Adrian Fedkiw
There’s a difference between rumor and speculation.
Sports Illustrated‘s Albert Breer spoke about New England Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler in his latest MMQB column and discussed where he could potentially be dealt, because he expects that teams will call on his availability. Then he speculated who could potentially be a trade partner and that’s where Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Mychal Kendricks came into play.
Who would be the trade partner? The Eagles make sense. And they have a versatile front seven piece that would fill a major need for the Patriots and has been tied to trade talks in the past: linebacker Mychal Kendricks.
Again, this is mere speculation and not a rumor. There is no report saying that there are ongoing talks between the two organizations. It’s just Breer offering an opinion as to what might happen and what makes sense. And guess what, his proposal has some merit. Butler didn’t start against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday and Kendricks admitted during the summer that he requested a trade during the offseason.
Mychal Kendricks said he asked the #Eagles to release or trade him in Jan.
— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) July 28, 2017
Kendricks said last time he spoke to #Eagles FO was around time there was option to cut him w/o cap ramifications in March. Opted to keep. https://t.co/heXyXl6SIp
— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) July 28, 2017
Let’s say the Eagles were to make a swap for Butler, trading a player would be the way to go considering the limited draft capital they possess following the trade up to nab Carson Wentz last year and bringing in cornerback Ronald Darby from the Bills this summer. Kendricks’ contract runs through 2018, while Butler would be a free agent at the end of this season.
Kendricks has gotten off to a great start, but he’s still seeing the field only 37 percent of the time because nickel defense is essentially the Eagles’ base. Butler, meanwhile, would most likely be a starter once he gets acclimated opposite of Darby when he returns seeing a majority of the snaps. If Butler is brought in, I see him being a rental until the end of the season. I don’t see Philadelphia handing him a big contract because not only are their going to be more important pieces who need extensions, Alshon Jeffery for instance, Sidney Jones and Rasul Douglas will be heading into their second seasons on cheaper rookie contracts. Douglas, by the way, comes off a strong performance in Week 2 against the Kansas City Chiefs.
It’ll be interesting to see if Butler is dealt before the October 31st deadline. If he does get sent away, Eric Rowe will see more playing time and if he plays 50 percent or more of New England’s snaps this season, the Eagles will receive a third-round pick from the Pats instead of a fourth in the 2018 NFL Draft.
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