Jump to content
  • Welcome!

    Register and log in easily with Twitter or Google accounts!

    Or simply create a new Huddle account. 

    Members receive fewer ads , access our dark theme, and the ability to join the discussion!

     

Carolina Panthers select DT Vernon Butler


Jeremy Igo

Recommended Posts

With the 30th pick of the 2016 Draft the Carolina panthers select Vernon Butler, as predicted here on the Huddle. 

 

Defensive Tackle, Louisiana Tech

6'4 323lbs

STRENGTHS

 Long-­armed knee-bender who can play the role of low man at the point of attack. Plays with strong hands and good arm extension and can "peek­a­boo" both gaps as he reads which hole the running back heads for. Impressive stack and shed timing and power. Able to eat up double teams and keep his linebackers clean when asked to. Excellent athleticism. Can make plays all along the line of scrimmage. If blocker doesn't finish, Butler will work himself back into the play. Able to coordinate hands and feet smoothly and has change of direction and closing burst to become a dominant pass rusher from inside. Can slide from gap to gap as a pass rusher and is a perfect fit for twist-­based defense. Generally attacks gaps with forward lean and ability to corner the edge when he has his man beat. Can stutter-­step into pass rush to disrupt offensive lineman�s timing or generate a speed-­to-­power bull rush that can severely dent a pocket. Gives consistent effort and plays like a lead dog looking to eat.

http://www.nfl.com/draft/2016/profiles/vernon-butler?id=2555243

 

STRENGTHS: Wide-hipped and carries his weight well. Short-area quickness and lateral range to work up and down the line of scrimmage and sidestep blocks. Strong upper body to create movement off the snap, using his balance and length to extend into blocks and convert initial step to power.

 

He was almost unblockable at times during Senior Bowl practices, showing an exciting combination of initial quickness, balance and a refined swim move, belying his 6-foot-4, 325-pound frame.

 

Coordinated movements to work off blocks and stay within striking distance. Sees through blockers with improved tracking awareness. Excellent pursuit speed and playing range for his size. Active hands and reach to stack the corner and work to get free. Hits behind his pads with the closing surge.

 

Plays with energy and shows the same intensity in the fourth quarter as the opening drive. Consistent competitor with a strong football appetite.

 

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/players/1999382/vernon-butler

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


  • PMH4OWPW7JD2TDGWZKTOYL2T3E.jpg

  • Topics

  • Posts

    • Give me Mitchell Evans over T Sanders in this run heavy offense any day of the week. 
    • What's up gents, the OGs remember me, the guy who single-handedly gave the Panthers the greatest uniform in history moniker. Not too long after that I got involved with Pro Football Focus (pre-Collinsworth acquisition) and ended up taking backseat here to preserve some objectivity. But from a distance I noticed a lot. After the end of the Cam era this place devolved into the most un-fun, petty, negative cesspool of whining and bitching that has ever graced the internet. The worst part of it all is that the level of discussion turned into the most ill-informed, hot-take, unnuanced crap, rife with people talking out of their posteriors as if they have any clue about what they are watching. Once you get into the professional side of the sport and actual film rooms, you start to understand there's an absurd number of moving parts to pretty much every snap and the details you are privy to are truly only half the picture. The absolute most important thing I learned from being part of professional level football analysis is that quarterbacking is literally the most intricate and difficult position in all of professional sports, and that the NFL itself is struggling to develop any workable model that allows them to understand what makes one succeed vs what makes one fail. Because of this paradox it has also made the quarterback position itself grossly overvalued from a fan and media standpoint, creating an absurd fixation on the results delivered by a single player who has to rely on the contributions of everyone around them. This also drives the dreaded inflation of QB salaries that inevitably cause even elite teams to lose key talent all to pour cash into the one player supposed to be able to single-handedly elevate the entire team (and defense and special teams and coaching and ownership by some mysterious proxy), yet without those same players even talented teams can wander the wilderness searching for the right guy to take advantage of their talent window. The discussions the last few years around Bryce has personified this insanity, as this board has devolved into some sort of electronic civil war between the hyperbolic Young supporters and the vitriolic Bryce haters. The reality, like practically everything in this world, is somewhere in the middle. He has traits that can absolutely elevate a team with creativity, play recognition, off-arm angle throws, mental toughness, etc. He's also physically limited, with mostly "good-enough" qualities for most situations that a professional quarterback is asked to do, and will never be an overpowering physical force like pre-injury Cam. But "good-enough" physicality represents a large majority of championship-winning quarterbacks, even in the modern era. There's a reason the corpse of Peyton Manning took the chip from elite physical specimen Cam, because the team surrounding him was talented enough to get him there, while we all know Cam was the driving force of that 2015 team. That's no knock on him, that's just how the game of football tends to work: the more complete team usually wins. The summary is this: if this team lives or dies solely on the performance of its quarterback, then it is absolutely a paper tiger even if he plays brilliantly week in and out. There are no superheroes in this sport, there are only conduits that proxy the collective efforts of much of the team around them. And no one alive can tell you how the position is played perfectly, it's all a confluence of circumstance and what unique collection of traits each player brings to the position, which can never be truly recreated season after season, even for the same player on the same team. If this place remains a raging hellscape of idiotic hot takes I will happily remove myself again and do something more productive for yet another decade, but maybe's there hope that we can all get back to the old adage, and keep pounding.
    • Really impressed how the bottom six have looked the past couple games
×
×
  • Create New...