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O’Leary: Chambers greeted in Hamilton with familiar faces
His coach has about two thirds of his name pronounced correctly, he’s crashing at his best friend’s place and his wardrobe is limited for now to what he had packed for his bye week, plus whatever team-issued garb he can get his hands on.
It might sound like Shamawd Chambers’ life is less-than-pleasant right now, but the newest member of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats is very happy to be where he is, even if he’s doing things on the fly this week.
“I’m blessed to have so many people here that I already know that are helping me get through it faster,” Chambers said on Tuesday, after his second practice with his new team. He’ll get the start at wide receiver on Friday in BC against the Lions.
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In his second practice with the Ticats, Shamawd Chambers is already starting to feel at home (Ticats.ca)
The Markham, Ont. native spent the first four years of his career with Edmonton, after the Eskimos took him sixth overall in the 2012 Draft. He signed as a free-agent with Saskatchewan in 2016 and re-signed with Edmonton during the off-season. An injury slowed him out of the gate this year and the Eskimos traded him to Hamilton on Sunday for the Ticats’ seventh-round pick in 2018 and fifth-round pick in 2019.
Chambers had four catches for 40 yards in six games with the Eskimos.
There were some familiar faces waiting for him in Hamilton. He and Jeremiah Masoli were rookies together in 2012 and offensive tackle Tony Washington made the move from Edmonton to Hamilton this season as well.
The first person that Chambers thought of when he found out he’d been traded, though, was Simoni Lawrence. Like Masoli, Lawrence started his CFL career in Edmonton in 2012. The two hit it off from Day 1 and became roommates.
“It’s funny because Simoni went to the University of Minnesota and my close family friends are Cory Joseph and his older brother Devoe Joseph,” Chambers said of the basketball-playing duo. “(Lawrence and Devoe Joseph) went to university together.
“And when we were in Edmonton we were two 23-year-olds in his white Camaro,” Chambers said, laughing, “trying to figure out how to be professionals.”
The two were inseparable that year. When Lawrence was traded to Hamilton the following winter, Chambers’ family made sure to take care of him.
“His mom’s been looking after me,” Lawrence said. “She’s right there in Markham. She makes food for me, she comes to my games. It’s a big family.”
As Lawrence settled into life in Hamilton and established himself as a premier linebacker in the league, Chambers’ family was a fixture at his games. When the Eskimos came into Toronto for games, it became commonplace to see Lawrence in the stands with Chambers’ family, watching.
Chambers said their friendship is an honest one. They push each other to be better and they don’t hold back. Which brings us to Lawrence, exhausted from Tuesday’s hot practice. Crumpled into a chair in the Ticats’ media centre, he’s happy to be reunited with his friend, making jokes about charging him $500 a day in rent. He gets serious when he comes to Chambers’ future in this league, though.
“I think he’s going to help this team out tremendously and I think we’re going to help him out tremendously,” he said.
“He’s never reached his true potential and I feel like just being around a locker room like this (will be good for him), where we’re going to push the s— out of him. I feel like he should be one of the best Canadian receivers in this league right now and he knows how I feel about that. Him just being around me, I won’t let him be nothing but above average.”
Now 28, Chambers has some good, but not spectacular seasons on his resume. He won a Grey Cup with the Eskimos in 2015 and was the game’s Most Valuable Canadian, but is yet to crack the 500-yard receiving mark in his career. Caught behind some superstar receivers and slowed by injuries over the years, the opportunities haven’t found him yet.
“No one was upset about me coming here. not a single person.”
Chambers on being traded to Hamilton
“I thought that signing back to Edmonton and when Ed (Hervey) was there, I thought it was going to be a good fit,” he said.
“I thought it was going to be a place where I could be for a very long period of time and have success and possibly move on to different things. I knew that he would help me get to the next point in my life and that was obviously an exciting part.
“When the person that brings you back in gets let go, you start to think about things a little differently and re-think your plans because you don’t know anybody in the building.
“I kind of felt like I was a new guy, even though I was in that locker room for four years before. Not by the guys (the players) but, obviously the coaches didn’t know me. I just felt new. I didn’t feel like they looked at me as an Eskimo. That was kind of a different situation. That’s going to happen. You have to prove yourself to any coaching staff that you don’t know.”
There’s no question that Chambers is an Ed Hervey guy. The Esks’ former GM showed Chambers the business side of pro football, and he appreciated that.
“He was teaching me little things in the business, when we’d go through contract agreements and just a little talking about scouting and what he looks for and talent and everything like that, the intangibles that he looks for in people,” Chambers said.
“That’s what made me intrigued with getting into that line of business, especially when you have someone that’s investing in you. We stay in contact. I definitely would have enjoyed that route but I’m OK with where I’m at today.”
Chambers is hopeful that his post-playing days are still years away. There’s a lot to accomplish on the field and in the short-term, plenty to accomplish off the field. He’ll swing by his old place in Edmonton after the Ticats’ game on Friday, pack up his stuff and ship his car out to Ontario. And when he gets back, he’ll be able to enjoy some of his mom’s home cooking with Lawrence.
“No one was upset about me coming here. not a single person,” Chambers said. “This was a better opportunity for me and thats what made it more exciting.”
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