EDMONTON — It’s all there right in front of Chris Streveler now — the chance to reminisce and relive the moments, both good and bad — as he takes the first steps down memory lane of a professional football career now officially ending.
And in one moment the 31-year-old quarterback will admit that that span between the day he first scribbled his name on his professional contract with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers — May 4, 2018, to be official — to today, when he made his exit from the game official on his social media channels has rocketed by in an instant.
Yet he’s also got scars on his knees now to remind him that the eight years passed have come with its share of turbulent times. He’s now married and with a young daughter. He’s got a Grey Cup ring and a National Football League pension after going through the uncertainty that comes with being cut five times.
And he’s got his fingers in all sorts of endeavours — no surprise to those who know the man and his all-gas/no brakes approach to life — that serve as the evidence he surely won’t sit still now.
“I’m diving headfirst into everything,” said Streveler in a chat with bluebombers.com this weekend about his retirement decision from his base in Arizona. “I’m doing so much right now that when I tell people what I’m doing I almost forget to mention that I’m also rehabbing a torn ACL because there are many other things going on.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s better for me if I stay busy and have things to focus on and put my energy into instead of thinking about what could have been or playing football.
“It just feels like the right time,” he added. “It’s getting more and more difficult to move my family to Canada. I own a house down here. I have a one-year older daughter, I have other things that I’m starting to work on outside of football the last couple of years and it just gets to a point where you have to decide where things are going. For me, just speaking candidly, I don’t know if there’s a clear path for me to go be a starter in the league and when you tear your ACL two years in a row… I love playing the game, but I have to put myself in the best position to be able to provide for my family.
“It just gets to the point where it’s not making sense. It’s not a matter of whether I love the game — I will always love the game and that’s what makes this tough — but at a certain point I have to make a decision that’s going to be best for my family moving forward. I want to be able to play with my daughter when I’m older. I’ve had injuries. I know that’s a long-winded answer but there’s a lot that goes into it.”
One day Streveler is in Atlanta at the NFL’s Public Speaking Workshop, the next he’s in New York at the NFL sponsored BizWeek. And when we caught up with him on the phone he had just finished a three-hour coaching session with young quarterback prospects and was heading to a friend’s wedding later in the day. He’s also a founding partner in the Going Steady dating app while honing his public speaking skills and his broadcasting chops.
“Every player processes this transition differently,” he said. “We were at NFL BizWeek this week and NFL legend and Super Bowl champion Malcolm Jenkins spoke and the way he transitioned out of the league was he had to separate himself from the game for two years just to feel like he still didn’t want to be a part of it.
“There’s no right or wrong way to do it, this is just how I’m choosing to embrace it. For me, this process of planting seeds outside of football really started when I got injured with the (New York) Jets. If you remember, I got injured in Week 1 of the preseason and I sat at home for a full year until I signed back in Winnipeg. That was a big realization as to how fast football can end and how scary that can be. Thankfully for me I knew there would be an opportunity for me to come back to the CFL and play in some way shape or form but that’s always going to be the case.
“That lit a fire for me to try to network and put myself out there to see what other opportunities are out there.”
There are two chapters in Streveler’s career as a Blue Bomber — the first as a fresh-faced rookie straight out of the University of South Dakota in 2018 which included the storybook run to the 2019 Grey Cup that ended a championship drought that dated back to 1990.
Streveler became a legend then, starting three games at the beginning of the season when Matt Nichols was injured and then in November playing through a tibia fracture and severe high-ankle sprain en route to the title. That was then capped by the unbridled joy he showed in the Grey Cup championship parade as he was all decked out in cowboy-hat and fur coat and, after enjoying a few adult beverages, gave his infamous ‘I’m lit right now, you’re all lit right now — this is amazing — I love you guys, man” speech at The Forks.
“My whole motivation at the time was I wanted to get back on the field for my teammates,” he said of battling through the pain that November. “I can’t go down without trying. I didn’t even know if was possible to come back from that injury and I wasn’t necessarily given much hope that I could. But I had to try. In my heart I felt like I was letting people down if I didn’t try. To then see the impact of fighting through that adversity and us being able to get it done after 29 years… I never could have imagined the impact that would have on people.
“I remember being down south after that when I was with the Cardinals and I’m getting pictures that Halloween of people dressed up like me. Guys are going to the games with fur coats on. It’s insane to impact people in a positive way through playing a game.”
Streveler left for the NFL after that, signing with the Arizona Cardinals, spending 2020-21 with them before looks from the Baltimore Ravens and Miami Dolphins. He earned a shot with the Jets in 2022 and was then hurt in preseason of 2023 before returning to Winnipeg for the 2024 season.
Over the next two years he brought his trademark high-energy approach to the workday back into the clubhouse and helped guide the club to a 5-1 record over 2024-25 in his starts for Zach Collaros. The numbers weren’t always pretty, but the wins came as he often seemingly willed the Blue Bombers to victory.
And now, he’s officially done.
Streveler was emotional in a couple of spots in our conversation, as we talked about how 2018 and his arrival doesn’t seem like that long ago. And yet, so much has transpired since then, too.
“To think it’s been eight years is honestly insane,” he said. “I remember me and Woli (Drew Wolitarsky) in the locker room looking at guys like Matt Nichols, Weston Dressler and all those veterans and you’re thinking, ‘Man, if I could make it to 10 years…’ In my mind I always said if I could play football until I was 30 that would be a great run. So, to be able to get there… I have no other feelings except for being thankful and grateful for what the game gave me. I’m also proud of what I was able to accomplish and where I was able to go.
“The number one thing I love about this game is the bonds it creates, the relationships you make. Those are the most cherished memories and most cherished things I’ll take away.
“My sister sent me a message recently saying how proud she was to get to wear my jersey with my name on the back and that so many people felt so positively about me. To have that impact on people by playing the game and being who I am…. I’m very, very thankful for. I can never even imagine getting to sign autographs for people and them getting to wear my jersey.”
Streveler’s legacy with the Blue Bombers is multi-faceted, from the popularity he earned through his linebacker approach to the QB position, to playing through pain in the 2019 run — and the party afterward — to his return after the NFL days and the two subsequent knee injuries.
In many ways, that’s just a snapshot his life story, too — a guy who had to grind, grind and grind for everything in the game.
“My whole journey is riddled with adversity and I’m most proud of never giving up,” he said. “I had a great support system around me and I was given opportunities and took advantage. It gives me pride to share that journey with young athletes because I think guys can feel that passion.
“It’s never a straight path. I had success at the FCS level and thought I had a chance to go to the NFL. I didn’t get a call. So, to be able to have the opportunity to come to Canada and embrace that with open arms and the way that it worked out with Darian Durant retiring (prior to 2018 training camp and his rookie season), Matt Nichols going down at the end of camp and then me getting start my first three games and being able to take advantage of that… I would say there was some luck involved, but it was about being in the right place at the right time and putting yourself in the right position to take advantage. Luck is only half of it.
“You have to be ready to take advantage with your mindset and the work you put in. That’s what I’m most proud of in my career: I got these opportunities and then I did the most I could to take advantage of that. I don’t look back and say, ‘Well, I wasn’t working hard enough or I wasn’t prepared.’ Sometimes things just don’t go your way and that’s OK. I can hold my head high that I put everything I had into the process every day.
“I always prided myself on being a good teammate,” Streveler added. “I never cared about stats or anything else other than how do my teammates and how do my coaches feel about me. That mattered more than anything. I hope that’s my legacy, that people say, ‘That guy was a great teammate. That was a great guy in the locker room and he gave great effort.’”