Defensive anchor cut as Eskimos trim roster
The Edmonton Eskimos began their first practice of the 2018 Canadian Football League regular season with a keen reminder that it can all be gone in a moment.
Though the degree of finality will no doubt differ, for the 20 players cut by the club at the end of training camp, the ride is over.
And the biggest name on the list belongs to American defensive back Brandyn Thompson, an anchor in the Eskimos secondary for the past two seasons until he suffered an Achilles injury on Oct. 28. He was still trying to recover from that injury while in training camp.
“It was the injury,” said Eskimos general manager Brock Sunderland. “He’s going to be out for a lot longer than anticipated, so it’s a number’s game. You can only keep so many players around.”
Of course, not all of those released have the same sort of relationship Thompson has with the Eskimos brass, having first played for Sunderland, then an assistant GM of the Ottawa Redblacks, in 2014.
The following season, Jason Maas came on board as Ottawa’s offensive co-ordinator on the way to losing the Grey Cup to the Eskimos. Of course, Maas later came to Edmonton as head coach.
“Brandon came over here a couple of years ago, midway through the year, and he’s contributed to a lot of wins for the Edmonton Eskimos. I’m sorry to see a guy like him go,” said Maas, whom Thompson previously said was the biggest reason he stuck with football after contemplating retirement following the Grey Cup loss.
“But there are times when you have to move on from people like that and it’s difficult. He wasn’t quite ready, so he’ll go home and do what he can, and hopefully in the future, if there’s an opportunity, he’s able to come back.”
Thompson and Maas not only lost that Grey Cup game together, but watched from Edmonton as their former team went on to win a championship without them the following season.
And it sure doesn’t make things any easier when an outgoing player has nothing but good things to say about the club and city.
“Helped me find my joy for the game again,” Thompson posted on Twitter. “Brought me in like family. Thank you, Edmonton!”
A five-foot-10, 185-pound Boise State product originally drafted in the seventh round by the National Football League’s Washington Redskins in 2011, Thompson never played a full season in Edmonton.
He arrived in August of 2016 and registered 22 tackles and an interception in eight games. He followed up with 23 tackles and a touchdown in 11 games last year.
Thompson was hurt in a game against the Calgary Stampeders, while playing out of position to fill in for coverage linebacker Kenny Ladler’s lone missed start of 2017.
“I had a great, candid conversation with Brandyn. I was with him in Ottawa and with him here,” Sunderland said.
“He’s a class act and it was made very clear to him, ‘Once you heal up, let me know, and you’re on the first flight back.’ ”
But football waits for no one, not Thompson, nor any of the players cut on the weekend.
“You watch those guys work and you know there are guys whose dreams, I won’t say got taken out, but they were kind of put on hold or on a different path,” said Eskimos quarterback and reigning CFL most outstanding player Mike Reilly.
“I’ve been cut three times from professional teams, so I can sympathize with that. But at the same time, we’ve got to move forward.”
Next up, the Eskimos will kick off the regular season on the road against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Thursday (6:30 p.m., TSN, 630 CHED).
Minus those casualties cut during training camp, that is.
“It’s difficult,” Sunderland said. “Especially guys that you have grown a little bit of a relationship with, that you care about and that have given us everything that they can.”