Veteran Smith back for another go

Brandon Smith could have walked off into the sunset after the Calgary Stampeders won the Grey Cup last season and it would have been an appropriately happy ending to a long and storied career.

Instead, Smith re-signed with the Stampeders on Wednesday afternoon and will be back in red and white for the 2019 season.

The way Smith sees it, if he wants to retire a champion, all the Stamps have to do is win another Grey Cup.

“The body’s holding up, so who says it can’t be a storybook (ending) this year?” Smith said Wednesday from California. “(Retirement) didn’t really cross my mind, as long as I have juice in the tank I figured, ‘Let’s give it another shot’ and what better way to do it than back in Calgary?”

For the Stamps, bringing Smith back had to be something of a no-brainer. He’s the longest-serving player on the roster, having joined the team back in 2008, and an invaluable leader both in the locker-room and on the field.

Only hall of famer Larry Robinson has spent more seasons in the defensive backfield for the Stamps in franchise history, and Smith is one of only three players ever to win three Grey Cups in the Stampeders uniform – Alondra Johnson and Mark McLoughlin are the others.

Smith has played 158 regular-season games for the Stamps, as well as 18 playoff games — six of which were Grey Cups. He has accumulated 585 defensive tackles, 15 interceptions, nine forced fumbles, four fumble recoveries and 39 knock-downs.

Smith has been named to the CFL all-star team only once, in 2014, but that’s more of a reflection of the fact that he has been chronically underappreciated across the league than anything to do with his play.

The Stamps certainly believe he has been one of the best defensive backs in the CFL for more than a decade, which is why a management group that has been quick to move or let aging players go when they begin to decline has brought Smith back again and again.

Smith, 34, is the oldest player on the Stamps roster, but shows no signs of decline.