HAMILTON \u2014 It went down as a loss in the standings but Devynn Cromwell\u2019s CFL debut was a moral victory.<\/p>\n
The six-foot, 200-pound safety made his first appearance with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on special teams Monday afternoon in their 37-22 home loss to the Toronto Argonauts. It came after Cromwell suffered a torn meniscus during Michigan State\u2019s pro day that required surgery.<\/p>\n
\u201cRehab was tough, it\u2019s always tough,\u201d said Cromwell, who underwent shoulder surgery at Texas Tech in 2024. \u201cWhen your passion is football and being able to play and be on that field, it\u2019s not easy when you\u2019re not able to and have to sit behind and just watch.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut being around this staff, these players, really helped the journey because when you\u2019re not playing, sometimes a lot of people don\u2019t always feel like they\u2019re not part of a team. But in this organization, they keep you around and involved, they\u2019re super friendly and help you along that journey.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cromwell, 24, of Toronto, was hurt March 19 while doing the vertical leap for NFL scouts at East Lansing, Mich. Cromwell didn\u2019t run in either the 40-yard dash or agility drills (three cone, short shuttle) following his injury but did perform the broad jump, registering an 11-foot, three-inch effort.<\/p>\n
However, he couldn\u2019t audition at the ensuing CFL combine in Edmonton, although he did attend and spoke with league officials. The Ticats selected Cromwell in the third round, No. 25 overall, of the league draft April 28 knowing they would have to wait before Cromwell could play.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, I was hoping that he\u2019d be ready for next year,\u201d Hamilton head coach Scott Milanovich said. \u201cThe guy is a great athlete \u2026 he can run, he can jump.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat to expect from him at this point? I don\u2019t know but I think the guy is going to be a good football player. That\u2019s obviously why we drafted him even though he was injured.\u201d<\/p>\n
But test results and interviews don\u2019t begin to shed light on Cromwell\u2019s best asset: adaptability. His football journey has spanned three Canadian high schools and three universities _ Guelph (2020-23), Texas Tech (2024) and Michigan State (2025).<\/p>\n
Cromwell played three seasons at Guelph (2021-23 as the global pandemic cancelled football in Canada in 2020), earning U Sports all-Canadian first- and second-team honours (2021, 2022 respectively) while being a second-team OUA all-star in 2023. He also qualified for the Canadian university track championships in the 60-metre sprint.<\/p>\n
Cromwell transferred to Texas Tech in 2024. He started two-of-nine games he appeared in, registering 20 tackles (nine solo).<\/p>\n
Cromwell appeared in all 12 of Michigan State\u2019s games last season, starting one, after transferring from Texas Tech. He recorded eight tackles (five solo) and also played on special teams.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a very long journey,\u201d he said. \u201cI started football a little later than most but once I put my foot into the water it\u2019s been full tilt.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom Northern Secondary School (in Toronto) to Football North (Clarkson Secondary School in Mississauga, Ont.), to Guelph, Texas Tech and then Michigan State, it\u2019s been a crazy journey. But I\u2019ve learned so much along the way and I\u2019m so grateful to be here (Hamilton), close to home and all.\u201d<\/p>\n
But as long and difficult as Cromwell\u2019s rehab process was, it did provide him with a valuable life lesson.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not entirely patient but it teaches you how to be patient,\u201d he said. \u201cIt teaches you to kind of wait your turn because it\u2019s not on your timing.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day, you\u2019ve got to sit back and trust the process and that\u2019s what I did and had to lean into. That\u2019s kind of how it pushed my resilience and allowed me to be where I\u2019m at today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cromwell made his CFL debut before a Hamilton Stadium sellout gathering of 25,724. While that might pale in comparison to playing before nearly 75,000 spectators at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Mich., embarking on a pro career in Canada on Labour Day will always hold special significance for Cromwell.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really couldn\u2019t have drawn it up any better,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was pretty amazing being able to debut on one of the biggest days here.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was super excited to be out there in front of that crowd and able to really cut loose.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 8, 2026.<\/p>\n
Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HAMILTON \u2014 It went down as a loss in the standings but Devynn Cromwell\u2019s CFL debut was a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":888189,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-888188","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\/888188","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=888188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/888189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=888188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=888188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=888188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}