Bleacher Report ranks Malcolm Butler as Titans’ most overpaid player
Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox listed the most overpaid players from each team in the NFL, and cornerback Malcolm Butler was his choice for the Tennessee Titans.
Malcolm Butler might be one of the highest-paid players on the Tennessee Titans, but are we really ready to call him the most overpaid just yet?
Well, Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox is. He believes Butler’s contract, which is worth a total of $61.25 million for five years, far exceeds what he is actually worth, thus he considers Butler overpaid.
Here’s Knox’s explanation.
"The Tennessee Titans gave cornerback Malcolm Butler a whopping $61.25 million over five years to secure him in 2018 free agency. That is an obscene amount of money for a player with just one Pro Bowl and who was benched by his former team (the Patriots) in the biggest game of the season.Did the Titans overpay to get Butler? Yes. Yes, they did.“It doesn’t appear the Titans got what they paid for. After earning an overall grade of 84.1 over four years in New England, Butler finished this season with a career-low grade of 67.1,” Cameron Pezet of Pro Football Focus wrote.The good news is that Butler’s play improved late in the season—two of his three interceptions came in the final five weeks—and he still has plenty of time to prove himself worthy of his contract. After one season, though, Butler looks like the Titans’ most overpaid player."
If we’re going to take the entirety of Butler’s five-year contract and base his worth on just one season, then yes, he can be considered the most overpaid. However, if we’re being fair here, Butler should be given more time to prove himself before we jump to conclusions.
Butler’s cornerback grade by Pro Football Focus dropped-off last season as Knox explained, but we have to consider Butler was playing on a new team and may need a season to adjust. His 2018 grade of 67.1 still puts him in the above average class.
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And, as was pointed out, Butler’s play began to improve near the end of the season. Not to mention, interceptions have never been a huge part of Butler’s game, as his career-high in a season was four back in 2016. He missed that by one pick in 2018.
Butler isn’t off to a great start with the Titans, but it’s only fair to give him more time before we pass judgement. Sometimes time is all you need to prove the doubters wrong.