Getting this new contract done so soon after the end of the season was important for me because it helps me going into the off-season knowing where my home is going to be and what I need to look forward to.
All in all, it was the best-case scenario because I already knew my decision. Now if I hadn’t known my decision, things would have been different, but I knew a long time ago that Calgary was my first option and I was going to give them as many opportunities as possible to reach an agreement before looking anywhere else.
Three years is a lot of time to invest in one team and I wanted to keep going. I only see bright things happening from this point on.
This means a lot. I’m almost at a loss for words when I really think about. Not only did I re-sign, but they came to me early. It tells me a lot about what the coaching staff thinks about me. If they’re willing to go out on a limb early and say, “Hey, we want you. We want you to be a part of this organization,” then I thought it was important for me to make that decision early one way or another.
I was happy with it. Calgary is a great place, man. Everything about this place is cool. It’s not too big, it’s not too small. It works for me.
It was a major thing this year to get settled in at one position — middle linebacker — right from training camp through the entire season. Even going back to ’08, I played defensive end and there was no question of me playing anywhere else. While I was out there doing my job, I wasn’t being effective. I wasn’t that dominant guy and I didn’t have that confidence because I had never played that position.
I knew coming into this year, there was a great chance for me to play at linebacker. I didn’t know that it would be in the middle, but I did know it would be a linebacker position. Naturally, my confidence just kind of came back and it flowed with me from the first day of camp. I’m not trying to be arrogant about this, but I feel like I can’t be stopped at linebacker and I took that mentality to the field. That’s why I think I excelled this year as opposed to other years. Confidence has a lot to do with it.
I give the coaching staff a lot of credit. After two years of not being greatly productive, they could have gone a different route. They could have easily have gone and got another guy. But they kept me and gave me that shot, so my hat’s off to them.
This a fun defence to be a part of. You come to work every day and you know it’s going to be something different. There’s a routine, but there’s also something different every day. Coach Jones and the rest of the defensive staff allow me and the other players to play to our abilities, which makes it a lot of fun. He allows to cover, to blitz, to sit back . . . everything. That just makes the game more fun to play.
On top of all that, I love our fans. They’re great. Everyone talks about the fans in Saskatchewan, but I wouldn’t trade our fans for anyone. This is the first off-season that I’ll be staying here in Calgary and I’m looking forward to it. The whole point of getting the contract done early was that so I could get established here, start working out and getting ready for next season.
Juwan Simpson, #12
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