BB don't play when it comes to being on time, there was a guy who had a huge 2 game run at running back( I think) he was 5 minutes late for film study a few years ago and he was benched and kicked off the team a week later.

My Name Is Jonas Gray

I’m told that Butler “was not in the right frame of mind.” That during practices in Minneapolis he was being belligerent, “snapping” at his coaches. And after a bad week of prep, when game day came around Belichick simply didn’t believe his starting corner was in the headspace to make the calls, adjustments and post-snap reads against the Eagles RPO. At least not to the extent he trusted Eric Rowe and Johnson Bademosi.

To be clear, this is not coming from the coaching staff. It’s not spin to discredit Malcolm Go and justify some crazy, indefensible “hunch” by the head coach. The coaches, players and fans of the team love Butler. But this is coming from people with first hand knowledge. It is the rationale behind benching Butler on defense while putting him on special teams. And the only explanation that makes sense. What else could it be?

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I’m also not arguing it worked. The results speak for themselves as the Patriots showed all the defense of a baby seal. I’m just reporting what I’ve been told by sources I trust. That Malcolm Butler wasn’t benched to prove a point. He was benched because Belichick and others believed he was not mentally prepared to play defense, period.

Butler's twitter response