Dominick Gravel/Montreal Alouettes
WINNIPEG — Less than an hour after Darian Durant announced his retirement, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers issued a statement that implies that although they knew the former Rider and Alouettes QB was contemplating calling it quits, he had by no means informed them of his final decision.
Bombers GM Kyle Walters in a statement said:
“We were informed prior to the start of our mini-camp that Darian Durant, along with his family, was reconsidering continuing his career. Given the magnitude of this decision, we asked him to take the time to thoroughly consider his options and inform us of his decision.
Ultimately, Darian has not informed the team of his decision, but we were notified through social media this morning that he has decided to retire from professional football. While we respect his decision, we are of course are extremely disappointed. Until recently, Darian had given us every indication that he was accepting of his role as a backup and prepared to help our offence in any capacity possible. We recognize this has been a challenging and difficult process for Darian, and the uncertainty has been challenging from our perspective as well. We will move forward with the quarterbacks we currently have on our roster.”
Durant signed a deal with the Bombers in January after being released by the Montreal Alouettes. He was scheduled to backup starter Matt Nichols but never did suit up for the Blue and Gold.
Upon signing with Winnipeg, Durant was seemingly content with his role as backup. Shortly after inking the deal, Durant said the following about his situation:
“I don’t think it will be difficult at all,” he told BlueBombers.com. “When I first started my career, I was a practice squad guy and then I was a third-stringer and then I was a back-up. So I had to work my way up. I think everybody on the team has a role and I’m looking at this as ‘where can my talents be best served’ and I felt like coming in and helping Matt and being a security blanket for him, helping out in short-yardage and just being around Coach LaPo and a good environment just made it an easy decision for me.”
Things have clearly changed for Durant and his family in the last four months as he stated that “opportunities away from the field that will allow me to transition smoothly into the next stage of my life”.
