One day, this preseason, Emmanuel Butler found himself in the training room with Teddy Bridgewater.
The Saints quarterback greeted the rookie receiver, but with a name he wasn’t familiar with.
“He was like ‘What’s good ebay?’” Butler recalled. “And I was like ‘ebay?’ And he said ‘We had to find you on the internet. You're too good to just not get drafted and come here as an undrafted free agent so we had to find you cheap on the internet at ebay.’”
Butler laughed as he recalled the story and said he thinks the moniker will stick around. But the nickname isn't the only thing he’s hoping will.
The 6-foot-4, 220-pound receiver is hoping he’s earned a spot on the New Orleans Saints 53-man roster. He made his final bid for slot on the team with a strong performance in the Saints preseason finale, a 16-13 loss to the Miami Dolphins. Butler caught two passes in the matchup, one which gave the Saints a first down and the other a 12-yard touchdown reception from the quarterback who said the Saints got him at a “bargain price.”
“It’s not really for me to decide,” he said. “It’s up to coach (Sean) Payton and the coaching staff to decide and when they are in the meeting and they are discussing who is on the 53 and the practice squad, I hope they’ll think of me.”
The New Orleans Saints will have to trim their roster from 90 to 53 by Saturday’s 3 p.m. deadline. Payton said the 22-year receiver has made a really good impression on the coaching staff this preseason.
“Obviously we have some tough decisions we are going to make here in the next few days,” Payton said. “Overall, (he was) good.”
Butler said earlier in the week that he had bigger goals than just being on the team in the regular season, but his focus was on making the 53-man roster in order to pursue those goals.
"I gotta knock it down one at a time," he said.