the patriots DID make an extremely good offer-35 mil guaranteed- to keep him around, so it wasn't like they were lowballing him, they offered what was comparable to top 2-3 CB's in the league got.
butler in the latter half of the season- especially 2nd half of the SB showed he can play the position fairly well, will the patriots be able to maintain close to the high level play of the secondary next year? who freaking knows, we'll find out next year. if they CAN, then they're- once again- the team to beat in the AFC, if not, then..they are still the team to beat in the AFC, just not quite as "tough".