New England Patriots: Malcolm Butler a Work In Progress

In the 2014 season, Malcolm Butler didn’t make an impact until the final play of Super Bowl XLIX.

Granted, it was the biggest play of his young career and arguably Super Bowl history. Before that, he was just an undrafted rookie out of the University of West Alabama.

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After the New England Patriots captured their Super Bowl championship they saw Darrelle Revis and Brandon Browner signed with new teams in free agency, which catapulted Butler into the top cornerback spot on the depth chart. Playing opposite of Logan Ryan and backed up by Bradley Fletcher and Tarell Brown, Doug Kyed of NESN.com states that Butler is getting the opportunity to not only take on the top of the cornerback depth chart, but to get a big boost early in his career.

In Thursday’s opening night game against the Pittsburgh Steelers Butler was tested immediately, as he took on the assignment of covering Antonio Brown, one of the best wide receivers in the game. Butler almost made a big play for an interception on his first challenge but Brown pulled the ball off of Butler’s helmet for what was an early catch of the year candidate.

The big jump in one year certainly brought a lot on Butler and he went from an unknown hero to a guy the team will need to rely on in the passing game, yet he has a lot of work to do if he hopes to have the team put their trust in him. While Butler was covering Antonio Brown, he allowed 9 receptions on 10 attempts, giving up 133 yards and one touchdown without recording an interception.

Looking for growth from Butler does not take away anything from Brown’s performance, as he is one of the best wide receivers in the league, and his production is absolutely expected, no matter who is covering him. As far as Antonio Brown goes, if it wasn’t for his play on Thursday night, the Steelers loss to New England would’ve looked much worse than it was.

Butler’s first big test wasn’t a complete failure but it wasn’t a smashing success either, and that’s okay. There are 15 more games for Butler to grow and it showed that at times he’ll likely need safety help coming from over the top, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be the best cornerback on the team. Becoming successful in his new role won’t happen overnight and there will be plenty of growing pains along the way for Butler and the Patriots, but his opening night performance showed there is reason to be optimistic.

The Patriots will play the Bills in Week 2 and that likely means Butler will be matched up against Sammy Watkins and possibly Percy Harvin. The difference in Week 2 is that the Bills may look to run the ball more than they will look to pass and Tyrod Taylor is still unknown as a starter.

Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown are established veterans who were able to find a way around Malcolm Butler, but Week 2 brings Tyrod Taylor and Watkins to the table and there could be a significant difference in Butler’s performance.

He’s got plenty of work to do to be the reliable top cornerback the Patriots hope they have but until then, every week will be a growth week for Malcolm Butler.

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