*Walt taking 2014 and 2018 |
Charlie Campbell, Senior Draft Analyst |
Teams Grade Hakeem Butler on Day 2
Updated April 2, 2019By Charlie Campbell. Follow Charlie on Twitter @draftcampbell.
In recent weeks, there have been some projections of Iowa State wide receiver Hakeem Butler as a first-round pick by some of the big names in the draft media. Butler is coming off a NFL Scouting Combine during which the 6-foot-5, 227-pound receiver ran a fast 40-yard dash time of 4.48 seconds. Butler also had a quality junior year for the Cyclones, catching 60 passes for 1,318 yards and nine touchdowns. Hence, there are some media projections of him being a first-round pick and one of the top wide receiver prospects in the 2019 NFL Draft. However after surveying team sources at seven different teams, none of them had Butler graded as a first-round pick. They all expected him to go on the second day of the 2019 NFL Draft.
“[Butler’s] being overrated by the media,” said one director of college scouting. The highest grade among those seven teams was a late second-round grade. Others thought Butler could go middle to late Day 2, but many had third-round grades on Butler.
The 2019 NFL Draft does not have a strong class of wide receivers, so that helps Butler as there is zero doubt that he presents a size mismatch as a red-zone receiver. However, teams are not as high on him as many in the media, and the consensus grade on Butler is well into the second day of the 2019 NFL Draft, with many evaluators believing that he will end up going late in the second round or slipping to the third round.
