October 13, 2018, was the date of a mostly non-descript CFL game. The BC Lions visited Calgary, with a young defensive back making his pro debut. On Saturday, that kid from Richmond, Virginia will play his 100th regular season game as a Toronto Argonaut.
“It went by fast,” a smiling DaShaun Amos told Argonauts.ca when asked about that first game eight years ago. “Everything was flying, the bullets were flying. The thing I remember the most is that week of prep; the guys surrounding me, the locker room we had, just encouraging me and giving me everything I needed to go out there and be successful. The game went by fast.”
So did his stint in Calgary. He played two seasons and two games in Southern Alberta before becoming a free agent in February 2022. He agreed to sign with the Argos during the communication window and officially agreed to terms just five minutes into the official free agency period.
He said it wasn’t the cash that motivated him to head to Toronto.
“It was opportunity,” he recalled. “It was appreciation. It was respect. It was trust, a lot of trust. Being in Calgary for those first three years I didn’t know anything as far as having another home. The staff (in Toronto), the front office, the players that were here; it was something that I saw that I could relate to, that I could adapt to, and I felt I could be myself here. That signing was a no brainer.”
It was a good marriage. Amos stabilized the secondary, winning a Grey Cup in 2022. After missing the last half of the 2023 season with an injury, he returned in 2024 and was named an East All-Star, then won another Grey Cup, contributing an interception with a 45-yard return in the fourth quarter that set up a Lirim Hajrullahu field goal that gave the Argos a two-score lead.
Comparing Grey Cup wins is like comparing favourite meals; they’re different, but thinking of them always puts a smile on one’s face. Argonauts.ca didn’t ask Amos to do compare the wins, instead asking the field halfback what made the wins different to him.
“The first one is always going to hold a special place in my heart because it was the first Grey Cup I played in and won,” he said, noting he won a Cup with Calgary in his rookie season, but didn’t crack the game roster. “It was brand new; it’s something I’ll never forget.
“The second one, being a little more experienced; the team we had, the performance we had, the defensive performance we had, it felt like a party more than it did the way we had to grind it out in ’22 where it really came down to the wire, the last play”.
Amos also had another extremely memorable highlight as an Argo, one that most fans likely have forgotten. In 2022 his younger brother D’Angelo, another defensive back by trade, signed a contract with the Argos. He made it until the final cutdown but was released.
The thought of that period made big brother smile.
“It was special,” said DaShaun. “For a long time, I had to make sure that I didn’t allow the fact that he wasn’t here as long as we wanted him here, to overshadow the fact that we were able to share a locker room. That was a dream that we had as kids. We never got to play together, so to come here and even for one month to share a locker room, share a film room, share a locker room, it was a dream come true.”
He left for Hamilton last year, the land that Grey Cups forgot. It made him hungry for another sip from the CFL’s chalice, so he’s returned to Toronto to give it another shot.
This time he’s the veteran in the secondary, and the 31-year-old has some advice for young players who are new to pro football.
“Take it all in. Be a sponge. Every tip, every clue, every bit, every advantage you can get, take it in. I pride myself in trying to be a vet the same way the vets were for me when I first got here when I was a wide-eyed kid. Listen to the vets. Listen to the coaches. Show up to work every day, don’t allow the moment to be too big, and trust your training, you’re here for a reason.”