Duron Carter doesn’t view his selection as the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ most outstanding player as some sort of vindication.
When the wide receiver signed as a free agent with the CFL team in the off-season, he brought some perceived baggage with him.
In 2016, for example, the then-Montreal Alouettes receiver was suspended for one game after he bumped into Ottawa Redblacks head coach Rick Campbell along the sideline. Disputes during the season with then-Als quarterback Rakeem Cato also led to negative perceptions about Carter.
In Carter’s mind, Wednesday’s news that he had been nominated for the CFL award as most outstanding player didn’t say anything about his past.
“I literally haven’t changed one bit; not at all,” he said Thursday. “I’ve been doing the same things ever since I came in the league, so it really just shows what (others) have got going on more than what I have going on.”
Carter, who also was nominated for the award in 2014 when he was with the Alouettes, enters Saturday’s game against the visiting Edmonton Eskimos with 73 catches for a team-leading 1,043 receiving yards and eight touchdowns this season.
The 26-year-old from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., also has played cornerback at times and has registered four defensive tackles and one interception. On special teams, he has returned 15 punts for 115 yards and one missed convert for 113 yards and two points.
“It feels great to be recognized for what you’re doing during the season,” Carter said. “But nothing has changed for me. I feel like I could have played a lot better. I’ve got five or six games of 12 yards or less (receiving) or something like that.”
Carter’s season has featured spectacular plays on offence (including a leaping, backhanded, one-handed touchdown catch against the Toronto Argonauts on July 29) and defence (such as his 43-yard pick-six against the Calgary Stampeders on Oct. 20).
But he also had a role in a fight during a practice Oct. 16, an incident that had Carter’s detractors revisiting his past.
Roughriders head coach-GM Chris Jones has tried to keep Carter on the straight and narrow by having daily meetings with him this season. For Jones, those chats have been vital in Carter’s progress.
“It’s good for both of us so that we both have clarity about exactly what each other is thinking,” Jones said. “We know each other’s expectations and certainly he knows what our expectation levels as a team are and as an organization are.
“I think that is important. The more clarification and communication, the better.”
Carter faces some stiff competition for the West Division’s nomination for the MOP award, including Edmonton quarterback Mike Reilly. But the first-year Roughrider has done something no other nominee has done: He has played both ways.
That could have swayed voters for him in Saskatchewan.
“The last five games of the season are always sort of jaded when it comes to votes like these,” Carter said. “It’s the last games you remember.
“I’ve got another game coming up (Saturday). If I have another big one, hopefully it can boost me up a little bit above a quarterback. Those quarterbacks always win it, don’t they?”
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Carter didn’t practise Wednesday — “I made some tacos. I think I ate some bad sour cream,” he said Thursday when asked about his absence — and he isn’t sure what his role will be Saturday.
In Calgary on Oct. 20, Carter played every snap on defence. On Friday against the Alouettes, he took snaps at cornerback and at receiver.
So does he know what’s up Saturday against Edmonton?
“I have no idea how much I’ll be playing, if at all,” Carter replied. “I didn’t know last game until right before the game.
“I think Coach Jones has some type of ticker in his head and he’s just like, ‘Yeah, that sounds good.’ ”
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Shakir Bell has been running a business in Indianapolis, but he ran back to the CFL when Jones called with an offer to play football again.
The 25-year-old tailback signed Wednesday with the Roughriders, who plan to use Marcus Thigpen at tailback Saturday with Cameron Marshall (knee) and Trent Richardson (ankle) sidelined.
Jones said Bell won’t play against the Eskimos, but he is a good insurance policy for the playoffs. That role is just fine with Bell.
“I’ve been getting my head back in the (play)book and making sure that I’m staying football ready,” he said. “Wherever Coach needs me at — whether that be on the P.R., on the sideline or on the field — I’m going to be prepared to do whatever I need to help the team get a win.”
Bell played 15 games with the Eskimos over the 2015 and ’16 seasons, recording 181 carries for 1,058 yards and two touchdowns and 34 receptions for 312 yards and two TDs. Jones and his coaching staff were in Edmonton in 2015, so Bell is familiar with Saskatchewan’s offence.
He signed with the Redblacks in May but was released in June. Since then, he has been operating a company that works with students during the transition period between their junior and senior years of high school or their senior years of high school and their first years of college.
“It was something I was very passionate about,” Bell said. “I’ve had a lot of different transitions football-wise, so for me to go back and tell my story and help other young men with it has been a blessing for me.”
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Saskatchewan went 2-4-0 in the first third of the regular season and 4-2-0 in the second.
If the Roughriders can beat Edmonton on Saturday, they’ll be 5-1-0 in the final third.
“Going into the playoffs, you want to finish things on a positive note and keep things trending in the right direction,” Jones said. “Certainly, we’ve played some good football. We stubbed our toe here at home in that one-point loss to Ottawa (33-32 on Oct. 13); otherwise, we’d be undefeated in the last third.
“We just want to play good football.”
