Was John Butler treated unfairly by Matt Rhule and the Nebraska football team? It's a safe bet the former Husker defensive coordinator believes he was. While still looking for a job, Butler tried to demonstrate why his job was harder than people realized; unfortunately for him, eagle-eyed NU fans pointed out his argument boiled down to tarring and feathering him as well.
Earlier this month, Butler posted a wordless tweet on Twitter that was clearly meant to show that the Cornhuskers didn't have a ton of talent, highlighting how few players NU saw drafted this past year. In fact, the post showed that of the 68 Big Ten players drafted, only one came from Lincoln. Butler didn't even have to point out that the one player, Emmett Johnson, was drafted in the fifth round.
If Butler hadn't been an assistant with the most recent Nebraska squad, his argument would be a good one. It's hard to have a great defense if that unit doesn't have a ton (or any) of NFL Draftees. That argument was hammered home by former Husker tight end Nate Boerkircher, who was taken after the second round after he transferred to Texas A&M.
The problem with Butler's argument is that, as the defensive coordinator, it's his job to turn his charges into NFL-caliber players. In other words, by pointing out that not a single defender got drafted, he's also pointing out that he didn't really do his job. Butler also didn't have the built-in excuse most one-year defensive coordinators can go to.
— John Butler (@MannysPaw12) May 3, 2026
John Butler’s Nebraska football argument fell apart once fans remembered his role
Before being promoted, Butler was on staff as the defensive backs coach. Considering the safeties and corners were considered the real strength of the Blackshirts in 2025, it might even be a bigger indictment that none of his players were drafted. Even if they did get UDFA offers after the fact, it's still hard to pretend that Butler was untouched by the very shortcomings he pointed out.
Nebraska finished the regular season with the No. 2 pass defense in FBS at 112.1 passing yards allowed per game. Still, it struggled at times to get stops in conference play, finishing with the Big Ten's No. 12 scoring defense in league play and closing out the season with lopsided losses to Penn State and Iowa. After Butler was fired, Phil Snow took over calling the defense for the bowl game, and Utah continued its season-ending streak of blowout victories over Nebraska.
On Butler's Twitter post, plenty of fans were more than happy to call him out.
"You are part of the failure you do know that right?" one follower responded.
"Probably because you couldn’t make them better. you were a 'DB Guru' but couldn’t get Ceyair or Singleton drafted?" another commented. "Spent a lot of time in the NFL to not learn much…"
"This isn’t the flex you think it is," a third Nebraska fan commented. "You were coaching them."
The backlash to the apparent troll attempt by his former school was so strong that it appears the former Nebraska defensive coordinator didn't want any part of that part of the argument. While he pinned the post, it got just 12 likes and 36 comments. Not a one of them was supportive of his argument.
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