Lions searching for X-cellent receiver
OPEN COMPETITION: B.C. needs a replacement after NFL veteran Hawkins abruptly retired last week Mike Beamish
With a few exceptions, there isn’t a lot of French spoken at the B.C. Lions’ training camp. And yet, the CFL team remains in search of a wide receiver with “je né sais quoi.”
That’s French for a “soft-handed pass catcher who can stretch the field and become a highlight-video staple.”
The Lions need an X-factor to play the X position, football terminology for the short-side wide receiver whose dangerous ability keeps defensive backs ever vigilant lest he take a home-run ball to the house.
NFL veteran Lavelle Hawkins fit the designation perfectly before he abruptly retired from the Lions last week. Now, into the third week of training camp, the search for his replacement continues.
“Whether I see him here or not, on June 25 (the Lions’ season opener), there’s going to be somebody playing there,” Lions head coach Wally Buono said. “We want to make sure we explore as many options as we can. In fairness to the guys, if it means we have to move another player from another position we’ll have to do that. We’ve got three more practices (in training camp) and a pre-season game to figure it out.”
Neither holdover Terrence Jeffers-Harris, rookie Kendrick Ings or rookie Devonn Brown distinguished themselves at the position in Saturday’s 28-16 pre-season win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders. But it was not through a lack of execution. It was lack of opportunity in Regina.
Jeffers-Harris was targeted twice but didn’t make a reception. Ings didn’t have a catch and was targeted just once. Brown grabbed a simple five-yard hitch pass and exulted to finally have a CFL catch to record in his diary.
“I would love to touch the rock,” said Ings, who showed up five years ago at a Lions’ free-agent tryout camp and was told he needed more experience. He was just 20 at the time.
“When you don’t get the ball, you still need to follow your assignment,” Ings continued. “I want to be on the same page as the quarterback. I missed a good ball on Saturday, when I lost some speed coming out of my break. That was on me. I have to do better next time.”
Another X candidate who missed the Saskatchewan game because of a minor injury (hamstring) and illness (flu), Geraldo Boldewijn, didn’t lose any ground in the competition to start. But Boldewijn knows it’s difficult to make a team from the infirmary.
“It kind of sucks, watching the game on TV and not being out there with the guys,” Boldewijn said. “I’m looking to be back sometime this week.”
He hopes to play this Friday at B.C. Place Stadium when the Lions face the Calgary Stampeders in their final pre-season game.
From the Netherlands, Boldewijn first stoked his interest in football by playing Madden NFL video games and becoming a mad supporter of the Amsterdam Admirals, the defunct NFL Europa team where Lions quarterback Travis Lulay played for a time.
A raw, undrafted talent from Boise State, Boldewijn has continued to pique NFL interest, largely because of his imposing 6-foot-4, 220-pound physique, pterodactyl wingspan and quickness (4.5 seconds in the 40-yard dash).
After playing a single, albeit breakout game, for the Lions last season, he had a tryout with the Baltimore Ravens and talked with a number of NFL teams before re-signing in B.C. Perhaps they were intrigued by video clips of his only start, in game No. 18 last year. Lining up at the X position, the Dutchman had three receptions for 64 yards, including a 50-yard strike from Lulay that was the Lions’ third-longest completion in the 2015 season.
“He’s a long strider,” Lulay says. “If you remember last year, I hit him with a deep ball to the sidelines. He showed good speed on that. That spot (X receiver), there have been a few guys who’ve rotated through there and done some good things. But I truthfully don’t know. I’m confident we have the guys. But who that is ... remains to be seen.”
Outsized, elongated yet inexperienced, Boldewijn could turn out to be the least likely yet most underrated weapon in the Lions’ passing game if he ends up being flipped from slotback to wide receiver. He could be an X factor. Alas, the third-last letter of the alphabet also represents the unknown.