The former CFL all-star went on the NFL Network to sit down at the virtual breakfast table with the Good Morning Football crew.
By Gerry Moddejonge
Mar 16, 2021
With the 2020 Canadian Football League cancelled, the closest fans of their beloved three-down game could get has been getting glimpses of former players now in the NFL.
Brandon Zylstra got his first opportunity to do just that after leading the CFL with 1,687 yards in 2017, the final launch pad on a career that sprung all the way up from the NCAA Div. 3, with no scholarship playing at Concordia-Moorhead in his home state of Minnesota.
The six-foot-two, 220-pound native of Spice, Mn., ended up returning home to play with the Minnesota Vikings in 2018, before spending the past two years with the Carolina Panthers, where he plays receiver and punt returner.
And he is headed back for a third season with the club after inking a contract extension in February.
Late last week, the former CFL all-star went on the NFL Network to sit down at the virtual breakfast table with the Good Morning Football crew.
“This deal meant a lot more, I think, than my first contract just because there was a lot of stuff that went into this one,” Zylstra said. “I’m excited to grow with the team.
“I think I’ve definitely earned a little bit of trust from players and coaches. That’s always my No. 1 goal going into every year because if you don’t have the trust from the players and coaches, you’re not going to see the field that much.”
In his rookie season as a pro after going undrafted in the NFL in the spring of 2016, Zylstra was stuck on the sidelines, spending the first two-thirds of the schedule on the practice roster.But it was what he did in the final six games that mattered, earning 508 yards and three touchdowns on 34 catches across six games to earn the team nominee for Most Outstanding Rookie and pave the way for a standout 2017 season to follow.
“That’s always my No. 1 goal going into every season, is just (to) develop chemistry, develop trust to the point where you’re Mr. Reliable,” he said. “And I think that just kind of comes from being a consistent player whether it’s practice or in games. Just being that dependable guy that when your name’s called upon, you’re going to be able to go make a play.”
And that goes for both sides of the border.
“NFL’s always been the goal. You could go talk to my mom, I probably said that when I was in Kindergarten, that: ‘I’m going to be playing in the NFL someday, mom,’” said Zylstra, who always drew pictures of himself wearing Randy Moss’s No. 84 jersey. “I kind of knew the steps to be there, it was always a D-1 scholarship first. I didn’t really get recruited, so I missed out on that, but then I told myself to just make the best of it and just kind of figure it out as you go, afterward.
“For that route, it ended up taking me up to the CFL. Again, not necessarily part of the plan, but I’m so glad it happened.”
From NCAA Div. 3 to the CFL to the NFL isn’t exactly a well-trodden path, but Zylstra wouldn’t change a thing.
“Honestly, the CFL is some of the most fun football I’ve ever played,” he said. “Super high-scoring games, fun, they give receivers a lot of love up there. I mean, the game’s kind of based for receivers to succeed, so I had a ton of fun up there.
“I really felt that taught me how to be a professional moving into the NFL because I came from D-3, where things are probably ran a lot different than a D-1 program. So, I’m not going to say it was a huge adjustment, but it was definitely an adjustment for me.”
Zylstra’s younger brother, Shane, is on Edmonton’s negotiation list.
VIA: https://edmontonjournal.com/sports/football/cfl/ee-football/former-ee-receiver-zylstra-cfl-is-some-of-the-most-fun-football-i-have-ever-played/
PHOTO BY GREG SOUTHAM /Postmedia, file
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