Oakland Raiders Need to Get Brice Butler on the Field More

October 19, 2014; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders wide receiver Brice Butler (12) celebrates after a 55-yard catch during the second quarter against the Arizona Cardinals at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Before the season started, I wrote an article about Oakland Radiers receiver Brice Butler and how he was No. 1 receiver material. I went into his background as a top receiver out of high school along with guys like A.J. Green and Julio Jones. Then Pete Carroll recruited him to USC and after making the All-Pac-12 freshman team, he rode pine as Carroll went to Seattle and Lane Kiffin brought his receivers in.

So Butler ended up a 7th-round pick of the Raiders where he got his feet wet last year and seamed to be poised to break out this year. But that didn’t happen despite the fact that incumbent No. 1  receiver Rod Streater is out for the season. And the Raiders passing game stinks because the Raiders don’t have a reliable target that can get open for rookie quarterback Derek Carr.

James Jones has the best hands on the team but he isn’t No. 1 receiver material because he doesn’t get separation. Andre Holmes is 6’4″and pretty fast but he isn’t a sudden enough route runner himself and he drops too many passes to be a No.1 receiver. Butler is 6’3″ and has shown that he has the hands, speed to get open deep and ability to run after the catch.

Those are the ingredients of a  No. 1 receiver yet Butler only had 11 snaps on offense last Sunday while the passing game is stuck. If Carr had some receivers to throw to, people would be comparing him to Andrew Luck when he was a rookie. But Carr has guys that either can’t get open or catch the ball while Butler makes plays when he gets a chance so the Raiders really needs to get him on the field more.

Turn the page to see what I”m talking about.