The Hamilton Tiger-Cats have a new left tackle and starting running back for the 2023 season in Joel Figueroa and James Butler.
After veteran Don Jackson opted to “move on to the next chapter” and end his CFL career, the Ticats signed Butler in free agency and in an effort to try to solidify the offensive line protecting Bo Levi Mitchell, Hamilton brought his teammate Joel Figueroa with him.
Butler had a breakout season in 2022, rushing 210 times for 1,060 yards (5.05 yards per carry) and seven touchdowns while catching 53 passes for 344 yards and four majors. He was one of three players to run for over 1,000 yards in the CFL last season while recording 263 touches for 1,444 yards from scrimmage.
“His play speaks for itself. He’s dynamic. He’s willing to do whatever is necessary. We just thought that when you have a chance to get a dynamic player like that you exhaust all those possibilities,” Tiger-Cats head coach and president of football operations Orlondo Steinauer told 3DownNation.
“We weren’t the only team that wanted him, so we’re fortunate that he chose us. He’s an outstanding person. From the time that we spoke to him on the phone to the time he walked in the building when you do your due diligence and you talk with other people, everything just kept getting checked.”
Butler inked a two-year contract worth $125,800 in hard money for the 2023 season. Steinauer sought Figueroa’s perspective on Butler prior to offering the 28-year-old a top-five CFL contract at his position.
“Talking to Figueroa, who was with him in the locker room, everything was awesome about him,” the bench boss said.
The 33-year-old Figueroa spent the last two seasons with Buter in B.C. and saw his rise to stardom in Canada up close. That was part of the reason the six-foot-six, 320-pound blocker put pen to paper on a matching two-year deal with the Tabbies.
“We have a little bit of history with Figs,” Steinauer said, referencing Figueroa breaking into the CFL with the Ticats in 2013 and spending three years with the black and gold before leaving to sign with Edmonton ahead of the 2016 season.
“To know at this point in his career that he’s still playing at such a high level, we’re excited to have him in our building again. That was a high target for us, somebody that we knew we were going to probably have to pay top dollar for and it was something that we had collectively targeted.”
Hamilton handed Figueroa an $80,000 signing bonus as part of a contract that pays him $199,500 in hard money for the upcoming season after earning $150,000 with the Lions last year. Left tackle has been a problem spot for the Ticats and nobody will question spending that premium for Figueroa. However, it’s a change for Hamilton to spend so much on a feature back but the salary cap does go up $160,000 to $5,510,000 for the 2023 season.
The Ticats have not had a bell cow of Butler’s calibre since C.J. Gable was with the team and Hamilon’s last 1,000-yard rusher was DeAndra’ Cobb in back-to-back seasons (2009 and 2010) over a decade ago. In recent years, the Tabbies have operated with a backfield-by-committee approach, one that the team’s leader believes is more nuanced than philosophical.
“When you talk about ‘by committee’ sometimes it’s due to injury, that sort of thing and so there’s a lot deeper dive than just ‘by committee’ as a general statement. Sometimes that’s just the direction we had to go,” Steinauer said.
The Tiger-Cats had three backs carry the ball over 50 times last season: Jackson, Canadian Sean Thomas Erlington and Wes Hills, who took over the lead back role late in the season. Hamilton has not had a ball carrier break the 100-carry mark in a season since Alex Green in 2018 and has not had a back go over the 800-yard mark since Gable in 2017.
If Butler lives up to expectations and contract value, he has the chance to put up numbers not seen in the Hammer in a long time.
