Before free agency, Las Vegas Raiders head coach Pete Carroll laid out a plan to re-sign all of the team's best defensive free agents. After retaining defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, the goal was to have as much continuity as possible, but of course, things did not pan out that way.
However, clear priority was placed on retaining one of the team's interior defensive linemen. The night before the legal tampering period started, the Raiders agreed to terms with defensive tackle Adam Butler on a three-year, $16.5 million deal with $11 million guaranteed.
That multi-year deal was a clear reward for what Butler has done in two seasons as a Raider. He played in all 17 games as a rotational piece in 2023, tallying 5.0 sacks and eight tackles for loss. In a bigger role last season, he matched those numbers while also netting a career-high 65 tackles.
The underappreciated Adam Butler lands on appropriate list
Butler has had a unique path in his seven-year NFL career. He originally landed with the Patriots as an undrafted free agent in 2017, and after winning a Super Bowl there, he signed with the Miami Dolphins in 2021. After spending a year away from the game, the Raiders signed him to a deal in 2023, and the rest is history.
While a future multi-year deal was not likely in the cards for him when he arrived in Las Vegas in 2023, he earned every dollar of his recent contract. So, as Tom Blair of NFL.com zeroed in on a Raider for his list of the most underappreciated players on each team, Butler was surely an easy choice.
"It feels like Butler's career trajectory was crafted with the express purpose of landing him a spot on this list at this exact moment in time," Blair wrote. "Butler landed with the Raiders on a reserve/future contract in 2023 -- putting him fairly far on the under end of the appreciation spectrum. It all set up his late-career revival in Vegas as an extraordinary triumph."
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The ongoing questions about Christian Wilkins' health place an even bigger spotlight on Butler to be a force on the interior defensive line for the Raiders this year. He stepped up nicely when Wilkins was out last season, so whatever added pressure there might be should not be something that Butler is not used to.
In February, on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast with Hondo Carpenter of SI.com, Butler made it clear that staying with the Raiders was what he wanted. That sentiment certainly resonated with Coach Carroll.
"It will be a dream come true," Butler said on his return to the Raiders. "It will be the perfect situation for me in my opinion. As long as you said the business makes sense, it will be a perfect situation. I love the team, I love the organization, and I would not want to be anywhere else."
While Butler may have been underappreciated by segments of the fan base in years past, all signs point toward an influx of admiration from Raider Nation this season.