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HENDERSON, Nev. — When Matthew Butler‘s cell phone came to life in the fifth round of the NFL draft last month, the former Tennessee defensive lineman did not recognize the number on the screen.

“It just showed ‘Las Vegas, Nevada,'” Butler said. “So, my heart stopped a little bit.”

Indeed, when it comes to the Las Vegas Raiders and defensive linemen, the 702 area code has been getting a lot of work this offseason. Because besides drafting Butler with the No. 175 overall pick, the Raiders also selected LSU’s Neil Farrell Jr. one round earlier. Las Vegas then signed a pair of undrafted rookie D-linemen in Notre Dame’s Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa and Iowa’s Zach VanValkenburg, both of whom are listed as ends.

This after signing a gaggle of veteran defensive tackles in free agency — from Bilal Nichols to Kyle Peko to Vernon Butler to PJ Johnson to Tashawn Bower to Andrew Billings — while re-signing Johnathan Hankins and retaining Kendal Vickers.

Oh yeah, and the Raiders traded away defensive end rusher Yannick Ngakoue and signed edge rusher Chandler Jones to pair with Pro Bowler Maxx Crosby.

The Raiders’ new regime re-shuffled its D-line deck … and then some.

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“We didn’t have many [defensive linemen] on the roster to start with,” said new Raiders coach Josh McDaniels. “There was a lot of opportunity at that position.”

To be fair, McDaniels was speaking specifically of the two interior defensive line positions. To be more general, with the Raiders valuing versatility in all of their players, they will show a variety of new fronts under new defensive coordinator Patrick Graham.

A 4-3 base, as has been the Raiders’ look for a decade-plus? Sure.

What about a 3-4, which more closely resembles Graham’s sensibilities? As McDaniels has said since he was hired in January, a base defense is basically a nickel now. So you need interchangeable pieces, and the more positions one can play, the more playtime said player will get.

Which is why you shouldn’t read too much into Jones being listed as a linebacker on the team’s transactions page, or Farrell as a defensive lineman, or Tagovailoa, who trends as a classic “tweener,” as an end.

“During my career at LSU,” Farrell said, “I played defensive end. I played defensive tackle. I played nose guard. So whatever the team needs, I’m willing to do.”

Keep in mind, Clelin Ferrell, the No. 4 pick of the 2020 draft, is still on the roster and might translate better as an end in a 3-4 scheme. As is Malcolm Koonce, who was drafted in the third round last year, had two sacks in his first two games as a defensive end but also started seeing practice reps at outside linebacker late in the season.

Plus, the AFC West is loaded at quarterback, with Russell Wilson joining the Denver Broncos to add to Patrick Mahomes with the Kansas City Chiefs and Justin Herbert with the Los Angeles Chargers.

Then there’s this: the Raiders have ranked in the bottom half of the NFL in scoring defense in 19 straight seasons, the longest such streak by any team since 1970, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

No wonder Las Vegas has gone so heavy on the D-line this offseason.

In Farrell, the Raiders got a 6-foot-4, 319-pound fifth-year senior who had 45 tackles, 9.5 for a loss, with two sacks for LSU last fall. Pro Football Focus had the two-time SEC Academic Honor Roll member fourth in FBS with 24 run stops, 10 of which were either for no gain or a loss.

Butler, at 6-4, 295 pounds, was also a fifth-year senior who blossomed last season. He played an SEC-high 726 snaps and led Tennessee’s defensive linemen in tackles (47) while being fourth in tackles for loss (8.5) and third in sacks (5) with seven QB hurries and a forced fumble. PFF had him in the top 10 of SEC D-linemen in rush defense.

The 6-2, 270-pound Tagovailoa-Amosa, who played five years at Notre Dame (sensing a trend yet?) and was a team captain, had two sacks last season while the 6-4, 263-pound VanValkenburg played three years at Iowa after transferring from Division II Hillsdale. He had five sacks as a senior.

As McDaniels put it, the Raiders have been taking “a few swings” on the defensive line this offseason, from free agency through the draft and the UDFA signings.

“Like I said, we’re going to need some depth there in camp anyway,” McDaniels said. “We are going to improve the competition at each position that we can, and I think we’ve put a group in there that’ll do that now.”

