It’s no secret, at least to those following Saints training camp, that the Black and Gold may have found a true diamond in the rough in undrafted rookie receiver Emmanuel Butler. The Northern Arizona product slipped below the radar thanks in part to a truncated senior season. Butler played just two games before suffering a shoulder injury.
But Butler has been turning heads in New Orleans during his first NFL training camp, and the voice of the Saints Zach Strief says the team believes he could be a star in the making.
“I think they’re extremely high on Emmanuel Butler,” Strief said. “I think they feel really, really good about that guy. I think he’s a player. He’s a guy I think you turn around in three or four years and just be like, I can’t believe we got that guy undrafted. We stole him.”
Strief went on to say Butler "is that kind of, once every eight years you hit the lottery. I think he's that kind of guy as an undrafted free agent."
Butler had been sidelined recently after suffering what’s believed to be a leg injury in practice but was out on the field running today. His status for this Friday’s preseason contest against the Minnesota Vikings remains up in the air.
Strief made the comments during an appearance on WWL Radio's Sports Talk on Wednesday afternoon.
The Saints play host to the Vikings in preseason action Friday night at 7. Our wall-to-wall coverage on WWL 870 AM and 105.3 FM starts that afternoon at 3pm.