{"id":954124,"date":"2026-11-01T08:22:10","date_gmt":"2026-11-01T08:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/954124\/"},"modified":"2026-11-01T08:22:10","modified_gmt":"2026-11-01T08:22:10","slug":"toronto-argonauts-gm-pinball-clemons-has-long-heart-to-heart-with-janarion-grant-after-costly-fumble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/954124\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto Argonauts GM Pinball Clemons has long heart-to-heart with Janarion Grant after costly fumble"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto: Guang Quan\/3DownNation. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

At 5:08 p.m. local time, Toronto Argonauts returner Janarion Grant finally stood up and took off his shoulder pads.<\/p>\n

64 minutes had passed since the conclusion of his team\u2019s season-ending 25-22 East Semi-Final loss to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. The Argos locker room had nearly entirely cleared out by that point, with only a few members of the 45-man roster still packing up their belongings or completing treatment before heading out from BMO Field.<\/p>\n

And then there was Grant, who finally began the wind-down process with a handshake to a pair of fans visiting the locker room.<\/p>\n

Grant had spent much of the postgame inconsolable, with a blue-and-white striped towel draped over his head. A fumble by him on a punt return that was forced by Winnipeg\u2019s Nick Hallett with just over 90 seconds left proved to be the turning point that led to the Bombers\u2019 game-winning touchdown by Nic Demski in the game\u2019s waning moments.<\/p>\n

For around 20 of those minutes in the locker room, one man sat by Grant\u2019s side with his arm around him: Toronto general manager Michael \u201cPinball\u201d Clemons.<\/p>\n

Only a few words were exchanged between the pair and any interview requests were quickly rebuffed, with Grant still clearly going through the overwhelming emotions of the crushing defeat.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all, [I told Grant], \u2018We love you and we care about you,’\u201d Clemons told 3DownNation from the locker room following the loss. \u201cYou want to build [Grant] up again. In terms of the exact words [I told him], they are what they are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grant helped the Argonauts win the Grey Cup in 2024, the same year he was named the CFL\u2019s Most Outstanding Special Teams Player. He also won two previous Grey Cups with Winnipeg, the team that won on Saturday due in part to his late-game error.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole idea [of what I told Grant is], \u2018You have made such a great difference for this football team over several years, not just this year, and the mistakes happen,’\u201d Clemons added.<\/p>\n

Grant recorded 826 punt return yards during the regular-season, third in the CFL. He was also the lone player this season to record a pair of punt return touchdowns, as he moved into second all-time in league history with 12, behind only the legendary Henry \u2018Gizmo\u2019 Williams.<\/p>\n

Clemons earned his famous nickname largely through his special teams returning ability during his heyday with the Argonauts across 12 seasons from 1989 to 2000. However, before he became a CFL legend, Clemons felt that a crucial fumble during his brief NFL tenure may have been the dagger to his own American pro football career.<\/p>\n

While on the roster with the Tampa Bay Buccanneers after being waived by the Kansas City Chiefs, Clemons noted a preseason fumble he made on his first punt return that might\u2019ve led to his failure to crack the team\u2019s final roster.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose little things are magnified in certain positions,\u201d Clemons said of special teams fumbles. \u201cThere were other plays that we didn\u2019t make. Everybody on that field made mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Canadian offensive lineman Peter Nicastro was one of several Argonauts who also spent a moment in the locker room with Grant postgame, hoping to offer support to his teammate.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t put it all on one play, there\u2019s plays earlier in the game that I wish I had back,\u201d said Nicastro. \u201c[I was] reminding [Grant] of the player he is, the person he is. He\u2019s a Hall of Famer, everyone knows it. He\u2019s one of the best returners, one of the best players, one of the best people we\u2019ve had in this organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou never want to be the guy that you feel like you made the mistake that cost the game, but like I told him, we\u2019ve made mistakes all season that could\u2019ve put us in better positions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blue Bombers head coach Mike O\u2019Shea, who worked with Grant for four seasons in Winnipeg, delivered similar comments.<\/p>\n

\u201cJanarion Grant is a Hall of Fame returner,\u201d he said. \u201cThose things happen to Hall of Fame returners.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grant signed a contract extension in the days prior to the 2026 season, though his status is still publicly up in the air for next year. But at least according to his GM, he seems welcome back for another year, despite the crushing end to the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, yes, yes,\u201d Clemons said regarding if he\u2019d like Grant to return for another season. \u201cAbsolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Adam Laskaris is a Toronto-based reporter who first got his start winning a Toronto Public Library short story contest at age five. He has experience covering a wide variety of sports, and currently focuses on the Argonauts and CFL topics at large.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo: Guang Quan\/3DownNation. All rights reserved. At 5:08 p.m. local time, Toronto Argonauts returner Janarion Grant finally stood…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":954125,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194291],"tags":[166835,166836,100127,22069,49,48,7028,520,174630,527,20610,114898,178645,174340,208493,183583,3302],"class_list":["post-954124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-3down","tag-3downnation","tag-argonauts","tag-argos","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian","tag-cfl","tag-clemons","tag-football","tag-grant","tag-janarion-grant","tag-michael-clemons","tag-mike-clemons","tag-pinball","tag-returner","tag-toronto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954124","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=954124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/954125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=954124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=954124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=954124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}