Canadians in the NFL

[jerrym]

The NY Giants are expected to sign Canadian OL Brett Jones in order to prevent him become a restricted free agent.

Early indications are he will be the favorite to retain the starting center job he held for most of the 2017 season. ...

Jones, 26, likely will be given a second-round tender, which would cost the Giants $2.91 million for the upcoming season. As a restricted free agent, Jones would be able to seek offers from other teams, with the Giants retaining the right to match any offer. If Jones signed elsewhere, that team would give the Giants a second-round pick. Essentially, a second-round tender ensures Jones of staying put. The Giants could save money with an original-round tender of $1.9 million but would receive no compensation if Jones left, as Jones entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent. ...

Jones, a native of Canada, made the Giants roster in 2015 after earning honors with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League. He started 13 games this past season, one at left guard and the final 12 at center. The coaching staff decided to stick with Jones as the starter even after Richburg was cleared from the concussion protocol and Richburg eventually was placed on injured reserve.
Jones is not ideal size — he is a boxy 6-foot-2 and 312 pounds — but is so technically sound that he uses his low-center-of-gravity frame to his benefit with leverage, getting underneath taller defensive tackles as a run blocker. Jones also greatly impressed the previous coaching regime with his intelligence, so much so that when the offensive linemen each week were given a quiz to see how much of the game plan installation they mastered, Jones was not required to take the test. Jones made all the line calls and adjustments, rarely making a mistake. This is no great surprise, considering when the Giants gave him the Wonderlic test, he scored 43 (out of 50). The average score for a center is 25.

https://nypost.com/2018/03/07/giants...-here-to-stay/

[jerrym]

Atlanta has signed National OL Austin Pasztor to a contract for 2018. He was a first round draft choice of Edmonton but has spent his entire pro career since 2012 in the NFL with Minnesota, Jacksonville, Cleveland and Atlanta.

Pasztor, also 27, looked like a lock to be the team’s swing tackle in 2017 before an injury effectively forced the Falcons into making another move. They ended up swapping a fifth round pick for Ty Sambrailo, who served as the team’s swing tackle all of last season and figures to reprise that role. Pasztor, now hopefully fully healthy, could compete for the job and will at worst be in play as a deep reserve at guard and tackle. He’s a solid re-signing for this offensive line, which looks like it will be look about the same as it did a year ago barring the addition of a young center or guard in the draft.

https://www.thefalcoholic.com/2018/3...austin-pasztor

[jerrym]

Toronto born DT Stefan Charles has resigned with the Kansas City Chiefs for a sixth year in the NFL.

After being cut by the Jacksonville Jaguars on the eve of the 2017 season he did not latch on with another team until the first week of the playoffs in January, when the Chiefs added him as emergency insurance for their defensive line. Charles did not dress for the Chiefs’ home-field loss to the Tennessee Titans.
It was Tennessee that first signed Charles as an undrafted free agent in spring 2013, after a standout Canadian college career at the University of Regina. In October 2013, the Buffalo Bills signed Charles to their active 53-man roster off Tennessee’s practice squad. He saw playing time in Buffalo’s interior D-line rotation for the remainder of that season, and in 2014 and ’15. He started twice as a Bill, played in 35 games in Buffalo and notched five sacks and 29 tackles.
The 6-foot-5, 302-pounder proved a poor fit in Rex Ryan’s defence, so upon becoming a free agent in 2016 he signed with the Detroit Lions, dressing for 12 games and getting in on seven tackles.

http://torontosun.com/sports/footbal...stefan-charles

[jerrym]

2012 Argo draft choice Luke Wilson has signed a one year deal with the Detroit Lions after five years and 1,172 yards with the Seattle Seahawks.

[OV Argo]

You could put together a pretty decent NFL D-line out of Canadians on rosters down there. Onyemata with the Saints has progressed well.

