Malcolm Butler Wants To Be ‘Patriot For Life’; No Holdout Planned

One of the elite wide receivers in the NFL, Brandin Cooks landed in Foxborough among the reigning champions, the New England Patriots.

Although the Patriots wide receivers are still productive as ever, the addition of Cooks brings youth to a receiving core that in reality is aging.

According to CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora, Butler’s agent is actively trying to find a team that’s willing to surrender a first-round pick in order to sign the cornerback.

Since then, the Patriots managed to land Cooks in a trade that cost them a first-round pick. As ridiculous as it may seem, the Kirk Cousins trade rumors will not die, even after he signed his franchise tender Friday morning.

Cooks enters an already talented New England receiving corps.

And the Saints went 7-9 for the third straight season and Cooks is now a Patriot. Once the tender is signed, that will guarantee Butler a total of $3.91 million for the 2017 season, which is way lower than his asking price, but way higher than his 2016 salary of $600,000.

Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the Saints offered safety Malcolm Jenkins, a third-round pick, and a fourth-round pick for Cooks.

The success or failure of this trade for the Saints will be determined by what they do with the 32nd and 103rd overall picks, whether they package them with other picks such as their own No. 11 to upgrade the defense or if they use them independently.

If any team should be encouraged to try something new, it’s the Saints, who have been as prolifically bad on defense as they have been great on offense in recent years. But Edelman will be 31 years old when the 2017 season starts, the same year former pats slot receiver Wes Welker began to decline.

The Patriots are now out of the first round, and the Saints now join the Cleveland Browns and Tennessee Titans as teams with multiple first round selections.

Cousins completed 67 percent of his passes last season for 4,917 yards, 25 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.

No matter what the Patriots specifically told Butler, the cornerback certainly appears to have been as surprised by the Gilmore deal as anyone else.

Earlier this week, Russini reported that the Patriots and Saints were considering swapping players, with New England getting Cooks and the New Orleans getting cornerback Malcolm Butler.

Effectively, Carolina traded Ealy for a jump up of eight spots in the draft.