Another article on Maher, on his return to Ottawa last season:
Stepping onto the TD Place stadium field on Saturday morning, Brett Maher felt as if he was home.
A hero with six field goals in the Ottawa Redblacks’ first Canadian Football League victory — 18-17 against the Toronto Argos on July 18, 2014 — Maher has returned to the team after spending last season with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Ray Early, who booted two field goals in Thursday’s 30-29 pre-season win against the Ticats, was released.
“I was starting to get a little itchy. I’d been home for longer than I wanted to,” said the 27-year-old Maher, who wore No. 13 in practice Saturday. “Obviously coming back here is a very comfortable situation for me. This was really my first go as a professional. My family was able to be up here during that season. To share that with them and have that be my first experience was phenomenal. It always has had a special place in my heart.”
So why bring in a new kicker? Why release Early?
“We needed to be better,” Redblacks general manager Marcel Desjardins said. “In training-camp practices, the numbers weren’t there. That comfort level to continue on with Ray just wasn’t there. He has ability, he just needs to develop consistency.
“(Maher’s) somebody who has proven he can do it on a consistent basis. As much as the other guys did well in the pre-season game, we have to look at the whole of training camp, and the performance level just wasn’t up to par. We felt this is something we had to do. We wanted to have this settled sooner rather than later.”
“He’s going to make a big difference for us,” Redblacks head coach Rick Campbell said.
Zack Medeiros is still in camp, but there’s a chance Maher could handle punt, kickoff and field goal duties. Maher, who received a look from the Cleveland Browns during the offseason, had been hoping for further interest from National Football League clubs.
“The NFL was still on their radar, but eventually they came around to understanding what our sensitivities were timing-wise and they decided to come to Ottawa,” Desjardins said.
“It really happened pretty quick,” Maher said. “If you’d have asked me a week ago if I thought I’d be here, it would probably have been not.”
If not for a hip injury during offseason training before Redblacks training camp in 2015, Maher may never have left. He wasn’t ready for training camp, was later brought back during the regular season, but was released after a four-game stint. He then signed with the Ticats, making 41 of 50 field-goal attempts and averaging 45.9 yards per punt in 2016.
“Kicking in Hamilton is not exactly the easiest thing with the conditions there,” Desjardins said.
“There were some talks (with the Ticats) before training camp. We were a little ways apart from getting that done,” Maher said. “There are a lot of good people there, I absolutely wish them the best. But I’m really excited to be here.”
Maher said he was ready mentally and physically.
“I feel like I’m better now than I ever have been,” he said. “Part of that is because I did get that surgery (labral repair of the hip) done when I did and I was young enough to be able to bounce back.”
Maher’s wife, Jenna, and daughters Maela (who turns three on Tuesday) and seven-month-old Laekyn, will soon join him in Ottawa.
“If I have a good day, bad day … it doesn’t matter … they run and give me a hug,” Maher said. “It has been an absolute blast.”