Comments from Carolina Panthers general manager Dave Gettleman and head coach Ron Rivera after taking Louisiana tech defensive tackle Vernon Butler with the 30th pick of the NFL Draft.
RE: You couldn’t help yourself, could you, Dave?
DG: “I couldn’t help my hog molly self. This kid (Vernon Butler) is really talented. We are really kind of shocked that he was there. We don’t know why he fell. It was like my first draft watching Star (Lotulelei) drop. Just watching, bup, bup, bup, bup. We just felt the value was too good. We had a bunch of teams calling us, but the value was too good. This kid is big, he’s powerful, he’s athletic, and he’s got all the stuff.”
RE: How many teams called?
RR: “Seven.”
RE: What kind of trade offers came in?
DG: “People mistake kindness for weakness. The deals weren’t very attractive, frankly. When we got on the clock all of a sudden they started to up the ante, but we made up our mind.”
RE: If selecting Butler is about adding more competition to every position or insurance if Kawann Short does not reach a long-term contract
DG: “It is no different than drafting Shaq (Thompson) last year. You can’t have too many good players at one position. I just believe in it. It is no different than us drafting Funch (Devin Funchess) last year. I told you guys before my biggest nightmare was Kelvin (Benjamin) getting hurt, well he did, and we had Funch. When you can roll guys in and out like we can and there is no drop off, it makes for a long day at the office for that offensive line.”
RE: Would you compare Butler more to Star Lotulelei or Short?
DG: I think Ron is right, more to KK.
RR: “When you watch him on tape, the biggest thing you see in comparison to KK is you see the ability to slither. KK has the ability to turn and shift and move and flip his hips nicely. When you watch Vernon you see the same traits, you see the same skill set. He has a little bit to learn, obviously, but there is a lot of potential, a lot of upside, especially for a guy that is 320 pounds to be able to move that way and do the things that he does. He is explosive, he is powerful at the point of attack, he has heavy hands, and he has good upper body strength. We would like to see him improve a little bit on the lower body strength, even though he is still powerful and stout, we think he can take it to another level. We most certainly do see the upside. We are excited about him, talking with the coaches he will fit right in to the rotation right away. He will probably be a rotational guy that depending on who is with can end up playing the nose and then if he is with somebody else he will probably play right and left. It just depends on who he is in the game with. He is a guy that will certainly have a nice role for us and give us that extra body. We lost Dwan (Edwards), so this is an opportunity to add a guy that has a very good skill set that is going to help us.”
RE: What set Butler apart from other defensive tackles?
RR: “One of the things when you look at guys and you say ‘oh well they are pretty even’, sometimes the thing that sets them apart is also the potential for growth. This is a guy that played at not necessarily a big-time school, but played against some pretty good talent. We feel this is a guy that the more he does, the better he is going to get in terms of who he plays against. If you want to get excited about him, and I didn’t watch it until the other day, I watched the Senior Bowl and watched the things he did throughout practice and how dominant he was in that practice against top college talent and then the way he played. I got excited about that because I really did truly see the potential for growth.”
RE: What did your scouts report back from the Senior Bowl?
DG: “He was highly graded to begin with. What’s funny, we talk about All-Star games and really an All-Star game shouldn’t hurt a guy, it should only enhance his value and this kid really stepped up to the plate. He went there with a little chip on his shoulder and he felt like he had something to prove and you can’t hate that.”
RE: On the fact he didn’t have big sack numbers
RR: “Right but when you put the tape on, it’s not necessarily the sack as a number that people get excited about, but how does he impact the play. That’s the thing you have to look at. There was a player that was drafted very early, defensive end Joey Bosa, that didn’t have the sack numbers in comparison, but how he affects the play — that’s what we thought was special. That’s what’s special about Joey Bosa and from the end position he affects the play constantly. Well this is a guy that comes straight up the gut affected the play. Quarterback threw off balance, quarterback had to tuck the ball and run. He’s getting doubled and someone else is hitting the quarterback. This kind of potential and ability for growth you get excited about because he can be a guy that can impact from the inside and the quickest way to the quarterback is through the A gaps.”
DG: “One of the things when you look at the inside at the defensive tackles, you can’t look strictly at numbers. When you watch them, do they affect the play and do they make plays for other people? Do they help other people make plays? Star did it, KK did it, and this kid does it. You can’t deny that. One sack I remembered distinctly last year that KK had, Star created it. This kid has the ability to not only create, but he’s got the ability to finish as well.”
RE: What stood out about Butler off the field?
