Sep
It’s not about me, says Printers
Courtesy Calgary Herald:
Casey Printers arrived in Vancouver just before midnight Monday, timing that seemed appropriate given the current state of his career.
Lions staffers were dispatched to pick him up at the airport when he arrived from his home in Houston, Tex., and there was no expectation before they left Camp Surrey that the quarterback who needed a ride would be wearing the white robes and rose-coloured glasses of a celebrity swami.
The expectation outside the CFL team is different, however, with an element of the fan base expecting Printers to immediately alter the balance of power in the West Division and quickly shove aside the four other QBs on the roster.
The truth is, however, the 28-year-old agreed Monday to sign a practice-roster agreement, a deal that by rule can only be worth a maximum $2,276 a week.
He likely won’t travel with the Lions when they face the Calgary Stampeders on Friday, GM/coach Wally Buono said. And it will be a few weeks until Printers will even be in pristine football shape, although between stints as a motivational speaker at home he has been running on a daily basis.
What the Lions wanted to know more than anything was whether the Printers who’ll be at work today is different from the one who left after the 2005 season, when his career began a downward spiral.
Elated that a team gave him another chance, Printers began to make his case on a conference call. He wasn’t humble. He wasn’t contrite. But he did sound different.
“Over the last seven or eight months I’ve tried to master the idea of what a quarterback is all about,” he said. “I’ve been a lab, so to speak, trying to figure things out; what does a quarterback do, what does he say, how does he handle things? “Have I changed? We’ll see. But it’s not about me. It’s about the team. We’re fast-forwarding to today. I’m going to go in there and do my one-twelfth, if I get on the field. A lot of people are going to come at me a lot of different ways and try to get me to say a lot of different things. That’s water under the bridge.” Job One for Printers will be to mesh with the four other pivots, who were summoned to meet Buono after the club announced the signing during practice.
Buck Pierce took part in practice Monday after X-rays on suspected bruised ribs were negative, and Buono said he expected him to start against Calgary. But Pierce admitted he still was sore, perhaps in more ways than one.
“Is it [the Lions'] place to explain [the signing] to us a little? I think so,” said Pierce.
“At the beginning of the year Wally did mention if me or Jarious [Jackson] was to get hurt we don’t have a lot of experience behind us. It’s a smart move.” It’s also a move that could shape the quarterbacking roster through the start of next season. The club agreed to terms on a minimum one-year-plus-option contract that would be activated should Printers be moved to the 46-man roster, though there is every belief that deal would be rewritten.
Whether any active roster contract is used, however, remains to be seen. Buono is still hopeful the small tear in Jackson’s right rotator cuff will not require surgery, one reason the Lions haven’t yet exchanged him for kicker Paul McCallum, who is eligible to come off the nine-game injured list.
The coach also gave passing grades when asked to assess the 18-month development of third-string quarterback Zac Champion, whose roster spot’s the most imperiled.
He and Travis Lulay hadn’t even graduated college in ’04, when Printers won the CFL’s most outstanding player award. Only a handful of ’05 Lions remain on the active roster.
Geroy Simon, a locker-room ally among the holdovers, said: “The new guys … all they’ll hear are the good things. He’s going to be good for the locker room.” No team in organized football had interest in Printers in the months after he was cut by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, yet at no point did he think his career was over.
“I was a young man when I was back in B.C.,” Printers said. “I’ve gone through a lot since then. I’ve seen a lot, been around a lot, heard a lot and certainly grown.” The first chance to measure that growth comes this morning at practice.
