STAMPEDERS SET TO PAY TRUE PRICE OF SUCCESS
Grey Cup champs face uncertain off-season with star players eligible to test free agency
They were prepared for the questions, they just hadn’t thought about the answers just yet.
As soon as one season ends, the media begins inquiring about the off-season.
It doesn’t matter if you’ve been partying it up after winning the Grey Cup.
For the Calgary Stampeders, the questions began almost as soon as they walked off the field and began celebrating winning the Grey Cup after beating the Ottawa Redblacks 27-16 on Sunday in Edmonton.
With approximately 80 per cent of the Stampeders’ American players being free agents this off-season and a collective bargaining agreement that could take until May to formally agree upon, there’s plenty of uncertainty surrounding how next year’s team will look.
Good luck figuring it out.
The Stamps have many question marks, but during Tuesday’s Grey Cup victory rally at McMahon Stadium, none of the players sounded like they had spent much time figuring it out.
“I don’t know what the off-season holds. I do plan on looking into other things and see down south, but I’m not really about that right now,” said Stampeders linebacker Jameer Thurman, who probably should have been an all-star this season and whose prowess on special teams probably guarantees that NFL teams are wanting to give him a look.
Stamps QB Bo Levi Mitchell is at the top of the list of free agents who may or may not be back in Calgary next year.
But it’s a star-studded list. Alex Singleton is going to get a lot of looks, and he’s the 2017 Most Outstanding Defensive Player in the CFL and is somehow still only 24 years old.
Thurman is right there, too, and will get serious NFL interest.
Like Mitchell, that doesn’t mean they won’t be back in the Red & White next season, but there are no guarantees.
Micah Johnson’s incredible season at defensive tackle will likely have caught the attention of NFL scouts, as well, although his age — he’s 29 — might make it a little more tough for him.
On Monday, star receiver Eric Rogers admitted that he’s contemplating retirement, although he wants to continue playing and would be happy to do so if he can figure out a way to prevent the knee injuries that have plagued him for the last couple years — and would have prevented him from playing in the Grey Cup if he hadn’t felt committed to his teammates.
One guy who sounds like he wants to keep playing is defensive back Brandon Smith. The longest-serving Stampeder may have been the oldest guy on the team this year, but he played at an all-star level in 2018 and said he isn’t done yet when he was asked on Tuesday in front of Calgary City Hall.
“Oh yeah, I’ve got a lot left,” said Smith. “I don’t feel like I’m slowing down.”
What’s tough about talking about the Stampeders right now is that until collective bargaining negotiations are done, we’re not really going to know what the Stampeders are going to look like in 2019.
Starting quarterback is one thing, but the Stamps can’t even really begin to build a roster until they know where the salary cap lies. That’s an unknown right now, and it’s going to make it difficult to predict how the Stamps will look next May when training camp begins.
“You can’t get everything accomplished that you want, but you’ve got to 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,” head coach Dave 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 fast and furious, and we’re going to be at the top of our game to hopefully get the guys we want.”
DAY OF CELEBRATION
The Stamps kicked off their player speeches on Tuesday with Cordarro Law taking the microphone in front of the fans at McMahon Stadium.
This was funny on a lot of different levels, but mostly because Law is notoriously hard for Canadians to understand. His Deep South accent is tough for his teammates to dissect, and he acknowledged it straight-up when he took the mic …. Good call by the team having legendary Calgary broadcaster Mark Stephen as the emcee for Tuesday. He knows this team better than anyone and has been around for the ups and downs … The Grey Cup made the tour of Downtown Calgary on Tuesday afternoon. If there was a drink to be had, the Stamps found it.