3 Commanders rookies who need to shine during training camp

1. Percy Butler, S

The Commanders drafted Butler higher than expected. That should paint a pretty clear picture in terms how excited they are by his potential. In 2021, Butler played 616 snaps and logged a 78.6 player grade from PFF, which ranked first amongst Sun-Belt safeties and 78th out of 749 qualified safeties in the nation.

Of those 616 snaps, Butler played 217 as a deep-lying safety, 168 in the box and 155 as a slot cornerback, according to PFF. The versatility doesn’t grow on trees and fails to mention Butler’s expected upside as a special teams ace, too.

Butler was sound in coverage for the Ragin’ Cajun’s defense, allowing just 356 yards over his collegiate career. He loves laying down the hit stick, but his penchant for missed tackles (14.5% miss percentage in college) will have to get cleaned up if he’s to earn snaps at safety behind Bobby McCain and Kamren Curl.

Butler’s biggest upside for Year 1 is his expected contributions on special teams, but he has the versatility to line up all over the secondary.

The last time we checked, the Commanders haven’t found a Landon Collins replacement to fill the Buffalo nickel role. The idea sounds fun in theory, but Butler needs to be consistent at training camp to even warrant consideration for that role.

Note: Phidarian Mathis and Brian Robinson would obviously benefit from a strong training camp, but odds are they’ll be locked into key roles as rookie as long as they don’t trip over themselves over the nearly month-long camp.