One of the biggest narratives/ concerns/ storylines of Tennessee’s 2023 season is the defense. Let’s pare that down some, focus on the defensive line and look to who’s going to replace the double-take invoking production of Matthew Butler.
But first, a brief nod to the eventual 5th-round NFL Draft pick: Butler led the DL position group in just about every statistical category out there, all while playing a staggering 726 total snaps, which ranked him seventh nationally among defensive linemen in the NCAA. And only one of those players who played more snaps graded out better than Butler, according to Pro Football Focus’s all-encompassing, defensive grading metric.