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Meet WR Jeremy Butler, new to Bucs practice squad

 
Published Sept. 4, 2016

Lots to share on Jeremy Butler, the receiver from Sarasota signed by the Bucs to their practice squad after being waived by the Ravens in their final cuts.

-- He's 6-2 and 213 pounds and has a ton of game experience for a practice-squad player -- promoted from the Ravens' practice squad last season, he had 31 catches for 363 yards in the final eight games of 2015.

-- Baltimore cut him despite a prolific preseason: He finished second in the NFL with 16 catches and tied for third in the league with two touchdown catches. Also led the Ravens with 148 receiving yards -- 12 of his 16 catches (and both his touchdowns) came in the first half of games, so his stats were inflated against backups much at all. He got his 16 catches on 20 targets for an 80 percent catch rate, which is outstanding. He also led the Ravens in the preseason in 2015 with 10 catches for 76 yards and a touchdown. He spent 2014 on injured reserve with a shoulder injury.

-- He's from Sarasota, went to Booker High and had to bounce through two California junior colleges and a brief stop at Louisiana Tech as a walk-on before he landed at I-AA Tennessee-Martin, where he broke records with the Skyhawks. As a junior, he had 51 catches for 750 yards and 10 touchdowns, and as a senior in 2013, he had 90 catches for 1,203 yards and 10 touchdowns.

-- One of the reasons he didn't make the Ravens was a lack of special-teams value -- he played only eight snaps in four preseason games on special teams. The Bucs had four receivers sidelined by injuries at the end of preseason (Louis Murphy, Donteea Dye, Kenny Bell, Bernard Reedy) -- Murphy can't play until Week 7 at the earliest and the others will be held back by injury settlements, so he'll have a chance to be promote to the active roster if the Bucs take any injuries, especially early in the season.