HENDERSON, Nev. — Consider it one of the biggest challenges facing the Las Vegas Raiders‘ new regime. And it’s not merely a single-prong problem.

Because while general manager Dave Ziegler and coach Josh McDaniels have to clean up what can only be considered draft misses (messes?) by previous staffs, they also have to show they have learned from those mistakes and avoid making the same ones going forward.

Consider: The Raiders have given out second consecutive contracts to six of their 68 post-Al Davis draft picks from 2012 to 2019.

Only one was a first-rounder (left tackle Kolton Miller, who was drafted by Jon Gruden and Reggie McKenzie in 2018) and one was taken in the second round (quarterback Derek Carr, who has signed a pair of extensions after being picked by McKenzie and Dennis Allen in 2014).

Two third-round picks (guard Gabe Jackson went 81^st overall in 2014 and offensive tackle Brandon Parker went 65^th in 2018) and a pair of fourth-rounders (defensive tackle Justin Ellis was No. 107 in 2014, while defensive end Maxx Crosby was taken No. 106 overall by Gruden and Mike Mayock in 2019) round out the list.

Only the New York Giants have signed fewer of their draft picks over the same time frame to second contracts (two), while the Jacksonville Jaguars have extended 10 of their 59 picks from 2012 to ’19.

And when you throw in the fact that three of the Raiders’ 15 eligible first-round draft picks since 2005 have signed second deals with the team — Miller, running back Darren McFadden (drafted in 2007) and 2006 first-round defensive back Michael Huff (Las Vegas also re-signed 2016 first-round safety Karl Joseph in 2021 after Joseph spent a year with the Cleveland Browns) — it’s easier to fathom how the team has only been to the playoffs twice, losing both postseason games, since appearing in Super Bowl XXXVII … in January 2003.

Yet, as Carr said last week at the news conference announcing his three-year, $121.5 million extension — he previously signed a five-year, $125 million extension in 2017 — he wanted to make sure money was left on the table to take care of teammates in need of, yes, second contracts.

“Guys like, hopefully, Hunter [Renfrow] and Foster [Moreau],” Carr said of his slot receiver, who was a fifth-round pick in 2019, and his backup tight end, a fourth-rounder that same year. “And [hopefully] those guys can stay here the way we structured [my extension].

“I went through a heartbreak already last time I signed my contract, my best friend [Khalil Mack] left, and I didn’t want that to ever happen again. And so, this was an opportunity for me to prove to the team, to the organization, to our fans, that the way we’re going to structure this is so that we can keep everybody together and really, really have real continuity, really have something to build on. And so, for me, it was like, how do we do that?”

The Raiders will also get roughly $20 million in salary-cap space after June 1, thanks to the releases of defensive end Carl Nassib and linebackers Cory Littleton and Nick Kwiatkoski.

Plus, the Raiders will have to make decisions on whether to apply fifth-year options on their 2019 first-round picks — defensive end Clelin Ferrell, running back Josh Jacobs and safety Johnathan Abram.

“Usually in these negotiations, ‘How much money can we get?'” Carr said. “And then they’re, ‘How much can we save?’ And this was just different. There was a learning curve about it. Like, how do we make that happen to where I feel good and to where the team feels great, like, ‘Man, we can still build a championship team around you.’ And so, that was what was important to us. And hopefully this contract proves that.”

The proof, though, remains in the draft and the regime’s coming selection technique.

It is the lifeblood of any organization, and with Raiders owner Mark Davis bringing in a couple of lifelong New England Patriots in Ziegler and McDaniels to run the football side of things, expect big changes.

Such as the actual, well, draft philosophy. The Raiders do not have first- or second-round picks, thanks to the Davante Adams trade, and are not scheduled to make the first of their five selections until the third round, at No. 86 overall.

“We’re going to try to draft the best players [available],” McDaniels said at the NFL owners meetings. “I mean, if we draft three in the same position in a row, because they’re clearly the three best players when it’s our turn to draft, I mean, you make a strength stronger.

“To me, the best way to improve your team is to continue to take the right guy. Not, ‘Oh, man, we’ve got a hole on the roster, let’s take this guy just because his name says whatever position beside him.'”

And maybe, just maybe, the Raiders will find some guys worthy of second contracts that way.