Next Game
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THE CANADIAN PRESS/ARGONAUTS.CA STAFF
For Argos CB Byron Parker, it would be somewhat accurate to say that in certain ways, it feels like the veteran corner never left the first place he truly called his football home.
The Argonauts didn’t wait long to dip into the CFL’s free-agent waters and bring the versatile defender back to Toronto where he spent all but six games of his career.
The former Tulane product returned to the Argos last August after signing the previous off-season with the Philadelphia Eagles of the NFL but was traded to Edmonton soon thereafter.
Parker, who was also in conversation with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, said his familiarity with Toronto played a role in his final decision.
“I love it there,” Parker said. “I’m familiar with the city and the people are familiar with me. I have people up there who I consider my family. And it’s also easy for my family to get in and out of, as far as if they want to drive up of if they want to fly up.”
Parker holds Argos club records for most interception return yards in a season (348 in 2006), interception return yards in a game (135 versus Hamilton on Sept. 9, 2006), career touchdowns by interception (six) and single-season touchdowns by interception (four).
Parker, who makes his off-season home in Atlanta, initially said that being free to choose where he’d play was exciting but now he’s just glad to know where he’ll be in 2010.
“It was exciting at the beginning of the day,” Parker said. “But then, when your phone rings all day, it feels like college recruiting all over again. So it was like, ‘I’m excited to be recruited, but I’m ready for it to be over with.”