butler could sign an offer sheet from another team, which the Patriots would have the right to match. If they did not match such an offer, the Pats would be awarded that team's first-round pick (in the case of the Saints it would be the No. 11 selection).
The Patriots could also work out a trade with another club like New Orleans, but such a deal could only be completed after Butler signed his tender.
Another alternative is to have Butler remain in New England this year and play on the restricted tender before hitting the open market next season. This is the option Kraft is most likely referring to with his Monday comments.
After the Patriots gave a hefty contract to cornerback Stephon Gilmore at the start of free agency, leaving New England seemed the only route for Butler to get paid.
In the end, coach Bill Belichick will be the one pulling the strings on any move -- unless Kraft surprisingly changed gears and meddled in the process (something we don't see happening).
If they lost Butler, the Patriots would still have a need at corner. So perhaps the team can convince their Super Bowl hero to sign on for one more season before cashing in long-term.
Guesser I thought you were smarter then that.
Thats nothing more then dotting every eye and crossing every t to avoid the look of colusion .
Technically it's illegal for the Saints and Pats to have a trade agreement 2 weeks ago. They could both lose draft pics if they don't play it right.
Saints and Butler all ready have a contract agreement and SP and BB already have a compensation agreement.
Kraft knows this I assume .
Thats nothing more then dotting every eye and crossing every t to avoid the look of colusion .
Technically it's illegal for the Saints and Pats to have a trade agreement 2 weeks ago. They could both lose draft pics if they don't play it right.
Saints and Butler all ready have a contract agreement and SP and BB already have a compensation agreement.
Kraft knows this I assume .
Why would the Saints need to wait to make a deal? There is no benefit to waiting at this point, it can just be executed by now.
They either have an agreement in place or they don't. If a deal hasn't been done then I guess they don't.
Or maybe they do but Butler is still weighing if he wants to take that deal or swallow some pride and go back to NE on the 1/4 and play out the year where he can then hit UFA. This is my best guess as to what is happening.
They either have an agreement in place or they don't. If a deal hasn't been done then I guess they don't.
Or maybe they do but Butler is still weighing if he wants to take that deal or swallow some pride and go back to NE on the 1/4 and play out the year where he can then hit UFA. This is my best guess as to what is happening.
The saimts and the pats agreed on compensation over 2 weeks ago.
The only holdup is the agent thinking he has some sort of leverage that he really doesn't.
The saints have offered him more money then any other team in the NFL.
Almost 11.5 million but the agent is wanting more guaranteed money then the saints are offering .
Problem is no other team is offering close to what the saints are so his 2 options are to play for 1 year at 3.9 million or sign a 4 year almost 47 mill contract with around 60% of that being guaranteed.
As soon as this agent realizes he has no leverage this deal will be done.
Ya, what I just said besides that Butler wants more $ from Saints. So he'll have to weigh Saints deal or sign tender. Or sign a team friendly deal with NE but I doubt he does that since he would just take the Saints bigger offer most likely.
And I don't even have inside info. I used to know a guy on the team but he's in jail for murdering 3 people.
And I don't even have inside info. I used to know a guy on the team but he's in jail for murdering 3 people.
He doesn't have much leverage, but you can't say he has 0.
If he has another good year with NE then hits UFA then he'll get the type of $ that Gilmore got which is worth more than the Saints are offering. If he could pull that off I'd guess the total 4 yr compensation of that would be >> the Saints deal, even with including the 1 year on the tender.
But the difference between getting Gilmore $ and getting the $ the Saints are going to give him is razor thin at that level as far as performance goes. Defensive players take steps back all the time, one minor hamstring injury and you are a top 30 CB instead of a top 10 CB. So he might wanna just lock the $ up, especially since he has made peanuts in his career.
If he has another good year with NE then hits UFA then he'll get the type of $ that Gilmore got which is worth more than the Saints are offering. If he could pull that off I'd guess the total 4 yr compensation of that would be >> the Saints deal, even with including the 1 year on the tender.
But the difference between getting Gilmore $ and getting the $ the Saints are going to give him is razor thin at that level as far as performance goes. Defensive players take steps back all the time, one minor hamstring injury and you are a top 30 CB instead of a top 10 CB. So he might wanna just lock the $ up, especially since he has made peanuts in his career.
That's pretty unrealistic though. The Pats just gave Gilmore 40M guaranteed, McCourty is 1 of the higher paid S's in the league, both Harmon (just re-signed recently) and Chung do pretty well for safeties as well. To then pay Butler what the Saints are offering him would be putting a ton of resources into 1 unit, not really something the Pats are known for.
The reality is that the Pats basically chose Gilmore over Butler as their long-term #1 CB, for better or worse.
If he wants to stay with NE long-term, it is highly doubtful he will be doing so at another teams valuation unless the Pats just decide we're going to significantly overweight $ to secondary.
Thanks for the info Chop, personally I think the longer this drags out, the more Butler maybe second guessing himself about leaving NE. At his age, this will most likely be the end all contract for him. Does he really have the stones to roll the dice for one more year or not? That's the multi-million dollar question that only he can answer. At the end of the day the agent works for him and if he wanted this deal so badly, I think he would have had told his agent to just get it done. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.
These guys are the best in their field and all have healthy egos. Very difficult to be the #1 CB on the team with Butler's pedigree and then FA starts and they bring in an outsider and pay him the big bucks instead of giving it to you, that was your money. Then you have to go back into the locker room on a 1yr deal and everyone knows what happened and that Gilmore is the big dollar/#1 CB.
he
probably does not want to leave new england but that does not change the fact that he wont be playing in new england next season.
I agree with you it'll probably happen, but I don't think it's already done, otherwise it would have been done already. I'm just posting news on the situation. I think they are still arguing compensation. No reason for NE to settle for compensation on the cheap, when they can just pay him 3.91 Million this year and have the top pair of CB's in the league.
the latest
[h=1]BREAKING: Sean Payton Says Saints Will Not Sign Malcolm Butler to Offer Sheet[/h]
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Sam Spero<time class="post-metadata__date" itemprop="datePublished" content="29 Mar 2017" style="outline: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 15.008px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; display: block; text-transform: uppercase;">29 MAR 2017</time>
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After weeks of negotiating, New Orleans Saints Head Coach Sean Payton sent shockwaves through he NFL world on Wednesday, announcing that the team will not sign star cornerback Malcolm Butler to an offer sheet.
Instead, they will have him sign a tender hope to trade for him.
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Jeff Howe @jeffphowe
Sean Payton says Saints won't sign Malcolm Butler to an offer sheet and risk the 11th pick. Will only trade for him.
10:22 AM - 29 Mar 2017
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This is a surprising move for the Saints given the amount of time they've spent trying to get a deal done with Butler, although it certainly makes sense. The organization will not have to risk giving up their first-round draft pick this season, 11th overall, in exchange for the rights to Butler.
Now, it looks like the Saints will engage the Patriots in even more trade talks this offseason—they already traded their promising young wideout Brandin Cooks to New England weeks ago. But those negotiations can't start until Butler signs his tender.
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Ryan Hannable
✔@RyanHannable
So Malcolm Butler pretty much has no choice now but to sign his tender. Then it's either a trade, or play for $3.91M with Patriots. https://twitter.com/nick_underhill/status/847091386948042756 …
10:22 AM - 29 Mar 2017
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While Saints fans should be happy with this news because they'll hold onto their top pick and could still land Butler, Butler himself must be frustrated that the process will now take even longer, and he'll continue being in limbo for the foreseeable future.
Stay tuned for more updates on the landing spot of the most sought after cornerback this season.
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