Dutchman Vrede gives Redblacks coverage team plenty of pop

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Statistics show that, through seven weeks of the season, the Ottawa Redblacks have the best special-teams coverage in the Canadian Football League.

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And recent memory says Tyron Vrede is perhaps the most unheralded member of those units.

You’re forgiven if the name doesn’t ring a bell.

Selected by the Redblacks with the 10th overall pick in the 2021 Global Draft, the 27-year-old product of Amsterdam played  just four games in 2023 before suffering a torn bicep and labrum that ended his season.

A linebacker by trade, Vrede has suited up in 33 CFL games, and has 23 defensive tackles and 22 on special teams, and by his own admission none of the 45 takedowns came on a bigger hit than the one he delivered to Javon Leake on Friday.

The six-foot, 231-pounder put an exclamation mark on the 20-14 victory with 20 seconds left, making the loudest pads-on-pads noise of the season when he destroyed Leake at the Edmonton 19-yard line after the Elks returner had already brought a Richie Leone punt back 17 yards and appeared to be gathering steam.

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By stopping him dead in his tracks, Vrede effectively ended any chance Edmonton had of a miracle comeback.

“I can’t say enough about Tyron,” stated head coach Bob Dyce. “He’s never going to give up. He’s an extremely physical player, and when he has the opportunity, it doesn’t make a difference whether he’s covering kicks or he’s blocking on kick returns, he’s going to try and lay the boom. He did a fantastic job of that.”

Dyce’s point about him never giving up was evident on that particular play, as Vrede wound up on his butt before he started galloping downfield.

“I got bull-rushed,” Vrede explained. “I did not set my feet, and I got tangled up and fell. So it wasn’t that pretty, but it’s not how you start, it’s about how you finish, I guess.”

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This finish was very much appreciated by the crowd, which let out a loud roar as Vrede emphatically celebrated with teammates.

“I was elated,” he said. “It was great. We were winning, it was later in the game and felt like we just had to make a statement. I was blessed enough to be that guy to be able to do it.”

Growing up in Amsterdam, Vrede was unfamiliar with football, partly because a seven-hour time difference made it difficult to follow football in North America.

He strictly played soccer from ages four to 16 and remained in that sport after starting to play football. As an 18-year-old centre-back on the pitch against men in their 20s and 30s, Vrede was physical.

“I think you had to be or you’d just get thrown around,” he said. “I’d love to stay in that same brand of football and just kind of be physical in everything I do.”

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Vrede was introduced to the NFL by one of his mother’s friends who bought him Madden 2000 for his old Playstation.

“I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s pretty cool, man,’ ” he said, remembering his introduction to the game. “I never knew anything about the sport like really, it’s just not that big in the Netherlands. It’s starting to get bigger now, which is great.”

In the Netherlands, tackling is not allowed until the age of 15, which might be part of the reason Vrede didn’t start until he was 16.

He was instantly good, earning a spot on Team World against Team USA in the International Bowl at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

After sending his highlight films to junior colleges in the U.S., he became a walk-on at a JUCO in California West Hills, then went to another JUCO in Kansas Garden City before spending his last two pre-pro years at the University of North Dakota.

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Vrede knew very little about Canada before he was drafted by Ottawa, other than “there’s a lot of Dutch people here.”

He gathered regularly with those folks to watch soccer’s European Championship (a.k.a. Euros) at the Hometown Sports Grill on Bank Street, where Daniel Metternich, who owns a Dutch grocery store in Merrickville, supplied snacks.

“We should have won that game against England … that’s all I’ll say … it wasn’t a penalty,” maintained Vrede, referring to the call that allowed Harry Kane to score the controversial late-match equalizer as England defeated Netherlands in the semifinals this year.

“We did have a big Dutch crowd there, he added with a smile. “We painted the bar orange, man.”

MORE SPECIAL-NESS

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The Redblacks and Argos are tied atop the league with seven “big-play returns”, which the CFL defines as 30-plus yards on a punt or missed field goal and 40-plus yards on a kickoff.

Even more impressive is that Ottawa is the only team in the league that has not allowed a big-play return. Calgary and Saskatchewan are next best in that category with two, while the East Division-leading Alouettes have given up a CFL-high nine big-play returns.

The Redblacks are also first in opposition punt return (8.9-yard average) and second in opposition kickoff return average (19.3-yard average).

Reserved on his praise, however, is Dyce, a former special teams co-ordinator who still carefully scrutinizes the unit he holds close to his heart.

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“I think they’re continuing to evolve,” said Dyce. “We constantly put pressure on those guys to be the best they possibly can be. It’s a new group. When you look at the number of veteran special-teams players that aren’t here who were here in the past, and bringing in new guys like (Adarius Pickett), and then young guys like Lucas Cormier and Aidan John … it’s a real new group and they’ve done a good job communicating much better and (showing) a lot more discipline.

“They’re starting to play with the physicality and the speed we need, so I’m excited for what this group is going to accomplish. We just got to get up to speed playing 100 per cent, but they’ve done a good job.”

GOING DEEP

Not surprisingly, the Redblacks have placed DB Tobias Harris, who was injured late in Friday’s game, on the six-game injured list. The good news is Harris was jogging around the stadium on Tuesday and no surgery will be required on the injured knee. Adrian Frye and Bennett Williams are two candidates being looked at as replacements for Friday’s home game against Calgary.

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