Malcolm Butler to Join NFC Team

Malcolm Butler is out of the NFL wilderness.

The former Tennessee Titans cornerback will play this season in the desert.

Butler agreed to a one-year deal with the Arizona Cardinals, according to multiple reports Thursday. He will earn up to $6 million, roughly half of what he could have earned with Tennessee in the fourth year of a five-year pact he signed in 2018.

The deal comes a little more than two weeks after the Titans released him in one of several moves to free up space under the salary cap.

For Malcolm Butler and the #AZCardinals, it’s 1-year and up to $6M, source said. https://t.co/SyTkAqP4Pj
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 25, 2021

Arizona will be Butler’s third NFL team. The 31-year-old spent the past three seasons with Tennessee after four seasons with the New England Patriots.

In three years with the Titans, Butler played 41 games. He made 186 tackles, intercepted eight passes (two were returned for touchdowns) and recovered one fumble. He tied for the team lead in 2020 with four interceptions, which matched his career-high. Two of those picks came in a prime-time victory over the Buffalo Bills. It was the second multi-interception game of his career.

He has had multiple interceptions in each of the last six years and has 17 overall.

Butler made one of the most famous plays in Super Bowl history with his game-saving interception in the Patriots’ victory over Seattle in Super Bowl LIX. He also famously was benched in a Super Bowl LII loss to Philadelphia.

With Arizona, he joins a defense that finished 10th against the pass last season with an average of 226.4 yards per game allowed but tied for 18th with 11 interceptions.

The Cardinals, however, opted not to re-sign eight-time Pro Bowler. They still have an All-Pro safety in Budda Baker but only one proven cornerback – other than Butler, who was a Pro Bowler in 2015 (his second NFL season) and one of the NFL’s top 100 players in 2017.

Also this offseason, Arizona added free-agent defensive end, a player the Titans very much wanted on their roster.