Longtime Calgary Stampeders kicker Rene Paredes re-signs with CFL club

The Calgary Stampeders have re-signed Canadian kicker Rene Paredes.

The undrafted free agent out of Montreal’s Concordia University will enter his 10th season with the Stamps in 2021.

The native of Pierrefonds, Que., won Grey Cups with the Stamps in 2014 and ’18.

The six-time team captain was the league’s most outstanding special teams player in 2013 and has been named both a West Division and CFL all-star on four occasions.

In 2019, Paredes was 43-of-52 on field goals and made 30 of 31 converts. He also kicked off 80 times for an average of 64.4 yards. For his career, he has made 86.4 per cent of his field goal attempts with a career-long of 52 yards.

“I’m excited to reunite with my teammates after this long layoff,” Paredes said in a statement. “Calgary is home to my family and I and this is where I want to be.”

The Stamps also re-signed Calgary-born receiver Colton Hunchak, signed American offensive lineman Leon Johnson and announced American offensive lineman D.J. Coker has exercised his right to opt back into his contract for 2021.

ROUGHRIDERS RE-SIGN THREE

The Saskatchewan Roughriders have re-signed Canadian offensive lineman Josiah St. John, American receiver Carlos Henderson and Mexican offensive lineman Rene Brassea.

The Toronto-born St. John signed with the Roughriders in 2020 before the season was cancelled.

The first overall pick in the 2016 CFL draft by Saskatchewan, St. John played with the Roughriders for three seasons before spending time with B.C., Toronto and Edmonton.

Brassea was selected sixth overall in the first draft of Mexican players in 2019. The 31-year-old lineman played in 17 games during his CFL rookie campaign, including the West final.

Henderson, a third-round pick of the Denver Broncos in 2017, played one game for Saskatchewan in 2019 before being injured. 

GERMAN RETURNS TO BOMBERS

German defensive lineman Thiadric Hansen has signed a one-year extension with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Picked second overall in the league’s CFL inaugural European draft, Hansen finished the 2019 season with five tackles, one sack and two forced fumbles.

Hansen made two big plays during the Bombers’ Grey Cup run — a tackle on a goal-line stand in the West final against Saskatchewan and a hit on two Hamilton players on a kickoff return in the Grey Cup.

Hansen signed with the Warsaw Panthers of Poland’s Liga Futbou Amerykanskiego last year after the CFL season was cancelled. He was a unanimous selection to American Football International’s All-Pandemic Team.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 6, 2021.

The Canadian Press