“I’m 100 percent excited now. I just want to play and help us win a Grey Cup.”

It was a moment within one play during a practice and a repetition Jamal Parker, Jr. had done thousands of times before during his football career. And yet that instant robbed him of his entire 2024 Canadian Football League season.

Maybe that, in part, is why the 26-year-old defensive back was so eager to get his name on a one-year contract extension with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers this week and start afresh in 2025.

The feeling is mutual, it would seem, because despite missing all of last season after tearing his ACL in training camp the club clearly appreciates Parker, Jr.’s versatility and upside.

“I’m so excited about being back especially after last year where before things could even get launched, I got injured,” began Parker, Jr. in a conversation with bluebombers.com from his offseason home in New Jersey.

“I can tell you exactly when it happened and how it happened. Day 3 of camp… May 14th. Kenny (Lawler) was running a post route, and I was running with him and in camp you don’t want to get anyone hurt. I jumped to undercut the post and jumped over him so I didn’t bump him or fall on him, but when I landed my body and mind weren’t on the same page. When I landed, my leg was still straight… there was no bend on that leg.

“The funny thing is, I had no clue it was bad. I thought I had just hyper-extended my knee. I walked off the field and there was no swelling or anything. I was able to move around and walk up stairs. It was weird. I didn’t really know until I saw the MRI.”

Redha Kramdi (left) and Parker, Jr.

Parker, Jr. stayed in Winnipeg after the surgery to remain around the team and still participate in meetings. And while losing an entire season was both an emotional and physical grind, he attacked the rehab with a passion.

“I was devastated and so upset at first,” Parker, Jr. said. “I was going into my Year 3 with the Bombers and I really felt I was about to take that next step. Then I got set back. That first week I was able to be outside and be on the field, I didn’t really even want to be around football, to be honest. I needed to let my feelings and my emotions run their course before I could be around again. I was so angry… I wasn’t angry at anybody; it was I was angry because there was nothing I could do to make the process go any faster. That was the rough part.

“And then one day I was watching the Julian Edelman documentary (100%: Julian Edelman) that Noah Hallett told me about when Edelman tore his ACL, and my mind just clicked. It was the realization that me sorrowing over it or sobbing about it wasn’t going to get me anywhere, so attack this process like this is your season.

“After that I went in there every day with a smile on my face. Well,” he added with a chuckle, “most days.”

Parker first joined the Blue Bombers in 2022 and over his 20 games with the club over the next two years he blossomed, starting games at halfback and at cornerback on both sides of the secondary. He started the final three games of 2023 — plus the Western Final and Grey Cup — at corner and was expected to challenge for a starting job last season when the injury occurred.

He’ll re-enter that competition this year and with the Blue Bombers secondary currently in a state of flux with all-star Tyrell Ford drawing NFL interest and a pending free agent, along with Brandon Alexander, Evan Holm, Nick Taylor and Noah Hallett.

Kyrie Wilson, Cam Lawson, Dalton Schoen and Parker, Jr.

“I’ll tell you what, being around my teammates last year sure helped with the rehab and that’s also why I want to get back,” Parker, Jr. said. “A week after I had my injury, Cam Lawson tore his ACL, so I had a partner right with me. A month after that, Dalton (Schoen) did his. It was, ‘Damn, we’re all going down this rabbit hole together now.’

“I’m 100 percent excited now. I can play everywhere in the secondary. It doesn’t matter to me. I just want to play and help us win a Grey Cup.”