Natey Adjei is living the dream.
All he has ever wanted to do since he started playing football is to be a receiver. He’s finally getting that chance with the Eskimos this season.
“If I had been a starter right away, I wouldn’t appreciate it as much,” said the five-year CFL veteran. “Now it means the world to me. I appreciate it, and I will never take it for granted because I know how hard it was (to get to this point).
“It’s taken a little bit to get started, but I’m pretty happy that I’m getting an opportunity now and I just want to make the most of it,” he continued. “It sounds like a cliché, but it’s so true for me especially. There were a lot of times when I didn’t know if it was going to happen, but just sticking with it is probably the most important thing.”
Adjei, 28, said his role as a receiver “is pretty much run the route as hard as I can, get open, protect Mike (quarterback Reilly) if they have me in protection stuff with C.J. (running back Gable) and block and do whatever it takes for our team to win.”
“In our offence, all of the receivers are alive, so we have to run all the routes like we’re getting the ball and block our tails off because C.J. is back there and he can break something at any time,” he added. “Obviously, Derel (Walker), Duke (Williams) and Kenny (Stafford) are big-play guys, and we have stuff for them.”
A native of Mississauga, Ont., Adjei is on the field for three-quarters of the offensive plays, getting the call as a slotback when the Eskimos are in a five-receiver set and heading to the sidelines when a fullback is required.
“Honestly, all I want to do is be able to make plays to get our team going,” he said. “It means a lot to me to be able to contribute on offence.”
Adjei has caught at least one pass in each of the last four games, including a key 14-yard reception at the back of the end zone for a touchdown to spark the Eskimos comeback from an early 11-0 deficit against the B.C. Lions on June 29. The five-foot-11, 193-pound speedster has already matched his single-season high of six catches and has a career-high 68 receiving yards.
Maybe his season stats aren’t mind-blowing numbers, but he has already accomplished a very unique goal by scoring a touchdown and then making the tackle on the ensuing kickoff in the game against the Lions.
“I didn’t know if that would happen,” said Adjei, whose given names of Natey and Kofi mean “first-born boy” and “born on a Friday,” respectively, in his family’s native Ghana culture.
“First, you have to score a touchdown. Second, they have to run your way, so a lot of things have to break for that to happen. I was extremely happy it broke that way, and I was able to say I did it.
“This off-season, I was telling a bunch of guys I train with that I think I’m going to get a chance on offence and the most perfect thing for me to do is to score a touchdown and make a play on special teams right afterwards because it shows that I’m having an impact on more than one phase in the game,” he said. “My thing was I don’t know a lot of guys who a) have the ability to do that and b) have the opportunity because they may not be on the field.
“It was very, very special to me because I talked about it and it was something I wanted to do because I’m a team guy. The more I can do for the team, the better.”
How does Adjei top his TD/special teams tackle combination on back-to-back plays?
“That’s what I’ve been trying to come up with in my head,” he said. “I think a) I have to do it again to prove it wasn’t a flash-in-the-pan thing and b) maybe score two touchdowns and make two special teams tackles in the same game.”
While Adjei started as a backup receiver after being selected in the third round of the 2013 CFL draft by the Toronto Argonauts, he blossomed into a special teams star last year.
“In my first couple of years in Toronto, I was a backup player, and I was able to put up numbers here and there when my number was called,” he said.
After signing as a free agent with the Eskimos in 2016, head coach Jason Maas challenged Adjei to be the best special teams player on the team. He started that season on the practice roster before playing mostly on special teams the last 12 games.
“When I got here, there was a big emphasis on special teams,” he said. “I had a relationship with Coach Maas. He said, ‘I know you’re waiting for an opportunity, but a lot of great players start off on special teams and do well.’ ”
Adjei accepted Maas’s challenge and led the Eskimos with 15 special teams tackles last year when he also served as a special teams captain at one point.
“When I first got to Edmonton, I was a backup player again, but I just really focused more on my role as a special teams guy because I wanted to be valuable,” he said. “Just honing my skills on special teams and waiting for my opportunity to be a full-time offensive player.
“They told me at the end of (last) year that I was the only guy to play every special teams snap on all four special teams. I thought it was cool.”
Adjei, who had never played special teams before joining the Eskimos, was on all four units – punt, punt cover, kickoff and kickoff cover – last year, but his workload has been reduced this season because of his extra duties as a receiver. He played kickoff, punt and kickoff return during the first three games and just the kickoff and punt teams against Toronto.
“I remember (former Eskimos slotback) Cory Watson told me, ‘It takes a special type of guy to play special teams,’ ” he said. “I always took that to heart, and I felt I wouldn’t have learned that if my journey wasn’t this long or shaped up this way.
“There were a couple of times last year when Speedy (Brandon) Banks was catching a punt,” he pointed out. “He’s pretty fast, and he was trying to make it out to the corner. I was able to beat him there, and it was a pretty big hit because of the speed. I hit him before he was able to get up to full speed.
“He’s one of the lightest guys, too – he’s tiny, like five-seven – so he’s definitely hard to track down. He doesn’t get tracked down too often, but when you do, it feels very rewarding.”
Adjei started playing football at the age of 12, so he could continue to hang out with his best friend, Chris Rossitti, who was playing football with his brothers while their dad coached the team.
“I didn’t want to lose my friend, so I decided to try football,” Adjei said.
He’s been a receiver since he started.
“I remembered watching football when I was a kid, and the receiver position was the one that always caught my eye,” he said. “I liked all the great guys like Randy Moss, and I loved watching Steve Smith. In the CFL, especially Arland Bruce III. I watched him a ton just because he was a smaller guy and he was just a play-maker. Every game he’d do something where I was like, ‘Wow!’ That was my guy.”
After high school, Adjei decided he needed to go to college in the United States to see how good of a football player he could become, but he didn’t have much for scholarship opportunities so Rossitti, who is now a scout with the Miami Dolphins, recommended trying junior college first.
Adjei played two years with the City College of San Francisco Rams, winning the Northern California championship in 2010 and losing the final in 2011 despite Adjei catching eight passes for 84 yards (both were game highs). He had 43 catches for 557 yards and two TDs in his last season.
He then caught an opportunity with the University of Buffalo Bulls but failed to catch a pass during two NCAA seasons (he did have one rush for two yards). He was a backup in 2012 and cracked the starting lineup in ‘13 only to break his ankle in the second game and miss the rest of the season.
Adjei didn’t have any offensive numbers with the Eskimos last year but knew there might be some opportunities to play offence this year after Watson left the team as a free agent in the off-season.
Adjei’s off-field life has been more challenging this summer. His wife, Melody, and two-year-old daughter, Laila, are back in Toronto for the second year in a row. Melody came out west during Adjei’s first season in Edmonton because she was on maternity leave.
“She’s got a pretty good job in Toronto (with a tech company, Vend), so we don’t want to mess with that,” he said. “It’s the toughest thing I’ve probably ever had do.”
It’s also hard on Melody, although Adjei says she’s figured out how to balance work and family life on her own.
“She’s sacrificing so I can live my dream,” he said. “That’s why each bye week I go home, and they come up twice a year. Each month we’re seeing each other, but it’s still pretty tough.”