Liam Richards/Electric Umbrella
Crezdon Butler’s work in the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ secondary has largely gone unnoticed this CFL season.
That wasn’t the case in his last outing, however.
“He played his worst game the other night,” Roughriders head coach-GM Chris Jones said earlier this week, referring to Saskatchewan’s 33-32 loss to the Ottawa Redblacks on Friday. “Other than that, he has played really good football for us.”
OK then …
“It’s humbling,” Butler said after being told of Jones’ comments. “You’ve always got to have something to humble you and that would definitely humble you if your coach said you had your worst game. He’s probably using that to amp me up for this game.”
Butler admitted he posted his worst grade of the season against the Redblacks, so the veteran defensive back is looking to get back on track Friday when the Roughriders visit the Calgary Stampeders (7 p.m., CKRM, TSN).
Even if he does, it’s unlikely that a lot of people will notice. The 30-year-old product of Asheville, N.C., has flown under the radar since joining the Roughriders in training camp — and he’s fine with that.
“That’s who I am as a person,” Butler said. “I’ve never been that type of guy (to blow my own horn), even in high school when I was second runner-up for Mr. Football in North Carolina.
“You want to stay humble because you can be humbled quickly by things in this league. My personality is to be humble and stay humble and everything else will fall into place.
“Some guys probably would want to have their name on every kind of list there is as far as accolades, but that’s just not who I am as a person,” he added. “I like to build relationships with my teammates more than anything. I want that trust between me and them to be strong more than I want my name to be out there.”
After playing collegiately at Clemson University, Butler was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the fifth round (164th overall) of the 2010 NFL draft. He played four games with the Steelers as a rookie, but was waived in September of 2011.
His NFL journey also included stints with the Arizona Cardinals (2011), the Washington Redskins (2012), the Cardinals again (2012), the Buffalo Bills (2012), the San Diego Chargers (2013), the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2014), the Seattle Seahawks (2015) and the Detroit Lions (2015-16).
Detroit didn’t sign him after the 2016 season, so he became a free agent in March. He didn’t receive any calls from NFL teams, so he decided to sign with the Roughriders when they called in June.
The 6-foot-1, 191-pounder didn’t dress for Saskatchewan’s first three regular-season games, but moved into the starting lineup for its fourth contest.
He has had his hiccups — everyone remembers his collision with a goalpost at BC Place on Aug. 5 — but he has been solid as both a linebacker and defensive back.
He goes into Friday’s game with 34 tackles and four pass knockdowns. He’s also tied with defensive end Tobi Antigha with three tackles for losses, one off the team lead held by defensive end A.C. Leonard.
“It’s a little bit of both play recognition and watching film,” Butler said of making plays at or behind the line of scrimmage.
“Screens are big in this league just because of how big the field is, so if you focus on the tempo of the receivers or the set — if you have a lot of receivers on your side — most of the time they’re going to try to run a screen. I take advantage of that.”
And, as a result, it’s a source of pride for him.
“It’s a ‘want to’ thing,” Butler continued. “Certain players can’t see screens and then they get blocked and stay blocked. I want to destroy the screen and make them not want to throw it again.”
Jones noted that the game is slow for Butler because he saw everything imaginable during his NFL career. Strangely, though, there’s something missing from Butler’s totals in pro football.
In 58 career regular-season games — 46 in the NFL and 12 in the CFL — he has not intercepted a pass.
“Every week, I hear somebody say, ‘C’mon, get your first one this week,’ and it just so happens that it doesn’t work out,” said a grinning Butler, whose mates in the Roughriders’ secondary have intercepted 11 passes (eight by Ed Gainey, two by Jovon Johnson and one by Kacy Rodgers II).
“To be honest, I have no idea why I don’t have one. People on the team have asked me, ‘Why don’t you have any picks?’ I don’t know; I just haven’t caught any, I guess. It’ll work out. It’ll come soon.”
It could be that Butler doesn’t get many opportunities to intercept passes because teams don’t go after him. If that’s true, perhaps his play has been noticed by people outside of Saskatchewan.
But even if Butler is more well-known than he thinks, he isn’t resting on his laurels. While he has played well for Saskatchewan — his showing Friday against Ottawa notwithstanding — he still wants to improve.
“You always want to get better,” Butler said. “But I’ve done enough to make a few plays so that my teammates trust me on the field.
“It doesn’t matter what people on other teams think. As long as my teammates trust me to make plays, that’s what it’s all about.”
