Could the Philadelphia Eagles steal a receiver from Dallas?

With wide receiver Torrey Smith a likely cap casualty, could the Philadelphia Eagles steal their next deep threat from the Dallas Cowboys?

If the Philadelphia Eagles are going to return to the playoffs in 2018, Howie Roseman is going to have to make some smart player personnel decisions in the forthcoming days, and one of those decisions revolves around current deep threat Torrey Smith.

After the team reportedly inquired about trading for the eight-year receiver in 2016, Smith agreed to a three year, $15 million deal with the Eagles in spring of 2017, but struggled to live up to expectations.

Though it wasn’t all bad, Smith struggled mightily in his first season on Doug Pederson‘s squad, only catching 52 percent of the balls thrown his way for a disappointing 430 yards and two touchdowns in the regular season, good for less than 27 yards per game.

Hardly the production the team envisioned for $5 million a year.

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While Smith did redeem himself somewhat in the playoffs, recording 13 catches for 157 yards an a touchdown, the writing was already on the wall. With the Eagles $11 million over the cap days before the start of the 2018 league year, the team will have to purge themselves of some key pieces from their championship run moving forward, and Smith may be the first to go.

But if the Eagle do decide to move on from Smith, who will replace him as the team’s dedicated deep threat?

Though the team does have 2016 draft picks Mack Hollins and Shelton Gibson waiting in the wings for an expanded role, and six draft picks at their disposal in the 2018 NFL Draft, the Eagles front office has done an amazing job of acquiring undervalued role players in free agency and turning them into reliable pieces, and if they choose to go that route again in 2018, they should strongly consider bringing in ex-Dallas Cowboys receiver Brice Butler.

Butler, a former seventh-round pick from San Diego State began his career in Oakland, but after two seasons moved on to Dallas and became a reliable cog in the team’s aerial assault.

Sure, he never recorded more than 20 catches or 400 yards in any given season as a pro, but Bulter has recorded at least one catch for over 40 yards in each of the last four seasons, and has developed somewhat of a nose for the end zone, recording six touchdowns for the Cowboys when paired with Dak Prescott. Though he’s hardly a star, Bulter is a solid role player who could really excel in the right scheme.

And after recent comments he made on FS1, Butler’s definitely not going to be back in Dallas.

In a pair of interviews with The Herd’s Colin Cowherd and Undisputed’s Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharp, Butler held nothing back about all things Cowboys, from questioning Dez Bryant‘s route running ability to almost mocking Jerry Jones‘ larger than life persona. The sixth-year receiver even went so far as to warn the team that he wouldn’t be back unless he got to start, a bluff the team will now surely call going into 2018.

Which brings us to the Eagles.

As previously stated, the team needs to find a new deep threat to replace Smith, so why not take a flyer on Dallas’ least favorite son? While stealing a player from Jones and Dem Boys is always nice, especially one with an innate knowledge of the team’s offense, from a pure football standpoint Bulter could actually be a great fit in Pederson’s offense.

Though he’s never recorded more than 400 yards as either a pro or in college, Bulter keeps getting opportunities to play because he’s one of the most athletic players in all of football.

At 6-foot-3, 220 pounds, Bulter ran a blazing fast 4.36 40 yard dash at his pro day, and that speed shows up on the field. While he hasn’t received many opportunities to stay on the field for extended periods of time, as he’s been almost exclusively been used as a reliever off the bench over his first five seasons in the league, the former Aztec has proven himself to be a quality spark plug for big plays, and is actually a surprisingly good route runner.

Simply put, Butler has all of the talent in the world, all he needs is a chance to shine, and an offensive coordinator creative enough to unleash his boundless potential.

Last season, Pederson sent Smith and Hollins on go routes at least once a game, forcing the ball down the field to keep opposing defenses honest, and while these routes seldom resulted in big plays, as Smith particularly struggled to track in deep ball in 2017, imagine if they had a player who could catch these passes with ease?

Though Bulter has all of the measurables to be a number one receiver, think Alshon Jeffery with DeSean Jackson‘s speed, up to this point he’s yet to put it all together and take that next step in his development as a player. While this could be due to just not having ‘it’, one has to wonder if Bulter has also been a victim of poor circumstances.

In his five seasons in the NFL, Bulter has never been apart of an offense that ranked higher than 23rd in passing. While this obviously doesn’t directly translate to a receiver’s production, it does hint at the fact that Butler has never played under an offensive play caller like Pederson, who’s next man up mentality has turned serviceable backups like LeGarrette Blount, Stefen Wisniewski, and Nick Foles into legitimate starting caliber players.

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Though far from a marquee signing, if Butler’s market is light in free agency and the Eagles really want to stick it to Dallas once more, they could do a lot worse than bringing the ex-Cowboy in on a one year, prove it deal. While he may burn out like, say, Chris Givens or Rueben Randle before him, Butler could be the next man up in the Eagles recent string of free agent finds, and may finally solve their deep threat problem once and for all.

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