If there’s going to be a battle for the final one or two roster spots at the wide receiver position this summer, then it’s going to be incumbent upon those who intend to be in contention for those spots to make it one. After all, there is no rule saying the Pittsburgh Steelers have to carry five or six. They have gone into a season with four before.
As of right now, it’s not abundantly clear that there are more than four offensive contributors in the group, behind Diontae Johnson, George Pickens, Allen Robinson II, and, arguably, Calvin Austin III. Miles Boykin would be the incumbent favorite for a special teams spot, while Gunner Olszewski will be in the running for the return specialist role.
Hakeem Butler has faced long odds before. He’s come up on the losing end of those odds more often than not, but that’s part of what keeps driving him following a number of stops and starts to his NFL career.
And after showing some life in the XFL earlier this offseason to earn this spot on the Steelers’ 90-man roster, he knows what it will take to give himself a chance, starting with making use of his 6’5”, 227-pound frame.
“I’m gonna have to”, he told KPRC reporter Aaron Wilson, who interviewed him while participating in running a youth football camp held by former Steelers wide receiver Steven Sims. “I mean, I showed it once this year. I’ve got to keep it going”.
A 2019 fourth-round pick of the Arizona Cardinals, Butler has played exactly one meaningful offensive snap in his career, that coming in 2020 with the Philadelphia Eagles. He was targeted on the play but did not catch the pass.
While injuries and other misfortunes, such as changes in coaching staff, have influenced his failure to stick in the league, one can’t ignore the fact that he couldn’t make it work at two different spots in the Canadian Football League, either.
He was one of the top wide receivers earlier this year for the XFL, however, showing up for the St. Louis Battlehawks. He caught 51 passes during their 2023 season for 599 yards and eight touchdowns, officially signing with the Steelers on May 16, a day after the was released from his XFL contract.
Reportedly, he looked good during OTAs and minicamp, but that is the time of year that size matters most. There are many practice superstars at the wide receiver position who can dominate one-on-one drills because of their natural athletic gifts.
It’s one of the reasons Butler has gotten as many chances as he has, but perhaps he knows that this could be his last if he doesn’t stick this time, or at least put on tape the evidence that he deserves to be on somebody’s roster. The first step was playing competitively in a professional league at a high level. He did that in the XFL. Now he has to do that on an NFL practice field and take it from there.
