Dare I say, it’s not been easy being Malcolm Butler this offseason, despite what a vocal minority of the Twitter mob thinks. Not only couldn’t Butler get a long-term extension from the Patriots, but his hopes of another cornerback-needy team swooping in and offering him unrestricted free agent dollars when he was, in fact, a restricted free agent didn’t come to fruition either, though not without a fair amount of effort from the New Orleans Saints.
That left Butler with limited options, report to the Pats under the one-year tender, or hold out and risk not getting a new deal and also not getting a year of service time on the road to UFA status.