One quality that offers instant intrigue about a player in the NFL is size at the wide receiver position. Many wide receivers get drafted above their talent level simply due to their size, with teams hoping that they can either dominate with their natural abilities alone or develop into a skilled player.
Many of them never do, in part because they were likely so used to doing the former against a lower level of competition. Hakeem Butler may not have exactly been overdrafted as a fourth-round pick, but he’s certainly continued to get second and third chances because of the intrigue of his size at 6-foot-5, 227 pounds.
The former Arizona Cardinals draft pick has played exactly one NFL snap on offense during his career. He had multiple failed stints in the CFL before finally seeing some tangible success in the XFL earlier this year, leading to his signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers. So what are his chances of making the roster? Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette would probably advise not to get your hopes up.
“He says he can play on special teams”, Fittipaldo wrote in a chat session this week when asked if Butler could play on special teams or if he’s just a receiver. “He got off to a slow start in the spring. I wasn’t all that impressed with him in OTAs and minicamp”.
Given the nature of May and June practice settings, it’s far from encouraging to read of observations that a physically dominating wide receiver could not impress in seven-on-seven and one-on-one settings with no pads on.
Few players in his position who fail to show up during May and June are suddenly going to look all that much better in July and August. Butler has been through this a few times now since being drafted in 2019. He may have been new to the Steelers in May, having just been signed, but he’s been catching footballs for most of his life.
In Pittsburgh, he figures to be competing for no better than the fifth spot on the depth chart at wide receiver behind Diontae Johnson, George Pickens, Allen Robinson II, and Calvin Austin III. The favorite may be Miles Boykin, another big mid-round draft pick who at least has remained in the league and has a proven special teams record. He was on the roster last year.
Also returning from last season is Gunner Olszewski, signed as a free agent in 2022 for the primary purpose of taking over the kick return duties. He was benched from that role within a few games, but figures to try to retake it beginning this week. Their incumbent returner is no longer on the roster and Olszewski is by far the most qualified.
But Butler has the intrigue of the fans, who will be watching in Latrobe and during the preseason with visions of Plaxico Burress and Martavis Bryant in their heads. Up to this point in his NFL career, however, he hasn’t even been a Derek Moye or a Justin Hunter.
