Patriots safety Devin McCourty told Ryan Dunleavy of NJ.com that the rumors around cornerback Malcolm Butler's benching for Super Bowl LII are "the furthest thing from the truth" and that the team "knew he wasn't starting all week."
Butler had played in 97.8 percent of New England's defensive snaps during the regular season and all of the defensive snaps in their first two playoff games, but didn't play any defensive snaps in the team's 41-33 loss to the Eagles in Super Bowl LII.
It was reported that Butler's benching for the biggest game of the season was a combination of him being sick, missing curfew because he was at a concert and a poor performance in practice that week.