Love to see Luke Willson emerge with more full-time reps playing for the Lions; he looked very good with the Seahawks IMO.

Duvernay-Tardif has emerged as a top notch NFL OG with the Chiefs; and Jones has drawn some good reviews for his starts with the Giants last season; be interesting to see if Bomber draft pick Geoff Gray will stick with the re-building again Browns.

The CFL will probably never see hardly any of these guys (heard Ottawa was trying to sign draft pick D-lineman Mehdi Abdesmad, but nothing recent) - which is a shame - but great for those players to make the big NFL buck$.

[jerrym]

The New York Giants have resigned OL Brett Jones to a $2.9 million restricted free agent contract. Jones, who played for University of Regina in college, had won Most Outstanding Rookie in 2013 and Most Outstanding OL in 2014 with the Stampeders before signing with the Giants in 2015.

https://247sports.com/nfl/new-york-g...ants-117160495

[jerrym]

Former BC Lion ST/LB Bo Lokombo has been released by San Francisco 49ers. He bounced around the NFL in 2017 with Baltimore, Oakland and the 49ers without getting into any regular season game action, after leading the West Division of the CFL in 2015 with 24 ST tackles.

[jerrym]

After clearing waivers in the NFL, former National Roughrider DB Elie Bouka has been placed on the injury reserve list by the Philadelphia Eagles. This means he does not count against their 90 man roster and could still make the team in TC.

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Former Regina Ram and Calgary Stampeder Brett Jones, who won the 2014 CFL Most Outstanding OL, is fighting in the preseason to keep the starting centre job that he won for the last 12 games of the 2017 New York Giant season.

[jerrym]

This year 22 Canadians have been trying to win a job in NFL TCs. One, TE Adam Zaruba, has been cut so far. In the following article, John Kryk updates what is happening with all of these Canadians.

https://torontosun.com/sports/footba...les-cut-zaruba

[jerrym]

Jon Ryan, who is 36 years old, has asked for and got his release from the Seattle Seahawks, likely realizing his time in Seattle was up after the Seahawks drafted the younger and cheaper Michael Dickson, who performed well in the early preseason this year. With a preseason games left to be played, Ryan likely hopes to catch on with another team. After two years with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Ryan joined the Packers in 2006 and Seattle in 2008.

[jerrym]

Well, that didn't take long. Jon Ryan has agreed to terms with the Buffalo Bills and is expected to sign a contract soon.

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The New York Giants have traded former Calgary Stampeder National OL Brett Jones to the Minnesota Vikings for an undisclosed 2019 draft pick.

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The Cleveland Browns have released 2017 Winnipeg first round draft choice Geoff Gray. He played three games for them last year and had also spent time with the Green Bay Packers and New York Jets.

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Former Regina Ram 332 lb DL Akiem Hicks did his best imitation of William The Fridge Perry in ploughing through the line on a fourth down on the one yard line to score a TD. Hicks is in his third year with the Chicago Bears, after four years with four years with the Saints and one with the Patriots.

[jerrym]

DL David Onyemata has made a successful transition from the University of Manitoba to the NFL as a New Orleans Saint. This year he has had 28 DT and 3 sacks.

David Onyemata hadn’t played a single down of football when he arrived at the University of Manitoba in 2011. More interested in quarterly reports than quarterback blitzes, Onyemata originally came to Winnipeg from Nigeria to pursue an economics degree. ...

Onyemata’s journey from his native Nigeria to the NFL, by way of U Sports’ Manitoba Bisons, is one of the league’s most unique stories, one that would have played out much differently had he not had the confidence to show up in person to Bisons head coach Brian Dobie’s office to ask for a tryout. ...

Onyemata went on to have an outstanding career with the Bisons and was named the top lineman in Canadian university football in 2016. It was a feat made more impressive by the fact that Onyemata had to start from scratch learning football’s myriad complexities. ...

