Eric Rogers, The Canadian Press
When it comes to receivers in the Canadian Football League, there are six different statistical categories: Receptions, yards, touchdowns, yards gained after the catch, plays made of thirty yards or more and catches that move the chains on second down.
Eric Rogers of the Calgary Stampeders leads the league in every category and has for most of the season. When it comes to straight yards, Rogers is the only receiver after 11 games played that has hit the 1000-yard mark and has a 299-yard lead on the next closest pass catcher, SJ Green of the Montreal Alouettes.
What is perhaps most impressive about Rogers's numbers is his production in the red zone and his ability to score touchdowns. In college, he found paydirt a record-breaking 41 times. In a brief stint in the Arena Football League with the Portland Thunder, Rogers scored 27 touchdowns in just nine games. Sure, there is a lot of scoring in Arena football, but Rogers also leads the CFL in receiving TDs with seven so far in the 2015 season.
The experts across the league can drop the qualifiers - he is the best receiver in Canadian football. Yet, when you watch him snag catches and score TDs for the Stamps, you never see a trash-talking, brash, in-your-face attitude. Humility seems to be one of Eric Rogers's greatest traits and isn't that refreshing?
He gives credit for that humility and work ethic to his mother, Carrie Varron, who has always believed in Rogers and was there every step of the way when he was breaking records and Cal Lutheran University. Cal Lutheran is a small Division III school, but Rogers was getting lots of attention from pro scouts as a senior and, in fact, 11 different NFL teams attended his pro day.
Things were looking up and when he got a call from his favourite team growing up, the Dallas Cowboys. He couldn't pack his bags fast enough and was off to camp. For the first few days, everything was going well when a hip pointer - incurred while diving for a ball- slowed his progress and limited his opportunities. Rogers was eventually cut by the Cowboys. His first call was to his mother, who reminded him of a simple truth, saying, "I know you can play, you know you can play. Keep working. Things happen for a reason."
Football fans across the country who have followed the CFL will agree with Rogers's mother - the kid can play. The journey for Rogers, though, wasn't exactly a, "Roll out the red carpet, you're the man" kind of path. It was going to take some more work to crack a starting lineup.
After tryouts in Dallas and a short stay in Portland, Rogers was invited to a Ottawa Redblacks mini-camp in Virginia. He essentially had two days to get an invite to the team's main camp. When asked how the two days of workouts went, Rogers was again humble saying, "It went pretty well. I got open a few times in the one-on-ones."
Based on what he has done this year, it was likely more than a few times.
At the time, the Redblacks were in their inaugural year and looking for receivers who knew the CFL and were a little more game-ready. Rogers didn't get that invite to main camp, a decision that I'm sure the Ottawa orgainzation has put in the "ones that got away" file. Hey, it happens. Every team in the NFL passed on Tom Brady before he was picked in the sixth round by New England.
Rogers was again looking for a team to give him an opportunity and turned to a mentor and old Pop Warner football coach for advice, just like he had done after getting cut in Dallas.
Steve Montgomery was a father figure for Eric and his advice for Rogers was similar to his mother's: "You know what you can do. You have a lot of talent, so keep at it."
He has done just that and when the Stamps came calling, Eric Rogers took full advantage of the opportunity and it didn't take him long to showcase his uncanny ability to find the end zone. His first shot as a starter on the roster was in the 2014 West Final and, like he has done over his whole football career, he found the end zone not once, but twice.
Some may think that scoring TDs for a receiver is as much about luck as it is skill. The quarterback has at least seven or eight other options on any given play, so if you happen to be the targeted receiver, you should consider yourself lucky to be chosen.
Or maybe there is more to it.
When asked what his mindset is when the Stamps are closing in on the opponents' 20-yard line, Rogers grew enthusiastic.
"Oh man, my eyes light up when we get in the red zone and I start anticipating what calls we will make and how I can get open and score," Rogers said.
He agreed that there is a luck factor for receivers, considering the options presented to a quarterback, but Rogers has another theory as to why he is the target more times than not.
"I have had a good relationship with all my quarterbacks going back to college and some of them have told me I have a catch radius that is quarterback-friendly," Rogers explained. "They tell me if they throw it anywhere in the area, they are confident I will come down with it."
Rogers is in the final year of his contract in Calgary. He is, without a doubt, the best receiver in the league and it will be incumbent upon the Stamps organization to get him signed to a long-term deal. At this point, he says there have been no discussions on an extension, but you can bet an offer will be there at the appropriate time.
In the meantime, Rogers will just keep making plays and scoring touchdowns.
Rogers says he did some reading up on CFL history before moving up north.
"I looked up a few receivers like Allen Pitts and Milt Stegall, so I learned a little about them," he said.
Rogers then paused for a second and had a question.
"Milt is the bald guy on the TSN panel, right?"
Once he was informed that his assumption was correct, he concluded his thought.
"Yeah, I like what (Milt) says on the panel," Rogers said. "Man, he scored a lot of touchdowns.
|
