The Malcolm Butler comeback story appears to be over.
The Patriots placed Butler on injured reserve Tuesday, ending his season in New England. The 32-year-old had been attempting a return to the NFL after briefly retiring from football last year. Butler had been running with the Pats’ second-team defense in training camp practices and played in their preseason opener, a game most starters sat out.
Butler played his last full season in 2020, when he totaled 100 tackles, four interceptions and 14 pass deflections with the Titans. He played in Tennessee from 2018-20, after spending the first four years of his career in New England. Butler is best remembered for making a game-saving, goal-line interception in the final seconds of Super Bowl XLIX as an undrafted rookie.
Butler made the Pro Bowl in 2015, then unceremoniously left New England as a free agent in the spring of 2018. His last game as a Patriot remains Super Bowl LII, when coach Bill Belichick benched him for reasons that remain unknown. This summer, Butler disclosed that he and Belichick spoke after that game about his benching and had since patched things up.
The Patriots also placed backup cornerback Joejuan Williams on injured reserve Tuesday, likewise ending his season, and waived backup punter Jake Julien. Tuesday’s transactions put the team at 84 players on the day NFL teams had to trim their rosters to 85.
The league’s next cutdown deadline is Aug. 23, when teams must be at 80 players, before final cuts are made to finalize 53-man rosters by 4 p.m. on Aug. 30.
Story by Andrew Callahan, Boston Herald