What safety Percy Butler brings to the Washington Commanders
Taking a closer look at the skill set of the Commanders fourth-round pick
In the fourth-round of the NFL Draft, the Washington Commanders selected safety Percy Butler from Louisiana. Coming from a smaller school, Butler may be a bit of an unknown prospect to fans. He did turn a few heads at the combine, where the 6-foot, 194 pound safety ran a 4.36 40-yard dash. Early analysis of the pick pointed to his special teams impact, which might have made some fans think back to last year’s fifth-round pick Darrick Forrest, another fast safety with special teams ability.
However, Forrest was drafted almost as a special teams player that could potentially develop into a back up on defense. Butler is very much someone that can compete for a role on defense. At Louisiana, he was asked to do a lot of different things. He mostly lined up as a quarters safety, where he often helped bracket receivers or cut crossing routes, but he also played as the single deep safety regularly too and occasionally matched up over tight ends or even in the slot. It was a relatively complex defense and Butler showed he was capable of performing a number of roles within it.
Here, Butler aligns as part of a two-deep safety look. However, the slot corner plays off the slot receiver and with heavy outside leverage. This appears to be a bracket coverage, with Butler working in tandem with the slot corner to cover the slot receiver. If the receiver works outside, the slot corner can pick him up, if he works inside then Butler can take over and the slot corner can sink back to replace Butler deep. On this occasion, the slot receiver takes an inside release, approaching Butler before attempting to cut inside over the middle. Butler takes over responsibility for the route while the slot corner replaces him deep. Butler drives down on the crossing route and covers it well.
In similar fashion, Louisiana asked their defensive backs to pass off receivers to each other to ensure the best possible leverage advantage in each situation. Obviously when run well it is hard to beat, but it comes with a significant risk, especially in key spots like on third down and in the red zone.
On this play deep in the red zone, Butler aligns to the right side of the offensive formation. The receiver to that side comes off the snap instantly looking to run a shallow cross. Shallow crosses are hard for corners to stay with because they lose leverage so quickly and can’t ever recover it, so instead of having a corner trailing the receiver, the corner passes the receiver off to Butler inside. Butler anticipates the pass off and initially reacts well as the receiver continues on his original path. However, he then suddenly breaks up the field to try and work along the back line of the end zone. Butler is forced to turn quickly to stay with the receiver, but manages to do so and ensure he’s not a viable option for the quarterback to throw to. In the meantime, the corner is able to peel off and attach to the crossing route from the other side, giving the quarterback nowhere to go and he ends up getting sacked.
Those types of coverages are much harder than it appears to pull off. It requires strong communication and everyone to be on the same page, understanding the entire scheme rather than just one role within it to ensure everyone reads the play the same way. The fact Butler ran these types of coverages regularly in college is a good sign for Washington. The Commanders struggled mightily with communication at the start of last season which led to multiple coverage busts before they had to simplify things. But Butler clearly understands complex coverages and knows how to communicate them, so if the Commanders want to try and reintroduce different match coverages, it shouldn’t be too hard for Butler to pick up.
Butler is also perfectly capable of running simpler coverages too. He’s a pretty sound coverage safety with good instincts and anticipatory skills to identify threats before using his athleticism to take them away.
On this play, Texas looks to try and attack the Louisiana defense with a wheel route from the slot running behind a post route from the outside receiver. Butler starts back deep and you can see him edge wider after the snap, anticipating the threat of the slot receiver while still looking into the backfield for the throw. The receiver then bursts down the field and Butler glides over to try and make up the ground between them. He doesn’t locate the ball, but Butler does manage to close the gap and arrives at the same time as the ball. Instead of panicking and trying to find the ball while losing track of the receiver, Butler just shoves the receiver out of bounds as he goes up to catch the ball. The receiver does get the ball, but that just means that Butler’s contact is legal as he shoves him out of bounds to prevent him from getting his feet down for the touchdown.
Butler’s instincts, even from deep, are a positive trait in his game. He often aligned as the deepest safety, but had the ability to read and diagnose plays from deep before many others did.
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