National Post (National Edition)
TRUE NORTH STRONG ACROSS THE LEAGUE
For the third straight season, exactly 13 Canadians have made a Week 1 NFL roster.
Fewer begin the 2017 season as starters, though: five, as opposed to seven in each of the past two years.
In all, 24 Canadians appeared on a 90-man NFL roster entering training camp this year.
STARTERS LAURENT DUVERNAY-TARDIF
RG, Kansas City Chiefs Fourth year in NFL Hometown: Mont-Saint Hilaire, Que.
Scored a huge second contract in March, worth US$42.25 million over five years. Spent most of July learning anesthesia at a Montreal hospital en route to next year becoming the first NFLer in 63 years to earn his MD while playing. Rated only the No. 29 guard by Pro Football Focus in ’16, L.D.T. has improved markedly each year.
TYRONE CRAWFORD
DE, Dallas Cowboys Sixth year in NFL
Hometown: Windsor, Ont. Entering Year 3 of a fiveyear, US$45-million contract, Crawford missed most of training camp with a nasty right ankle sprain. Owner and GM Jerry Jones said Tuesday that Crawford will play Sunday. He remains a D-end this year after two more effective years as a tackle (2014-15). Dallas is desperate for more edge pressure in 2017.
BRENT URBAN
DE, Baltimore Ravens Fourth year in NFL
Hometown: Mississauga, Ont. Snake-bitten with ACL and biceps injuries in years 1 and 2, Urban earned extensive playing time as backup last year. He had a monster pre-season in limited time, recording a sack, three tackles for a loss, two forced fumbles and seven tackles.
LOUIS-PHILIPPE LADOUCEUR
LS, Dallas Cowboys 13th year
Hometown: Montreal Incredibly, in 12 NFL seasons Ladouceur has yet to snap a bad ball. That’s in 1,731 attempts since 2005. Nothing but clean, fast, hard, reliably placed snaps on 833 punts, 374 field-goal attempts and 524 extra points. Even at age 36, there’s no reason to believe Ladouceur won’t bat 1.000 again in 2017.
JON RYAN
P, Seattle Seahawks 12th year in NFL
Hometown: Regina He’s 35 now, but still punting effectively for the Seahawks. Last year only four NFL punters had fewer touchbacks than Ryan’s three. And he ranked 14th in pinning the opposition 26 times inside the 20. His distance average isn’t what it used to be, but Ryan is as reliable as they come.
BACKUPS LUKE WILLSON
TE, Seattle Seahawks Fifth year in NFL
Hometown: Lasalle, Ont. One of 12 players remaining from the 2014 Super Bowl champs, Willson is still Seattle’s No. 2 tight end behind Jimmy Graham. With a lesser WR corps, QB Russell Wilson likely will look for his TEs more.
CHRISTIAN COVINGTON
DE-DT, Houston Texans Third year in NFL
Hometown: Vancouver The son of CFL Hall of Famer Grover Covington benefited from J.J. Watt’s 2016 absence, proving effective both as a pass rusher and against the run.
BRETT JONES
OG-C, New York Giants Third year in NFL
Hometown: Weyburn, Sask. The former CFL all-star seems to be inching ever closer to a starting assignment. A knee injury kept him out of most of his rookie season, and last year he was the primary interior-OL backup.
DAVID ONYEMATA
DT, New Orleans Saints Second year in NFL Hometown: Winnipeg As a backup last year trying to quickly digest the different lineman duties in U.S. football, Onyemata did not record a sack. This year, with DT Nick Fairley out, the Saints need the former University of Manitoba behemoth to step up.
AUSTIN PASZTOR
OT, Atlanta Falcons Fifth year in NFL
Hometown: Tillsonburg, Ont. Started 43 games at LG or RT for the Jacksonville Jaguars and Cleveland Browns from 2012-16. Was a free agent until signing with Atlanta deep in training camp.
T.J. JONES
KR-WR, Detroit Lions Fourth year in NFL
Born: Winnipeg Injured a hamstring in the second pre-season game, but with Detroit’s kick-return jobs apparently still up in the air, Jones made the weekend’s 53-man cuts.
ANTONY AUCLAIR
TE, Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFL rookie Hometown: Notre-Dame-des Pins, Que.
The 24-year-old is a surprise roster survivor, but the Bucs have been high on the undrafted Auclair since his impressive performance at a college all-star game in January.
ELI ANKOU
NT-DT, Jacksonville Jaguars NFL rookie
Hometown: Ottawa Ex-UCLA star signed as a priority undrafted free agent with the Houston Texans, and turned heads. But Houston has a deep D-line and waived him Saturday. The Jags took him off waivers.