Photo Credit: Johany Jutras
If you are a Canadian playing a so-called skill position, and you learn how to be a pro, you can become an old pro and maybe even end up being a coach.
It’s happening to Cory Watson.
In his eighth year in the CFL, Watson, 33, will play his 108th regular season game Saturday in the Labour Day rematch against the Calgary Stampeders at The Brick Field at Commonwealth Stadium.
Running back Calvin McCarty is in his 11th season, all with the Eskimos. Slotback Chris Getzlaf is in his 11th year. Receiver Marco Cyncar played 11 seasons in hometown Edmonton. Watson is entering that territory.
“If you want to be involved in anything for a certain period, it involves a certain professionalism towards it. One thing is you have to understand the position you play and how it works in the overall scheme of things,” said the player who caught his 100th pass as an Eskimo in the most recent home game.
“In Edmonton, it is a little bit different. The Eskimos ask you to do a little bit more regarding blocking to make sure Mike Reilly can do his job. It’s different with other teams where the slotback is always running routes. You have to understand your role on a team and take that at heart.
“It may not be glamour, but it’s essential to the team’s success.”
“When I first got into the league I guess I wanted to build a name for myself. I didn’t just want to be in the league I wanted to be somebody who contributed to the team and to become a Grey Cup champion.
“I think for the most part I accomplished most of those goals.”
Having a full meal deal career as a pro football player wasn’t a thought in his head as a kid.
Born in Jamaica, Watson said he was “kind of nerdy” there but got into the sport when the family moved to Montreal when he was in elementary school.
When he got to Montreal, he found himself surrounded by sports culture and with one uncle who played football at Idaho State and another who played at home at Concordia. Watson followed the latter route.
At Concordia, Watson led the team in receptions in his final three seasons, catching 52 passes for 821 yards and six touchdowns to lead the Quebec conference and end up second in the nation.
Watson accomplished what he hoped to accomplish early in his career, making a name for himself in his second CFL season, leading the Blue Bombers in receptions with 69, starting in the East Final and the Grey Cup and being the Winnipeg nominee for the CFL Award as Most Outstanding Canadian.
For a guy who ended up in the Grey Cup game in his second year as a player, it took until 2015 to get back and to win it with Edmonton.
“How I got here was pretty interesting,” he said.
Watson was on three rosters in one year.
After a five-year run with Winnipeg, he was traded to the Saskatchewan Roughriders in mid-January. After 116 days on the Riders roster but none of them in actual uniform, the day before the May 12 draft, he was traded to the Eskimos.
“When I played in Winnipeg I wanted to get back East, to Montreal or Ottawa,” he confessed.
“So what happens? I get traded to Saskatchewan.
“Just before training camp they traded me further West to Edmonton.”
“When the trade went down between the Blue Bombers and Roughriders, I went to Regina and met with the coaching staff and everybody. They flew me to their minicamp in Tampa Bay. So I felt like a Rider for a little while.
“I think Winnipeg figured I wasn’t going to come back. It was my last year on my contract. So I think they were shopping me around to see where they could find the best deal. Saskatchewan, at the time, was the best deal. I think the reason Saskatchewan traded me to Edmonton was their plan for the ratio regarding Canadian receivers changed over the off-season.”
One look around the Eskimos dressing room at training camp and he decided that was OK.
“This team was already built to go for a Grey Cup, and I could see how I could help towards that. I knew by then how hard it was to get a Grey Cup ring. I was in Winnipeg for five years and only had one year in the playoffs.”
Watson sees the opportunity to win another ring or two before he calls it a career. Except he has the same pull to return to the East where his wife Annie and kids Mia and Laurie live.
“regarding support it’s just better off for them to be in Montreal. Her family. My family.”
Watson is no longer looking to play in the East. It’s probably more of a decision to decide when to call it a career and move back home to be a year-round dad.
Complicating that going forward, however, is Watson is starting to think he might be future coaching material.
Indeed, Watson is one of several Eskimos who has shown an aptitude for a coaching career down the road.
“I’ve been thinking about it for a while. When I’m done playing football, coaching is something I’d like to do. I’d be following the path of my uncle there, too. I took a lot from him. He coached me at Concordia,” he said of Dave Spence.
“I’ve been blessed. I’ve had really good coaches. I want to emulate them in different ways. I’ve already started coaching younger guys in Montreal and working as a personal trainer. At this level, a player has to get involved in the preparation and the more you do that, the more you learn about coaching.”
Another year playing is another year of education toward his chosen future profession is the way Watson looks at it.