After Malcolm Butler was on the field for 97.8 per cent of the New England Patriots' defensive snaps during the regular season, it came as a surprise to see the 27-year-old cornerback stuck on the bench for the team's 41-33 Super Bowl LII loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.

But teammate Devin McCourty says that the Pats knew that Butler wouldn't feature in the championship game and that any rumours regarding the Pats benching Butler as a means of meting out discipline are entirely false.

"As far as I know, all of that is the furthest thing from the truth," McCourty told NJ Advance Media's Ryan Dunleavy. "We all knew he wasn't starting all week. That wasn't a secret to the guys on the team. I get why people are fishing. The guy played 98 per cent of the plays. I just hate that for him character-wise going into free agency. It's just not true. As far as I know -- and I was there all week -- not one time did anything come up."

McCourty's assertion that teammates knew of coach Bill Belichick's plans for Butler, whose Super Bowl participation was limited to special teams, contradicts what was said earlier by Eric Rowe, who started in place of him.

"That wasn’t the plan," Rowe said of Butler's benching after the game. "It wasn’t official until kickoff."

For Butler's part, the impending free agent didn't mince words after the loss.

"They gave up on me," Butler told ESPN's Mike Reiss. "(Expletive). It is what it is. I don't know what it was. I guess I wasn't playing good or they didn't feel comfortable. I don't know. But I could have changed that game."

McCourty believes that the rumours that have surfaced since the game are completely unfair to a player he calls a "great teammate."

"It sucked for him," McCourty said. "He put a lot of time and effort in. However it falls, the last thing you want to do is not play a snap. To me, the worst part was to see all that (anonymous) stuff come out after."

Undrafted out of West Alabama, Butler rose to prominence during Super Bowl XLIX when he famously picked off Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson at the goal line in the game's dying seconds to preserve a 28-24 triumph for the Pats. He spent much of last offseason attached to various trade rumours, but the native of Vicksburg, MS signed a one-year deal to return to the Pats as a restricted free agent.

This offseason, Butler is unrestricted and McCourty says he understands if Butler chooses to move on.

"If he decides it's hard to come back after that, anywhere he goes, the guy is a great football player and probably one of the most competitive people I've been around," McCourty said. "With all my guys, we're teammates and friends for life."