Deon Butler
Vincent Deon Butler (born January 4, 1986) is a former American football wide receiver. He was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the third round of the 2009 NFL Draft. He played college football at Penn State.
 Butler with Penn State in 2008 | |||||||||
| No. 11, 10 | |||||||||
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| Position: | Wide receiver | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born: | January 4, 1986 Fairfax, Virginia, U.S. | ||||||||
| Height: | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | ||||||||
| Weight: | 182 lb (83 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school: | Woodbridge (VA) Hylton | ||||||||
| College: | Penn State | ||||||||
| NFL Draft: | 2009 / Round: 3 / Pick: 91 | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
| * Offseason and/or practice squad member only | |||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
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| Player stats at NFL.com | |||||||||
Early life and education
Butler was born January 4, 1986 in Fairfax, Virginia. He played high school football at C.D. Hylton Senior High School in Woodbridge, Virginia.
College career
After redshirting as a freshman at Penn State without an athletic scholarship as a defensive back, Butler moved to the wide receiver position and rose to the top of the Penn State depth chart along with Derrick Williams, providing a solid deep threat for Penn State quarterbacks Michael Robinson and Anthony Morelli.
During his freshman season in 2006, Butler broke four school freshman records: season receptions (37), receiving yards in a game (125, versus Wisconsin), season yards (691), and touchdown catches (9).[1] Butler holds the single-game receiving yards record with 216 yards on 11 receptions against Northwestern on September 30, 2006.[2]
He finished 2007 with 47 receptions for 633 yards and 4 touchdowns. He had a season-high seven catches for 93 yards and a touchdown in Penn State's 38–7 blowout win over Wisconsin. In the 2008 season, Butler caught 47 passes for 810 yards and seven touchdowns. He caught eight passes for 105 yards against Michigan.
Butler was a record-setting receiver for Coach Joe Paterno's Nittany Lions, passing Bobby Engram to become Penn State's all-time receptions leader in November of his senior season against the Indiana Hoosiers.[3][4]
Professional career
2009 NFL Combine
| Height | Weight | 40-yard dash | 10-yard split | 20-yard split | 20-yard shuttle | Three-cone drill | Vertical jump | Broad jump | Bench press | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) |
182 lb (83 kg) |
4.31 s | 1.47 s | 2.50 s | 4.23 s | 7.01 s | 34.5 in (0.88 m) | 9 ft 10 in (3.00 m) | 12 reps | |||
| All values from NFL Combine | ||||||||||||
Seattle Seahawks
The Seattle Seahawks traded up to select Butler in the third round (91st overall) of the 2009 NFL Draft.[5] They traded the Philadelphia Eagles a 5th- and 7th-round pick plus a 3rd-round pick in 2010 in order to position themselves to select Butler.[6] The team's interest in Butler reportedly stemmed, in part, from conversations with Butler's college teammate, Aaron Maybin, during a pre-draft interview in Seattle.[7] He signed a four-year, $3.2 million contract with the team on July 24, 2009. He received a $680,750 signing bonus.[8]
2010 season
He got his first receiving touchdown on September 12, 2010, against the San Francisco 49ers. It was his only catch of the game and it was for 13 yards. His second touchdown came against the Chicago Bears. After Deion Branch was traded to the New England Patriots Butler was named a starter, only to be replaced in the starting line-up several weeks later by teammate Ben Obomanu. He was put on injured reserve after breaking his leg during a touchdown catch against the 49ers in week 14.
2011 season
Butler started the season on the Physically Unable to Perform list.[9] He played in the final four games of the season.[10]
2012 season
Butler played in all four preseason games with the Seahawks, but was waived on August 31, 2012, as part of the final roster cuts from 75 to 53 players.[11] On December 15, 2012, the Seahawks signed Butler after clearing a physical.[12]
San Diego Chargers
Butler signed with the San Diego Chargers on April 8, 2013.[13] On August 25, 2013, he was cut by the Chargers.[14]
Personal
Butler earned a Bachelor of Arts in Crime, Law & Justice from Penn State in 2008. He has mentioned being interested in a career in forensic science after football.[15]
In the summer of 2008, Butler was an intern with the Philadelphia Police Department's Crime Scene Unit, where he observed several homicide crime scenes, and augmented his degree with field experience.[16]
Butler currently resides in Atlanta.
References
- "# 3 Deon Butler". Penn State. Archived from the original on 2007-04-13. Retrieved July 10, 2007.
- "'Cats Nipped; Nittany Lions Top Northwestern, 33-7 Deon Butler sets Penn State single-game receiving mark with 11 catches for 216 yards". Penn State. Archived from the original on 2007-02-24. Retrieved July 11, 2007.
- "Penn State holds Indiana to six first downs in rout". ESPN.com. Retrieved November 16, 2008.
- "Butler Sets New PSU Standard at Wide Receiver", Steve Navarol, York Daily Record, November 16, 2008 Archived February 1, 2013, at archive.today
- "2009 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2023-05-13.
- Kelley, Steve (April 27, 2009). "Seahawks trade up for Penn State wide receiver Deon Butler". The Seattle Times.
- Thompson, Ed (May 3, 2009). "Rookie Reaction: Deon Butler". Scout.com. Archived from the original on May 7, 2009.
- O’Neil, Danny (July 25, 2009). "Seahawks sign third-round pick Deon Butler". The Seattle Times.
- "Colin Cole, Deon Butler, Others Placed On Seattle Seahawks PUP List". SBNation.com. August 7, 2011. Retrieved April 8, 2017.
- "Deon Butler - Detroit Lions - 2017 Player Profile - Rotoworld.com". Rotoworld.com. Retrieved April 8, 2017.
- Butler, Portis part of Seahawks cut to 53 Archived 2012-09-04 at the Wayback Machine
- "Deon Butler signed by the Seahawks". SeattleTimes.com. Retrieved April 8, 2017.
- "Chargers Agree to Trio of Signings; Add Cornelius Brown, Deon Butler and Dan DePalma". Chargers.com. April 8, 2013. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved April 8, 2017.
- Gehlken, Michael (August 25, 2013). "Chargers cut 10 players; more coming". U-T San Diego. Retrieved August 26, 2013.
- "# 3 Deon Butler". Penn State Athletics. Archived from the original on September 13, 2008. Retrieved September 11, 2008.
- Fernandez, Bernard (October 1, 2008). "Penn State wide receiver Butler spent summer on crime scenes". Philadelphia Daily News. Retrieved 2008-10-06.
External links
- Deon Butler Talks At Indy, The Morning Call, February 20, 2009
- Radio interview: Deon Butler, Dave Mahler Show, KJR-AM, July 31, 2009.
- Former Nittany Lion Butler makes leap from NFL to cyber forensics, June 12, 2020.