Early Offseason Showcasing Many Nontraditional Pipelines to the NFL
Sean Tomlinson, NFL Analyst Bleacher Report Feb 10, 2015
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson launched a ball deep to the right side late in the second quarter of Super Bowl XLIX.
As it sailed and his intended target wasn’t yet in view on television screens around living rooms and bars, the assumption was either Jermaine Kearse or Doug Baldwin would be on the other end. They are Seattle’s top two wide receivers, after all, so those dots connected easily.
Instead there was a 6’5” fast-moving tree bounding downfield. The mystery receiver showed impressive athletic awareness while adjusting his route to an underthrown ball then contorting his body before corralling the throw while falling backward.
That's when Chris Matthews crashed to the ground. It wasn’t just his first catch of the game or the playoffs. The 44-yard reception was the first of his NFL career.
Had the Seahawks managed to gain that measly, now-haunting yard to win their second straight Super Bowl, Matthews—who finished with four receptions for 109 yards and a touchdown—would have at least received MVP consideration. He was only the latest shining example of a different route to potential NFL stardom, one that takes a detour north.
The NFL draft is still the main league entry point for prospects. That won’t change. But increasingly there are alternative paths for those who tumble through the draft’s many cracks.
General managers and scouts are getting creative and sometimes downright adventurous. That’s meant looking far beyond the traditional American college feeder system and to the frosty north, or sometimes even the land down under.
One default NFL proving ground still stands out among the secondary options. Let’s return to Matthews and his origin story.
The NFL-CFL bridge is getting some serious traffic
The architect of the CFL-to-NFL bridge is Warren Moon. Or at least he reinforced the structure’s base for many future generations to walk safely south after thriving in a different (most notably: three downs, 12 players per side and 110-yard fields) though similar enough game.
Moon is the only player enshrined in both the CFL Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Every conversation about former CFL stars who transitioned to the southern game usually begins with either Moon or Joe Theismann as the grand historical figures. Then Doug Flutie and Jeff Garcia are remembered fondly as we approach modern times, and current Dolphins defensive end Cameron Wake ripped apart the CFL for 23 sacks in 2008 before going to four Pro Bowls.
But the northern pipeline is gushing even more now, and Matthews’ Super Bowl performance will help to crank the knob that much further.
Matthews earned the CFL’s Rookie of the Year honors in 2012 on the strength of 81 catches for 1,192 yards. He was eventually slowed during Super Bowl XLIX when cornerback Brandon Browner begged New England Patriots coaches to change his assignment, per Gregg Rosenthal of NFL.com. Browner recognized that, as a large man himself (6’4”, 221 lbs), he would match up well against a towering receiver.
When Browner stalled Matthews’ surge, two former CFL stars were battling on the NFL’s highest stage. Browner spent four seasons with the Calgary Stampeders, recording 12 interceptions while being named to three all-star teams.
Perhaps a similar matchup decision will have to be made because of Duron Carter in the near future. He leads the next generation of CFL transfer hopefuls after being a highly sought-after commodity earlier in the offseason.
Up to 10 NFL teams showed interest in the large-bodied wide receiver at one point after his Montreal Alouettes contract expired following the 2014 season, according to Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports.
That number actually doesn't feel high enough, because 32 teams should have been interested in striking rich on potential low-cost gold. Carter has size at 6’5”, 209 pounds and still plenty of speed along with the open-area quickness to average a staggering 18.6 yards per reception for the Alouettes in 2013.
He eventually landed with the Indianapolis Colts, where the 23-year-old has a chance to replace fading veteran Reggie Wayne. Alouettes general manager Jim Popp heaped glowing praise on Carter when speaking to Steve Andress of Colts.com, which included a rather legendary comparison.
“Let’s put him in a Jerry Rice category...as Jerry Rice did, he’s going to catch a ball, get by you, and you’re not going to catch him,” Popp said. “He’s got a tremendous stride. He’s got great short-space escapability.”
The Colts have become an NFL haven for CFL studs, as general manager Ryan Grigson keeps poaching northern talent. Grigson continually leans on his CFL background after he spent time as a scout for the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the late ‘90s.
His recent haul includes linebacker Jerrell Freeman, who recorded 145 tackles during his 2012 rookie season.
“There’s no doubt that because of my time up there and scouting the league, I can pinpoint certain areas and teams when I get that first initial list of CFL players who are going to be free agents,” Grigson told iChill’s Perry Lefko.
Grigson has exploited that advantage to acquire a starting linebacker in Freeman (a restricted free agent in 2015), and now Carter, a likely starter in the near future. Fellow linebacker Henoc Muamba was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2011 CFL draft, and Grigson snatched him in 2014.
The Colts have warmly embraced former first overall CFL picks, inviting another, Ben Heenan, with open arms this year.
That’s a star-studded Canadian talent purge, and CFL executives are getting worried after watching so many high-quality young players migrate south.
Brett Jones is expected to sign with the New York Giants, per Jordan Raanan of NJ Advance Media, after being named the CFL’s best rookie in 2013 and best offensive lineman in 2014. He didn’t hide his desire to play in the NFL. For Jones, the CFL was a development league.
“The NFL has pretty much been my goal the whole time that I’ve been in the CFL,” Jones told Ian Hamilton of Postmedia News. “I knew that if I wanted to get a chance to play down there, I’d have to prove it in the CFL.”
The NFL expanded offseason roster sizes to 90 in 2012, then recently increased practice squad sizes from eight to 10. That’s given general managers many more chances to head north, spin around blindfolded and maybe come home with the next Wake.
Roughriders general manager Brendan Taman expressed his concern to Kirk Penton of the Winnipeg Sun.
“I just think it’s important for our league to keep our good guys as long as we can,” he said. “But the trend is that the NFL is coming to get our good players. That’s the trend. That’s where this is going.”
The next frontier: rugby?
The CFL route may be growing, with the pipeline nearly ready to burst. But it’s not new among the unconventional paths to NFL relevance. Neither is the Arena Football League, a back road made famous by Kurt Warner.
But rugby? Step right up, folks, and let’s explore the future of gem finding (maybe).
Though there are rule differences between the NFL and CFL versions of football, projecting Canadian prospects can still be done with relative ease. On a fundamental level, the structure of the game doesn’t change between those two leagues.
That’s not true with rugby, an entirely different sport. Still, it’s easy to see how a transition from rugby to football could be within reach for one uniquely talented individual. Reducing rugby to its simplest level, large and fast-moving bodies have to overpower and evade other massive bodies.
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Rugby is my favourite sport, and Super Rugby (the big pro league in the Southern Hemisphere) might be one of the most exciting leagues in sports. It would suck to see players start leaving for the bright lights and exponentially bigger paychecks of the NFL.
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