Professional football can be a cold and cruel mistress. Every player who pulls on a helmet knows and accepts the fact, and then prays they don’t get suddenly blindsided by that reality.
Nick Taylor saw teammate and friend Mercy Maston suddenly go down while in pass coverage during Winnipeg Blue Bombers training camp on Monday, before the club’s dime back was carted off the field. And in that moment, his heart was in his throat.
“Oh man… when he went down and after speaking to him I shed a tear,” began Taylor, the veteran Blue Bombers defensive back. “I was really hurting for him and really wanted to see him do some great things this year.
“I know how hard he worked over the last year to get back. And I was with him in our last year in Edmonton when he came back from injury, too. We’ve really bonded since 2019 and I got to Winnipeg. He became like a brother to me. We go on trips together out of country. He’s my guy.”
Blue Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea did not offer any update on Maston’s injury after practice on Tuesday, saying he ‘wanted to wait a bit.’ But the sombre end to Monday’s session bled into Tuesday’s practice, where cornerback Winston Rose wore Maston’s #7 jersey as a show of support.
It was a small gesture, but the meaning behind it can mean so much.
“That’s my brother, so it means something to me,” Rose said. “I was emotional (after the injury). You never want to see one of your brothers go down, so it kind of hit me hard. At the same time, I’m pretty sure he’s in good spirits and he’ll be good.”
Maston’s injury, whether it is long term or not, impacts a Blue Bombers secondary already undergoing change. CFL All-Star safety Brandon Alexander won’t be available to start the season after undergoing offseason surgery and has been replaced predominantly by Nick Hallett through the first part of training camp.
At the same time, DeAundre Alford signed over the winter with the Atlanta Falcons, while Alden Darby – the man acquired in a trade last summer after Maston was lost for the season to an Achilles injury – left in free agency for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. That means there could be three new faces in the Blue Bombers secondary when the 2022 season opens with the Ottawa RedBlacks paying a visit on June 10th.
“The thing about us, we’re a ‘Next Guy Up’ type of team,” said Taylor. “It’s not that we’re prepared for something like (Maston’s injury), but we have to be, and we have to be ready for that.
“We’ve got some young guys in here and we’ve got some guys here in their second years. We’ll work it out and figure it out and go from there. We’re going to miss Mercy. We were hoping to get another big year out of him, but it is what it is, and we have to move on.”
Donald Rutledge, Jr., who had looks from Indianapolis and Arizona in the NFL, was getting a lot of work in Maston’s spot on Tuesday. Other options include Josh Miller or Demerio Houston, as well as Tyquwan Glass, who has been working at the cornerback position left vacant by Alford’s departure.
Somewhere in that group or among the other new faces in camp, Taylor believes, is the right piece for the secondary.
“We have great coaches and the leaders around us, whether it’s B.A. (Alexander) or me and (Winston) Rose,” said Taylor. “And now Deatrick has stepped up because he knows so much. He knows the game so well and has been helping with the younger kids.
“But we have right people here, we just have to find the right person for the group that fits in and then we’ll mold them into the player we need to be. Next thing you know, we might have another Deatrick or Alford out there.”
