Free agent Ladler pursues NFL dream
They may be down one leagueleading receiver from last year, but as far as potential Edmonton Eskimos free agents go this offseason, there is still plenty of talent left for a chance to restock on familiar faces.
Not the least of whom is Kenny Ladler, an American defensive back who has patrolled the SAM linebacker position for the past two seasons since joining the Canadian Football League.
And while Brandon Zylstra was Edmonton’s most dangerous offensive weapon with a top-ranked 1,687 yards before signing as a futures free agent with the National Football League’s Minnesota Vikings last week, the same could be said about Ladler on the defensive side of the ball.
With defensive captain J.C. Sherritt absent with an Achilles injury suffered in the season-opening game, Ladler became the Eskimos’ top defensive playmaker with 86 tackles, 13 more on special teams, three interceptions, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and a blocked field goal.
“He’s (Sherritt) a former defensive player of the year in this league. It was a challenge that I was prepared to accept, and I just wanted to build off of where I was last year,” said the six-foot-one, 207-pound Ladler, a Vanderbilt product. “I wanted to help the team as much as possible by being a playmaker on the defence.
“It was a challenge that I’d be willing to accept for the rest of my pro football career.”
Though not necessarily in Edmonton.
The 25-year-old native of Stone Mountain, Ga., is pursuing NFL opportunities of his own this offseason — having worked out with the New York Jets and the Philadelphia Eagles in December — and not for the first time, either.
In fact, it was the two games he played during a short stint with the Buffalo Bills in 2014 that disqualified Ladler from being the shooin as Eskimos nominee for most outstanding rookie, a nod which, instead, went to Zylstra, who spent the first 12 games of that year on Edmonton’s practice roster.
“My resume was cut short from my rookie (NFL) season,” said Ladler, who signed as an undrafted free agent in Buffalo and was among its final training camp cuts in 2014, before being signed to their practice squad the next day and finally getting promoted to the active roster.
“I had broken my forearm, so I didn’t have any tape, really, to show after that.
“That’s the less-fortunate part about it. I didn’t have a real rookie season down south, but I still got credited for a season, so it made me ineligible to be rookie of the year up here. But at the same time, it’s still a blessing in disguise just to be able to have an opportunity to play again.”
And he certainly isn’t ruling out any possibility of returning to Edmonton to help finish what he started, especially after heading into free agency with a sense of unfinished business following back-to-back losses in the West Division final to the rival Calgary Stampeders.
“I think we put together a great campaign to make a run to the Grey Cup. I think we had a lot of
I didn’t have a real rookie season down south, but ... it made me ineligible to be rookie of the year up here.
highs throughout the season and a lot of lows that helped build us up to where we wanted to be,” he said. “Once we look back at the journey, it was a fun run.
“I felt like we still are one of the best teams in the CFL and we just didn’t have our moment to get to that ultimate goal. From that, we look back and appreciate the good times and the relationships we built with each other, the camaraderie and just appreciate how well we did.”
Ladler came into this off-season looking to make the most of any second chance that presents itself down south.
“I’ll definitely be exploring my options to see what opportunities present themselves,” he said following the locker-room cleanout at Commonwealth Stadium in November. “I’m excited about entering this process and about the doors that are coming to open and the window of opportunity for me to take advantage of.
“It’s a blessing to be able to play football, especially at the age of 25, so I’m just excited to be in this position.”
Ladler is one of 32 players currently set to become free agents on Feb. 13 on an Eskimos roster that began the off-season with a list of 37.