Schoen laments recent past but has eye on future

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This article was published 21/11/2022 (764 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s been two days since the Winnipeg Blue Bombers fell flat in the championship game but many still had watery eyes as they cleaned out their lockers at IG Field on Tuesday.

Moments after losing the 109th Grey Cup 24-23 to the Toronto Argonauts in Regina, rookie receiver Dalton Schoen said he felt like he’d lost a part of his body.

The pain had subsided only marginally less than 48 hours later.

“You know, it’s sunk it a little bit more. Obviously, there’s almost like shellshock after the game. You’re sitting there and not even knowing how it happened,” said Schoen on Tuesday.

“But with the time to reflect on it, you just realize you didn’t play a good football game and didn’t make enough plays to win. But there’s still, obviously, a lot of positives to take from the season. I think why it hurt so bad in the moment and why it still hurts is because of the quality of the people that are here, and you know how much everyone put into this.”

The Bombers have a lot of things up in the air heading into the offseason, but one of the biggest, and most important, questions is whether Schoen will be playing three-down football next year.

The CFL’s Most Outstanding Rookie award winner, who led the CFL in receiving touchdowns (16) and yards (1,441), is expected to have NFL interest. It’s a process that could start immediately as there are players around the CFL, such as Saskatchewan Roughriders receiver Kian Schaffer-Baker (who worked out for the Jacksonville Jaguars on Monday) that already have NFL workouts scheduled in the coming days/weeks.

“Those are conversations that will be had here in the future. I think my agent did a great job because we had the same thought process. He just kept telling me all year long to focus on the Grey Cup and that’s all I wanted to do,” said Schoen.

“He just said we’d work on the other stuff when the time comes. The Grey Cup has been my sole driving focus the whole time, I haven’t thought about anything else, so that’s stuff that remains to be seen in the future.”

Prior to coming to Winnipeg, Schoen, now 26, spent some time with the Los Angeles Chargers, Kansas City Chiefs (on two separate occasions), and Washington Commanders and failed to stick with any of them. Despite his incredible season, the Kansas State product hasn’t had anywhere near the same buzz as B.C. Lions quarterback Nathan Rourke who has over 20 NFL teams interested in his services.

Bombers brass hasn’t heard much from Schoen in terms of talking to teams down south, and if nothing comes to fruition, they’d be thrilled to have him back in blue and gold in 2023.

“I hope he gets that opportunity. I think he will have some opportunities. Knowing him the way that I do now, I wouldn’t be surprised. Obviously, I want him back on our team selfishly, but Dalton’s going to do great things whatever it is he does,” said quarterback Zach Collaros.

“You just want an opportunity. Somebody to like you and give you a shot. If he gets that, he’s going to play at a very high level. I don’t think the waggle was it. If he was playing on the ball all season long, he would’ve done the exact same stuff that he was doing. I think adding him to the locker room anywhere makes the organization better.”

Schoen stressed how much he enjoyed this season in Winnipeg and that he’d be happy to return. But if he’s given another NFL shot, he’s confident he can show he belongs there.

“I’ve always been confident in myself as a player, no matter what the level is. I always just felt that I needed the opportunity. I came out during the COVID year. And in this profession, it takes more than just talent to make it. It takes the right opportunity. Same thing it took for me here,” said Schoen.

“I very easily could’ve came up here and not gotten a good look in camp and been sent home. But things worked out for me in the right way. I’m hopeful that no matter what the next step is, I’m gonna just continue to be confident in myself as a player and hope that I get a good opportunity.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31