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You have to figure there will be several veteran players in all of professional sports whose careers are going to be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. But one that I find myself wondering about more than most as we wait to find out when they all return to action is one who became an Eskimo the day Reilly departed.

Eskimos GM Brock Sunderland signed SirVincent Rogers as a cornerstone to continue to protect new quarterback Trevor Harris as he had for Ottawa.

The six-foot-four 319-pound player from Jasper, Texas who won the CFL Award as most outstanding offensive lineman the same year Reilly won his MOP, turns 34 June 9. The last game he played was the 2019 Grey Cup game in Commonwealth Stadium for Ottawa, suffered a season-ending injury on his first day of training camp as an Eskimo last season.

“Emotionally, I’m anxious,” said Rogers from his off-season home in Houston.

“Since it was revealed that I would likely miss all of last season, I’ve rehabbed my tricep and trained in preparation for my return to play. I spent the entire season doing off-season style conditioning workouts and carried that right into the actual off-season. I’ve been grinding to return to the dominant style of play I’ve been accustomed to contributing.”

Not many people focus on the offensive lineman when a training camp opens and the Eskimos had so many new people at skill positions last year when camp opened that next to nobody saw Rogers get hurt.

“I tore my left tricep off the bone in a one-on-one pass rush drill,” he said.