FRISCO, Texas – Brice Butler was shopping for fans to put in the roof of his new house in Arizona when Cowboys vice president of player personnel Will McClay called.
Days later, Butler is back on the roster – nearly six months after he'd seemingly moved on by signing with the Arizona Cardinals as a free agent in April.
"I went to another team thinking I'd be all right, and for whatever reason I didn't make the team there," he said. "Now I'm back here and hopefully whatever I can do, I can do it to the best of my ability."
Butler appeared in 36 games with the Cowboys over the last three seasons and made five starts for an injured Dez Bryant, who remains a free agent.
He doesn't know what his role will be this time around. The Cowboys currently have seven receivers on the active roster, including four newcomers: Tavon Austin, Allen Hurns, Deonte Thompson and rookie Michael Gallup. The team gets back to practice Wednesday in preparation for Seattle.
Butler said Bryant, whom the Cowboys released in April after eight seasons, encouraged him to take this opportunity.
"Dez was the one who called me last week and told me I should come back here," he said. "But at that point in time I hadn't gotten a call from the team."
Butler said he turned down two scheduled visits with other teams to rejoin the Cowboys. Clearly, no bridges were burned by his January comments on FS1's "Undisputed," in which he expressed frustration with his previous playing time in Dallas.
Butler said he spoke to the Joneses after his TV appearance.
"Obviously I'm here, so obviously there isn't that much love lost, if there was any (lost)," he said.
