HEENAN TO THE COLTS

620 CKRM has learned former Saskatchewan Roughriders offensive lineman Ben Heenan has signed with the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts.   The SportsCage broke the news late Tuesday afternoon and the signing was later officially announced on the Colts’ website:

The Indianapolis Colts today agreed to terms with guard Ben Heenan.
Heenan, 6-4, 316 pounds, played the last three seasons (2012-14) with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League (CFL) after being selected by the team with the first overall pick of the 2012 CFL Draft. He competed in 52 career games on the offensive line, starting 49 contests. In 2014, Heenan started all 21 games for the Roughriders for the first time in his career. In 2013, he started 16 games at right guard and right tackle and helped the Roughriders win their fourth Grey Cup in franchise history. As a rookie in 2012, Heenan saw action in a total of 15 games and started 12.
Collegiately, Heenan played four seasons (2008-2011) at the University of Saskatchewan at both guard and tackle and helped the Huskies to three Canada West regular season titles and four playoff appearances. The team led the conference in points scored and total offense on two occasions. Heenan was one of only three Canadian players selected to play in the East-West Shrine Game following his senior season. He was also named Second Team All-Canadian and was a Canada West All-Star in 2011. Heenan earned First Team All-Canadian and Canada West All-Star honors in 2010, while playing in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport East-West Bowl. In his first year with the Huskies in 2008, he started all nine games and was named Canada West Rookie of the Year.





Heenan appeared on 620 CKRM’s SportsCage on Tuesday evening and here are his comments:


ON GETTING THE DEAL DONE


BH:  It’s been a crazy few days here and it’s just been insane.  I’m just thankful for the opportunity.


ON THE LAST TWO MONTHS

BH:  It’s been pretty busy. Took a few weeks off after the season to gather my thoughts and make a decision on which direction we were gonna go.  We’d been approached by a few teams at the end of the season to go down for some workouts and then it snowballed into January and as soon the workouts were over we had a pretty good idea what was going to happen.

ON AN NFL WORKOUT

BH:  It’s kind of funny.  It’s usually a two day deal by the time you fly down the night before and then in the morning you go through physicals, x-rays, MRI’s, bloodwork and the whole nine yards.  Then you get the workout in right around noon and the majority of them were pretty quick.  Maybe 15 or 20 minutes with one of the personnel guys or the offensive line coach.  You do anything from going over top of the bags, individual work, pass sets, run-blocking basics, from their perspective they just want to see if it’s what they saw on film.

ON THE COLTS’ WORKOUT

BH:  I think I felt pretty good coming out of all the workouts.  The first few maybe not so much because I didn’t know what they were looking for or if I was doing things right but we got some good feedback after the first couple and then from there the majority of them went well and I had a good feeling about it.

ON SIGNING THE CONTRACT

BH:  That was probably one of the shorter things once we narrowed it down to a couple of teams.  The Colts were the one team that really stuck out through the whole process.  Once we had an offer from them it really didn’t take too long to hammer one out.

ON HIS 2014 SEASON

BH:  Going through 18 games there’s always going to be bumps and bruises and I think that just happens with football.  I wasn’t fighting through anything that probably anyone else wasn’t either.  To be able to play the full 18 games, that mattered to me the most.  I think I progressed from 2013 but not necessarily at the level I wanted to be at but football is an evolution of what you can do as a player and it’s about adding more tools to the toolbox.

ON CELEBRATING THE SIGNING

BH:  No, no.  In my eyes the only thing I’ve earned is this opportunity.  There’s still a lot of work left to be done and I’m just looking forward to going down there and being able to contribute in any way possible and work my butt off.

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Anonymous
Anonymous
9 years ago

The Colts are very progressive when it comes to CFL players. Hope this works out but if not Ben, come on back.

Anonymous
Anonymous
9 years ago

Freeman has panned out better than Indy ever dreamed he would. Maybe Heenan will too.

Anonymous
Anonymous
9 years ago

He will make it.. may take some time but the Team will help him develop into a full time O Lineman.. Good for You Ben. Nice to see Young people succeed….

Anonymous
Anonymous
9 years ago

Good luck Ben, hope you kick ass. Bigger salary means some nice new machinery for the farm there. Sucks that their season starts right in the middle of combining though. Rod I've got to get this rant off my chest. The CFL has all the potential in the world to be a top notch league with well paid players and stadiums/bars/man caves packed full of devoted fans. But yet in this great country some (who won't be named, they know who they are) think that the CFL is a bush league. Others don't care about it cause they have no… Read more »

Anonymous
Anonymous
9 years ago

Pulling for Ben to stick with the Colts, he is at the right age to at least get a few more looks if he performs well at camp.

Will be missed here big time, struggled at times last year like everyone else, but like he said it's an evolution and he is only going to get better.

Best of luck Ben!

Dustin in Regina

Anonymous
Anonymous
9 years ago

If he can play in the NFL, then that would mean that the CFL is better than the NFL because he struggles in this league. If he was able to get a contract down there – his agent should be in the Hall of Fame.

Anonymous
Anonymous
9 years ago

I'm with Dubya on this one. Last summer coming home from Nova Scotia we stopped for the night in Sudbury and went out for dinner at a sports bar. I knew there was a CFL game on, yet all they had on was U.S. college games. I asked the manager if he could put the CFL game on one of the T.V's. He said I was the first person that ever asked to watch a CFL game at his bar. He gladly put it on.

Anonymous
Anonymous
9 years ago

Heenan will be back in the cfl by labour day. He's too slow for the nfl.

Anonymous
Anonymous
9 years ago

I agree with Dubya about the CFL TV issue. I only have over the air free TV so I can watch the NFL on CTV on Sundays and the NHL on CBC, but I can only see a CFL game if I wander over to the 4 Seasons – which I'll do for Rider away games. I gave up cable TV over 20 years ago because there is so much crap on it and because I used the money saved from a cable for Rider season tickets, and I can see the good stuff on DVD's from the public library.… Read more »

Anonymous
Anonymous
9 years ago

Heenan will not be back in the CFL – ever. He is talented enough to stay on the Colt's roster. All the best Ben, thanks for the memories.

Anonymous
Anonymous
9 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

That's what people said about Chick and he's an all star. Heenan is too slow to be an all star.

Anonymous
Anonymous
9 years ago

The Colts would be wise to snap up Brett Jones too.

Anonymous
Anonymous
9 years ago

3 year contract signed by Heenan, he's not coming back.