Johany Jutras/CFL.ca
Another man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
The phrase couldn’t be more accurate when it comes to the Canadian Football League. Year after year, especially since the salary cap era, players are discarded for salary, production or usually a combination of both.
Rarely does someone get to play for one team over their entire career.
Whether it be via trades or free agency, there is always opportunity to improve your team by bringing in a veteran.
The Montreal Alouettes are hoping a few new faces from other places make a mark on the team this season.
Stefan Logan, released in B.C., has made the move across the country. Fred Stamps made the move to Montreal via trade when the Eskimos didn’t think the money and the production didn’t make sense. Nik Lewis knew his career was likely ending in Calgary but has found new life in Montreal. On the defensive side, Jonathan Hefney is trying to resurrect his CFL All-Star caliber play from his younger days in Winnipeg.
Is it an exact science?
For Alouettes General Manager, Jim Popp, it’s easy. The film won’t lie.
“All you have to do is turn the film on and watch them play. Fred Stamps, when he returned a year ago, lit us up. He beat us deep a couple of times. There was also a missed throw that didn’t connect with him on another where he beat us deep but he can still play.”
It’s a strategy that Popp knows has worked in some cases and worked out extremely well in others.
“Myself, personally, have found players like that. Tracy Ham was one, Anthony Calvillo was another, you know two CFL Hall of Famers. At some point their teams didn’t want them anymore . . . Anwar Stewart was another one. You find players that fit your situation and you plug them in and see if it works and if it doesn’t work you go back to the drawing board and you try it with somebody else.”
He’s hoping Stamps is one of the above.
Stamps’ three catch, 71-yard performance stood out to Popp when the Eskimos called to gauge interest in the former perennial 1,000-yard receiver.
“At the time they called us, it was a time we already knew we were going to lose Duron Carter and we didn’t know if we were going to get SJ Green re-signed and I wanted to make sure we had a #1 receiver, who had been a #1 receiver in the CFL. It was worth us doing the trade for him.”
But the thought of bringing in a veteran player can be for a lot more reasons than just talent. There are other intangibles you get with bringing in experience.
“You’re usually going to get something good out of them, there’s no question about that. But what you’re also going to get, like a Nik Lewis, is you’re also going to get a great leader. And even though he’s new to our team, he’s already a tremendous leader and you can’t replace that. Over the years he’s like most veteran players, they were one thing at one time but over time because of father time they kick into to being the grandpas in the locker room. They understand what it takes, they know how to bring people along, they can tell you what’s right and wrong.”
Popp also sees the development curve of his younger talent change when they have veterans to lean on early in their careers.
“It’s a situation where we have guys who have won championships and guys who have won it with other teams like Nik or guys who are potentially Hall of Famers. They’re going to mature and bring that younger guy along a lot faster just by being in the room. And there is a lot of trust. People lean on them and trust them.”
Popp is clearly not the only General Manager who is bringing in veterans, hoping to find one last spark before the end of their career. It’s the reality of the salary cap era.
To make it all work out, however, comes down to some shrewd negotiating to the right player for the right price when it doesn’t make sense for the other eight teams.
“When we got Stefan Logan and Lewis, when they became free agents they were asking for a lot of money. A lot of teams are going to turn down guys with age and a lot of money. I might have just caught them at the right time and told them our situation and what we could pay them and if you have any interest coming to Montreal, ‘this is our price tag’.”
The veteran savvy on offence in the receiving corps was in part of Montreal’s uncertainty and youth at the quarterback position. And the move to a veteran receiving corps is paying off even more after the injuries to Jonathan Crompton and Dan LeFevour in Week One.
There is no denying Brandon Bridge and Rakeem Cato will have a reliable set of receivers to throw to on Friday night as they take their first few steps at quarterback in the CFL.
At the end of our discussion about Popp’s philosophy when it comes to going veteran or going with a new face may have been the most telling.
“Some of (the veterans) may not be what they were at some point but I promise you, most of them are better than any new guy you bring to the CFL.”
