Indianapolis Colts sign CB Darius Butler off Carolina Panthers waivers to boost secondary – NFL News
The Indianapolis Colts have sought to strengthen their secondary teams with a new hiring to replace injured cornerback Vontae Davis who is out of the side with an ankle injury.
The new signing is cornerback Darius Butler, who has been picked up off the Carolina Panthers’ waivers on an unspecified contact to make up for absence of Davis. To accommodate the new arrival on the roster, the team has released offensive lineman Trai Essex.
Butler was cut by the Panthers in August this year after spending almost a year with them since joining in September 2011. He is a second-round pick by the New England Patriots out of the 2009 National Football League (NFL) draft.
He has made 14 starts recording 89 tackles and a forced fumbles. With the energy and some experience the player is expected to improve the secondary situation of the team which has badly been affected since departure of Davis.
The Colts have not given a timeline for his possible return as well as the current status of the recovery but he nevertheless might be out for a few weeks, particularly if it is a sprained ankle.
After this week, which is a bye week for the team, the Colts face the Green Bay Packers in a home game desperately looking for the win number two of the season.
With other rivals, the Tennessee Titans and Jacksonville Jaguars, struggling at their ends the Colts stand a chance to improve their ranking in the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, which is led by the Houston Texans who have won all three
games of the season so far.
Coach Chuck Pagano-led Colts after beating the Minnesota Vikings in the second game of the season lost the next game versus the visiting Jacksonville Jaguars, but except for the last two minutes they had managed well through the entire game.
Irrespective of the questionable performance at some other positions, the secondary’s failure to impress has remained the focal point in the team’s overall performance which the team now hopes to strengthen with Butler’s addition.
Tags: