They have been the same Stanley Bryant talking points and questions posed over the last several years, especially on the occasion of the future Canadian Football League Hall of Famer — a man who has already secured a spot on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers Ring of Honour — signing his annual one-year contract extension:

What fuels him or keeps him motivated?

How long does he want to keep playing?

What’s it like lining up opposite defensive ends 10-15 years his junior?

Did he ever think he’d play this long?

What might life after football look like?

It’s been a wash/rinse/repeat cycle for the veteran left tackle dating back to 2017 when his first contract with the club was about to expire and then him signing a series of one-year extensions year after year after year with the club he’s called home since 2015.

We’ll get to some of those answers in a moment, but first a thought on the secret to his dominance as the most decorated offensive lineman in CFL history — a theory thrown out by the man himself, especially with him turning 40 this May:

“For the last three, four years I’ve been saying it’s a year-to-year thing for me,” said Bryant from his offseason base in Charlotte, N.C. “I think this year will also be the same thing, just a year-to-year thing.

“I know I’ll be the big 4-0 in a couple months. But I could be like Benjamin Button, though. I could reverse the aging and get younger and younger. So, we’ll see how that goes.”

Later, when he was asked about constantly having to field questions about his age Bryant grinned and brought up his Benjamin Button analogy again:

“It’s cool. I deal with it. Like I said, I’ll be 40 in a couple months, so I’ll be looking for something from you guys. May 7, by the way, so put that in your calendar. But like I said before, I could be like Benjamin Button. You ever seen the movie? He gets older and then he gets younger. You know, it’s like a reverse. So, instead of 40, I can be like four, but like an adult, mature four. You get what I’m saying?

“So, my body will be good and things like that. But, no, answering the age issues is no issue. I think it’s a good thing that I’m able to have this conversation and be able to play at the age of 40. You never know, it can inspire someone to want to continue whatever they’re doing. It can be football, it could be, I don’t know, wanting to be an accountant or whatever they want to be at whatever age they’re at now. It can inspire them to want to continue to do it and get to that milestone.”

Bryant has manned the left flank for the Blue Bombers since 2015, suiting up for 234 games in his CFL career including his first years with the Calgary Stampeders from 2010-14 before coming to Winnipeg.

His 200 regular season games played with the Blue Bombers is the sixth-most in franchise history – and has started every one of them.

He said he took his time after the season to contemplate whether he would return but his hunger for the game, his love of the offensive line group and the team’s camaraderie, plus his still solid level of play had him itching to return. A further testament to that is he’s already back in the gym, a development he said is earlier than usual for him.

There’s that and…

“I couldn’t leave some of my guys hanging, like Paddy (Neufeld) and Zach (Collaros) — I still want to go play with those guys and compete and go out there and try to win games and Grey Cups.

“It’s just loving the game of football — the camaraderie, the guys you meet, the coaches, administrative staff. It’s just the whole thing in totality that you’re going to miss when it’s gone. Someone told me before that football is one of those things that once you’re done you can’t it play again. Basketball, baseball… you can go join an intra-mural league and have fun with your buddies, but football is one of those things you can say you’re going to go out and play once you’re done.”

Bryant pointed to the 2019 Grey Cup — the championship that ended a 28-year drought for the Blue Bombers — as one of his career highlights. The lowlight, he said, came in 2024 when he collapsed on the field with what was called a viral infection.

“Sorry everybody had to see me throwing up and stuff like that,” he said Tuesday with his usual self-effacing sense of humour.

Bryant said he’s got friends and family in North Carolina who keep him humble and so his legacy — his place among the most-decorated in CFL history — isn’t something he spends a ton of time on in reflection.

Interestingly, what keeps him lining up at his spot after all these years is more than just the mano-a-mano battles in the trenches.

“Football is football, but there’s some things you guys don’t see,” he explained. “Like the road trips, the hanging out outside of football, just being in the locker-room, the ups and downs, all the emotions that we experience throughout the season. And it just brings guys closer or separates guys.

“I’m going to have lifetime friends once I’m done with football. I can’t count on my hands how many guys that I know I can stay in contact with once I’m done with football. So, football brings a lot. And once you’re done, I feel like you just going to miss that stuff because if you’re done, you’re not going to be able to just, week-in, week-out, see them as often as you could every day you sit with them in the locker-room.

“It’ll be one of those things that you have to make an adjustment to. But of course, I will miss all those things. The camaraderie, mainly, and just going to war with those guys each and every week.”

As for what his next chapter might me — his life after football — that decision isn’t at Bryant’s doorstep quite yet. He’s already the CFL’s active leader in starts at 233 and his climbing up the league’s all-time games played list, currently at 44th.

“I have a plan,” he said with a grin. “I have a thought process of what I’m going to do, but I can’t tell you that until I’m done.”

And when it was suggested the ETR on that — estimated time of retirement — could be five years from now, he chuckled and then added:

“In five years, yeah. I’ve got to get on that Top 10 list of most games. I’ll work my way up.”

FYI, here is the audio from the full Bryant media conference, for those who want to listen: