Duron Carter’s next CFL stop will be Toronto.
A source told The Canadian Press on Friday night the free-agent receiver will be signing with the Toronto Argonauts. Carter was released Aug. 11 by the Saskatchewan Roughriders and recently visited the Argos.
Toronto was in action Friday night in Montreal against the Alouettes. The Argos’ next game will be Sept. 3 in Hamilton against the arch-rival Tiger-Cats.
Carter’s decision to join the Argos is bad news for the Ticats. They lost veteran receiver Chris Williams to a season-ending Achilles injury in their 25-24 home win over the Edmonton Eskimos on Thursday night.
Afterwards, Hamilton head coach June Jones was asked whether he had any interest in Carter.
“It’s funny you bring that up,” Jones said. “I was just thinking that in the locker room.”
But that’s moot now as the six-foot-five, 205-pound Carter will be reunited with Argos GM Jim Popp, receiver S.J. Green and linebacker Bear Woods. Carter began his CFL career with the Alouettes in 2013 when Popp was the club’s general manager and both Green and Woods were players with the club.
But the colourful Carter, 27, was also taking some time to relax. He was on Instagram Live fishing on a jet ski Thursday night and Friday morning reportedly from a cottage owned by his uncle, Butch Carter, the former Toronto Raptors head coach.
Duron Carter also took questions from fans as he fished. It’s the only way they can interact with the outgoing receiver, who recently deleted his very entertaining Twitter account.
“Twitter’s full of too many silly ass people,” Carter said.
Carter was asked if he’s thinking of joining the Ticats.
“You don’t reach out to a team and be like, ‘Hey, you guys want me,’” Carter said. “Ya’ll don’t understand free agency or getting cut.
“I don’t think ya’ll understand players. Period. Dude just got hurt. You should be more worried about dude getting hurt than having me come replace him. What the hell is that?”
Carter said he’d just started fishing on a brilliantly sunny morning but the fish weren’t co-operating. His most pressing need was for a pair of polarized sunglasses to not only cut the glare coming off the water but also give him clearer vision of what was going on beneath the surface.
“Nah, no bites yet, I just got out here, like, 20 minutes ago,” he said. “I need some glass (so) I could see through the water so I could just throw my lure right next to a fish.
“Hopefully they are hungry this morning. I mean, they should be. They’re fish right?”
One fan reminded Carter that tremendous fishing exists in Saskatchewan. However, Carter admitted he never sampled it during his time with the Riders.
Earlier, Carter had a post where he said he’d caught two fish that evening but didn’t say what species, their size or what lake he was on.
Carter has registered 266 catches for 4,031 yards with 26 TDs in 65 career CFL games with Montreal and Saskatchewan. He was the Riders’ leading receiver last year with 1,043 yards and eight TDs on 73 catches but spent most of the 2018 campaign on defence, recording eight catches for 111 yards and a touchdown this season before being released.
Carter was twice named a CFL all-star (2014, 2017).
Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press