DaVaris Daniels didn’t wait for the birth of his first child to start changing his life.
The 26-year-old receiver’s first step was a big one – leaving the Grey Cup champion Calgary Stampeders to sign a free-agent contract with the arch-rival Eskimos on Feb. 12.
“I realized that every decision I make is no longer for myself,” said Daniels. “I’ve got to make decisions for my family.
“This is a well-organized family organization,” he continued. “They made it feel like home. They made it feel like the right choice. I had to make that decision for (his newborn son, Jett) and everything I’ve got going on. I’m just blessed to be in the situation I am here with the Eskimos.”
Of course, changing sides in this intense provincial rivalry involves more than just driving three hours north on the Queen Elizabeth II highway.
“I’m starting to get a little comfortable over here,” Daniels said after a training camp session at The Brick Field at Commonwealth Stadium. “The Eskimos made us feel like home. I got the same locker from the Grey Cup (the Stampeders used the Eskimos locker room during the CFL’s championship game last November). It just felt like the right place to be.
“Some new colours, for sure,” he added. “The other side of the rivalry. But that competition is still there in me. I’m on this side now, and I feel the same way about Calgary now that I did about these guys last year.
“It’s fun to me. I’m happy to be here with the guys who came in, and we’re ready to get everything started.”
Keeping with the theme of ‘out with the old and in with the new,’ which is more common at the start of each new year, Daniels also changed his number from 89 that he wore in Calgary to 80 with the Esks.
“I just wanted a change,” he explained. “I came in (wearing 89) as a rookie, not really knowing the Canadian game. Now that I know it and I feel like I can play in the league – I feel like I’m one of the top guys if I can have a healthy season – I want just to start a new trend, a new everything. Just be a new person, be a new man, a new father. Everything is new, so the switch-up was necessary.”
Speaking about being a new father, Jett was born on Mar. 29.
“It’s amazing,” Daniels said. “He was born, and it was like an instant change.
“We knew it was a boy. We had a little gender reveal (party). I was super excited, man. Hopefully, I can get him out here and get him on the field early.”
Will Jett be a football player, too?
“We’ll see,” said Daniels. “I think he’ll be pretty tall. His grandparents were pretty tall so basketball might be in his future.”
The six-foot-one, 203-pound wide receiver has been in the CFL for three seasons, winning the league’s Most Outstanding Rookie award in 2016. During that time, he has been a constant thorn in the Eskimos’ side, especially during the back-to-back Labour Day week games. Four of his 10 CFL 100-yard receiving performances have come against Edmonton, including his only two triple-digit games last season – seven catches for 116 yards and a touchdown plus four receptions for 116 yards and a TD during the first week of September.
“It’s the type of game it is,” Daniels said. “Any kind of big-time game that’s a rivalry game, the crowd is big, you get a lot of viewers, it’s a lot of pressure, there’s a lot more at stake. Those are the type of games that I get up for. Grey Cups, everything like that. I’m just a competitor, and I try to put my best foot forward in those types of games.”
Asked if he signed Daniels to stop him from wreaking havoc against the Eskimos, General Manager and Vice-President of Football Operations Brock Sunderland laughed.
“It doesn’t hurt that we’re taking him away from a division rival, but the main thing was he’s a good football player,” said Sunderland, who recalled Daniels’ dominant performance during his rookie season in ’16. “He’s a big, athletic, productive football player who is a good person and extremely intelligent, so all those reasons are why we signed him.”
Daniels hasn’t played more than 13 games in any CFL season so far because of injuries. He played only 12 games last year after breaking his collarbone on Sept. 15 and was held out of both the West Division Final and Grey Cup game, even though he thought he was healthy enough to play.
“It didn’t work out that way for whatever reason,” he said. “It sucks not to play. I’m a competitor. I always want to be out on the field. To have that happen after losing two (Grey Cups in 2017 and 2016), it hurt a little bit, but it wasn’t a deciding factor on why I came here. It was more family-oriented (decision).”