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NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS
Training Camp

Bell: Malcolm Butler aims to build on Super play

Jarrett Bell
USA TODAY Sports

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – What if?

Malcolm Butler, holding  his son after practice this week, is trying to earn a starting job with the Patriots.

Imagine if Malcolm Butler dropped the goal-line interception that sealed Super Bowl XLIX.

During an offseason that included red carpet treatment at the ESPYs and Grammys, a shout-out from President Obama at the White House, a hometown parade and keys to the truck that Tom Brady won as Super Bowl MVP, the what-if proposition was the absolute craziest thing Butler heard.

After an early training camp practice, the second-year New England Patriots cornerback grinned when recalling his response to the question that a fan tested him with a few weeks ago.

“I just said, ‘I didn’t,’ “ Butler told USA TODAY Sports.

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Butler was nobody’s goat. He made the game-clinching play the settled a classic Super Bowl, which means at least two things: He will be immortalized on NFL Films and he’ll never have to buy a beer in Beantown.

“Great play. Perfect way to end the year. Good way for the whole team to end the season,” Butler said. “But that’s in the past now. It’s time to grind, to put that behind me and get better.”

Putting the play in his rear-view mirror should be easier for Butler since he now has to focus building on his rookie success. With Darrelle Revis and Brandon Browner departing during the offseason, the Patriots need Butler to step up again and win a starting job amid a massive changeover at cornerback.

“We’ll see how it turns out,” he said.

Perhaps the most difficult part of putting the Super play behind him, though, can be weighed when considering how often Butler is asked about the moment. It’s a nice problem to have. After entering the NFL last year as an undrafted free agent, his clutch play provided a calling card.

Yet now he’s telling people over and over, “Going off that one play, I respect that, but I’ve got to move on and just prove myself over again.”

Look at where Butler came from, and it's easy to see how he hasn't gotten caught up in the fame. He played at Division II West Alabama — where he had a work-study job that included wiping up sweat at the fitness center. Until Super Bowl XLIX, the biggest play of his life was a kickoff-return touchdown in the final seconds that beat North Alabama and won the conference title.

He went to Hinds Junior College, had two stops actually, with a second chance after being dismissed.

And he’s the most famous former employee of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, working for several years at the fast-food restaurant in his hometown of Vicksburg, Miss.

His is a story for the human spirit, built on perseverance, Fittingly, teammates call him “Scrap.”

In the Patriots camp last summer as a rookie, veteran safety Devin McCourty figures, “Many people probably thought he was just a camp body.”

Butler got many of his reps in camp last year with the third string, but kept making the type of plays that get longshots noticed. During the regular season, he was a constant on specials teams but only played roughly 16% of the defensive snaps. It’s a testament to his growth – and the trust he earned from Bill Belichick and staff – that he was on the field for the crucial sequence at the end of the Super Bowl.

He came off the bench as an adjustment, after nickel back Kyle Arrington couldn’t handle Seattle Seahawks receiver Chris Matthews.

“Last year, I felt like I could’ve played more then,” Butler said. “But of course, you need more experience and I had veteran guys in front of me. So you’ve got to earn your respect and trust. I knew it was going to be a bit of a waiting game.”

Now a starting job is his to lose, with so many moving parts on the corners. In addition to Revis and Browner, Arrington and Alfonzo Dennard are also gone. New faces in the mix included three veterans trying to make good with a new team: Tarell Brown, Robert McClain and Bradley Fletcher.

In Saturday’s practice, the first in full pads, Butler lined up with the first unit opposite Logan Ryan, and looked right at home.

Last season, New England thrived with big cornerbacks and the identity of the secondary – and ultimately the entire defense – was cast by the aggressive press coverage supplied by the physical style of Revis and Browner. The scheme will undoubtedly change, without the big, press corners.

Butler is 5-11 and 190 pounds, about 10 pounds lighter than Revis and five inches and 30 pounds smaller than Browner, so he is hardly as imposing physically. But size didn’t matter in the Super Bowl. And early in camp, he’s been one of the standouts, drawing raves for leaping to swat away a would-be touchdown pass to tight end Scott Chandler during Friday’s practice.

“It’s about getting better in that second year for him,” defensive coordinator Matt Patricia told USA TODAY Sports. “He’s got a lot to work on. And he needs to be consistent.”

No doubt, the Patriots coaching staff is guarding against complacency in dealing with Butler.

A few weeks ago, Belichick kept Butler off the field for two weeks of organized team activities when, according to The Boston Herald, a delayed flight kept Butler from arriving on time the first “voluntary” workout session. Last season, Belichick benched Jonas Gray after the running back overslept and missed practice – days after rushing for 201 yards and four touchdowns.

Butler wouldn’t dare touch his setback, which drew a complaint from the NFL Players Association that is still unresolved.

Asked about it Saturday, he zipped his lips, shook his head and gave the “incomplete” signal.

His non-verbal message was clear enough. He’s been filled with Humble Pie.

“I respect everything,” he said, “everybody congratulating me and saying I’m a great guy, great player and all that. But I have to prove myself all over again. From preseason to Week 16 and then some. So I’m coming out here trying to string some days together to get better and better.”

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