Knee injuries have Rogers contemplating retirement after Grey Cup victory

Eric Rogers wants to play football next year, but his knee may make that impossible.

The Calgary Stampeders star has been fighting through knee injury after knee injury for a couple of years, and revealed after the Stamps won the Grey Cup Sunday that he suffered yet another tough break a week earlier in the West Division Final.

Rogers suffered a meniscus tear in his knee in the second half of the Stamps’ win over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and while he returned to the field and caught a third touchdown pass that game and played in the Grey Cup, he’ll likely face another lengthy rehab process this offseason.

When the Stampeders arrived in Calgary Monday, Rogers said he’ll need to consider whether he can continue playing football.

“It’s something I thought about throughout the year,” Rogers said. “I definitely wanted to finish out the season strong. I knew my teammates needed me. I was feeling good, I was optimistic leading up to the West Final. I thought, ‘Man, I’m running my best.

“Then, in the West Final, I got it caught underneath me and I’ve got a new meniscus tear in there. We got an MRI this week on it and they said there was some new damage in there. They compared it to the MRI from earlier in the season (that forced Rogers to get surgery and miss significant time at mid-season).”

Rogers has been fighting through injuries for a couple years now after since an ACL tear ended what should have been his first season with the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers in training camp in 2016.

It’s been a painful, frustrating couple of years and Rogers can’t help but wonder if he’d be better off long-term by not taking any more damage playing football.

“It’s tough. If I’m able to figure something out this off-season to make it improve or just make it more consistent, then I’d love to be back,” Rogers said. “I played with Nik Lewis and (Marquay McDaniel) and they played into their early-30s, and I’ll be 28. The real goal is to be able to play for as long as you can, maybe three or four more years, but if not, I want to be able to run around a little bit.

“I’m going to need a total knee replacement at some point, probably earlier than most guys, but this whole year has been worth it because we won the Grey Cup.

“This is the most rewarding season of my career, even if when you look at it statistically, it’s not great, but coming off the two years of rehabbing and knee surgeries and then the injuries we had at the receiver position and these guys coming off two Grey Cup losses, you put everything together and it’s a great story, you can’t really write that.”

After Sunday’s game, Stamps QB Bo Levi Mitchell said between the CFL and CFLPA’s expiring collective bargaining agreement, a number of players likely to get NFL looks, and two new leagues starting up in the U.S., there’s a good chance the Grey Cup will mark the last time the Stamps core play together.

Mitchell is a free agent, as is Alex Singleton, Micah Johnson, Ja’Gared Davis and others.

The full list will be released soon.

While there is sure to be change, Stamps head coach Dave Dickenson reminded reporters that it won’t be the first time his team has dealt with that.

“I felt like there were a tonne of new faces this year,” Dickenson said.

“I’ve never seen so much turnover. It’s why it wasn’t hard to sell the idea that we’re a new team and a new year, because we didn’t have a lot of guys from the previous two years.

“We lost a big chunk of what I would consider the core vets last year, and I really was emotional last year because I knew we let one get away.”

Complicating the off-season will be the collective bargaining negotiations, which figure to disrupt free agency and prevent teams from signing players.

“You can’t get everything accomplished that you want, but you’ve gotta have a plan and I’ve always felt like (Stamps president/GM John Hufnagel) is a step ahead anyways, so we’ll do our best,” Dickenson said.

“We’re at the mercy of how it goes down, especially with how it goes down with the contract situations and who we can sign, but when it does go down, though, it’s just going to be like fast and furious and we’re going to be at the top of our game to hopefully get the guys we want.”