The Green Bay Packers will kickoff their 2023 season 99 days from now against the Chicago Bears. In celebration of a new era of Packers football and in anticipation for the upcoming season, Wisconsin Sports Heroics will present the top 100 players in franchise history in the 100 days leading up to the start of the regular season. Our rankings are based on Pro Football References Approximate Value stat, which gives a numeric value to each season a player plays in
Greatest Green Bay Packers Players #99: Mike Butler (Defensive End)
For the 99th greatest player in Green Bay Packers history, we travel back to an era in which the team simply was not very good. Additionally, the NFL did not keep track of tackles for defensive players, so Mike Butler’s career tackle totals are lost to history.
However, football historians are working on attributing stats to the players who earned them, and this is most true of the sack. NFL and Packers historians have attributed 41.5 sacks to Butler, the 11th most in Green Bay’s history.
The Packers drafted Butler with the ninth overall pick in the first round of the 1977 NFL Draft. He was an immediate starter, playing all 14 games for Bart Starr’s 4-10 squad. The next season, the Packers improved to 8-7-1 thanks to a surprising 7-2 start to the season. Butler and fellow defensive end Ezra Johnson were incredible forces in the pass rush, combining for 27.5 sacks (Butler had 10.0).
In 1979, the Packers were 5-11 and Butler finished the season with just three sacks. However, during the season, he did returns a fumble 70 yards for a touchdown. At the time, it was the longest fumble return for a score in Packers history. It is now the second-longest fumble return for a touchdown after Keith McKenzie returned one 88 yards for a touchdown in 1998.
The 1980 Packers finished 5-10-1, but Butler performed better and recorded nine sacks. In 1981, when the Packers were 8-8, Butler had a career-best 10.5 sacks, which led the team that season.
After an injury-filled 1982 season, Butler signed with the Tampa Bay Bandits of the USFL, with whom he played from 1984-85. The Packers did bring Butler back for one final season in 1985, but he was only able to play in 10 games. He retired following the 1985 season.
His approximate value over the course of his career was 43.
Green Bay Packers Greatest Players List
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