Stamps likely to play Saturday
Fred Stamps was more spectator than participant at the Edmonton Eskimos’ indoor practice at the Commonwealth Stadium fieldhouse on Tuesday, much like he’s been for the last week and a half.
But no one seems to be too concerned about the star receiver’s availability for Saturday’s CFL season opener against the Saskatchewan Roughriders at Commonwealth Stadium.
“Extremely confident,” Eskimos head coach Kavis Reed said about whether Stamps will play. “I’m just being very careful with Fred in regards to the fact that we know he’ll be ready to play and play at a very high level on Saturday.
“There’s no need to put him out and tax him a lot in terms of practice reps. ... He doesn’t need practice,” Reed said. “Hopefully, come (Wednesday), we’ll get him quality reps and, hopefully, the weather permits and we’ll be able to get him back on the field and going full speed.”
Stamps, for his part, said he’s not injured.
“It’s just soreness. That’s about it ... it’s just football,” he said.
Revamped secondary
The Eskimos vowed to get more physical play out of their defensive backs this season. That’ll be especially important against the Roughriders, who can field towering receivers like six-foot-six Greg Carr, six-three Eron Riley, six-one (208 pounds) Chris Getzlaf and six-foot Geroy Simon.
“Our guys were able to tackle and bring down some of the biggest receivers in the league,” Reed said about the exhibition game between the teams on June 14.
Edmonton will be missing starting safety Donovan Alexander, who was placed on the one-game injured list after suffering a “muscular injury” in last week’s pre-season game with the B.C. Lions, which means either rookie Shea Pierre or third-year special teams star Mike Miller will get the start in the middle of the secondary.
“I’ve never actually played free safety before, so coming here was a new look, but I knew if I ever got to play free safety, I had the range and skill to run sideline to sideline, up and down, so it’s fun now,” said Pierre.
Reed said they moved Pierre, who broke up a B.C. pass play on third-and-10 with a minute to play last week, to safety because of his athleticism.
Rounding out the Eskimos defensive backfield are returning veterans Joe Burnett at corner and Chris Thompson at defensive half on the short side of the field and former Hamilton Tiger-Cat Marcell Young, who signed as a free agent with Edmonton on Feb. 15, and rookie Aaron Grymes at defensive half and corner, respectively, on the wide side.
Grymes, who hasn’t had a full haircut in eight years, signed with the Eskimos on May 29 and was in town three days later. “I went to a Green Bay (Packers) rookie mini-camp and they let me go. I was kind of just working out and waiting for my opportunity. This one popped up and, so far, it’s been great,” he said.
Grymes started out as a thirdstring defensive halfback on the training camp depth chart. He played on the corner for a half in the first exhibition game and both half and corner for a quarter last week against B.C., but his interception came while playing defensive half.