Nomadic receiver hoping to catch on

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This article was published 02/06/2017 (3082 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Kenny Stafford has played for three teams in his four previous seasons in the CFL. He is well-travelled, to put it bluntly.

After Calgary, Montreal, Edmonton and Montreal again, the 27-year-old import receiver is really hoping his fifth stop (he signed with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the off-season) has some lasting power.

In Winnipeg, he’s finding comfort in the scheme being installed by offensive co-ordinator Paul LaPolice.

“With this being my fifth offensive co-ordinator, he’s great,” Stafford said after practice at Investors Group Field on Friday.

“Motion, concepts, everybody moving. Not being in the same spot, running different formation sets, everybody getting the ball, everybody working to get each other open. So, I love it… I mean, we’ve got the veterans to be able to move around. He gives us the freedom because he trusts us… we’re not robots in the system.”

Stafford is listed as a slotback on the camp’s depth chart, but he has great faith in his ability to play elsewhere.

“I’m just trying to find my home, find a place to see where I fit and find my role and do it well,” said Stafford, who was inexplicably released by the Montreal Alouettes along with fellow receiver, Duron Carter, late last season. “Whether it’s blocking, whether it’s making plays, whether it’s helping the young guys, I’m just trying to find my role here.”

The Blue Bombers have a number of veteran imports in their receiving corps, including Weston Dressler, Darvin Adams, Clarence Denmark and Gerrard Sheppard.

Whether Stafford is a fit in Winnipeg will be determined in time, but he has only once played an entire 18-game regular-season schedule. That came in 2015 with the Eskimos when he caught 47 passes for 732 yards and nine touchdowns — all career highs.

“He’s a good receiver,” Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea said. “He’s fast, he’s professional. He knows the game. He logged a bunch of games in this league. How it all shakes out, or where guys are playing or who’s playing remains to be seen. Obviously, we signed him for a reason.”

While Stafford is still in the midst of an audition for work, CFL veteran Adams begins his third season in Winnipeg as a firm choice to start at wide receiver.

Despite a broken collarbone that forced him to miss 10 games in 2016, Adams still managed to catch 51 passes for 690 yards and six touchdowns in less than half a season.

If he is able to stay healthy and on the field, Adams has star potential.

“It was tough, just being out and watching the guys,” Adams said.

Although he has high hopes for 2017, he won’t get into projections.

“I don’t wanna put no numbers and stuff on that,” Adams said. “I just want to come out and play good, team football and help out wherever the coaches want me to help out at. Be productive, that’s what we’re here to do. Not just to be another body.

“It’s going to be tough to just key on one person. We’ve got a lot of playmakers over here, so it’s not going to be just one person making the plays always.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @sawa14