Adam Gagnon/CFL.ca
There are a lot of ways to be great at football.
You can be a great teammate, you can be the best at a skill, or you can fit a need perfectly for a coaching staff.
Brad Sinopoli has done all three of those things and many more this season – and really since he arrived – in Ottawa.
The background story on Sinopoli is well known to true fans of the Canadian Football League. An ultra-athletic quarterback from Peterborough, Ontario whose star power only grew larger every time he took the field as the face of the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees.
Brad had a receiver skill set from day one. He was fast, quick, agile, but he also had one of the purest arms in recent USports (then CIS) history.
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I got a chance to see that arm first hand in 2013 while in Calgary where Brad had been drafted as a quarterback 29th overall in 2011. During Stampeders rookie camp heading into his third season, Sinopoli was making the transition from quarterback to receiver but was asked to serve as a throwing arm for a couple days.
His first throw in individual drills was a corner route 35-yards down the field that couldn’t have come more than 15 feet off the top of the turf.
It was a rocket.
I’ll never forget the two overwhelming emotions that hit me while watching that throw be completed into tight man coverage.
1) If that guy can’t make it in the CFL as a quarterback I sure can’t.
2) Why the hell would someone with that type of skill switch positions to a job that required an entirely different set of attributes?
As it turns out, Sinopoli made the switch because he knew he could be just as good a CFL receiver as he was a university quarterback, which is to say, great.
He bet on himself in 2013 and 2014 in Calgary by developing his craft to the point he could choose his next home in free agency with several ready and waiting suitors.
Brad returned to his alma mater’s hometown to join the Redblacks in 2015 and immediately became a CFL all-star and most outstanding Canadian award winner, but that was just the start. In 2016 Sinopoli won the Grey Cup and took home Canada’s largest football game’s most valuable Canadian award before repeating as a CFL all-star again in 2017.
2018 though has been Sinopoli’s greatest work yet. Last week against Hamilton Sinopoli made seven catches on eight targets to pass fellow Canadian Ben Cahoon in the record books with his 113th reception of the season, giving him the CFL record for most receptions by a Canadian in a single season.
What Sinopoli has accomplished this season is nothing short of legendary, especially when you understand the path his career has taken and how quickly he has adapted to the receiver position not just to play, but dominate.
While the numbers and passport endear Sinopoli to fans across the CFL what I believe really makes him likeable is the way he goes about his business. Brad knows his role, and he loves it.
Since transitioning from a university quarterback to receiver in the CFL, Brad Sinopoli has pushed his way into discussions of being one of the greatest Canadian receivers the league has ever seen. (The Canadian Press)
A quick hitch at three yards knifing for a first down on second-and-five.
Settling down in the perfect spot between linebackers on a big second and long play late in the fourth quarter.
Catching a swing pass behind the line of scrimmage and turning upfield to get just enough yardage to move the chains.
These are all trademarks of Sinopoli’s game and the consistency he replicates their success with is staggering.
The one ‘hole’ in Sinopoli’s game if you’d like to call it that might be his lack of scoring. In the seasons of previous Canadian catch record holders, both Ben Cahoon and Dave Sapunjis had 12 or more touchdowns. This season as Sinopoli caught more balls than either men, he had just four, but that isn’t his job and he doesn’t seem to mind.
In a recent interview with TSN 1200 in Ottawa Sinopoli admitted, “it’s my job to move the chains one play at a time and set us up to have success”.
A selfless Canadian with a steadfast work ethic and hands that can make you jump out of your seat at any moment.
Although he’ll never admit or maybe even realize it, Brad Sinopoli isn’t just great, he’s reaching into Canadian football legend status with every catch.
