{"id":498254,"date":"2026-02-25T09:22:32","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T09:22:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/498254\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T09:22:32","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T09:22:32","slug":"neufeld-theres-just-a-part-of-my-soul-thats-connected-to-this-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/498254\/","title":{"rendered":"Neufeld: “There’s just a part of my soul that’s connected to this game.”"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was both frightening and a bit gory. And, in that respect, the after-effects of Pat Neufeld\u2019s last snap of 2025 somehow encapsulated so much of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers season.<\/p>\n

It was midway through the second quarter of Winnipeg\u2019s loss to the Montreal Alouettes in the Canadian Football League\u2019s Eastern Semi-Final when quarterback Zach Collaros was sacked and fumbled, with the veteran right guard then pouncing on the loose ball just as he was nailed in the back by a defender.<\/p>\n

Neufeld headed to the locker room to be assessed by the training staff and at halftime was urinating blood as a result of the shot he took to his kidney.<\/p>\n

That injury took almost two full weeks from which to recover for Neufeld and, indirectly, it\u2019s part of the reason the 37-year-old scratched his name on a one-year contract extension to be be back manning his post on the Blue Bombers offensive line in 2026, saying Monday in a conference call, \u201cI just felt like I couldn\u2019t go out like that and need to redeem myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

That will likely be a common theme for those who return to the Blue Bombers this season as the club\u2019s 10-8 record, fourth-place finish in the CFL\u2019s West Division and first-round exit from the playoffs after five straight Grey Cup appearances from 2019-24 has once again stoked the competitive fires.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s that for Neufeld and, as his career hits the 15-season mark in 2026, a greater appreciation for every day in the game.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s funny, I think about this now going into year 15 \u2014 16 with COVID \u2014 and my rookie year (with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, in 2011) I was roommates with a player named Gene Makowsky who has the most games played as a Saskatchewan Roughrider,\u201d Neufeld recalled. \u201cHe played like 250-60 games for that organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just remember sitting there next to him and being his roommate on the road and being like, \u2018How is this guy still playing? He\u2019s got a family. He\u2019s got kids.\u2019 and I was just a 22-year-old kid with no idea what he was getting himself into. I just told myself if I could last one year and being able to say I played professional football that would be pretty cool. Now I\u2019m going into year 15 or 16 and being on the flip side of that and seeing guys born in 2003 playing on the roster and blowing my mind there.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, it\u2019s kind of surreal to take a step back and understand the position I\u2019m in and being able to play into Year 15 as a professional football player is pretty cool.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nuts, man,\u201d he added with a chuckle \u201cThere are guys who were like two when I was getting into the CFL. It\u2019s a bit of a culture shock which is funny because I don\u2019t feel old but you hear some terminology and songs and lingo these dudes use and \u2018I\u2019m like, man, I\u2019m old.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Neufeld\u2019s return to the O-line means three starters from last year are back along with left guard Gabe Wallace and right tackle Kendall Randolph, with Tui Eli expected to replace Chris Kolankowski, who was released and since since with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, at centre.<\/p>\n

Also under contract are 2025 CFL Draft pick Ethan Vibert, American guard\/tackle Micah Vanterpool, two players who spent time on the practice roster last year in Tyler Elsbury and Hunter Poncius, another draft pick in Alberta product Iwinosa Uwubanmwen and American prospects Ben Dooley, Zovon Lindsay, Joseph More, Sebastian Pares and former Edmonton Elk Tariq Stewart.<\/p>\n

The list of pending free agents includes future hall of famer Stanley Bryant \u2014 Neufeld is hopeful big Stan returns \u2014 and veteran tackle Eric Lofton.<\/p>\n

Neufeld mentioned the relationships and friendships he has in the Blue Bombers organization as a huge draw to return as does his gut feeling he\u2019s still got more to give.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just an intrinsic feeling that I have,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve always said (he\u2019ll keep playing) until the wheels fall off and I still feel healthy enough that I can go out and compete. I assessed it early in the offseason with us having an earlier offseason and being back in the gym training with Chris and Gabe and Ethan Vibert \u2014 I still feel that I can get in the gym and train really well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s just a part of my soul that\u2019s connected to this game. It\u2019s been my passion for the last 16 years of my life and I just love playing. I love being in the locker room. I love being in the meeting room and all those aspects of being a good professional, being a good teammate are still super appealing to me.<\/p>\n

\u201cTake a step back and looking at my life, I can\u2019t see it not having football in it for this year. I just felt like I needed to come back and play another year.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was both frightening and a bit gory. And, in that respect, the after-effects of Pat Neufeld\u2019s last…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":498255,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-498254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498254","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=498254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498254\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/498255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=498254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=498254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=498254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}