Patriots Face Investigation into Whether They Really Benched Malcolm Butler from Voluntary OTA's

Yesterday, reports came out that Super Bowl hero Malcolm Butler had been benched for showing up late to the team’s OTAs due to a reported weather travel issue.

The details of it weren’t exactly clear. Did he miss a flight (purportedly because of the weather) or was the flight delayed? Regardless, the reports indicate that Butler arrived late for OTA’s, and as a result, wasn’t allowed to participate in the remaining “voluntary” activities.

Enter the NFLPA, per Pro Football Talk, which is exploring whether the Patriots violated the collective bargaining agreement for punishing Butler and prohibiting him from participating by being late to what is a voluntary activity.

We have seen Belichick take a hardline stance with young players who receive accolades and then have an issue that causes them to be late. Remember the week of Jonas Gray? He arrived late citing a dead phone battery, the week after scoring four touchdowns, apologized to Belichick, and was still persona non grata. (The team signed noted high character guy LeGarrette Blount to move him to irrelevancy).

The difference is, at this time, the practices weren’t in-season and the discipline would, if the accounts are correct, be in violation of rules in an environment where the offseason activities are officially voluntarily. Other teams take adverse actions that may push this envelope, but it’s not usually so directly tied to missing or being late for an OTA.