{"id":314176,"date":"2025-11-29T10:29:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T10:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/314176\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T10:29:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T10:29:10","slug":"father-times-undefeated-b-c-lions-face-familiar-decisions-on-veteran-dbs-t-j-lee-garry-peters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/314176\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Father Time’s undefeated’: B.C. Lions face familiar decisions on veteran DBs T.J. Lee, Garry Peters"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Photo courtesy: Steven Chang\/B.C. Lions<\/p>\n

When T.J. Lee addressed the media at the conclusion of the 2024 season, it felt like the B.C. Lions\u2019 longest-serving player was saying goodbye to the organization \u2014 or at least he was aware they were saying goodbye to him.<\/p>\n

One year and one unexpected reunion later, he returned to the podium earlier this month with less overt emotion, but a future with the franchise still in limbo.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d Lee said when asked what was different this time around. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of uncertainty.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the Lions took a substantial step forward in 2025, they are right back to where they started when it comes to the secondary. Last offseason, the team was forced to make decisions on two aging defensive backs, Lee and Garry Peters. This year, both are slated to hit free agency again<\/a>, with no clear alternatives on the roster.<\/p>\n

Lee is one of the franchise\u2019s most decorated players, a likely future Ring of Honour inductee with five career all-star selections to his credit. Peters is not far removed from holding the title of best cornerback in the league, earning back-to-back All-CFL selections in 2022 and 2023. But both players are now 34 years old, which makes bringing them back a gamble.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs these guys start getting older, yeah, you start to question some things,\u201d general manager Ryan Rigmaiden acknowledged. \u201cThat\u2019s only natural \u2014 Father Time\u2019s undefeated. We\u2019ll have those talks. There are times where all these guys played at a high level, and there are times where they didn\u2019t. We\u2019ll have to go through that review process.\u201d<\/p>\n

B.C. took their first crack at this decision-making process shortly after Rigmaiden was promoted to his current role last December. Peters was brought back on a new contract<\/a>, while Lee was allowed to hit free agency after 11 years with the team. It was supposed to be the first step in a youth movement in the secondary, but that never properly materialized.<\/p>\n

With the Lions sitting at 5-7 midway through the season and problems in the defensive backfield getting much of the blame<\/a>, Lee was re-signed on September 10 after seven months on the street<\/a>. He found himself re-inserted into the starting lineup a week later. The team went on to win their last six regular-season games and the West Semi-Final, before eventually coming up short in the West Final against Saskatchewan.<\/p>\n

Lee made 31 tackles, a sack, a forced fumble, and an interception in five games after coming in with fresh legs, adding nine more tackles and another forced fumble in the playoffs. While several other factors coincided with the start of the Lions\u2019 winning streak, fans were quick to label his return as one of the catalysts.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis ability to help with communication and leadership on the back end was absolutely tremendous,\u201d Rigmaiden said, admitting that the team\u2019s initial plans at the position didn\u2019t pan out as hoped.<\/p>\n

\u201cComing out of camp, we felt like Robert Carter was going to be a guy, and he has been \u2014 absolutely happy for that. We were hoping for another couple of guys, and it didn\u2019t happen. Sometimes you have to lean on the vets.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Lee stole headlines late, nobody was relied on more in the secondary than Peters. In 16 games, the Clemson product made 49 tackles, a forced fumble, and three interceptions. He battled a sprained knee and a hairline tear to his meniscus over the back half of the season, but pushed through to play both playoff games, making six tackles.<\/p>\n

The public perception remains that Peters has lost a step, but he remains firmly in the top half of starters in the CFL and earned the ninth-highest grade by a cornerback last season, according to Pro Football Focus. Sources indicate that he will evaluate all options for his knee this offseason, including a surgery or scope, but believes he\u2019ll be healthy in time for his 10th training camp.<\/p>\n

Lee also doesn\u2019t seem to be in a rush to retire, even as the inevitable end of his career draws closer. He heeded the advice of mentors to be patient last offseason and feels it paid off once his number was called.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have to make that decision today. All I know is I\u2019m not retiring unless I feel like I want to,\u201d he said. \u201cI could not get picked up for the next three years, and then decide to retire. Regardless, as long as I\u2019m happy with it, that\u2019s all that matters, because I put in this work, and I deserve it to be on my terms.\u201d<\/p>\n

That puts the pressure on the Lions to determine once again whether either player has reached their best before date, or if they remain the best options available despite the length of their teeth. Either way, expect secondary reinforcements to be a scouting focus this offseason in the hopes of building a more sustainable succession plan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo courtesy: Steven Chang\/B.C. Lions When T.J. Lee addressed the media at the conclusion of the 2024 season,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314177,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-314176","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cfl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-canadian-football-league","11":"tag-canadianfootballleague","12":"tag-cfl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314176\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}