Kenny Lawler’s NFL to CFL star evolution: chirper to peaceful playmaker

Photo courtesy: Bob Butrym/RFB Sport Photography

Kenny Lawler has made “peace” with not being in the NFL and rising to star status in the Canadian Football League.

“You can’t go through life with regrets, holding stuff that you wish you would have done better. The only thing you could do is act on it. How do you get better? That’s a blessing of being a football player,” Lawler told 3DownNation.

“I look at my life, my shortcomings, anything that’s been bad, any adversity that’s come my way, I look at that as film. What does that mean? After the game, what are we doing as professional or college, any type of athlete? We’re going in the next day and figuring out if we won, still, where can we get better? If we lost, where could we get better? My life, I look at it deeply like film.”

Lawler was selected in the seventh round, 243rd overall during the 2016 NFL Draft by the Seattle Seahawks. He spent his rookie season on the practice squad, earning approximately $182,497 USD. However, following training camp and 11 days with the Seahawks in 2017, the Pomona, Calif. native was released.

Nearly eight months later, Lawler signed with the B.C. Lions, but did not play well enough to make the roster heading into the 2018 season. Later that year, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers signed him in late October. He prepared himself for stardom the following season.

“There’s been a couple instances where I didn’t make the most of my opportunity, especially in the NFL. I had to look closely at it and understand where did I go wrong. Coming up to the CFL, it was one of those things that I was not going to let an opportunity like this slide again. I had to learn from it,” Lawler said.

He made a name for himself in 2019, recording 43 receptions for 637 yards with four touchdowns, including a 10-catch, 144-yard performance in Week 16 against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. No. 89 helped the Bombers win the team’s first Grey Cup since 1990 that year and used the run as a jumping off point to becoming a star in the three-down league.

“Coming from the NFL, everyone’s getting paid and the majority got a family back home. Up here, there’s players that could be doing something else for more money than they’re getting paid in the CFL. But the thing is, they love football that much that they wanna be here and spend this time with us,” Lawler said.

“I owe it to my teammates, man, 2018, ’19, ’21 — those three years were a big turning point in my life. Got the NFL stripped away from me, a lifelong dream. I’ve always been a kid that holds a chip on his shoulder. Wanna be a gritty kid to be able to show his love for the game, however it comes out. 2018, it was very that — I came in not really understanding how family-oriented teams were in the CFL.”

During the shortened 2021 season, Lawler led the league with 1,014 receiving yards in 13 games. He posted 64 receptions along with six touchdowns. In early October that year, he was arrested for operating a motor vehicle while impaired. The Blue Bombers suspended him for one game, but the team mitigated the distraction inside the locker room on the way to winning a second straight Grey Cup.

“On my journey, I had to understand what it was being a player up here and I’ve done seen skillful players with bad attitudes get removed from the game and they’re not playing no more. Stepping into the locker room, there was a lot of guys that held me accountable as far as FIFO (the team’s motto, ‘Fit in or f– off’),” Lawler said.

“Every team has their motto or what they call it. But at the end of the day, that’s what it is because me, I messed up my dream in the NFL, so you’re coming to the CFL — the CFL is gonna go on with or without you. How bad do you want it? When I got here, I saw guys that wanted it bad, I fell in line and understood what it looked like.”

The 31-year-old played a full 18-game regular season for the first time last year in his first campaign with the Ticats. Lawler registered 86 catches (tied for second) for 1,443 yards (second) with a league-high 14 touchdowns. He was named a CFL all-star for the second time in his career and signed a $1 million contract extension entering the 2026 schedule.

“He’s changed us offensively since he arrived,” head coach Scott Milanovich told the media. “The continuity with him and Bo is critical. He’s the full package, X receiver, route runner, can go deep, will block, loves to compete — he’s got championship pedigree — and he still has a lot of football left in him. I’ve always thought he was elite. The best if not one of the top two or three guys in the league.”

Lawler’s evolution with respect to football and life has led him to become the most dangerous target in the CFL and a caring father to son Kenneth James Lawler II off the field. The maturation process he’s gone through has given him perspective about his past and allowed the playmaker to play free on the field.

“When I got to Winnipeg, I was a fiery dude and I was a chirper. I ain’t got nothing to prove. I’ve proved a lot, I’m at peace and it’s being a good demonstration of what that looks like. Especially to these young, fiery, energetic rookies, first-year players that come into this league, because I was there,” Lawler said.

“If you wanna be at the top of the game, how to conduct yourself, the level of professionalism that you have to have, it’s maturing, adding perspective to your life. During those three seasons, two-and-a-half, I got there in 2018 midway in the season, but during those two-and-a-half years, I grew so much.”

Look out for Lawler, the peaceful playmaker.