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Malcolm Butler Reportedly Informed He's Being Released

The Titans will create significant salary cap space by cutting the veteran cornerback after his best season.

David Boclair

NFL analysts unanimously predicted that many teams would be forced to cut quality players this week in order to create needed room under the salary cap.

The Tennessee Titans officially are one of those teams.

According to numerous reports Tuesday, the Titans have informed Malcolm Butler that he will be released. The 31-year-old cornerback (his birthday was last week) has two years remaining on the five-year, $61.25 million free-agent deal he signed in 2018. He was scheduled to earn $11.1 million in base salary with another $1.1 million in potential bonuses, the first of which was a $500,000 roster bonus due on March 22.

Butler’s release frees up $10.2 million in cap space and will add $4 million in dead money to the 2021 budget. Last week, the team released wide receiver Adam Humphries, which provided roughly $4.47 million in cap savings.

Late in 2020, Butler said he felt that he was having his best season with the Titans, and the numbers supported that notion. He set a career-high with 100 tackles, which was second to safety Kevin Byard, led the team with 14 passes defensed and tied safety Amani Hooker for the team lead in interceptions with four.

His best game was Oct. 13, when he intercepted two passes and returned them for a total of 97 yards. Both picks led to touchdowns in Tennessee’s 42-16 triumph.

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.

Before Tennessee, he spent four years with the New England Patriots, the last three as a starter. He 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.

Now, he will have the opportunity to see what he can do with another team.

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David Boclair
DAVID BOCLAIR

David Boclair has covered the Tennessee Titans for multiple news outlets since 1998. He is award-winning journalist who has covered a wide range of topics in Middle Tennessee as well as Dallas-Fort Worth, where he worked for three different newspapers from 1987-96. As a student journalist at Southern Methodist University he covered the NCAA's decision to impose the so-called death penalty on the school's football program.

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