Malcolm Butler emerging as third corner

Malcolm Butler, now #21, celebrates with Revis in the preseason, via NESN

Darrelle Revis has been the only consistent starter among the cornerbacks. Before Brandon Browner came back, it was a rotation of Logan Ryan, Alfonzo Dennard, Kyle Arrington, and some Malcolm Butler. With Browner back and performing well (penalties come with the territory), we're starting to see the secondary take shape.

Revis and Browner will be corners one and two, respectively. The only time I don't think Browner will be in as much is if we face a team that has a bunch of small, quick receivers and a lack of big receivers. Arrington will be on the field as long as a slot receiver is on the field. He struggles against most receivers, but has a knack for shutting down slots.

The big surprise is who has emerged as the third corner. It wasn't Ryan or Dennard, like most people expected. Ryan has struggled this year, and Dennard has supposedly been a healthy scratch, but there could he does always seem to have nagging injuries so there could be something there.

The player to emerge has been undrafted free agent of out of West Alabama, Malcolm Butler. I wrote about what to expect out of him earlier this year, but it hasn't been till recently that my expectations became a reality.

Butler replaced Ryan later on in the game against Chicago, and did a fine job covering the Chicago receivers when Cutler tried to attack him, defending two passes. Clearly Belichick noticed something, because Ryan saw 4 snaps on defense against Denver, while Butler took over the third corner spot with 37 snaps. He did a fine job against anyone he was tasked with, including some big stops against Emmanuel Sanders later in the game.

Peyton Manning had 438 passing yards, but that doesn't tell the story. This one was one of the finer performances for the pass defense this season.

The fact that Malcolm Butler is on an NFL team, let alone the third corner on a team that has Darrelle Revis and Brandon Browner, is impressive considering where he came from. He's exceeded expectations and earned his spot here, and if he keeps playing the way he's playing, will be an important part of this defense, which has the Patriots poised to make a run at the Super Bowl.

All stats via PFF

-Brian Thibodeau

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