BREAUX FORGES AHEAD WITH NEW LIFE IN STEELTOWN
Former New Orleans Saints DB quickly reacquainting himself to the CFL game
Delvin Breaux had suitors — many of them in fact.
But when it came time for him to put his name on the dotted line, there was only one team for Breaux and that was the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the team he knew best in the CFL.
Breaux, 28, spent the last three years with his hometown New Orleans Saints, including when he sat out the entire 2017 season with an injury.
But with the Saints going younger, Breaux returned to the league that gave him a chance when no other league would: the CFL. Breaux spent the 2013 and 2014 seasons in Hamilton, getting a CFL all-star nod in his final year before the Saints called him home.
Breaux was available again this season after the Saints doctors somehow misdiagnosed a fractured leg as a contusion last August and then suggested Breaux was soft for not coming back sooner. Eventually, Breaux was properly diagnosed and had surgery, but the 2017 season was lost.
Breaux holds no grudges and said mistakes happen and he has given those that made the mistakes (a doctor and an assistant were eventually fired because of the incident) his full forgiveness.
Instead, he has happily moved on, or in this case, back to a time in his career when he first came into his own as a professional.
“Just Hamilton in general,” he said of what drew him back. “We had a family here when we left and it was getting tight. The organization as a whole, the coaches, the staff, the players, we all started building a brotherhood and that stuck with me when I left to go to the NFL. I always intended to come back. And coach O (Orlondo Steinauer), when he was here before, I said that if I ever played for another team it would be because coach O left and I would (follow him). Just because he had an impact on my life not just on the field, but off the field, too.”
Steinauer is back as an assistant head coach this time, not the defensive co-ordinator he was when Breaux was first here, but that hardly matters to the player who came to cherish his time with the one-time all-star defensive back.
“His energy is contagious,” Breaux said of Steinauer. “He does things the right way. He always wants things to be perfect and it’s not going to be, but he wants it as close to that as possible. That is what we are all shooting for. Just being around him is good for me.”
Hamilton wasn’t the only team that came calling when it became apparent Breaux would be available. There were multiple CFL teams, including the defending Grey Cup-champion Argos, that showed interest.
“It was pretty cool, felt like a recruitment process all over again, but I’m glad I picked here,” Breaux said in between weight room workouts following Monday’s practice.
“This organization from Caretaker Bob (owner Bob Young), from the top, it’s second to none. I loved it here and I couldn’t see myself playing anywhere else but in the black and gold. Then I still knew Simoni (Lawrence) and a couple of guys from the team, so it was, ‘You know what? I’m going to come back.’”
In addition to Lawrence, Breaux is familiar with both Courtney Stephen and Mike Daly, the two safeties on the team, but outside of that he is getting familiar with a bunch of new teammates. He already played in the first Ticats win of the year against Edmonton last week.
Based on his limited time with the team (he signed on a Monday and played on a Friday), Breaux expected to get tested and the Eskimos threw his way twice, but when they came up empty they didn’t throw in his direction again.
Breaux admitted after the game the Ticats scaled back the defensive playbook for him so he could play on short notice, but he’s in full study mode this week trying to get up to speed for the Winnipeg game Friday at Tim Hortons Field.
“I was a little rusty, but as far as knowing the game, I mean I played it for two years, so none of that left my mind,” he said of the distinct CFL rules. “I always knew I would come back because I love this game. It’s very different from the NFL. I just got to learn the playbook faster and roll from there.”
The organization ... we all started building a brotherhood and that stuck with me when I left to go to the NFL.