New Orleans traded up to pick Onyemata in the fourth round, 120th overall, in 2016, making him the first Bison ever taken in the NFL draft. ...

Already adept at making adjustments by evolving from football novice to star lineman with Manitoba, Onyemata then had to leave the three-down game behind him to fit in with the Saints. The conversion to the American game is perhaps more pronounced for a defensive lineman, who is used to starting a yard away from the line of scrimmage in Canadian football. “The line of scrimmage, you’re right on the ball. Like right there,” Onyemata said. “Sometimes before you make a step, you have a guard or centre on you and the contact is already there.”

There was also the intimidating transition of playing in front of a modest U Sports crowd to suiting up before a deafening mob in New Orleans, where the Saints are practically a religion. “At first, coming from a small school, you’re in front of 70,000 people,” Onyemata said. “There’s nothing that’s going to max out that feeling. The fan base out here is just insane. I don’t know how to put it. Sometimes on the field you can’t even hear the plays. It was really amazing.”

http://3downnation.com/2018/12/08/ca...onal-path-nfl/

[jerrym]

OL Austin Pasztor has signed with the Tennessee Titans. Drafted fourth overall by Edmonton in 2012 he has played in 65 games since then, including 43 starts. However, he was cut after TC this year and remained unsigned until now.

[jerrym]

National DL Nathan Shepherd, who was on Hamilton's list of ten names on their negotiation list released in February, was also the only Canadian at the NFL Combine in 2018. His performance there led to him being drafted in the third round by the New York Jets. It took him only four months from being drafted to make the starting lineup. He now has a four year contract. The Tiger Cats may never get a chance to sign him. Congratulations to a player who had to leave SFU after one year for financial reasons and take a job before being able to return to college three years later.

The jump from college to the NFL is huge but was monumental for the six-foot-four, 315-pound Shepherd, who played at Fort Hays State, a Division II school in Hays, Kan. After a stellar ’17 campaign – winning the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association top defensive player honour while leading the Tigers (11-0) to their first MIAA title – Shepherd became the first player in school history invited to the Senior Bowl, which showcases players eligible for the NFL draft. ...

“My goal was to help my team in whatever capacity it needed, but the bigger focus was to continue every day to learn how to be a pro,” Shepherd said. “That’s something I continue to strive for and while I’m happy with the progress I’ve made so far, I’m still not satisfied. ...

Shepherd began his collegiate career at Simon Fraser in 2012 as a six-foot-one, 205-pound linebacker. But financial challenges forced him to leave the Burnaby, B.C., school after just one year. He returned to Toronto and entered the workforce until saving enough money to enrol at Fort Hays State for the 2015 season. Shepherd paid for his first semester while playing football as a walk-on.
“It says a lot about the man,” Jets coach Todd Bowles told the Jets’ website. “He’s determined to succeed no matter what he does. He carries himself, he works that way and I can appreciate that. You always hear about the bad stories. Any time somebody has a story like that, along with his play – obviously, his play comes first and then you find out his journey – you can appreciate the man more.”
Playing in the NFL has given Shepherd some financial stability. He signed a four-year, $US3.876-million deal with New York that included a signing bonus exceeding $987,000. ...

Shepherd is typically at the Jets’ training facility between 6:30-7:30 a.m. and remains there until roughly 6:30 p.m. with meetings and practices. And even when he leaves, Shepherd rarely has a night to himself as there’s also recovery, chiropractor appointments and studying film or reviewing gameplans on his iPad.
Shepherd said what many people don’t understand is the level of preparation that goes into the playing of NFL games. “You’re exposed to a lot more detail,” Shepherd said. “As a fan, as a viewer you get to see the finished product on Monday night, Thursday and Sunday.

http://3downnation.com/2018/12/17/ca...new-york-jets/

[jerrym]

OL Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, who has been out of action since early October with a broken fibula, has been designated to return to game action for the Kansas City Chiefs.

