Off-season trade of receivers paying dividends
Don Landry – CFL.ca
Montréal – Last January, the lives of receivers Fred Stamps and Kenny Stafford changed and it was their respective ages and situations that made those changes so. The two are linked together inexorably; The young, rising talent traded for the seasoned veteran in a deal that raised some questions, as trades usually do.
Now, with the two set to square off against their old teams for the first time when the Eskimos meet the Alouettes on Thursday night in Montreal, it’s a pretty good assumption that both the Esks and Als are starting to get pretty much what they wanted out of the one-for-one swap brokered during the off-season.
It’s also certain that Stafford and Stamps share the same viewpoint in a couple of rather important areas; How they feel about both their old and new teams as well as how they proceed in the new environments thrust upon them.
Stamps is having the kind of year you’d expect a veteran receiver of his vintage (33-years-old) to be having. On a Montreal team that had suffered catastrophic injuries to its top two starting quarterback prospects, the native of New Orleans has picked up 15 catches for 235 yards and may be heating up now that the Alouettes have smoothed out their situation at pivot with the emergence of rookie Rakeem Cato. “Just tryin’ to get better, man,” Stamps drawls, grading his progress in Montreal.
Stafford, meantime, is just outside the CFL’s top ten in receiving with 349 yards on 27 receptions, including 4 touchdowns. Eight years younger than Stamps, there is the expectation that he can rise into the ranks of the league’s truly elite receivers. He’s been more than good enough to keep opposing defences honest when it comes to the Eskimos’ prized receiver Adarius Bowman. In fact, Stafford is outdoing the now-injured Bowman in touchdown catches and is just one total reception and 51 yards behind the Esks’ veteran. “Everything is good,” Stafford assures. “I’m enjoying myself in the green and gold.”
The Eskimos made the deal with one thing in mind, the Alouettes with another. The rise of Bowman in the Edmonton receiving corps meant the team could afford to deal Stamps and his veteran know-how for the promise of youth. The Alouettes, meantime, needed seasoned professionals to inject into their air attack after losing a number of veterans due to release, retirement and free agency.
“He’s (Stamps) been an all-star in this league. So, I don’t look at it as a knock,” says Stafford of the deal, preferring to see it as a representation of his value, overall. You don’t get something for nothing – or, at least, rarely so – and to acquire Stamps and his proven resume, Montreal had to part with a receiver with plenty of maturing upside.
“I respect Montreal,” Stafford says, dismissing the question of whether the deal made him angry. “I respect (general manager) Jim Popp. I’m not mad. Ain’t no hard feelings. No, man.”
“Edmonton, they treated me well,” offers Stamps, who spent eight seasons with the Eskimos, catching passes for nearly 8,000 yards and 49 touchdowns. “It was a great organization. I have nothing bad to say about those guys. It’s a first class organization. But, right now, I’m just happy to be a part of the Alouettes, another first class organization.”
So ahead the two of them go, crossing paths as opponents again, only each of them will be facing his old team for the first time. For Stamps, that might be a harder proposition, considering his storied past with the Eskimos. It isn’t, however, something that’s been eating at him this week.
“I don’t feel anything right now,” he says, soon after the Alouettes had finished a midweek practice. “Maybe game time, I don’t know.”
That his first game against his former team does not come in Edmonton might be a factor. Perhaps Stamps will feel differently as Sunday, November 1st rolls around. That’s the afternoon the Alouettes visit Commonwealth Stadium. For now, though, he keeps his focus on what might be in front of him one play at a time. If Stamps is relishing any one-on-one match-ups, on a personal basis, he’s not saying.
“I’m not that type of guy,” he says. “Whoever lines up in front of me, I’m gonna do my job. I’m pretty sure they’re gonna do their job. I’m looking forward to having a great game against these guys and they’re looking forward to having a great game against us.”
Besides, says Stamps, if you get all caught up in the emotions of trying to prove something, you will surely be lost.
“If you go out there and press, press, press, you can mess up your game, man,” he explains. “You just wanna stay focused and stick to the plan that you practiced on the whole week.”
On that point, too, the young Stafford agrees. Playing for three different pro teams in the last three years – he started his CFL career in Calgary – has brought him a little pragmatism. He’s not about to let facing a former team get to him.
“Football’s the same game I’ve been playing since I was six years old. Just the football got bigger. Let the game come to you. Don’t press, don’t push. When you press and you push, you’re out of your comfort zone. When the football’s coming to you, make this play. Boom. We’re on to the next.”
Both Stafford and Stamps have had their moments so far in 2015. The veteran caught seven passes for 119 yards in a Montreal win over Hamilton, in July. Last week, against Ottawa, he was held to just one catch, a big play 54-yarder. He chuckled when asked about his building rapport with Cato.
“Rakeem Cato, he’s a playmaker,” Stamps says, an impressed tone in his voice. “He’s on the verge of being great in this league. Sky’s the limit for this guy.”
Stafford found himself open an awful lot in his last game, a loss to the B.C. Lions. Despite an eight catch night for 71 yards and a touchdown, he wasn’t happy.
“I left some stuff out there. I dropped a ball that I’d normally catch,” he says, before going on to talk about the goals he’s set and the drive he has inside.
“Six games is not a full season. I gotta finish. It’s all about that back nine and just making sure that you’re ready to go and you’re a guy that your team can trust on.”
“I’ve been around some great receivers, like Nik Lewis. I was around S.J. (Green) in Montreal. I’ve been around some great receivers in this league that were able to (plant) that seed to put in the work that laid the foundation.”
Foundation laid, Stafford now aims to build as high as he can. “I still haven’t arrived yet,” he says. “I still, in my eyes, haven’t done nothin’ in this league.”
Stamps, of course, has. Can he maintain his high level of play?
“I feel better than ever, man,” is all he says.
Those last two quotes illustrate, succinctly, the continuing story of two receivers dealt for each other last winter.
One valued for what he’s proven. One for what he’s expected to prove.
⇒ CHECK OUT HOW FRED STAMPS FEELS ABOUT FACING HIS FORMER TEAM
