Chad Owens goes from Argos to Ticats, boosting that rivalry

One of the faces of the Toronto Argonauts is heading to their most-hated rivals. That would be receiver/returner Chad Owens, who's been a key component of the Argos for years, earning four league all-star nods, winning the CFL's Most Outstanding Player award in 2012 and helping the team win a hometown Grey Cup that year. TSN's Matthew Scianitti reported Thursday that Owens has signed a one-year deal with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. It's a shift of less then 70 kilometres from the Argos' new home at BMO Field to the Ticats' Tim Hortons Field, but it will be a big change for Owens, from double blue to black and gold, and it it's one that should help further stoke an already-heated rivalry. Here's the farewell Owens gave to Argonauts' fans:

And the welcome he received from Hamilton quarterback Zach Collaros:

Owens has long been highly-associated with the Argos, and for good reason; they're where he really made his mark in professional football. The 5'6'' Owens had a great college career at Hawaii (coached by former Argo June Jones, even), and left as the school's leader with 5,461 all-purpose yards, but his size meant he wasn't taken as seriously by the NFL as he might have been. He was drafted in the sixth round by Jacksonville in 2005, but spent most of his time with them (2005-06, then 2007-08, with a brief interval with Tampa Bay in between) on the practice squad, and wound up in the Arena Football League in 2008. He then came to Canada with the Montreal Alouettes in 2009, but was mostly on their practice roster, playing in only one game. Toronto picked him up for a fourth-round pick the following offseason, and it turned out to be a great investment.

Owens started his Toronto career primarily as a special-teams dynamo, earning the league's top special teams player award in 2010 after leading the league in punt, kickoff, missed field goal returns and all-purpose yards and picking up a league all-star nod as a returner. He also had 576 receiving yards, and would bolster that part of his game even further in the years to come, collecting 722 in 2011 and 1,328 in 2012. Owens had a great year returning as well, and broke Pinball Clemons' league record for all-purpose yards, finishing with 3,863. That saw him become one of only four non-quarterbacks in the last 10 years to win the CFL's Most Outstanding Player award.

Owens went on to have strong 2013 and 2014 campaigns, with 979 and 989 receiving yards respectively, but was used less in the returning game. 2015 was a bit of a step back for him; the Argos had three young receivers emerge and take bigger roles, and Owens only finished with 570 receiving yards. It's understandable why the team might be going in a different direction given their other receiving talent, and Owens' previous contract extension reportedly made him the highest-paid non-quarterback in the CFL at the time, so the Argos likely wanted him to take a big pay cut, which might have been a factor in this departure. Still, it's remarkable to see a guy who was such an important piece to this team on and off the field (Owens was a key figure in the Argos' various community and marketing events) heading off to their rivals, even if it's understandable given that they probably offered him more money and a more substantial role.

The question is how much Owens has left, and if his lesser stats in Toronto in 2015 were about his play or about him being asked to play a smaller role. He's 33 and has been playing pro football for almost a decade, so there's certainly at least a possibility that he doesn't have the speed he used to, and for a smaller player like Owens, speed is essential. However, he's still shown some great highlights lately, including one of the best catches of the year in October. We'll see what he can do with the Ticats, but if he can find that form more consistently, he may come back to haunt the Argos.