“The age is just a number and I feel like I’m still getting better with time.”
There’s a spot reserved for him in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame and he’s an absolute lock for the Winnipeg Football Club shrine and Ring of Honour, too.
Over the course of his illustrious 14-year Canadian Football League career — the last nine with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers — Stanley Bryant has suited up for 219 regular-season games, along with 21 playoff contests and including seven Grey Cups.
Simple to say, then, that he’s seen and experienced everything in the game. And yet here’s how the 38-year-old left tackle, the most decorated offensive linemen in CFL history, knows his competitive fire still burns and why he put his name on a contract extension with the Blue Bombers on Tuesday for the 2025 campaign…
“I still get excited. I still love the excitement that comes from just being in the locker room. The locker room keeps getting younger and, honestly, that’s good for me,” said Bryant in a chat with bluebombers.com. “I love being around the younger guys because they’re entertaining and I do like helping show them some of the keys to playing professional football — the things that need to be done, the things that should be done.
“For me, if I don’t get that nervous feeling right before a game, I’ll know my time is up. Every game I play in I still get nervous right before the kickoff. I don’t know if it’s that urge to get out there and hit someone or the nerves that come from playing in front of a bunch of people, which I’ve done plenty of times. If that ever dissipated, I’d know it was time to walk away from the game.
“That nervousness for me is the sign I still love and respect the game,” he added. “It means I still love it, I still take it serious. It’s difficult when you walk away because once you’re done, you’re done. Until I don’t have that anymore — until I don’t still love coming into the locker room and have that respect for the game — I don’t know why I wouldn’t keep playing if I’m able.”
That he’s still able isn’t debatable. Bryant was named All-CFL for an eighth time (2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2024) while locking down the left flank of an offensive line which helped running back Brady Oliveira capture his second consecutive rushing title and quarterback Zach Collaros throw for a career-best 4,336 yards.
A four-time winner of the CFL Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman Award (2017, 2018, 2021, 2022) Bryant has now been named the Blue Bombers top lineman seven times (2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2024).
Bryant was stung by the club’s most recent Grey Cup loss — the third straight championship defeat — and that, in part, led to him putting his name on an extension ASAP.
“The way I felt after the last game, the Grey Cup, I knew I wanted to be back and get (the contract) done,” he said. “If we would’ve won, I still would have wanted to come back. But there’s that sour taste in my mouth after the Grey Cup with the way things went and how the score looked… that’s not the way I want things to end for me professionally.
“I just don’t want to go out like that.”
No one — rookie or grizzled vet — wanted 2024 to end like that. Yet, that’s also part of surviving in the game — being able to savour the wins and handle the grief that comes with loss.
“I try not to think about it. Some people, if I haven’t talked to them in a while, they bring it up,” said Bryant of his own experiences with talking about the Grey Cup loss. “I let them vent for a few minutes and get their rant off and then I tell them, ‘I’m done talking about that.’ I’ve been trying to move on from that and just focus on the offseason and get ready for next year.
“Everyone has their opinions — some people think they’re coaches, some people think they’re players — but they can’t really relate because they’re not in our shoes. I mean, I respect their opinions but… At the end of the day, we didn’t get it done and we came away with a loss so we’re going to hear all that.”
There’s also another factor that indirectly led to Bryant’s decision to keep on playing — back in late August he needed to be taken to hospital early in a game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats with what was later determined to be a viral infection.
But the scare that came from that also gave him a heightened awareness of how much the game means to him.
“I definitely appreciate everything a lot more. That incident was scary,” he said. “I’ve never been in that situation before, never had a really serious injury. And then for that to happen… it was just weird and hard for me to understand what was going on. I guess my body just needed some rest and it showed me I needed some rest.
“I’m just thankful that didn’t keep me away from football for a long time or that was the end.”
Bryant will turn 39 in May. He won’t shy away from that number. In fact, he embraces it because it also speaks to his skillset that he is still so dominant late in his career.
He admitted in our chat that occasionally his old-school references — he cited VHS tapes and stereos as an example — are more and more increasingly lost amongst his younger teammates. But their energy is also invigorating and keeps him young in spirit.
And, again, if the man has still got it, why step away from something he loves so much?
“I’ve got plenty of people who remind me of my age in my family and my homies, so they keep me grounded,” he said with his trademark giggle. “But, yeah, that’s a beautiful thing to me. I always watch film looking for things I can improve on every week. I want to go out there and continue to try and be the best.
“The age is just a number, and I feel like I’m still getting better with time. It’s on me to work to make sure it keeps looking the way it’s been looking.”
