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Nick Iwanyshyn \/ THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES<\/p>\n
Tiger-Cats receiver Kenny Lawler is thriving with Hamilton, posting career-highs in receiving yards (1,047) and touchdowns (10) through 12 games.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know that I was going to be leaving Winnipeg. I always thought there would be light at the end of the tunnel at the end of free agency that we\u2019d get something done but nothing got done and nothing ever got figured out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now a member of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Lawler said he didn\u2019t receive a contract offer from the Bombers until a day before free agency opened at the start of February. His agent only had two brief conversations with Winnipeg, where the club was more focused on gauging the market value for a receiver of his calibre.<\/p>\n
For Lawler, there was a more personal issue that needed to be addressed.<\/p>\n
The two-time division all-star from Pomona, Calif. \u2014 who moved his family up to Winnipeg \u2014 had been doing some work on the side helping the city\u2019s grassroots football scene before running into a roadblock.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not that (the Bombers) didn\u2019t want me to do it \u2014 they wanted me to do it under them. They closed my work permit,\u201d Lawler explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have my own business where I go and run camps and I was starting to do that and was getting momentum and when I had to get my work permit closed it was like, \u2018hmm, why is this happening?\u2019 You know what I want to do, I live here in Winnipeg, the full year, and if I am going to be taking a pay cut, which I was doing when I was in Winnipeg the whole time, I\u2019m going to need something else to be able to supplement that. It\u2019s not that I need it, it\u2019s that I want to be able to start it so when I\u2019m done with football I can still live where I\u2019m at and transition right into something else and someone wasn\u2019t seeing that.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked who, specifically, wasn\u2019t on board, Lawler responded with: \u201cI think that\u2019s a question you might have to ask them. And it probably wouldn\u2019t be to anyone that you could probably get an (interview from).\u201d<\/p>\n
Lawler was also involved with Recruit Ready, a local youth football development program with experienced coaches like Bombers receiver Nic Demski. Out of all the phone calls Lawler had to make, the one informing Demski that he was moving to Hamilton was the toughest.<\/p>\n
Lawler helped the Bombers win back-to-back Grey Cups in 2019 and 2021 before signing with the Edmonton Elks in 2022 on a contract that made him the highest paid non-quarterback in the CFL. After going 4-14 in Edmonton, Lawler took less money to rejoin Winnipeg in 2023 and fully intended on finishing his career in blue and gold.<\/p>\n
\u201cNic is really like family to me. He\u2019s a guy that\u2019s had my back, a guy that I work with in the off-season, and during that time we were knee-deep helping Recruit Ready and he was with me throughout the whole free agency and understanding that I was hearing nothing throughout the process,\u201d said Lawler.<\/p>\n
\u201cMe and Nic were holding onto that faith, and when it came to the point where I had to tell him I was leaving, it was like, \u2018Damn. I\u2019m not going to be playing with you anymore.\u2019 And now it gets deeper \u2014 it\u2019s like, \u2018what about the kids we\u2019ve been coaching?\u2019 I love them, and they love me. Those kids were getting better every day, and to be leaving that, it was hard because I saw a lot of those kids as my sons, and I want the best for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lawler added: \u201cIt was a really, really hard conversation because it was not just leaving Winnipeg, I was leaving the kids at Recruit Ready, I was leaving a higher responsibility that I felt like I had.\u201d<\/p>\n
Waiting with open arms was newly hired Ticats GM Ted Goveia, fresh off a decade of working for the Bombers as an assistant general manager. One of the key selling points was that they went above and beyond to ensure Lawler and his wife, Myanna, that their son, KJ, who is on the autism spectrum, would have the best resources possible. Lawler greatly appreciated the support his family had in Winnipeg, especially from Whyte Ridge School, and wanted to ensure they\u2019d have the same thing if they moved east.<\/p>\n
Lawler inked a two-year deal with the Ticats on Feb. 4. The Bombers signed Mitchell, who has 11 grabs for 85 yards in five appearances, in January after he was released by Edmonton.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Peter Power \/ THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES<\/p>\n Hamilton Tiger-Cats head coach Scott Milanovich said Thursday that after seeing what star receiver Kenny Lawler has \u2018brought to our team, he\u2019s been worth every penny.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201c(They helped find a) great school for my son. I always know I have support here in this building with this organization. If they don\u2019t have the answers, they\u2019re going to find it,\u201d said Lawler. \u201cAnd, to be honest, that just makes me play that much harder when I know everybody\u2019s got my back. Me, personally, I wanna play another 10 more years and I believe I can. I\u2019m still going to be doing what I want to do off the field and people here love that.\u201d<\/p>\n Lawler has rewarded the Ticats \u2014 who currently own the top spot in the East Division at 7-5 \u2014 in a big way for their investment. Through 12 games, the 31-year-old has already set career highs in receiving yards (1,047) and touchdowns (10).<\/p>\n He\u2019ll have a chance to add to those impressive numbers Friday night when the Ticats host the Bombers (6 p.m. CT).<\/p>\n \u201cI haven\u2019t told anybody else this, but I\u2019ve never been one to think you have to go out and get the highest paid receiver in the league because I think there\u2019s so many good receivers. But after seeing what he\u2019s brought to our team, he\u2019s been worth every penny,\u201d said Ticats head coach Scott Milanovich.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s got championship pedigree and (brings) intensity in the locker room pregame. I think he\u2019s brought a little urgency, just a little bit of expectation to win.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n \t\t His Winnipeg tenure ended on a sour note, but Lawler has no regrets about his second stint. He still has a ton of love for his former teammates and coaches and has chalked it up as a learning experience on the business side of pro football.<\/p>\n Hamilton is now home, and he couldn\u2019t be happier.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s got nothing to do with the guys that I was going to war with, it\u2019s got nothing to do with the coaches. It\u2019s just more so I look at life like how I look at football when I\u2019m analyzing film. You gotta learn from it. That\u2019s all I look at,\u201d said Lawler.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy was I so naive to think someone was going to help me with something other than football? That\u2019s how they really felt, like certain people all they really cared about is, \u2018Kenny, as long as you\u2019re good at football, we\u2019re good. We don\u2019t care about what you want to do elsewhere.\u2019 There\u2019s totally 100 per cent genuine people here.\u201d<\/p>\n taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Taylor Allen Taylor Allen is a sports reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. Taylor was the Vince Leah intern in the Free Press newsroom twice while earning his joint communications degree\/diploma at the University of Winnipeg and Red River College Polytechnic. He signed on full-time in 2019 and mainly covers the Blue Bombers, curling, and basketball. Read more about Taylor<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Taylor produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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