While it makes for a miserable season, losing does create quite the profitable offseason. The Carolina Panthers would surely trade places with the Green Bay Packers or any winning program for that matter, but it has to help ease the sting a bit when you’re first in line to grab players as they’re released — as they did today when they claimed Darius Butler off of waivers from the New England Patriots.
The cornerback was the second round choice of the Pats in 2009 and still has considerable potential despite obviously spotty play on the field. The Pats have loaded up on the secondary in recent drafts, so something had to give and Butler had already worn out his welcome despite the high draft grade. For their efforts, the Panthers get a chance to right a still young ship and shape up their own special teams and secondary depth all the while.