RENTON, Wash. – Yadarian Price was just 12 years old when his mother, unwilling to do anything, put him down for a speech.
Jessica Butler, a single mother of three, is convinced that after ten years she has been saved. Butler gave birth to Price when she was just 18, a “baby” she herself had not yet entered nursing school at Grayson College in Denison, Texas.
Butler was a pillar of stability throughout Price’s childhood. She worked full-time in hospice care, plus side gigs cleaning toilets, driving for Uber and delivering DoorDash orders to make ends meet in a single-income household.
So when Butler told Price she had cancer at age 31, it was a shocking turn of events. Sixteen rounds of chemotherapy followed.
Butler, though, was adamant she didn’t want to miss any of Price’s baseball, basketball or football games. Because, as she put it, “I don’t know how long I’m going to be here.”
“That really stuck with me,” Price, now 22, said quietly after practice this week. “Like, ‘OK, every time she comes to my game, I’ve got to give it everything I’ve got, because this might be the last game she comes to.’
Butler is at full mercy. She’s been cancer-free for nine years and has watched many Vague football games. A decade after her diagnosis, a lot has changed for Price, who went from being a high school star to struggling to carry a serious injury behind Jeremiah Love at Notre Dame, the No. 3 pick of the Arizona Cardinals, who will face Price and the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday.
Last week, Price made his NFL debut, taking off from Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III and going for 52 yards on 10 carries. The New England Patriots won 13-10 – and Butler was there to take it all. Neither Price nor Butler’s trip to Lumen Field that time was guaranteed.
It didn’t take long for James Johnson III to recognize Price’s potential. Johnson coached Price and his own son De’Theurion at Denison Boys and Girls Club from the time they were 5 and 6 until they entered high school.
The reserved price didn’t say much then and neither does it these days. But his performance on the field was loud.
“He was the guy,” Johnson said in a recent phone call. It was clear to everyone that he was a different boy, with a different talent.
Price remembers playing the game on the field at Denison High School, where he was a four-year varsity standout when he was just 6.
“I was like, ‘Nah, coach, I’m good,'” Price recalled with a wry smile. “So I ran in for a touchdown. And he was like, ‘Okay, now that’s the standard. You’ve shown me what you can do, and you’re capable. So I’m going to hold you to that standard.’ And I thought that was something.
Stories about Price’s work ethic — including his creative ways to rack up more reps — apply regardless of the sport. Price couldn’t move because of a leg injury, so he positioned himself to shoot free throws from a seat at his mother’s house.
“I didn’t want to sit around doing nothing when I could be improving on something,” Price said. “Even though I couldn’t walk, I could use my hands.”
Not having a brother didn’t stop Price from keeping his siblings, Kazaria Butler and Lyrica Coleman, active during football season.
“They were my trash cans, my dummies when I practiced. I didn’t have younger brothers so I was a little rough on them. But they turned out to be good athletes themselves. That was a great childhood with them,” Price said of his sisters, ages two and five.
Price’s father was absent from the picture and his mother worked tirelessly before and after chemotherapy. As a result, as Butler persevered with cancer, Price arrived faster than any other kid in the area.
“He saw her strength in this fight and built from there,” Johnson said. “He stepped up to be the man in the house … if you were strong, he could be stronger. He did what he could from a kid’s perspective. He stepped up.”
After starring at Denison High, Price received 39 scholarship offers as a four-star recruit, including from Notre Dame. He signed up early with the Fighting Irish with the intention of starting a banner career, but plans quickly took a turn.
Every year, Notre Dame football players write letters to their loved ones. Price wrote one for his mother that freshman year, but sadly: he had. Broke the Achilles tendon He will miss that summer and the entire 2022 season.
He didn’t want his mother, 1,000 miles and four states away, to worry too much.
“I let her know in the letter: ‘I saw you going through something. So even though I’m far away, without you, I can get through this. It’s okay, you don’t have to worry about me,'” Price said.
Butler recently unearthed the letter that was framed in her home in Denison. She read it again, which brought back the water works.
“It hit me again,” Butler said. “I’m very emotional.”
A letter from Jadrian Price to his mother, Jessica Butler, after he tore his Achilles tendon during his freshman year at Notre Dame. (By order of Jessica Butler)
Price fully recovered from his Achilles injury but did not start a single game in college. Another four-star recruit, Love, arrived in 2023. During that season, he and Price backed up Odrik Stime, who was drafted in the fifth round by the Denver Broncos.
In the year In 2024, Love helped the Fighting Irish to the national championship game in a loss to Ohio State as a Notre Dame running back. Price and Love have a 1-2 punch, combining for 1,871 yards and 24 touchdowns on the ground.
Sharing the backfield, Price and Love engaged in what the former called “friendly competition.” But Price had plenty of opportunities to transfer if he wanted a leadership role.
I didn’t take any of them seriously – well, except maybe one.
“When my mom heard about what Texas Tech had to offer, I was so close (to going),” Price said with a laugh. “I told her: ‘Just wait until the NFL money comes in. We’ll be fine.’ And she believed me, and look what happened.”
As Price likes to say, progress is born out of adversity. Afflictions like a torn Achilles and being passed over on the depth chart could have slowed him down.
Instead, Price credits his mother for instilling in him the value of perseverance during his battle with breast cancer as a single mother. Without it, the No. 32 pick in the 2026 NFL draft won’t be able to put his first paycheck to good use. Price bought his mother the house outside Denison where she and his sisters now live.
Butler said, “The house is beautiful. More than I can imagine.” “He painted it black and remodeled a movie theater that he designed himself. In Texas, we like to swim, so we have a nice-sized pool.”
Jadrian Price, right, stayed at Notre Dame despite being stuck behind Jeremiah Love on the depth chart. Both have been drawn in the first round and will meet in Glendale, Ariz., on Sunday. (James Black / Icon Sports via Getty Images)
Coinciding with other pivotal moments in his life, his price rose to the occasion in his NFL debut. He offers power and speed, quickness and sizzle, showing why the Seahawks felt the need to part ways with Walker, the Super Bowl LX MVP.
Price may not be his character back in college, nor does Seattle expect to replace Walker on his own. But he has surprised the Seahawks’ veteran running back in his first few months in the Pacific Northwest.
“The way he learns, the way his feet are — it’s like a shot, JD should have been a Notre Dame starter in my opinion,” Emmanuel said of Wilson. “I was impressed with the way he came in and worked.”
“He’s got great contact balance, good feet, good hands in big plays,” George Holany added. “He’s really explosive with his cuts. So, he’ll be making like two cuts in one play. And it’s crazy how he can get vertical and find that crease and then make another cut to get open and just get a lot of yards from that.”
It’s not his physical prowess that sets Price apart. It is his attitude, gifted by his upbringing, and perhaps most of all, his character.
Perhaps it’s no surprise that Price made plans after hanging up his cleats. A former straight-A student, he wants to be a teacher one day.
“Sports aside, I really like helping people,” Price said. “I always say I’m a better player when people around me are doing well or enjoying themselves. That gives me motivation.”
At his core, Price is passionate about achieving the dreams of everyone he comes in contact with. He is already living his own life in many ways. Not only is Price a professional athlete, but his mother is still around to watch the games. Butler was one of the first people to greet them at Lumen Field after he made his debut.
No one gave Price more support than his mother throughout his football career. Credit doesn’t even begin to express Price’s appreciation for Butler’s presence in every lane.
“Thank God,” Price said. “God works in many ways, and she’s still here, and she’s healthy. But yeah, I have a lot of respect for everyone who’s been through that breast cancer.”