[jerrym]

Here's an article on the American junior college star who ended up playing at the University of Regina because of recruiting violations. Pretty good for a CIS player many consider the Bears best DL.

An hour after the Chicago Bears’ training-camp practice concluded at Olivet Nazarene University on the sun-soaked last day of July, the Bears PR folks kindly arranged for both Hicks and starting quarterback Mike Glennon to give me some 1-on-1 interview time after practice. Fantastic. ...

Both men were ready to be interviewed, and now — with Hicks sitting in a golf cart about 30 feet away, and Glennon being directed from the podium straight toward me. Hicks and I locked eyes, and he could see for a moment I was unsure what to do. Then he smirked and shook his head. He knew before I did that I’d interview the quarterback first. ...

“Oh, NOWWWW you can talk to me. Yeah, man, I KNEW you’d talk to him first — I KNEW it. Talk to the quarterback and make the big ol’ lineman wait,” Hicks said loudly and demonstrably, in launching into his (mostly?) mock tirade.

The outsized Californian has an outsized personality, to be sure. At age 27 Hicks is in his sixth NFL season, playing out the last year of his second pro contract, a $10-million, two-year deal with the Bears. With another solid year of wreaking havoc in Chicago’s opponents’ backfields in 2017, Hicks knows he can command an outsized contract, worth many more millions of dollars come March, if not from the Bears then some other NFL club.

At age 27 Hicks is in his sixth NFL season, playing out the last year of his second pro contract, a $10-million, two-year deal with the Bears. With another solid year of wreaking havoc in Chicago’s opponents’ backfields in 2017, Hicks knows he can command an outsized contract, worth many more millions of dollars come March, if not from the Bears then some other NFL club.

Hicks has resurrected his career in Chicago. He’s arguably the team’s best defender after registering a career-high seven sacks in 2016, knocking down a couple of passes and getting in on 54 tackles — a true breakout season for him.

Not bad for a guy out of Saskatchewan. Or at least that’s where many Americans still think he’s from, after playing for two years at the University of Regina, 2010-11.

How often does Hicks get mistaken for being Canadian? “Allll the time. All the time, man,” said Hicks, who was born and raised entirely in the Bay Area of California, specifically within Sacramento County. “I don’t mind it, though. It’s sure not the worst tag you could have.” Uh, thanks. Eh?

But really. How does an American high-school football star in California wind up playing his college ball in Regina? Hicks doesn’t hesitate to answer. “I got kicked out of LSU.” Right. Coming out of high school, Hicks didn’t qualify academically to get a big-time NCAA football scholarship, so he played at nearby Sacramento City Community College. With dominating play in 2008 Hicks began to be recruited hard by the big-time universities. LSU swooped in and offered him a scholarship. But Hicks never wound up playing a down in Baton Rouge.

He’d received impermissible transportation and lodging during an unofficial recruiting visit. Furthermore, LSU’s receivers coach at the time, D.J. McCarthy, set up Hicks to live in an apartment of a former player, another NCAA violation, and McCarthy and Hicks made matters far worse by attempting to cover up that fact. Both got the boot from LSU, and the NCAA ruled Hicks ineligible. ...

McCarthy set up a meeting for Hicks with a University of Regina football coach. Hicks sums it up like this: “Canadian coach meets my LSU coach at the time, who got fired with me. They meet and they talk and he says, ‘We’d love to have your guy,’ and he flies to Colorado, meets me and we go from there. I drive to Canada from Colorado, 22 hours across the border, and became a Canadian for two years.”

What was that experience like for Hicks? How did he possibly fit in? What was it like playing alongside another future NFL player, defensive tackle Stefan Charles of Toronto? And after the NFL team that drafted him in the third round in 2012 — the New Orleans Saints — gave up on him two years ago and traded him to the New England Patriots, how did he wind up turning his career back around? ( long question and answer session follows at url below)

https://torontosun.com/2017/09/05/qa...5-146a342e5d9c