VERSATILITY MAKES FENNER INVALUABLE TO BLUE BOMBERS
Hard-working, athletic special teams star could start at corner in rebuilt secondary
For Chandler Fenner, the move to cornerback was welcome.
While there’s still plenty to be sorted out as it relates to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers secondary, Fenner shifting outside seems like a win-win situation.
“I’ve enjoyed it. It’s a lot of fun,” said Fenner.
“That was my original position playing football when I was nine years old. I played corner, starting as a little boy. Coming back to that position from college is a great feeling. There are a lot of good memories from there and a lot of strategies and tactics that I have learned.
“There’s a comfort level there.” The Blue Bombers signed Fenner as a free agent in 2018 after he spent two seasons with the B.C. Lions.
Although he started the first four games of last season, Fenner spent the next three weeks on the injured and reserve lists before moving around the field and playing a variety of positions, excelling on special teams.
But after returning from an injury, Anthony Gaitor took a firm grip on the SAM linebacker job that was originally earmarked for Fenner.
It wasn’t necessarily the role Fenner envisioned for himself when he signed with the Blue Bombers, but he wasn’t complaining.
“It’s just like everything else. Everybody gets paid to play this game. They’re going to make plays and I’m going to make plays,” said Fenner.
“Our team went as far as we could go and the guys that were making plays played. As a football player, you honour that and you respect that. I don’t have a problem with how things turned out.
“Now I have an opportunity to make plays and I’m going to take it. If they give me that chance, I’m going to take it. That’s just how it goes. That’s the game.”
Because of his versatility, Fenner still might be used at a number of different positions this CFL season.
But with some major changes coming to the secondary, Fenner could ultimately lock down a starting job at corner to go along with his excellent work on special teams.
“He’s just so athletic and he works so hard at it. We just wanted to give him a chance to get on the field,” said Blue Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea.
“Anthony Gaitor, when he came back from being injured, stepped into that role as that strong-side linebacker and really took control of it. That certainly put Chandler in more of a package situation. He’s one of the best special teams players in the league, if not the best, in terms of how hard he works and how much he enjoys it.
“To me, he’s a four-team guy. You can play him on all four special teams and you might even be able to start him (at corner) and play him on all four special teams. He’s in great shape. So, you see that and you say, let’s move him around and find out what he’s most comfortable with.
“Being out on the outside of the defence and looking in gives him one angle to look at. He’s athletic enough that we feel he can make a difference at that spot, maybe on plays that he wouldn’t normally be involved in.”
No matter where he’s asked to line up on the field, Fenner is planning on making an impact.
“When the coach tells you to go in, you go in and you do what you’re supposed to do,” said Fenner.
“You have to be a tool, so they can put you here and they can have the confidence you can get that job done. I take pride in being that guy for my team, whether it’s on defence or special teams.
“Whatever they need me to do. That’s been my mentality the entire time and that will forever be my mentality. Wherever they put me, I’m going to do my best and thrive at it. It’s a world of opportunity and I’m going to do my best with it.”