You're right, no doubt. Nothing wrong with 3.9 mil- and separating both issues... we'll see what happens. But....KEEP BUTLER!!! lol It's be great if he plays for the tender, franchise him next year... It's hard to believe they would sign him to a similar contract as Gilmore, that's a lot of money at the CB position.
To echo what I posted earlier, prior to the 2016 season, the Pats approached Butler using the following logic. Butler would be under team control for the 2016, 2017, and 2018 seasons based on one year remaining on his contract ($600,000), the RFA tender ($3.9 million), and the franchise tag (currently $14.2 million). Butler could ##### and moan all he wanted, but those were the numbers and there was nothing he could do to change them (except hold out). Those years of Patriots control added up to $19.7 million . . . an he would not have made any really money until Year Three.
New England is said to have offered him $21 million for those three years (and likely a provision that he could not be franchised) with $13 million as a signing bonus to get him a decent chunk of change right away. It sounds like Butler and his agent wanted retroactive pay for his first two seasons earning peanuts and he wanted $10 million a year (which sounded like the number he wanted heading into this NFL season). Then the Pats signed Gilmore for $13 million a season, and apparently Butler and his agent feel he is worth that as well.
New England is still perturbed that Butler didn't take the $21 million they offered him last year and cited that he was not on the open market to demand $10-13 million a year. The same exact situation happened in Denver. The Broncos gave a tender offer to Chris Harris and then went out and signed Aqib Talib to a big contract. Harris played started the next season playing on the RFA tender amount and then worked out a multi-year extension between $8-9 million a year.
The problem NE (and the rest of the league) has or should have is that caving on one guy will cause others to demand more money or a trade before playing out their rookie contract. I agree with everyone else that Butler was way underpaid, but signing as an UDFA that by definition pays peanuts is the way the system works. Yes, the Patriots have the money to pay him more than $7 million that they offered last year, but I bet that they are probably using the same numbers as last year as a baseline ($3.9 million this year and $14.2 million if they franchised him next year = 2 years, $18.1 million. If Butler wants $10-13 million a year, he's unlikely to get that much from NE..
We don't know what Butler is asking for, but it will be interesting to see if he signs a tender offer or gets traded and gets a new deal what the numbers actually are. If he goes elsewhere and signs a 3 year, $20 million deal then the Patriots didn't really want him back.
![[icon]](/data/avatars/m/5/5167.jpg?1660313464){kind=avatar}
