I consider myself a man who enjoys a good conspiracy theory as much as anyone.
Provided that there is an actual good conspiracy to theorize about.
To qualify as a decent conspiracy a story needs to have certain elements.
Facts that don’t add up.
A plausible alternative explanation that goes against the officially accepted narrative.
And one of the most pernicious and enduring conspiracies of modern times just celebrated its seventh anniversary.
It came up when the Apple+ seriesThe Dynastydid half an episode on it.
And it especially gains traction every Super Bowl week when Butler makes the rounds on Radio Row.
The one consistent explanation given by everyone involved that has never wavered, not even a little bit?
The answer is nothing.
There is no behavior issue so bad hed bench a starter to prove some point.
Especially with a guy wholl be shadowing wideouts somewhere else in a few months.
Butler was at the team postgame party.
He talked to a lot of people, including people Ive heard from.
And Butler was telling people at the party, The coach and I just arent seeing eye to eye.
Which more or less sheds light on the aforementioned attitudes and frustrations.
Physically, he was ready to go.
Its the other part of his game the part between his earholes that coaches had issues with.
Im told that Butler was not in the right frame of mind.
That during practices in Minneapolis he was being belligerent, snapping at his coaches.
At least not to the extent he trusted Eric Rowe and Johnson Bademosi.
To be clear, this is not coming from the coaching staff.
Its not spin to discredit Malcolm Go and justify some crazy, indefensible hunch by the head coach.
The coaches, players and fans of the team love Butler.
But this is coming from people with first hand knowledge.
It is the rationale behind benching Butler on defense while putting him on special teams.
And the only explanation that makes sense.
What else could it be?
But I’ll let you say that.
It’s been investigated as much as JFK.
Everyone even remotely involved has been asked and re-asked.
The One That Got Away.
Butler and his 2017 teammates will be asked about it until the sun goes nova.
But go ahead, keep digging.
I moved on that day and never looked back.
