NFC Notes: Cardinals, Packers, Seahawks

Cardinals

After the Cardinals lost WRs John Brown and Jaron Brown in free agency, Brice Butler says he told his agent that Arizona is a team worth seriously considering, due to the opportunity to be the team’s No. 2 receiver.

“When the Brown brothers left – they’re not brothers, but I call (John and Jaron) the Brown brothers – I told my agent, ‘Hey, Arizona should be a team we’re seeking out,’” Butler said, via AzCardinals.com. “During the season I felt like I would have been a good fit if those two guys did leave, and I knew they were in their contract year. I didn’t know the other players that were here, so I was like, ‘If those guys don’t go out and get a big-name free agent, that’s a great place for us to go.’”

Butler says he’s waited for this opportunity to show what he can do in a larger role.

“No one wants to be a backup,” Butler said. “Some guys know, ‘OK, I’m not better than the guys in front of me,’ and that’s what you have to accept, but I’ve always been a player where I felt like I could have been on the field more. Especially when I was given opportunities, I made my plays. It just was hard. We had a lot of players in Dallas, and there weren’t enough balls to go around. That was the situation there. I’m a grown man. We have free agency. It came in (1992), I think, so now I had the opportunity to choose what’s best for my family and me, and that’s what I did.”

Packers

Packers HC Mike McCarthy confirmed that they will employ a running back by committee this year.

“The fact of the matter is we’re going to go running back by committee,” McCarthy told Rob Demovsky of ESPN. “But if one of them would emerge as that full-time guy then you have to have that ability to … adjust to that.

“As far as planning and going into the season, that’s why we’re going about it that way. We feel like we’ve got three guys that have all done it, but they haven’t done it over a long period of time, so I think it’s just practical thinking from that position and realizing that it’s a very demanding position.”

Seahawks

The Seahawks used a fifth-round pick on P Michael Dickson a few months ago, which clearly leaves veteran P Jon Ryan on the rost bubble this summer.

Ryan said he Seahawks GM John Schneider that he plans to “compete my ass off” to ensure he makes the team.

“If you let me, I’m going to compete my ass off, harder than you’ve ever seen,” Ryan said, via Jayson Jenks of The Athletic. “I love you. I have so much respect for you. But one way or the other, I’m going to make you look really dumb.”

According to Ryan, Schneider explained that this was simply a move he felt he had to make.

“He had that attitude almost like, ‘Sorry, but I had to do it...'” Ryan said of Schneider’s decision to draft Dickson. “And I was like, ‘Don’t apologize! Do not apologize.’ This is the business. If all the players got to pick who was on the team every year, we’d still have the Super Bowl team from five years ago.“