VANCOUVER – Toronto Argonauts v Winnipeg Blue Bombers Grey Cup November 17, 2024 PHOTO: Thomas Skrlj/CFL
It can be the most stressful period of a pro athlete’s life, but for Damonte Coxie the choice to sign with the Argos less than three weeks before the opening of free agency was a simple one.
“I was pretty sure I was coming back,” the receiver told Argonauts.ca. “Toronto is where I started. I didn’t plan on leaving and I’m glad we were able to make this happen.”
For many athletes, the money is the most important aspect of free agency. Others obviously take that into consideration, but also weigh several other factors; the city, the success of the team, and the relationship a player has with people he knows within the organization.
For Coxie, it wasn’t just the financial aspect that brought him back to the 6ix for the next two years.
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“It was a lot of different things,” he explained. “The money is going to come. If you have a good heart and good intentions, everything that is meant for you is going to happen. With this organization, I’m attached to everybody; it’s not just the players, it’s the training staff, the equipment guys, the coaches. A lot of ties have been built up here and we’ve put in a lot of work, so it’s hard to just leave because somebody is offering me something that sounds better. It’s way deeper than that, it’s the connections, the relationships with the guys we go through camp with. Some things you can’t buy.”
The importance of the Reserve, Louisiana native’s return to the receiving corps is heightened due to the loss of Makai Polk to the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons. It brings the number of veteran receivers under contract to eight, as he rejoins veteran Americans DaVaris Daniels and Jake Herslow, and Canadians Dejon Brissett, Dave Ungerer III, Kevin Mital, Tommy Nield, and Richie Sindani. They’ll be joined in camp by a handful of new pass catchers.
A year ago, Coxie led the CFL with an average of 20.2 yards per reception. While it fell to 14.6 yards per catch this year, he still led the Argos with 25 targets on passes of 25 or more yards, and in total targeted yards with 1,201.
He’s ready to continue in his role as one of the league’s premier deep threats, someone particularly adept at winning contested passes. Few, if any, are as good as the Memphis product when it comes to winning “50/50,” or “jump” balls.
Why is he so good at that?
“I want it, you’ve got to want it,” he said. “Sometimes athleticism plays a part in it, but sometimes how bad a person wants something will override that. I want jump balls. I love jump balls. I love to compete. I’m not trying to push off, I want us (Coxie and the defender) to go up; you jump, I jump, and let’s see who comes down with it. I feel like that’s the biggest flex for me, I feel like ‘if you can come and take this from me, try.’”
Coxie did that last year in a pair of extremely clutch situations. With time running out at the end of the first half in the Eastern Final, quarterback Chad Kelly launched a high, arcing pass from the Montreal 20-yard line to the back corner of the end zone. Coxie sprinted down the right sideline and won a jump ball against Lorenzo Burns, making a spectacular one-handed TD grab.
“Ya, I liked that catch, I ain’t gonna lie,” he said with a huge smile when asked about the play.
It came one play after Coxie caught a 44-yard pass, again despite tight coverage by Burns, to set up the opportunity to score the last-second touchdown.
Without those catches, who knows if the Argos make it to the Grey Cup final, a game they won handily over Winnipeg a week later.
For Coxie, it was a chance to play in a championship game, something an injury deprived him of in 2022.
“I was really sad I didn’t get a chance to play with my teammates in that ’22 year,” he said. “This year being able to play with them boys, and go out there and sweat, grind, and hit somebody and get hit, I felt like I was a part of the team that accomplished the win.”
Last year was a great one for Coxie. He set career highs with 59 catches and 860 yards, won a Grey Cup, and on December 5, he and his wife Khyla welcomed Isaiah into the world, a brother for Malakhi.
Now, with contract firmly in hand, he looks to make this year an even more memorable one, as tough an act as 2024 will be to follow