ProfootballFocus.com has been posting their stats for variuos passing routes (slants, crossing, WR screens, go, post and corner routes) this week, and listing the 5 best QB's, receivers, and DB's for each of these passing routes in 2011. The good news is that the Panthers had 2 CB's who were in the top 5 on 1 of these routes, the bad news is that none of the Panthers QB's or receivers made the top 5 in any of of these routes.

CB's Coverage of Slant Routes:

1st - Chris Gamble - 1 completion - 8 attempts - 6 yards - 0.8 yards/att. - 0 TD's - 0 ints

CB's Coverage of Go (fly or 9) Routes:

4th - Darius Butler - 2 completions - 11 attempts - 30 yards - 2.7 yards/att. - 0 TD's - 1 int.

This high ranking for Darius Butler might surprise many of you, it did me, but here's another set of stats from a years ago that might suggest that it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.

In the 2010 season, Butler ranked 2nd among all CB's drafted in the 2009 draft, with an overall coverage rating of +4.6, in PFF's rankings. In his rookie season of 2009, he ranked 6th, with an overall coverage rating of -2.3, in PFF's rankings.

As a comparison, Captain Munnerlyn ranked 4th in 2010, with a rating of +2.6, and he ranked 9th in 2009, with a rating of -2.9, in PFF's rankings. So, CB Darius Butler ranks better in coverage than CB Captain Munnerlyn, but at almost half the cost ($770,000 to $1,308,000 for Munnerlyn).

The other 3 ranked 2009 draft's CB's were

1st Jason McCourty (Titans) at +7.1 (8th in 2009 at -2.5),

3rd Sean Smith (Dolphins) at +4.2 (4th in 2009 at -1.6),

5th Vontae Davis (Dolphins) at +1.9 (1st in 2009 at +3.7)