From Zero to Hero: How Two Undrafted Players Shaped the Greatest Super Bowl Ever
Neither should have been on that stage. Despite their shared unlikely rises to the top, they saved best for last as both played their best game on the NFL’s biggest night. While just under one hundred undrafted free agents make an NFL roster in their first year, both of these men not only got roster invites, but helped their team to the Super Bowl. Standing on opposite sides of the field, their teams collided in one of the NFL’s greatest ever games.
Malcolm Butler was born Malcolm Terel Butler on March 2, 1990 in Vicksburg, Mississippi, one of five kids. Nicknamed “Dro”, he graduated Vicksburg High School in his hometown and soon got a chance to play at a collegiate level with Hinds Community College, where he recorded 43 tackles with three interceptions, including one pick six. His stats were good enough to earn himself a spot on the second team all-state team and land himself a transfer to West Alabama University. At West Alabama, he was also a kickoff returner and eventually made his way up to an all-conference selection.
Though Chris Matthews also went the JuCo route, he had a much different rise to the big stages. Originally a tight end, the Los Angeles native was committed to UCLA, before being ruled academically ineligible. After two years at Los Angeles Harbor College (where he transitioned to WR), Matthews finally got his chance at the D1 level, committing to University of Kentucky. Matthews played in all 13 games both years and caught 12 touchdown passes in his time with the Wildcats.
Butler, as previously mentioned, went undrafted in 2014, but was invited to Patriots rookie minicamp after a stand-out performance in the Medal of Honor Bowl. Butler impressed the Patriots coaches and earned a roster spot as the sixth cornerback on the depth chart. In his first season, Butler played in 11 games, starting in one, and recorded 14 tackles.
Matthews also went undrafted, but unlike Butler, did not make the final roster for the Cleveland Browns in his rookie year of 2011. Instead, Matthews ended up playing spring football in the Arena Football League, followed by two successful years with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League.
After his CFL stint, Matthews thought his career was over. He started taking shifts at Foot Locker and working as a security guard. Then, one day in 2014, the Seahawks called while he was working his security guard job. They wanted to know if he could try out for the team. Originally, Matthews told the Seahawks’ representative that he didn’t know whether he could get off work in time, so he hung up. The next call was from Matthews’ agent. He convinced the wide receiver to take the deal and soon enough, he was on a flight to Seattle.
Despite Butler’s more consistent success during the 2014 season, it was Matthews who had a signature moment first. In the 2015 NFC Championship Game that season, the Seahawks were battling back from a significant deficit late in the game against the Green Bay Packers. When trying a pivotal onside kick, Pete Carroll’s team needed a big and tall player with good hands, so naturally they turned to Matthews. He ended up recovering the kick to help send the Seahawks to this Super Bowl in an overtime thriller.
It was that Super Bowl in Glendale, Arizona, where the two players’ careers started to overlap. While typically not matched up together due to their size difference, they both would have career games. Matthews caught his first career NFL pass with 4:12 left in the first half, a tremendous 44-yard catch on a crucial 2nd and 5. It was that catch that set up a touchdown rush from Marshawn Lynch, which would tie the game at 7.
Later in the second quarter, the Patriots scored with now 30 seconds left in the half. It proved to be 20 seconds too long as the Seahawks methodically drove down the field. From the 11 yard line with six seconds left the ball fittingly landed in the hands of Matthews again, who scored his first NFL touchdown to tie the game in the Super Bowl. After his third catch, another contested ball, commentated Al Michaels quipped “Can you believe what’s going on?”
While Matthews succeeded in the middle of the game, it was Butler’s time to step into the fore as the Patriots and Seahawks went back and forth. Though the Patriots were down ten with eight minutes to go, they stormed back to lead 28-24. Enter Malcolm Butler. While defending Seahawks WR Jermaine Kearse, he batted the ball down. However, the football magically sprung back up into the hands of Kearse who caught the ball to get the Seahawks down to the six in one of the most miraculous catches in NFL history.
Malcolm would get another chance in what would become his memorable moment. If you know football, you know the story. Instead of running it to Marshawn Lynch, the Seahawks passed it inside and Butler made a great heads-up play to rip it out of the hands of Ricardo Lockette. Butler did well to reverse his momentum from going into the endzone, as the play could have been a safety.
Butler credited Patriots Defensive Coordinator Matt Patricia for preparing him for the play as he got beat on that same play in practice. Could that play have gone differently had the Seahawks passed to Matthews instead? We’ll never know. Still, the game would have likely been over had the Seahawks just run the ball. In addition, the Patriots still had to kneel the ball out from the one yard line, but lucked out when Michael Bennett (brother of future Patriots Super Bowl winner Martellus Bennett) was caught offside, giving the Patriots a guaranteed win.
From the stars to the undrafted rookies, in my mind, this is the greatest Super Bowl and greatest game the NFL has ever seen.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_Butler#
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/B/ButlMa01/gamelog/post/
https://uwaathletics.com/sports/football/roster/malcolm-butler/1844
https://blog.kinetex.co/what-its-like-to-be-signed-as-an-undrafted-free-agent/