Darius Butler

[Mvp2014]

I really dig this coaching staff. Butler and Applewhite seem like great pick ups

[hepcat]

Sometimes a change of scenery works out great. For Butler, I think he was too under the microscope to be successful in New England. In Carolina, he is the #2/3 corner on a team that didn't draft him in the 2nd round. The pressure isn't as high and he's playing better.

Applewhite was all over the place especially early against Washington. I'd like to see what he does with more playing time. I like him spelling Hardy and Johnson as the #3 DE.

[CarolinaPanthers8789]

Darius Butler really helped fill out the Panthers cornerback position this year. When Hogan returns, we should be four deep (Gamble, Munnerlyn, Butler, and Hogan). However, it would be nice to actually have a 5th corner that can actually contribute on special teams. Stanford and Thomas have been nonexistent all season. Nonetheless, our corner position is much further along then it was at the start of the season.

[minkusz1013]

Some interesting pass defense stats from Football Outsider (all rankings based on DVOA):

As a team we rank 25th against the pass.

vs. opponents #1 WR we rank 15th

vs. opponents #2 WR we rank 6th

vs. opponents other WRs we rank 23rd

vs. opponents TEs we rank 31st

vs. opponents RBs we rank 15th

So it looks like our starting CBs have performed at a good or decent level, it is our lack of depth and our inability to cover tight ends that is killing us.

I think this is a case of the stats pointing out what was already obvious.