Former Eastman Raider Harris will retire as a Bomber
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This article was published 16/04/2024 (742 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The final act of Andrew Harris’ professional football playing career will be to sign a one-day contract with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
The star running back, who played for the Eastman Raiders in Steinbach as a youth player, joined his home province’s team in 2016 before controversially leaving as a free agent to Toronto in 2022.
Harris said the lack of negotiations and a lower offer from Winnipeg stung at the time, but he now understands why the franchise made the move.
“If was a head coach or general manager, I would have probably made the same decision as they did,” Harris said on the Bombers’ official podcast.
In his time with the Bombers, Harris led the league in rushing three times, was named the CFL’s most outstanding Canadian in 2017, and helped end the franchise’s 28-year championship drought in 2019.
“I lived out a childhood dream,” Harris said on the Bombers’ official podcast.
Harris is one of six players to accumulate over 10,000 yards rushing in the CFL, and is the only Canadian to do so. He retired with 10,308 yards and 51 touchdowns, with over 5,000 of those yards coming while playing for the blue and gold.
A versatile running back, Harris notched over 5,000 receiving yards in his career.
The running back will sign the one-day contract at the premiere of a documentary chronicling his life April 27th. Running Back Relentless will show at The Met theatre in Winnipeg before becoming available on Apple TV this summer.
The film, directed by Taylor Prestidge, includes stories from Harris’ time in Steinbach, before he moved to play high school football in Winnipeg, junior in B.C. and joined the professional ranks.
“My story, yes it was athletic-based, yes it was based off of some trauma, yes it was based off me coming into the league from the back door, through junior, and having to work my ass off to get to where I’m at, but it’s so relatable in so many different people’s lives and different situations,” Harris said.
“I wanted to be able to tell that story as raw as possible… If this can change, inspire, help one person it’s a win for me.”
Harris shared on the podcast while he had planned to join the coaching ranks of his former junior team, he shared he needed a break from football before re-joining the sport in some capacity.