Five years ago, Malcolm Butler was a junior at the University of West Alabama with longshot NFL dreams. One of those dreams was to take on Falcons star Julio Jones.
I feel extremely confident that Butler has no memory of even sending out this tweet, something we'll find out for sure when the cornerback is asked about is musing roughly 400 times in the next two weeks.
Now Butler gets his wish. The Patriots and Falcons will meet in Super Bowl LI and Butler -- who has gone from undrafted free agent to the Patriots' No. 1 corner -- will see plenty of Jones, football's best wide receiver.
It's an intense challenge, but Butler should have his confidence up after finding success againstAntonio Brown on Sunday. According to Pro Football Focus, Brown was targeted just four times when running routes with Butler in primary coverage. He finished with two catches for 24 yards, with Butler breaking up one of those attempts.
If the Pats can contain Jones in the same way they bottled up Brown, another Lombardi will be shipped to Foxborough.
