Hot off yesterday's trade sending Third Edge of the Sword favourite Maurice Price to Ottawa, today the Eskimos made the long-feared move and traded Fred Stamps to Montreal in return for Kenny Stafford.
Stamps, 33, has registered 496 catches for 7,932 yards and 49 touchdowns over eight CFL seasons.We'll certainly miss Fred Stamps...I can already fast-forward in my brain to later tonight on Whyte Avenue, where K'mpec will tell us the story of when he saw Fred Stamps minus the afro at Diamond's. Actually, since we're on Whyte we may have to Uber down in his honour.
"Fred Stamps has been one of the top receivers in the CFL over the last five years," Montreal GM Jim Popp said in a statement. "This addition adds strength, character, and another high-level performer to our solid receiving core."
Stamps recorded five straight 1,000-yard seasons with Edmonton (2009-13) and was named a CFL all-star four times over that span. He led the league in receiving yards in '09 and '13 with 1,402 and 1,259, respectively.
The good news, if there is much (Stafford recorded 11.5 yards per carry last season, Stamps is 16.0 in his career, 16.5 is his disappointing season this past year), is that the initial rumours pegged Stamps going to the Argonauts (that is what K'mpec texted me earlier today, fortunately the real news wasn't far behind). Even though they're getting older and past their prime, the combination of Fred Stamps and Ricky Ray wasn't something anybody in the CFL was looking forward to. (In 2007 and 2008, Ricky Ray had a 101.6 and 101.9 QB rating).
We're sad to see Stamps go. We're just glad he didn't go to Calgary.
