Wednesday, March 11, 2009
By Nick Wagoner
Senior Writer
Deep beyond the smiling face and pleasant demeanor, James Butler is burning. Since the weekend of April 23 and 24, 2005, Butler has carried this with him as motivation.
After an accomplished career at Georgia Tech, Butler watched idly as 20 safeties came off the draft board. Expecting to be selected at some point, Butler couldn’t believe that his name was never called.
“It was very tough,” Butler said. “Just to watch some of the guys going before me, I was like ‘Man, these guys aren’t better than me.” I think every player goes through that. Every player has things they have to go through. I went through that and I just have to go with the punches that were dealt and that’s what happened.”
Instead of worrying about what didn’t happen, Butler decided to focus on making his own luck. He signed with the New York Giants as an undrafted free agent on May 6.
Fast forward four years to Wednesday and here’s Butler sitting at a table, addressing the St. Louis media after inking a lucrative four-year contract to become the team’s starting strong safety.
It was a day that seemed so far away on that April weekend.
“It helped my motivation,” Butler said. “I think that’s the biggest thing. Every player has a motivation whether they are trying to provide for their family, whatever it is. That was my motivation.”
Butler’s journey from undrafted free agent to successful, starting NFL safety isn’t necessarily an unusual tale. Plenty of players have worked hard enough to make an impression and stick on NFL rosters.
Not many have done it with the quick level of success of Butler, though. That it happened with the Rams is little surprise.
After battling his way on to the roster as a rookie, Butler spent two years under relative anonymity, contributing mostly on special teams with the occasional appearance on the defense.
Following his second season in New York, the Giants hired a new fire brand defensive coordinator named Steve Spagnuolo.
Spagnuolo gave Butler his first starting opportunity in 2007 and Butler rewarded that confidence with a solid first year including a team leading nine tackles in the team’s stunning Super Bowl XLII victory against the Patriots.
That relationship with Spagnuolo only grew last year and when Spagnuolo accepted the head coach position in St. Louis in the same winter that Butler was due for unrestricted free agency, the next stop of Butler’s career seemed clear.
“I think it was the biggest part of the decision,” Butler said. “Coach ‘Spags’ gave me my first opportunity to be a starter in the league and he helped my career grow, so I felt that I wanted to go along with him with the Rams.”
Of course, it takes two to make a deal but Spagnuolo wanted...
-03-12-2009, 04:19 AM
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