In the lead-up to Sunday’s Grey Cup game, Toronto Argonauts’ head coach Ryan Dinwiddie felt the need to make amends with veteran receiver DaVaris Daniels.
“I sent a message to DaVaris at probably like one o’clock last night, just how much I appreciate him. We had a tough conversation this year,” the 43-year-old said at the podium on Friday.
“I wasn’t very pleased with the receivers and I know he didn’t really appreciate my approach to them. They understand what I meant then and they get it now. I was pushing those guys. We’ve got to be better and I expected those guys to carry us when Chad (Kelly) wasn’t around.”
So, what was the mid-season message that the former CFL Coach of the Year felt he had to give to his group of pass catchers? It was simple, succinct, and right to the point.
“I just said, ‘Hey guys, trade deadline’s coming up in three weeks,’” Dinwiddie stated. “That’s exactly what I said.”
The Argonauts struggled to find consistency through the first half of the 2024 season, opening the year with a pair of victories before losing four of their next six. Much of that turmoil came while star quarterback Chad Kelly was suspended nine games for violating the CFL’s gender-based violence policy, leaving the passing offence in shambles.
Backups Cameron Dukes, Nick Arbuckle and Bryan Scott all saw time under centre, but the team didn’t manage a 300-yard passing game until Kelly returned in Week 12. That was accompanied by lacklustre outings from receivers like Daniels, who had yet to crack 50 yards in a game by the mid-way point of the season.
Dinwiddie had already made one major move to the receiving corps, axing Rasheed Bailey in Week 7 despite him leading the team in yardage at the time. He still felt he needed more from the unit and let them know it in particularly blunt fashion, drawing the ire of the group’s reigning East Division all-star.
“I don’t think (Daniels) liked to hear it. I think he understands why I said it then. Was I going to trade him? No, but I just wanted those guys to have awareness,” the coach said. “My veteran receivers have got to perform and they’ve got to do it in practice, not just on game day. We were pretty sloppy in practice and it led us to not being where we needed to be on game day.”
Daniels has known Dinwiddie for the entirety of his CFL career, having started as a rookie with the Calgary Stampeders in 2016 when the latter was the quarterbacks coach. After a brief separation in 2019, the pair reunited in Toronto post-pandemic and have had tremendous success, including a Grey Cup title in 2022. With the 31-year-old target coming off his first career 1,000-yard campaign last year, his coach felt the need to give tough love when the results weren’t up to par.
“I’m a hard critic on them and especially on DaVaris. I’ve been around him a long time. His son, Jett, is best friends with this guy right here,” Dinwiddie said, indicating toward his own son.
“It’s a player-coach relationship, but also we’re friends and I’m gonna treat him a little bit harder, almost like he’s your son. Like my dad used to treat me even in practice when he coached me. They’re gonna be the hardest on the people that they’re close to.”
Daniels finished the season with 48 catches for 622 yards and two touchdowns — the worst season of his eight-year CFL career. However, he picked it up slightly down the stretch and scored a pair of touchdowns in the team’s East Semi-Final win over Ottawa.
The rest of the receiving corps has risen to the occasion as well, with Dinwiddie pointing to a switch being flipped around Week 11 or 12. Rookie Makai Polk has been the story, putting up impressive second-half numbers en route to a thousand-yard campaign, but others have also improved their play by bringing greater physicality and effort — first in practice and later in games.
“Their work ethic and their focus is really improved. They drank the Kool-Aid,” Dinwiddie said.
“The attention to details there, the urgency is there — they’ve really grown. They’re stalk-blocking on the edge. Everything we’ve got to do, we’ve got to make sure we do it to the best of our ability. I told our receivers, ‘We don’t have a fullback, we don’t have a tight end.’ Those guys have got to get their hands bloody. We do a lot of dirty work at the receiver position, so I’m pleased with the growth.”
Dinwiddie believes at least a portion of that is due to Daniel’s leadership in the room, a fact he felt the need to recognize via late-night text. The hope is that the improved play will continue on Sunday, November 17 in the 111th Grey Cup against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, despite Chad Kelly being sidelined once again.
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