Oft-injured Rob Bagg marks decade in green
Receiver thankful that team continues to give him the chance to play in CFL
It’s been a half-decade since Rob Bagg surveyed the wreckage: Three knee surgeries, rehab piled onto rehab, months and seasons on the shelf.
Bleak? Yes. But Bagg’s conclusion was different. Football, he decided, was still very much in his future, despite the many onlookers who expected that he’d never resurface on a CFL field.
That’s why Bagg is hustling through his 11th training camp this week, in his 10th season with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, a survivor through and through.
“I’m sure none of the other players give two craps about it, but it’s something I take pride in,” Bagg — who played his first CFL game in 2008 — said Tuesday when asked about his new-found role as the longest-serving Roughrider.
He’s watched the Roughriders shed good friends through the years: Darian Durant, Weston Dressler, Chris Getzlaf, and on, and on, and on.
“The torch gets passed, those guys leave, the locker-room changes, but Rob’s the constant,” Roughriders’ receivers coach Markus Howell said.
Nothing about Rob Bagg ’s life in professional football is easy. Nobody drafted him in 2007 when he played at Queen’s University, but Saskatchewan invited him to camp. He made the team, but opted to return to university for one more season, after which he was named Queen’s most dedicated player while earning second-team all-Canadian status. Then Bagg rejoined Saskatchewan in 2008, when he soon took on a prominent role.
He tore his left ACL in 2010, injured the same ligament on the eve of the 2011 campaign and missed the entire season, then tore his right ACL three games into 2012.
But Bagg ’s played no fewer than 17 games every season since 2013, and last year hauled in 57 passes for 658 yards and four touchdowns.
The Canadian veteran has no shortage of internal motivation: There’s the naysayers from those years when his knees hit the operating table, and that 2007 CFL draft, when nobody called his name.
“The fact I wasn’t drafted still burns me today, because I know I was one of the best Canadian receivers in college, and that’s why I went back for my fifth year,” Bagg said.
“Even though I only played six games in my last year, I had 800 receiving yards. I think it was pretty evident I was one of the top Canadian receivers. I’m proud to say me and Getty (Chris Getzlaf, chosen in Round 5) are still the only Canadian receivers playing right now, from that draft. The other eight or nine guys they took ahead of us ... it just goes to show that sometimes, the experts aren’t always right.”
Bagg has earned, the hard way, respect from his teammates and coaches. But he’s also earned it in an easier and more fundamental way: through hustle and hard work. Even now, at 32, he’s showing the young guys out for his job how to do it.
“Some guys, you’ve got to tell them, ‘Hey, come on, pick it up. We need a better tempo from you,’ ” Howell said. “You never have to say that to Rob. Everything he does is fast. Waggles, stretches, running, everything. He just plays at a different tempo.”
Bagg says he remains thankful to the Roughriders — both for giving him a chance to play pro football, and for keeping a steady, trusting hand on his career as he missed most of the 2011 and 2012 seasons.
“I certainly want to be a Rider for life,” Bagg said. “Those decisions aren’t always up to you, but I love this organization. They’re the ones who gave me a chance 10 years ago. I feel like I’ve repaid them, but they’ve given me a lot of opportunity over the course of trying times. It’s been a good relationship both ways.
“Fortunately,” he added, “(the knee injuries) happened fairly early in my career, and they were all together, basically. It was kind of a lump in the middle I had to battle through. I know a lot of people didn’t think that after tearing my knee in my third year I’d be still standing here in Year 10, but I’m proud to say I am — and even prouder to say I feel better than ever. I’m faster and stronger, more confident than ever. It’s fun to go out there with guys 10 years younger than you and show them you still have it.”
The torch gets passed, those guys leave, the locker room changes, but Rob is the constant