Breaking down how the defensive tackle made an impact on Las Vegas’ defense last season
Last season, defensive tackle Adam Butler was a pleasant surprise for the Las Vegas Raiders. Butler missed the entire 2022 campaign with an injury and ended up signing a reserve/future contract with the Raiders during the following offseason.
However, he ended up being one of the defense’s best interior pass rushers, leading the position and finishing third on the team with five sacks. Beyond that, he racked up 28 pressures according to Pro Football Focus and was effective at creating lanes for his teammates on stunts, as the clips below highlight.
Adam Butler was really good at setting up teammates to get pressures on stunts last year. Here, he gets off the ball and forces RG and RB to help, freeing up Tillery to force Wilson out of the pocket #Raiders pic.twitter.com/eAO28P6JOZ
— Matt Holder (@MHolder95) June 21, 2024
Here’s a good example of how Butler was successful at freeing up teammates on line games.
The Raiders are running a twist with their defensive tackles or interior defenders where he’s the penetrator and Jerry Tillery is the looper. Butler doesn’t have to do anything too fancy as he just gets off the ball and attacks the center. With the center turning to the defense’s right, he knows to work toward the left guard.
That gets the guard’s attention so that the guard doesn’t see Tillery looping around on the line game until it’s too late. Essentially, Butler managed to occupy two offensive linemen which frees up Tillery to flush the quarterback out of the pocket on third and long, forcing a field goal attempt.
Adam Butler was also pretty good at getting his hands up when he couldn’t win as a pass rusher to bat passes at the LOS #Raiders pic.twitter.com/7ty1zEwRU2
— Matt Holder (@MHolder95) June 21, 2024
Another non-traditional way the veteran impacted the passing game was by batting balls at the line of scrimmage as PFF credited him with three last season, tied for the 11th-most among defensive tackles.
The Detroit Lions kept using tempo or quick snaps to try and keep Las Vegas’ pass rush off-balance throughout the game. Here, Butler and the rest of the defensive line are barely able to get in their stances before the snap which makes it difficult to work a pass rush move.
So, while he doesn’t get pressure on the quarterback, he at least gets his hands up and swats the pass away to prevent the conversion on third and nine. Also, this might have been a touchdown-saving play as the slot receiver had a step on Nate Hobbs.
Adam Butler has some impressive quickness as a pass-rusher. Uses that plus a nice rip move to help collapse the pocket #Raiders pic.twitter.com/3I2j1TP0C6
— Matt Holder (@MHolder95) June 21, 2024
Moving onto more traditional pass rush reps, Butler is good at setting up his moves and has impressive quickness to win.
In this play, his first step is up the field which gets the center moving to the center’s left initially. Then the defensive tackle has the quickness to cross the center’s face and use a nice rip move to help collapse the pocket and force Jared Goff to roll out. Also, shoutout to Malcolm Koonce for the nice work as the looper on the stunt.
Take a look at the bind the right guard is put in. He sees the center is in trouble and starts to work inside to help his teammate. While it doesn’t pay off here because the tight end chip blocked, that leaves the right tackle one-on-one with Maxx Crosby which is exactly what the Raiders want.
When a defensive tackle can create interior pressure, the guard has to make a decision on whether to help the teammate who is already losing the rep or the guy blocking one of the best pass-rushers in the game.
Adam Butler with a nice hand-swipe to rip move to get a QB hit #Raiders pic.twitter.com/RoQvWuQzPj
— Matt Holder (@MHolder95) June 21, 2024
This time, our subject is going to shift to a three-technique right before the snap to throw off the right guard’s initial aiming point. Post-snap, Butler works a hand-swipe move, and while it isn’t the cleanest as the guard still has hands on him, he does a good job of turning it into a rip move to still win around the edge.
From there, Butler leans into the guard to help bend and turn a tight corner at the top of the rush. That also draws a hold (which should have been called) and picks up a QB hit, forcing Goff to get rid of the ball and throw without a stable base.
This is another good example of how the defensive tackle’s movement skills help him create pressure.
Adam Butler takes the fight to Penei Sewell and wins with a nice arm-over move to force the ball out #Raiders pic.twitter.com/wU43iRgn9l
— Matt Holder (@MHolder95) June 21, 2024
This might be the most impressive rep of the bunch seeing as it comes against first-team All-Pro offensive tackle Penei Sewell.
Detroit dials up a play-action pass while Butler does a good job of being aggressive and taking on Sewell’s block with good pad level and hand placement. That allows him to win at the point of attack, and something I like about his game is he understands how he’s built.
Butler is “only” 300 pounds and isn’t strong enough to just push through Sewell’s chest on the bull rush. Instead, after the initial contact, he works to get on an edge and beats Sewell with an arm-over or swim move. The defensive tackle ends up collecting another pressure as Goff just has to throw the ball away.
Good example of how Adam Butler sets up his pass rush moves by getting to square and winning around the edge of the OL with a swim move #Raiders pic.twitter.com/doeyoFnrzU
— Matt Holder (@MHolder95) June 21, 2024
We’ll end with another rep that shows off the veteran’s savviness as a pass-rusher.
Pre-snap, he lines up as a 2i-technique or inside shade on the guard. But post-snap, he works wide to get square on the guard and give himself a two-way go. That gets the offensive lineman’s momentum going toward the outside which helps create a small lane to the inside.
Also, Butler has the quickness to capitalize and win with a nice inside swim move. Granted, the ball is out quickly so he doesn’t have anything to show for it, but this is a good rep nonetheless.