LeFors fizzles to a finish Disappointing season ends with QB undergoing surgery on shoulder

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This article was published 11/09/2009 (5859 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Stefan LeFors experiment, which has slowly been taking on water for some time now, had its hull torn wide open on Thursday.

LeFors was placed on the nine-game injured reserve list and will undergo surgery on his right (non-throwing) shoulder in the next week or so.

“It’s been a roller-coaster with a deep free fall. It’s been rough and this puts an end to it for me. I’m not going to say it was a total waste but it was tough,” LeFors told the assembled media on Thursday after watching practice in uniform but wearing a baseball hat instead of a helmet.

The 28-year-old lefty out of Louisville was acquired by the Blue Bombers in an off-season trade with the Edmonton Eskimos this past winter for a pair of draft picks.

The deal included Winnipeg’s second-round pick in 2009 and a conditional pick in 2010, which will now officially become a second-round selection with LeFors not making enough starts to push the choice into the first round.

“The MRI didn’t really show us anything we didn’t already know. The next step is to go in and get a scope and clean some things up and hopefully that will help,” said LeFors, who had the MRI done on Tuesday and then huddled with the Bombers football operations staff to decide on a course of action.

Newcomer Casey Bramlet, signed by the team on Tuesday, took part in his first workout Thursday and is now slated to dress as the third-string QB on Sunday when the Bombers host the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the Banjo Bowl at Canad Inns Stadium.

Bombers coach Mike Kelly, who worked with LeFors in Edmonton where Kelly was the quarterbacks coach and LeFors the No. 3 pivot, engineered the swap shortly after being given the top coaching job in Winnipeg. Kelly later released veteran Kevin Glenn to clear the way for LeFors to take the No. 1 position with the Bombers.

A promising training camp quickly turned sour as LeFors went 1-3, completing 41-of-88 passes for two interceptions and two touchdowns before the team brought in current starter Michael Bishop. Shortly after LeFors was demoted, the team released him and then re-signed him in a paper transaction that dropped his salary from $150,000 to $90,000.

LeFors was injured prior to that transaction but elected to stay active in an attempt to help the team and regain his starting job. The decision to not shut it down earlier was a costly one, as teams cannot cut an injured player.

“I guess it was. The timing was not in my favour. Put it that way. Like I said, I was put in that position where it was difficult for me to make a decision not knowing all the details,” said LeFors, now in his third CFL season. “Obviously looking back at it, yeah, that (going inactive earlier in the season) would have helped me financially.”

LeFors has seen action in 10 games — six with the Eskimos and four with the Bombers.

Kelly said the team wants LeFors to be ready for action in the spring of 2010.

“Right now he has a shoulder that’s bothering him and it’s hampered his productivity. I’ve talked to Stef and I want to do right by Stef. So we’ll put him on the nine-game and get that shoulder alleviated so he can rehab and be ready to go by spring,” said the coach.

Kelly hedged when asked about LeFors fighting through injury and then being financially penalized for putting the team first.

“There hasn’t been anything easy about this. Stef and I continue to have a good relationship. I particularly feel like there’s been some misinformation. I’m not going to go into particulars, but his situation was handled properly,” said Kelly. “It was not challenged by the league or the player’s association.”

LeFors said his shoulder started acting up after the first game of the regular season. He had his pay structure altered around Week 5.

“After Week 1 it just didn’t feel right and I just kind of worked through it. I didn’t think it would linger this long,” said LeFors, adding he’d like another shot with the Bombers next season. “As of right now, I have another year left. Obviously nothing’s guaranteed and no one knows where they’ll be next year… The conversations we’ve (LeFors and Kelly) had, he’s stated he still believes in me and that’s good but you never know.”

Kelly says it’s a little early to know much about Bramlet.

“We have to get Casey accelerated in his learning curve. I know he was in here last night watching film well after 10 o’clock,” said Kelly, adding that Bryan Randall is now the team’s No. 2 quarterback. “We wouldn’t have brought Casey in if we didn’t think there was a skill set there that is adaptable to this league. It was one practice. Let me look at him a little more.”

gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca