The Arizona Cardinals announced a few of their initial cuts on Friday, as they must get the roster down to 53 players by Saturday afternoon. Among those cuts were receiver Hakeem Butler, their fourth-round pick from a year ago.
They didn’t want to necessarily cut him. While they didn’t want to keep him on the final roster, they attempted to get something for him.
According to SI.com’s Albert Breer, the Cardinals were shopping Butler, seeking trade him to another team. They were unsuccessful in doing so.
The Cardinals were trying to trade Butler over the last week. No takers. Lots of the analytics people loved him ahead of the 2019 draft. https://t.co/DnbGFCpFdl
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) September 4, 2020
Butler never got to play a down for the Cardinals. He had one preseason appearance in 2019 before suffering a hand injury that landed him on injured reserve before the season, ending his rookie year before it started.
With no preseason this year, no team had the opportunity to scout him.
While he has a rare combination of size, speed and athleticism, he never was quite able to stand out.
He was highly thought of coming out of the draft but was considered raw. Perhaps he was just unlucky to get hurt when he did and then to have the pandemic change the game this offseason, but he will surely get another look with someone else at some point.
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