By Ronnie Gallagher
rgallagher@salisburypost.comDennis Butler was sitting in the stands at Bank of America Stadium on Saturday watching East Carolina beat Virginia Tech when son Matt came up behind him.
Matt, who starred for the Pirates last season, wanted to tell him about the phone call he received: from the Detroit Lions, the team that had cut Butler only weeks earlier. They wanted Butler to return to Detroit ASAP and join the practice squad.
“Matt said, ‘Detroit called. I can’t believe it,’ ” Dennis said.
Butler was working out in Greenville and hoped for a graduate assistant position somewhere. The Lions have now changed those plans. Butler scurried back to Greenville to gather his belongings and was to fly out today at 9.a.m. He is expected to receive a practice squad salary of $5,200 per week.
So it was a productive afternoon. Butler got to see his alma mater win and he got to be a pro again.”It was a crazy day,” Dennis said.