RR: “He had the ability to retain and regurgitate very quickly. When Eric (Washington) had him on the board and we were going through things, then it was his turn to put it back, he did a nice job with it. He really did. You knew he was a sharp kid. You know he could learn, and he is going to grow quickly, which we believe he can grow quickly. He has a solid personality. He is easy going. He showed a seriousness and intensity when you sit down and talk to him and as you talk more and more about football and the Xs and Os, you see his focus and concentration. Whereas you sit down in a relaxed environment, you just talk about him growing up. You see that personality light up again. He has that ability to turn it on and off. It really was a good conversation to sit down and see who he is as a young man. I think he is going to fit our culture really nicely in the locker room.”
RE: Why Butler over the edge rushers who were available?
DG: “Again, Ron and I have evaluated the team and have talked ad nauseam about it, we feel good about Charles (Johnson). We feel good about Mario (Addison). We feel good about Kony (Ealy). We like Ryan (Delaire). He has some solid upside. We feel like we have some good young raw talent defensive ends. He was the highest rated guy on our board. That’s number one. We felt he would be more impactful for us.”
RR: “One of the things that we looked at, as Dave said, we talked about the room, the defensive line room, the one hole that we did see was Dwan (Edwards). With Dwan retiring, this is a guy that we have to be able to develop not just for now but for future as well. Dwan has been a big part of what he have done for several years here. His presence is going to be missed. We had to find a guy like that, so as we were going through the DTs, we had a cluster of guys. A couple got taken before hand and a couple are still there. There were a couple of really rush defensive ends that were still on the board that we liked as well, but as the board spoke to today, this was our guy.”
RE: Was UCLA OLB Myles Jack on your board?
DG: “Oh yeah.”
RE: Were you surprised he didn’t go in the first?
DG: “Not after what he said today. Very frankly, the kid came out and said he is going to need a microfracture.”
RE: Would you consider drafting Jack at some point?
DG: “You’re talking hypotheticals. He was on the board.”
RE: Whether patience is going to be needed because Butler is a bit “raw”?
RR: “No. We’ve done this with every one of our first-round draft picks. We’ve brought them in and started getting them ready to play and that’s how we’re going to approach it with him. We’re not going to say, “Well, you can take your time.” No. We’re going to push him. We’re going to develop him and do everything we can to get him on the football field to help us. When we pick guys, we bring them in to be a part of what we do. Dave’s got this crazy idea that he believes that everybody’s got to earn their right. I think that’s a great way to go about it. Just because he’s a first-rounder, he’s going to have to get out there and produce and if he doesn’t, then he won’t get a shirt on Sunday. That’s just the way it is. But I’ve got a lot of faith in him and I’ve got a lot of faith in who Eric (Washington) and Sammy (Sam Mills III) are as far as coaches, position coaches, and I really do mean that. We’re not bringing him in to sit around and develop. We’re bringing him to get on the football field and help us win. You know my goal, my vision is to win the Super Bowl, not just get out there and try. We are going to do everything we can to win.”
RE: Do you plan to draft a cornerback this weekend?
DG: “Will we draft a corner this weekend? Yeah, I think so.”
RE: Do you plan on drafting more than one?
DG: (laughs) “Just for what it’s worth, I want to jump in on, don’t make it sound like Vernon’s (Butler) raw and we have to teach him how to get in a three-point stance.”
RR: “But seriously, when you watch what he did during the Senior Bowl, you saw the coaching level that he got from those guys, you saw the improvement. When you watched his college tape, game tape and all of a sudden you are watching this week of practice, you are watching his production in the game itself, it was impressive. I didn’t watch it until a couple days ago and I thought, wow, this kid’s got that kind of ability to go from point A to point B very quickly, so we’re excited about him.”
RE: Laremy Tunsil’s situation and if they had ever seen anything close to what was happening to him
RR: “Warren Sapp.”
DG: “Sapp dropped like a rock, exactly. There was one other guy and I’m getting old and frail. There was one other guy, but Sapp is a great example rather than me sitting here trying to figure it out. He dropped like a rock. All that stuff came out about 12 positive tests and all kinds of crazy stuff. This was weird now, this was strange.”
RE: How many meetings did you have with Butler?
DG: “Vernon was a full process guy, full process. Obviously, we did the scouting and we probably had a private workout with him and he came through, so he was a full process. This is a large kid now. I’m telling you. Ray Brown, I was talking to Ray and he sat down in my office to talk to myself and Donny Gregory and he filled up the chair now. Ray just said, ‘There’s a whole lot of him,’ and there is. But, he was a full process kid. We talked about him when Ron said, ‘Dave, he spit it all back out at us,’ the verbiage and all that stuff. He’s going to be a quick study. We’re not concerned at all. We’re excited as hell because this kid’s got really good upside.”