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In Sunday’s Training Camp Observations, Titans Senior Writer/Editor, Jim Wyatt, labeled CB Malcolm Butler as “the most noticeable guy the first four days into camp.”
If you’ve been keeping up with training camp updates, you’d be inclined to agree.
Butler has been the buzz of Titans’ Training camp thus far. Video evidence of Butler’s play-making abilities have made a habit of flooding social media and Twitter timelines.
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He has put his closing speed, tenacity and blue-collar work ethic on display each practice. Butler’s trail-technique is sound. He has a firm understanding of where he needs to be throughout a receivers route.
For those of you not too familiar with trail-technique, click here for a more detailed description.
Super Bowl Absence Lingers
In the aftermath of his Super Bowl benching, Butler’s has shifted his focus to his new team and the 2018 season. He’s also stated he has no hard feelings toward his former coach, Bill Belichick - who is also tight-lipped about what transpired.
As history shows, Belichick will keep his reasoning under lock and key.
After signing a 5-year, $61 million dollar deal with the Titans this offseason, Butler still attacks Training Camp as an undrafted free agent vying to make the roster.
It’s that same drive and motivation that makes Butler’s on field energy contagious. A trait he shares with a teammate that plays on the opposite side of the ball.
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Titans TE Delanie Walker wasn’t undrafted - but he wasn’t selected until the sixth round. He spent a few seasons as the understudy of 49ers TE Vernon Davis, but emerged as a building block and key offensive weapon in Tennessee.
What do Walker and Butler have in common? Both had to earn everything that came their way.
Walker - like Butler - also attacks Training Camp and offseason work like he is on the roster bubble. It’s that fire that resonates and influences teammates to elevate their work-ethic and competitive nature.
The Titans have always had that contributor in the form of Walker on the offensive side of the ball.
Now, they have it on the defensive side in Butler.