Giguere aims to get career back on track
Olympic bobsledder and CFL veteran hits the ground running with Eskimos
He had to hit the brakes over the off-season, but Sam Giguere’s professional football career is back on track after joining the Edmonton Eskimos this week.
Entering his 11th season of football on either side of the border, the versatile 32-year-old native of Sherbrooke, Que., is fresh off competing in the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics as a brakeman on a fourman Canadian bobsled.
“During the winter, I was with the Canadian Bobsled team,” said the 6-foot, 218-pound Sherbrooke product.
“I did the whole World Cup season with them and went to the Games, and then when I came back, I took a bit of time off with the family. I have two young daughters at home.
“The bobsled season was a long one, so I was happy to be back home. Then slowly I started training for football again. I was hoping to get a call. I wasn’t ready to call it quits.”
But the question was in the back of his mind after her was released on Jan. 19 following three seasons with the Montreal Alouettes. He played the three previous seasons with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, who drafted him eighth overall in 2008, only to see his pro career start in the National Football League with the Indianapolis Colts and New York Giants.
“It’s been 10 years. This is Year 11,” said Giguere, who has also competed in a total of four World Cup bobsled seasons during that span.
“But I felt like I could still play and I still wanted to play, so I kept in shape, kept running around.”
Make that both football and bobsled shape, considering the two sports seem to go hand in hand, especially for former Eskimos running back Jesse Lumsden and former Calgary Stampeders defensive back Keenan MacDougall, while Lyndon Rush played college football with Saskatchewan.
“Obviously, you need to be fast and strong and a lot of football players meet those criteria,” said Giguere.
“But at the same time, being on the four-man sled, you have to be able to work within a team, to be good teammates and to be able to form that chemistry.
“That’s why a lot of football players make that transition and are successful in bobsled, because they’re good teammates.”
This is Year 11. But I felt like I could still play and I still wanted to play, so I kept in shape, kept running around.
As for the 2022 Games in Beijing?
“It’s far,” Giguere said after a pause. “My kids don’t like it when I’m away for that long, so we’ll see what happens.”
Even if the next Olympics don’t happen for him, the veteran footballer is still well travelled.
“It was a great experience, it was a lot of fun,” he said of his Korea trip. “It’s a huge show and spectacle. It’s amateur sport, so it was fun to see that side of it.
“I’ve been to two Grey Cups, I’ve been to a Super Bowl before. And then to see the biggest show in amateur sport, it was fun. It was good.”
But now, with his focus back on the gridiron, Giguere is looking to catch up with his new team after missing out on training camp and the first two weeks of the season.
“It’s a team I’ve always looked up to with an explosive offence,” he said.
“To be able to join the team and come here, it’s exciting for me.
“I’m behind, there’s no question. Especially with the playbook, but I’ve been studying hard and I plan on studying hard for the rest of the season.
By the looks of things, Giguere could be in the lineup as early as Friday night’s game against the B.C. Lions (8 p.m., TSN, ESPN+, 630CHED).
“That’s always the goal, to practice hard and practice well and show you can help the team,” Giguere said.
“That’s what I’ll do.
“It’s a long season and hopefully I can progress and show the team that I can help them be successful.”
For now, it’s all gas, no brakes for the Team Canada brakeman.
“I know Sam, just from off-season stuff. We’ve done a lot of appearances together and things like that,” said Eskimos quarterback Mike Reilly.
“I’d never played with him, obviously, but I know he’s a great guy.
“But watching him out there today, he was flying around full speed, not looking at all like a guy that just got into town. He didn’t have the benefit of training camp and that’s what you get with a veteran.
“There’s no drop-off when he goes in there, which is pretty impressive, considering the short time he’s been here.”