Change already in the air for Stamps

Changes are on their way for the Calgary Stampeders and the team isn’t wasting any time.

Only four days after the Stampeders lost their second straight Grey Cup, the team announced defensive backs coach Kahlil Carter wouldn’t be offered a new contract. Carter had been in the role for the team for the past three seasons.

“I felt it was in the best interests of the team to go in a different direction with that position on our staff,” head coach Dave Dickenson said in a statement released by the team.

“I thank Kahlil for all he’s done for the team during his time in Calgary and wish him the best of luck in the future.”

Carter coached a defensive backs unit that allowed the fewest opposition passing touchdowns, the fewest passing first downs and the fewest opposition passing yards of any team in the CFL this season.

The news dropped only a couple hours after the CFL officially announced each team’s list of free agents for the off-season.

The Stamps will have to re-sign almost their entire starting defensive backs unit.

Among the 27 players who will be free agents on Feb. 13, there were a number of veteran DBs who the Stamps will need to decide whether to re-sign.

That includes starters Josh Bell, Tommie Campbell, Ciante Evans, Brandon Smith, Shaquille Richardson and Jamar Wall, as well as Joe Burnett, who was injured for most of the year but has been a starter for the team in the past, and stepped up in a big way in the West Division Final.

They’re not the only big names hitting free agency, though.

The team will also need to make decisions on several key members of its receiving corps, including 2016 Most Outstanding Rookie DaVaris Daniels, oft-injured Canadian Lemar Durant, and Kamar Jorden, who was one of the team’s leading ball catchers in 2017 but fumbled the ball on a decisive play late in the Grey Cup game.

Other notables include 2017 Most Outstanding Special Teams Player Roy Finch, starting running back Jerome Messam, long-serving back Rob Cote and Ja’Gared Davis, arguably the CFL’s most fearsome pass rusher.

Traditionally, under president/ GM John Hufnagel, the Stampeders have tried to re-sign their core players, although it’s unclear whether the team will look to go in a new direction after the heartbreak of losing the last two Grey Cup contests.

“Hopefully, we’ll have as much success as we can to have a lot of the players back,” Hufnagel told reporters on Monday.

“We try to be a highly-competitive team each and every year, so our plan will be no different.”