Los Angeles Chargers

Chargers need Donald Butler to have a bounce-back year

Published Aug. 4, 2015 12:25 p.m. ET

foxsports

Donald Butler just looks different this summer.

Gone is the puffy abdomen that slowed him down in 2014. He's more chiseled now -- proof that the linebacker isn't treading lightly heading into 2015.

“He came in ready to go,” defensive coordinator John Pagano told U-T San Diego. “Sometimes you’ve got to refocus."

Added teammate Eric Weddle: “He’s looked better than I’ve ever seen him."

Butler would help Pagano's defense immensely if he can play like his former self; the one who flew to the ball like Weddle and made his presence known.

If not, the Chargers have a dilemma. Butler signed what could amount to a seven-year deal in 2014 -- the spring before his worst professional season. It would cost the team a nearly-unbearable amount of cap space to move on after this year.

Butler knows the Chargers could still cut ties, though. Fellow inside 'backer Manti Te'o is a year wiser, and newcomer Denzel Perryman could push for playing time.

Butler might've lost the weight around his midsection, but he still carries the weight of a make-or-break season. The Chargers will see which type of weight is heaviest this summer.

(h/t U-T San Diego)