Devin McCourty played defense without Malcolm Butler in the Super Bowl, and now he is coming to the defense of his much-scrutinized teammate as the NFL offseason gets underway.
After playing 97.8 percent of the Patriots' defensive snaps during the regular season, Butler did not play any in the loss to the Eagles.
The mysterious decision combined with coach Bill Belichick's tight-lipped approach led to anonymously sourced reports Butler was benched for disciplinary reasons.
Not so, believes McCourty, one of the first members of the Patriots to speak on the subject since the Super Bowl LII postgame locker rooms emptied out.
"As far as I know, all of that is the furthest thing from the truth," McCourty told NJ Advance Media. "We all knew he wasn't starting all week. That wasn't a secret to the guys on the team.
"I get why people are fishing. The guy played 98 percent of the plays. I just hate that for him character-wise going into free agency. It's just not true. As far as I know -- and I was there all week -- not one time did anything come up."
Free agency preview: Should Giants go after CB Malcolm Butler?
McCourty is a seven-year defensive captain for the Patriots, so he might have been more clued in ahead of time than others. Eric Rowe, who started in place of Butler, and Patriots owner Bob Kraft have claimed to be in the dark.
Source :- nj
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