The Dallas Cowboys traded a conditional pick to the Oakland Raiders for Brice Butler on September 15, 2015. Dez Bryant suffered a foot injury and the Cowboys were in need of depth at the position. Butler had fallen out of favor with the Oakland’s coaching staff, some citing his inability to cut back on mental errors. Regardless, he was a good athlete with great size that was available. It was easy enough to understand the logic behind the move.
The Brice Butler Dilemma
Butler struggled with hamstring issues throughout last year, but did flash at times. You may be asking yourself… “Where’s the dilemma?” Well, here it is: Both Butler and Terrance Williams are in the last year of their contracts. Williams has significantly outplayed Butler up this point in their careers. But he has also likely played himself out of Dallas. This becomes even more true if he continues to develop and has his best season to date. The Cowboys can’t sign both. They’ve simply allocated too many resources already to the offensive side of the ball. The Cowboys need to save their cap dollars to build the defense or extend offensive lineman Zach Martin and La’el Collins.
Butler is roughly the same age as Williams, but will come exponentially cheaper than Williams if he were to re-sign. While not a superior athlete to Williams, Butler could be seen as a potential cap friendly acquisition for teams that are active in free agency. Butler would also provide stability on the outside while the Cowboys groom a rookie for the future. Devin Street was supposed to be that guy, but could never capitalize on his opportunities.
It’s impossible to know just how strongly the Cowboys feel about Butler. It’s possible they really like him though, and have for a long time. Will McClay has done a fantastic job of running the pro personnel department and has helped the Cowboys acquire talent across the board. Butler was clearly a top target when Bryant went down last year. If they have indeed liked Butler for a long time, the solution is quite clear: re-sign him before he breaks out.
Around The League Examples
Don’t let Butler flash his talent in a highly potent offense only to let him walk away and becomes someone else’s prize. Sure, a supplemental pick could be had if he signs a big enough contract, however that is very unlikely. Continuity is a major factor however, and the signing of Butler would allow the team to focus almost all of its draft resources on rebuilding the defense.
Signing players before their breakout is always going to be the best way to build a team. For example, take Antonio Brown. The Pittsburgh Steelers handed him a five year $41,960,000 contract coming off a season where he produced just 66 catches for 787 yards. The thought in the industry at the time was this was a direct response to the high contract demands of impending free agent Mike Wallace. Simply, they chose to get out in front of someone who they felt they could lock up easier.
To make it more relatable, imagine if the Cowboys had signed Demarco Murray before his breakout season in 2014. Murray had dealt with some injuries in the years prior, but he did show promise by eclipsing the thousand yard mark whilst sporting a spry 5.2 yards per carry. Maybe Murray’s contract demands were always too large. It’s improbable however, that Murray would have been asking for that much more than Mark Ingram. Ingram signed a four year 16 million dollar deal with the New Orleans Saints.
Making It Work
There are certainly some moving parts here as well. The Cowboys only project to have roughly eight million dollars in cap space next year. Offering Butler two and half million of that could be viewed as reckless spending. Doug Free is a likely cap casualty however, which frees up approximately five million. Jason Witten also has an extremely large cap figure of 12 million. It is likely to be either reduced or re-structured as well.
Butler isn’t believed to ultimately be a rising star, but he is a perfect fit in the offense. He can fill the X wide receiver role or move into the slot position if needed. His imposing size, 6’3 213 pounds, makes him a big target as well. The Cowboys would be wise to offer Butler an extension now. It makes the most sense to just offer him a two year extension, for somewhere around five million. This would ensure that the team has a receiver who is capable of replacing Bryant.
