{"id":468908,"date":"2026-02-11T22:18:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T22:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/468908\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T22:18:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T22:18:10","slug":"santos-knox-i-wanted-to-get-back-to-where-it-all-started","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/468908\/","title":{"rendered":"Santos-Knox: “I wanted to get back to where it all started.”"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s an old story now \u2014 some eight-nine years have since passed, after all \u2014 but it\u2019s certainly worth revisiting because it\u2019s one about perseverance and the steadfast belief in chasing a dream.<\/p>\n

And, as often the case in pro football, it\u2019s about timing.<\/p>\n

Indeed, it\u2019s also ultimately about this: the Canadian Football League is a small tight-knit community and the relationships you make at the beginning can be just as important as those later in the journey.<\/p>\n

Winnipeg Blue Bombers fans are being reintroduced this week to veteran linebacker Jovan Santos-Knox, who first arrived in these parts back in 2017 and spent two seasons here before a CFL tour that then featured subsequent stops in Edmonton, Hamilton and Ottawa.<\/p>\n

It was in his engaging session with local media via Zoom from his offseason base in Boston on Wednesday that Santos-Knox, now 31, reconnected the dots of where it all began in his CFL career to his reunion with the Blue Bombers.<\/p>\n

We told the story several years ago as Santos-Knox became one of the shining examples of finding gold in an offseason free-agent camp<\/a> and he provided the details again on Wednesday about how he and his dad Byron piled into the car and drove all the way from Connecticut to Charlotte, North Carolina.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter college, as an American you always have the dreams and hopes of making it to the NFL. I got into a training camp, I didn\u2019t stick, I had a cup of coffee, and I was out of football for a year,\u201d Santos-Knox recalled. \u201cThat year being out of football, I had to work at GNC to supplement my pay so I could train and everything.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy father found out about the CFL and that they hold open tryouts in the States. We actually went to three different spots: a Calgary tryout, a Montreal tryout, and a Winnipeg tryout. Me and my father drove down nine hours to North Carolina and did the tryout with Winnipeg and a couple days later Danny McManus called my phone.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s funny, we probably spent $400 or $500 overall on the trip. There was a $100 fee, you had to get a hotel, then you had to rent a car. Me and my dad joke all the time that it\u2019s the best money ever spent because I\u2019ve been able to make a nine-year career out of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s funny, too,\u201d he added, \u201cbut in my rookie year, Danny McManus (Assistant GM\/Director of U.S. Scouting) halfway through the season brought me in and was like \u2018Hey, here\u2019s the $100 back from your tryout. I think you earned it back.\u2019 And I still have that $100 bill as well because I like to think that $100 bill gave me my opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Santos-Knox gives the Blue Bombers more veteran experience at a linebacker spot which already features starters Tony Jones and Kyrie Wilson and includes Jaiden Woodbey, Michael Ayers along with Canadians Tanner Cadwallader, Jaylen Smith and Connor Shay.<\/p>\n

Where and how he fits will undoubtedly be a training camp storyline, but in the meantime Santos-Knox is returning to a place that has so many of the same faces since he left after the 2018 season.<\/p>\n

And that, indirectly, speaks of the old lesson in the CFL \u2014 this is a small league and it\u2019s wise not to torch bridges on your exit.<\/p>\n

Santos-Knox returns to play for the same coach that was here nine years ago in Mike O\u2019Shea, with GM Kyle Walters and President & CEO Wade Miller completing the top of the football operations hierarchy \u2014 just as it has been for 12 years \u2014 and with Stanley Bryant, Pat Neufeld, Jake Thomas (now as the defensive line coach) still around. Ditto for Richie Hall and the first man who texted him after his signing was announced, Kyrie Wilson.<\/p>\n

That continuity here in Winnipeg \u2014 not just with management, but with the roster \u2014 was something Jake Ceresna alluded to in his media session on Tuesday and it certainly had an appeal, too, for Santos-Knox.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you guys know, the turnover in this league is so high,\u201d he said. \u201cEvery year, guys are bouncing from different teams. And one thing I think in the CFL that stayed very consistent in these last few years is the Bombers. And as a veteran entering my ninth year, I\u2019m building my family as well (he was married last year and the couple are expecting a daughter next month).<\/p>\n

\u201cI know the family atmosphere and the atmosphere that I\u2019m going into because everything\u2019s still intact there. That was very important for me in my decision making. I wanted to make sure that not only am I comfortable, but that my family was in the best situation they could possibly be as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother fun fact: Jake Thomas was my roommate my rookie year, now he\u2019s the D-line coach. Just to see the same guys there, Stanley Bryant, it\u2019s amazing and it\u2019s an honour to be back with those guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Santos-Knox had a sensational 2025 season with Ottawa \u2014 he was named the Redblacks Most Outstanding Defensive player \u2014 but when new GM\/head coach Ryan Dinwiddie made a trade to bring in Nyles Morgan from Edmonton, his days in the nation capital were seemingly numbered. And when the Blue Bombers and Santos-Knox first started chatting afterward, well, the reunion was a no brainer.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had this relationship since, like I said, I first came into this league and just passing by and playing games,\u201d said Santos-Knox. \u201cI have a lot of friends on this team still. I\u2019ve always sprinkled that idea of reuniting with the Bombers and this offseason we both came to each other \u2014 they expressed their interest and I was obviously interested as well. I just think it was a great marriage, and it just felt very natural.\u201d<\/p>\n

Santos-Knox left for Winnipeg after 2018, just missing out on the Blue Bombers Grey Cup win a year later. He was on the field for the 2021 Grey Cup, but in Tiger-Cat colours. That hole in his resum\u00e9 \u2014 no championship yet \u2014 and his return to Winnipeg has him more motivated than ever.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will say my heart\u2026 ever since I left, my heart was always wanting to get back to Winnipeg somehow, some way, just because it\u2019s more than just a championship, it\u2019s the organization, it\u2019s the city, it\u2019s the fans,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s not a franchise in the CFL quite like it and I\u2019ve been around to a few, as you guys know. Just to be able to get back and be back to where it all started is an amazing thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Santos-Knox said he had taken notice of the work the Blue Bombers have done in free agency before committing \u2014 that includes the additions of Ceresna, offensive tackle Jarell Broxton, cornerback Jonathan Moxey and receiver Tommy Nield \u2014 adding, \u201cthe vision and the pieces they\u2019re putting together are showing that Winnipeg is serious about winning now and turning this thing back around and getting back to the championship. I just wanted to be a part of that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very rejuvenated and refreshed and ready to get back to work in a new environment, a culture that I know is all striving towards one goal. That\u2019s the best thing about this sport. We\u2019ve got a group of men all working towards one goal and Winnipeg they embody FIFO and everything that they believe in.\u201d<\/p>\n

To listen to the entire media interview from today, click here:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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