Adarius Bowman had one of the greatest seasons by an Eskimos receiver in 2016, but it required a lot of patience by both the player and the team for that to happen.
The six-foot-three, 215-pound Bowman started out with the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 2008 and spent two seasons with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 2009-10 before signing as a free agent with the Eskimos on Jan. 19, 2011.
He recorded his first 1,000-yard season that year – including a 10-catch outing for a career-high 226 yards and two touchdowns on Nov. 5 – but that was just a taste of things to come.
After tearing the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his left knee in the second game of the 2012 season, Bowman missed the rest of that year and half of the following season. And then he showed glimpses again of what was possible when Bowman was leaned heavily upon (44 catches for 697 yards) during the final nine games of 2013.
Bowman finally became a star in 2014, leading the league with an Eskimos club record 112 catches plus 1,456 receiving yards – 376 yards ahead of the nearest receiver. He had a league-high 93 catches with 1,304 yards in 2015, when he helped the Esks win their last Grey Cup with four catches for 73 yards, including a 23-yard touchdown.
Then he led the league again with a new club-record 120 catches and 1,761 yards in 2016. Both numbers were career highs, but he fell just shy of Brian Kelly’s team record 1,812 yards (set in 1983) when the Eskimos sat Bowman for the final game of the regular season. He also had a career-high nine TDs in ‘16.
Unfortunately, after three straight years as a CFL All-Star, the magic was gone for the 32-year-old Bowman in 2017. A hamstring injury knocked him out of the lineup early in the season and he finished with only 45 catches for 534 yards.
Meanwhile, Bowman received two awards for community service in 2017 after starting the Adarius 4 Autism foundation to raise awareness for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in honour of former teammate Brock Ralph’s daughter, Oakley. He took a hands-on role with the non-profit corporation, as well.
He became only the fourth Eskimo to receive the CFL Players’ Association’s Tom Pate Award for making a contribution to his team, community and association, and also received the Eskimos’ David Boone Memorial Award for an Eskimos player “who displays exceptional work in the community and represents the football club in an upstanding and professional manner.”
Bowman has made Edmonton his full-time home since his time in the CFL ended.