Butler pays tribute with tattoo

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Patriots CB Darius Butler had a rough rookie year, and that had nothing to do with football.

In October, a player he considered to be like a little brother -- ex-UConn teammate Jasper Howard -- was fatally stabbed on campus.  As you'd imagine, it had a profound affect on Butler, and there's some evidence there to the right.

This morning, some PR people sent me a link to Butler's brand new Web site, and that led me back to his Twitter page (he actually has two). On there, an entry with a link to this picture reads: Memorial piece for my lil brother Jazz.

Look closely, and you can the UConn uniform, the number "6" and the dates of Howard's birth and death, along with an "R.I.P." I spoke with Butler about six weeks later about how he handled it, in the wake of Chris Henry's death, and here's what he told me:

"Football can be an outlet for it, but you can’t really forget about it. It’s tough, and it’s gonna be tough for a while, especially being surrounded by it like that team will be, with his locker still there and stuff. It’s tough. I know every person deals with it differently."

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