Argos extend wide receiver Bruce
Wide receiver Arland Bruce III will be back with the Toronto Argonauts after signing a contract extension that runs through the end of the 2011 CFL season.
Bruce, 31, will enter his sixth season with Toronto.
He was fifth in the league last season with a career-high 91 catches, accumulating 1,210 receiving yards and scoring nine touchdowns.
Bruce could have become a free agent next month but didn't bother waiting to explore his options. Life in Toronto works for him and he's excited about coming back to team up with quarterback Kerry Joseph under new coach Bart Andrus.
"The fans and the community have made Toronto my home away from home," he said in a statement. "I’m looking forward to a winning season under Coach [Bart] Andrus – specifically, one that ends with a Grey Cup championship in Calgary."
Bruce entered the CFL in 2001 with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. He played two seasons and then tried to catch on with the NFL, seeing limited duty with the San Francisco 49ers.
He has totalled 426 receptions and 61 TDs in the CFL. During the 2004 playoffs, he recorded 10 catches and a touchdown as the Argonauts won their most recent Grey Cup.
That production has been integral to the Argos and Bruce wants to carry more of the load, something he plans to ask Andrus when they finally meet.
"I'm looking forward to meeting with him face-to-face and seeing what direction he's going in," said Bruce. "Being a five-year veteran with the Argonauts, I'm looking for all the responsibilities that come with that."
Andrus was introduced Friday as the man who will try to turn the Boatmen's ship around after a 4-14 campaign.
In 2008, Toronto finished worst in the league in offensive points.
Bruce pointed out all the issues the Argos had to face last season — from former head coach Rich Stubler's ill-advised attempt at having Joseph and Michael Bishop share time under centre, to the mid-season change that brought in Don Matthews to replace Stubler as head coach — and suggested it all held the team back.
Things bottomed out under Stubler's successor, Don Matthews, who resigned after going 0-8. The Argos finished third in the East Division but missed the playoffs for the first time since 2001.
"I think the attitude got better toward the end of the season, when we kind of figured out the team we were," said Bruce. "Right now you can probably go in earlier in the year to say what kind of team we are. But all the things we did with the quarterback issues, the coaching issues, the defensive change issues, there were a lot of things we went through.
"The only thing I don't think we went through was like a beheading of the team, but everything else, we went through the trials and tribulations and our record shows that."
There's been plenty of changes since, including the release of veteran safety Kenny Wheaton and the retirement of Chuck Winters. Cornerback Jordan Younger, returning after one year in Edmonton, is among the additions to the roster.
Andrus, of course, is the key cog, and the hope is his background as an offensive assistant with the NFL's Tennessee Titans will help the Argos turn around their offence.