Hakeem Butler waived by Steelers
- Thread starter CyberJJJ
- Start date
This is incorrect other than the getting drafted part.
Hakeem could barely get on the field his first year of actually playing and redshirted the year before.
Amazing athlete at Iowa State.
Didn’t translate to the NFL.
Doesn’t take away what he did here though.
Care to enlighten me on what part? Part of the reason Lazard wasn't drafted was because of his inconsistencies catching. Especially after he surprised everyone with a solid 40 time. But ill just trust your solid rebuttal.
Can you explain to me why Hakeem isn’t even considered by most when discussing best receivers in Iowa State history?
Partly because he was behind an upper classmen named Lazard. Yet Butler got drafted. Lazard was highly criticized by not being consistent catching. Im no Scout, but they agreed, Senior Butler was better than Senior Lazard. Not by much, but they both struggled with the same thing
If Butler regularly caught the routine passes he'd be all pro caliber in the NFL. The problem is..... he doesn't. And he never has, except for a few months in STL.
You are having a conversation with the wrong people???? If you are talking after college accolades, you win, im not arguing. But he is very much in the top tier of ISU wrs in my book
He is considered among the best receivers in Iowa State history. But he'll never be considered the best or even top 5 because while he probably has the best highlight reel in the history of ISU receivers, he could never be relied upon to not drop routine passes, especially when they were needed the most.
Overview
Lazard has been a productive, four-year player who relies on his size and strength to muscle Big 12 cornerbacks around when making the contested catch. Lazard is a possession receiver, but his lack of play speed and athletic ability could make separating from NFL cornerbacks a difficult challenge. With his size and toughness, a switch to pass-catching tight end might give him a better shot at having a productive NFL career.
Strengths
- Outstanding size with a frame that will be tough for quarterbacks to miss
- Is smart and extremely physical
- Plays to his size when working between the hashes
- Tough guy who doesn't mind working the middle of the field
- Hands catcher who can pluck and tuck it quickly in traffic
- Uses supreme focus and strong hands to thrive in contested catch situations
- Able to dig out the low throws
- Decent hand fighter off the line of scrimmage when faced with handsy press cover corners
- Gets eyes on the ball flight early so he can beat cornerbacks with an early adjustment to it
- Uses elbows, shoulder, hips, and hands to shield defenders from the catch point
- Has experience inside and outside
- Shows an ability to latch and finish as a run blocker on the perimeter
- Lacks explosiveness as an athlete
- No juice into his patterns
- Talented press corners will be a challenge to shake
- Doesn't have the speed to force cornerbacks into an early retreat at any point
- Tight hips prohibit sinking into route breaks
- Short area movement and change of direction is labored and sluggish
- Unlikely to uncover against tight man coverage on the next level
- May need to be moved around and played in bunch formations to help create clean releases
- Cornerbacks with recovery speed might be able to squat on possession routes
- Very little threat with the ball in his hands
Overview
Big long-strider with exceptional length and good build-up speed to challenge cover corners and safeties down the field. Butler's unique play strength after the catch allows him to win contested deep balls and then plow through tackle attempts to create chunk plays and long touchdowns. His routes are basic and clunky and will limit how teams can use him. A greater concern will be those inconsistent hands that could turn quarterbacks against him unless he improves them. He's a work in progress, but the traits and potential are worth taking a shot.
Strengths
- Size and length creates matchup problems
- Long strider with impressive build-up speed
- Climbs quickly on top of safeties from the slot
- Uses frame to create space at the top of his routes
- Size, length and leaping swing 50-50 balls in his favor
- Adequate body control in the air
- Extremely physical with the ball in his hands
- Rag-dolls defensive backs after the catch
- Eight touchdowns of 40-plus yards over last two years
- Sudden toe taps near boundaries
- Frame and strength to stick to blocks and spring his running back.
- Lacks short-area quickness to beat press
- Gets wired to corners in early stages of the route
- Route running is extremely telegraphed on levels 1 and 2
- Rolls into breaks with excessive gather steps
- Labored and heavy getting out of breaks
- Drops on drops on drops
- Body catcher suffers from concentration lapses
- Catch radius doesn't guarantee he'll bring it in.
Whatever, you win, Lazard never struggled with drops early in his career, and Butler sucked, yet one was drafted and one wasn't
I hear what you are saying but he had to go after the good season he had.
You are a child with clearly no idea how the NFL operates in the draft.
There's been a sentiment that had he stayed, he would have worked on things to do better in the NFL...like the NFL doesn't have coaches all over that can sync things up fundamentally for someone to improve.
I was hoping the stint last spring maybe showed some of that improvement to stick but the NFL really is an entirely different level and 'catches wild 50/50 balls' isn't going to do it.
In college, Lazard suffered from a lot of drops, especially earlier in his career. Butler absolutely had bigger highlights and better measurables. X had a ton of drops, and as great as he was in a terrible offense last year, he had multiple games where we would have won had he not dropped a good ball at the end.
Butler broke his hand right away with the Cardinals and it put him on the back foot.
He was apparently doing decently in the Steelers camp, but got hurt. He got waived after he was injured.
It sounds to me much more like it's been really, really bad luck with injuries much more than lack of effort or development or willingness to work on his consistency in catching.
Honestly, I think a bunch of the negativity towards Butler from ISU fans is more because he skipped his senior year to declare for the draft.
Butler broke his hand right away with the Cardinals and it put him on the back foot.
He was apparently doing decently in the Steelers camp, but got hurt. He got waived after he was injured.
It sounds to me much more like it's been really, really bad luck with injuries much more than lack of effort or development or willingness to work on his consistency in catching.
Honestly, I think a bunch of the negativity towards Butler from ISU fans is more because he skipped his senior year to declare for the draft.
I go back and forth, I think fair minded people can disagree on this. I'm not sure.
I've never heard a negative word about the guy, other than people wish he made it in the nfl.
I copied and pasted what NFL scouts said about both and it backs up my point. Lazard went undrafted because he was a tweener, not because of his hands. Butler was a drop machine and fell to the 4th round because he was a project. When you offer something other than your opinion I’ll take you seriously.
He’s one of those guys where the group think here took over and it’s just gets repeated every time he comes up by people who haven’t watched him play since ISU. It’s lazy, mostly wrong, and lot of it was formed by the butthurt from him leaving early.
