Malcolm Butler on Super Bowl benching, Bill Belichick and leaving Patriots

Malcolm Butler says he could have made a difference in Super Bowl LII.

In an interview with Sports Illustrated posted Friday, the cornerback said he saw “a couple of plays” in the game against the Eagles he could have executed. And if he was on the field to make them?

“Would we have won if I played? Probably. Maybe. I’m not sure,” said Butler, who didn’t play a single defensive snap in the loss. “But I would say we were short about one or two plays, and I’ve seen a couple plays out there I could’ve made.”

Butler said there were times in that game where he wanted to approach coach Bill Belichick and defensive coordinator Matt Patricia and ask them what was going on, but he decided against it.

“There was times that I was on the sideline that I just wanted to go up and say to Belichick or Matt Patricia and just say, ‘This is how we’re going to end this?’ I grew up in the Patriots system, and I’m a well-mannered guy. I respect my authority,” Butler said.

“I just couldn’t ask them for something they didn’t want to do. I just was doing my job. I was close to going up there and saying what I wanted to say to Matt or Belichick, but I just stayed in my lane and just did my job, man. I really wanted to go ask them, but I didn’t.”

In the end, Butler said it was simply a “coaching decision that just didn’t work out good for me or the New England Patriots organization.”

Butler, who signed a sizable free-agent deal with the Titans earlier this month, said he regrets not being able to play with one team for his entire career.

“I wanted to go out like Kobe Bryant. I might not be Kobe Bryant, I’ll never be Kobe Bryant. But I always told myself that I always wanted to finish my career on one team and just go out like that,” Butler said. “But no one wants to be somewhere where they’re not wanted.”