Player
Adam Butler
DL · Raiders
Adam Butler: facts drawn from the play-by-play.
9 NFL seasons, 3 teams, 30 career sacks as a rotational interior rusher.
TrendButler by season
| Season | Team | G | Tk | TFL | Sacks | QB Hits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | NE | 11 | 11 | 5 | 4 | 4 |
| 2018 | NE | 14 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 6 |
| 2019 | NE | 12 | 14 | 8 | 6.0 | 9 |
| 2020 | NE | 13 | 15 | 6 | 4 | 7 |
| 2021 | MIA | 13 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| 2023 | LV | 15 | 15 | 8 | 5 | 9 |
| 2024 | LV | 16 | 29 | 8 | 5.0 | 10 |
| 2025 | LV | 15 | 19 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
Butler's career started undrafted from Vanderbilt in 2017, signed by New England. Four straight Patriots seasons, then a year in Miami (2021), then Las Vegas from 2023 onward.
His 30.0 career sacks make him one of the more durable rotational interior rushers of the late 2010s/2020s. The peak year was 2019 (6.0 sacks), and 2024 matched it for QB pressure volume (10 hits).
Sacks per season
| Season | Sacks |
|---|---|
| 2017 | 4 |
| 2018 | 3 |
| 2019 | 6 |
| 2020 | 4 |
| 2021 | 2 |
| 2023 | 5 |
| 2024 | 5 |
| 2025 | 1 |
30 career sacks for an undrafted interior DL — top-tier UDFA outcome.
MilestoneButler entered the league undrafted in 2017 and has accumulated 30.0 career sacks in 9 seasons — among the highest sack totals for any UDFA interior defensive lineman in this window.
The context: most UDFA DTs wash out within 3 years. Butler's 3 different multi-year stints (NE, MIA, LV) show repeated proof of role-fit. He's started or rotated heavily for two Super Bowl-era Patriots teams (won SB LIII).
2019 breakout was bunched: 4 of 6 sacks across 3 games.
SplitButler 2019 weekly
| Wk | Sacks | QB Hits |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 3 | 0.5 | 1 |
| 8 | 2.0 | 3 |
| 11 | 1 | 1 |
| 16 | 0.5 | 1 |
His career year (2019) wasn't steady — it was two multi-sack games (Weeks 2 and 8) that produced 4 of his 6 sacks. The other 2.0 sacks were spread across 3 different weeks.
That's a classic interior-DL profile: when matchups break right, the production spikes; when they don't, the value sits in rotation. Butler's been on the right side of that volatility for most of his career.
2023-2024: 10 sacks across the two-season Raiders peak.
ComparisonButler with Raiders (2023-2024)
| Season | G | Sacks | QB Hits | TFL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 15 | 5 | 9 | 8 |
| 2024 | 16 | 5.0 | 10 | 8 |
| Total | 31 | 10 | 19 | 16 |
His first two years in Las Vegas were the most consistent stretch of his career: 5 sacks and 8+ TFL in each year, 31 games combined, 0 missed for injury.
That reliability got him paid into 2025 — but 2025 is the regression year: just 1 sack in 15 games, with the TFL falling from 8 to 3. At 31, the rotation reps are still there, but the splash plays have dried up.
Played in Super Bowl LIII (won) and on 3 different franchises' D-line rotations.
RareButler's Patriots tenure (2017-2020) overlapped with Super Bowl LIII (2018 season), where he was part of the rotational D-line that contained the Rams' offense — that 13-3 game's defensive line was the story, and Butler was on it.
That ring + 30 career sacks across 9 seasons with 3 teams is the kind of lineage that, even without a Pro Bowl, makes him a textbook example of how UDFA defensive linemen build long careers when the role-fit is right.
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