After being silenced in Super Bowl 50 by the Denver Broncos, the Carolina Panthers took the ensuing offseason to lick their wounds and regroup. And part of that regrouping (or at least their attempt at it) involved the selection of defensive tackle Vernon Butler.
But unfortunately for Butler and the Panthers, he didn’t really stick on with the organization . . . or any other one since.
As part of their cutdown to beat the 85-man roster deadline on Tuesday, the Las Vegas Raiders released the seventh-year defender. He signed on with the team back on March 23.
Butler, a Louisiana Tech University product, initially entered the league as the 30th overall pick of the 2016 NFL draft. The 6-foot-4, 325-pounder was the first of the Panthers’ five choices that April—with cornerbacks James Bradberry, Daryl Worley and Zack Sanchez, as well as tight end Beau Sandland, to eventually follow.
He’d play out his rookie deal in Carolina, recording just nine starts over 52 games. After the Panthers chose not to pick up his fifth-year option, Butler became a free agent in 2020 and moved on to Buffalo with his old defensive coordinator in Sean McDermott—where he’d play in 24 games between 2020 and 2021.
A rare first-round miss by the Panthers, Butler’s most memorable moment with the franchise came against the Indianapolis Colts in 2019—when he punched tight end Jack Doyle, got ejected and then proceeded to give the crowd a one-finger salute on his way out.
Oh, and on a painful side note, Chris Jones and Javon Hargrave—two of the best defensive tackles in the game today—were drafted in the second and third rounds, respectively, of that 2016 draft.
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