Can The Butler Do it?
Entering his fourth season, the Panthers 2016 first-round pick has amassed only 45 tackles and two sacks over 38 career games, including being a healthy scratch twice in 2018 – it will take a lot from Butler to be viewed as anything more than a disappointment; he has all the physical tools and his work ethic has been encouraging, but the performance on the field has simply not been enough to be anything more than a rotation piece for the Panthers – to be fair, he was always in a bit of a bind playing behind one of the top tackles in the league in Kawann Short, but talent finds it’s way between the sidelines and that hasn’t happened for the 24-year old as of yet. Butler has the size to play the nose tackle in a three-man front if the Panthers utilize more of them in 2018, but it will remain to be seen if that is enough to keep him in a Panthers uniform moving forward.
Love And Happy Wes
DT Kyle Love
With both Kyle Love and Wes Horton – who the Panthers experimented with inside at times late in the season – both unrestricted free agents, the Panthers will likely try to bring back Love, who had arguably the best year of his seven-season career and outsnapped Poe multiple weeks of the season in 2018. Love tied for second in the NFL among interior defensive linemen with his three forced fumbles, led the Panthers in fumble recoveries with two and had the third-most quarterback pressures on the team in 2018 with 12. Horton, who Ron Rivera and the defensive coaching staff elected to move inside – often at the expense of Vernon Butler – due to his length and speed, has 15.5 sacks over his six-year stint in Carolina and could help if the team decides to use more three-man fronts moving forward.
