Chris O’Leary
Edmonton Journal
For the last three months, Devin Tyler envisioned what the morning of Aug. 5 would look like in Edmonton.
It didn’t disappoint. A perfectly sunny 24 C day at Commonwealth Stadium painted the picture-perfect setting for the offensive lineman’s return to the Edmonton Eskimos.
It also marked the 10th day that Tyler had his freedom back.
The six-foot-seven, 300-pound Washington, D.C., native served 90 days for a 2011 assault in a hometown nightclub. He was released on July 27, and made it back to Edmonton on Saturday.
Eskimo general manager Eric Tillman and head coach Kavis Reed kept a roster spot for Tyler, placing him on the suspended list since announcing that he’d been sentenced on May 14.
“I’m happy to be back and be with my friends, my teammates, the coaches. It’s a great feeling,” Tyler said after a workout with the Eskimos.
The 2011 season was his first in the Canadian Football League. He started 13 games at left tackle, but life pulled him away from football in May, when he was surprised by his sentence and landed behind bars.
“A fight occurred at that club and it was just the wrong place at the wrong time,” he said. “One thing led to another and I ended up getting those charges. I did the time I was supposed to do. Now it’s over with and I can put it behind me.
“It was a hard time,” he said of his incarceration.
“It was a time that nobody wants to experience. I’m glad that it’s over with and that I can come back and play.”
With nothing but time to think, Tyler posted a lot of his thoughts on Twitter. On the day of his release, he said: “Anybody thinkin’ jail is cool is a damn fool, I hated every second of those three months and I’m never goin’ back.”
“I learned a lot,” Tyler said. “Initially, I was just mad because I felt like the situation wasn’t fair, that I got a bad deal. But over the time of being incarcerated, I just learned more so that I need to avoid those situations all together.
“That’s the biggest thing that I learned, to stay away from anything that can lead to getting myself in trouble, even my team, anything that can jeopardize my future.”
Reed said that it was important to move forward.
“One of the biggest things I’ve found as a player and a coach is when people make mistakes, all too often the rewind button is pressed,” Reed said. “You move on. You can’t go back and you can’t relive history. You can only move forward and, with Devin, he’s done his time, he’s paid debt to society.
“I support him 100 per cent as a man and I look forward to him getting back on the playing field. What he was told (on Sunday) was it will not be spoken about, because that’s not Devin’s character. It was a mistake in judgment; not his character.”
Tyler was appreciative of the gesture that the Eskimos have made, welcoming him back and holding a spot for him.
“Honestly, when I found out that they were going to still work with me, it kind of brought tears to my eyes to know that they had that much faith in me and believed in me,” he said. “(The conviction) wasn’t an example of who I am. What happened, they know that I’m a good guy and they wanted to keep me around, so I’m really blessed to have those guys in my corner.”
Of course, Tyler being a good offensive tackle also had a lot to do with the Eskimos keeping him, too.
Reed said they’d use the next couple of weeks to see what kind of shape Tyler is in and to get him up to speed.
Tim Prinsen, the Eskimo offensive line coach, was also happy to see Tyler back.
“If he’s still the same guy (that he was in 2011), he’s athletic and he certainly handled his own against some real good rushers,” Prinsen said.
“He hasn’t played football in a real long time, and our tackles are producing pretty good right now, so he’ll have to pick things up quick and show some stuff early to get into the rotation.”
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