With Terrance Williams inactive, will Brice Butler make a difference for passing game?

Dallas Cowboys wide Terrance Williams, who missed practice Friday for personal reasons, will be inactive today against the Detroit Lions at AT&T Stadium and Brice Butler will play for the first time since re-signing with the team two weeks ago.

The other inactives are quarterback Mike White, linebacker Sean Lee, center Travis Frederick, guard Xavier Su’a-Filo, tight end Dalton Schultz and defensive tacke Maliek Collins.

It’s a continuation of Williams’ season-long decline in the struggling Cowboys offense.

He has just two catches for 18 yards in the first three games and played in just 39 snaps, mostly on running downs, which is just 21.9% of the 178 snaps for the Cowboys offense.

Williams has the highest cap figure of any receiver on the team at $4.75 million and his base salary for 2018 $3.5 million.

Williams is also being scrutinized by the NFL, is considering suspending him up to four games for a car accident in May and an arrest for public intoxication.

Butler spent the past three years with the Cowboys before signing with the Arizona Cardinals in the offseason. He was released on final cuts.

Butler caught 15 passes for 317 yards with three touchdowns while leading the team with an average 21.1 yards per catch.

The Cowboys plan to let quarterback Dak Prescott sling it around a little more against the Lions and he has a good chemistry with Butler on the deep ball.

This story was originally published September 30, 2018 at 10:47 AM.