If he was tempted to dip his toe in the Canadian Football League free agent waters, Brandon Alexander resisted the urge – even up to the last minute.
The veteran defensive back put his name on a new two-year contract with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers Tuesday morning, just four hours before the CFL free agent market opened.
And ultimately, it was a sense of loyalty to an organization that gave him his start and his comfort level with the coaches and teammates that helped Alexander put his name on a new deal.
“Why wait when you understand that?” Alexander said Tuesday in a media conference call. “I was just ready to go at that point and here I am. I know what Winnipeg stands for and we were so close last year to reaching our goal. We know exactly what we need to do. I knew what I wanted out of everything and Winnipeg is the right place for me to be.”
The return of Alexander might get lost on a day when some high-profile players switched jerseys across the league, but he is nonetheless a vital piece to the Bombers defence. In 29 games over two seasons here, Alexander has shown a versatility to play all over the secondary, and also move up to play the outside linebacker/dime spot.
What is often overlooked is his quiet leadership – something that will become even more paramount in 2019 following the departure of Chris Randle to Ottawa and with Taylor Loffler and Kevin Fogg now both free agents.
That message, interestingly, was already relayed to Alexander last year – by Randle himself.
“With his leadership role last year he told me himself ‘this is supposed to be your team. You’re going into that leadership role making yourself vocal and making yourself known and it’s showing on and off the field,’” said Alexander. “He basically told me, ‘This is you.’ I give a lot of credit to Chris Randle. He told me how to mandate that, how to conduct it and move forward and make sure everyone is together. It’s definitely a role I need to fill and it will be filled.
“I feel like the only thing that has to change is me being more vocal in terms of that part of leadership. I think the way I play, the way I practice and the way I carry myself as a leader stands as is. It will be more improvement on just being able to speak out, because I know I have younger guys that will be around that will need that type of guidance – especially in a new league they’re joining.”
“Each and every year you’re always going to have new guys that plug in and step up. Even last year we had a couple of guys go down, including myself, and we had guys who were in their first year in the CFL and they came in (Marcus Sayles and Tyneil Cooper) and did their thing. It’s more about the comfort level and the people around them and as long as you’re communicating and talking, at the end of the day everybody will feel more comfortable in terms of playing.”
Alexander’s role has changed dramatically since he first arrived here in 2017. A star at the University of Central Florida, he had been in camp with the Atlanta Falcons in 2015, but was teaching algebra when the Bombers came courting. He was the club’s Most Outstanding Rookie in 2017, and last season had 36 tackles, three interceptions, five tackles for a loss, two fumble recoveries and two forced fumbles in 14 games.
“Winnipeg was the team that gave me the chance to showcase my abilities,” said Alexander. “It was a rough start at first, a rocky start, but they believed in me and I believed in myself. I could still be back teaching – which is not a bad thing – but I’d rather be playing football and Winnipeg afforded me the opportunity and they’re still doing it now. I thank the organization a lot for just giving me that chance and the opportunity to keep showing my abilities playing football.”
