Bill Belichick may truly be the only person who knows why Malcolm Butler was benched for the majority of Super Bowl LII.
Longtime Patriots defensive back Devin McCourty recently announced his retirement from the NFL. The former safety was a leader in New England for 13 years and a captain for the majority of his tenure there. If there were players on the team who knew why Butler wound up in Belichick’s dog house for the Super Bowl five years ago, McCourty would be one of them.
But our guess is apparently as good as his. During an appearance on Chris Long’s “Green Light” podcast this week, McCourty was asked if he knows why Butler was benched.
“To this day, I still don’t know the exact reason why he didn’t play,” McCourty said, as transcribed by Mark Daniels of MassLive.com. “When I saw he was coming out with a book and a documentary, I was like, ‘I can’t wait to read that.’ (Stephon Gilmore) actually texted me and was like, ‘I’m going to buy this book ASAP.’”
The Patriots were absolutely torched by Nick Foles and the Philadelphia Eagles in that Super Bowl. They lost 41-33. Butler almost certainly would have made a difference if he played, but he got just one special teams snap.
Butler re-signed with the Patriots last offseason, so there are obviously no hard feelings about the benching. Even he said he still does not know why Belichick did not let him play. There was one explanation that surfaced two years ago, but apparently McCourty and all of his former teammates are unable to confirm or deny it.
