A star specialist who enjoyed an “I’ve still got it, y’all” season on the way to winning the CFL’s Most Outstanding Special Teams Player Award would be a pretty good get for a number of CFL teams in free agency this year.
Winnipeg desperately needs a return game and even a 33 yr old veteran like Grant could light it up. Light up a Lucky was to be blunt - A DUD.
Bombers plagued by “Cheveldayoff Syndrome” which hit Winnipeg hard when the Jets GM first arrived in 2011 from Chicago. Now everyone in Winnipeg plays it cool, doesn’t tip their hands and says little to nothing to media. The "Chevy Syndrome’ has infected the Bomber organization.
So by not tipping their hand, by remaining stoic on the file, Bombers prolly destined to lose out on re-acquiring a gold standard returner. Shame on them!
Williams had a very successful run in Vancouver, and in 2024 he led the CFL in kickoff return yards with 1,335, and was fifth in punt return yards with 746. Tough to get much better than that but Williams did not score a major last season and had two punt returns of more than 30 yards (Grant had eight) and one kickoff return of more than 40 (Grant had three).
Williams is a mid-level returner and never did much outside of being painfully average. I don’t know if I would call his run with the Lions “Very Successful”.
Sure he was first in kickoff return yards but that’s only because he was also first in kickoff returns by about 10 total. Williams was 11th in average yards per kickoff by those who qualify (min 5 KOR) and was 16th in the CFL based on percentage of kickoff returns over 30 yards. He was also a below-average punt returner, with just 18% of his punts going over 15 yards while the league average was sitting around 21%, and the standouts like Letcher and Grant sitting around 28%.
There’s a reason Williams is no longer with the Lions and I 100% believe that they will target Grant.
That being said, I hope Grant returns to Toronto.
I agree Williams was a disappointment here in BC. There were several occasions when I thought he missed holes. I realize its hard to see everything on the field during the chaos of a return, but the great ones do it. I’d welcome Grant to BC!