The Argos have re-signed starting WR Markeith Ambles for the 2023 season. The one-year pact solidifies a Toronto receiving corps with superstar Kurleigh Gittens Jr. also back in Double Blue. It also brings another key starter back for the defending Grey Cup Champions.
In case you missed it earlier on Tuesday morning, the Argonauts announced they had re-signed team captain LB Henoc Muamba. The Grey Cup MOP is returning home for another run at a CFL title.
The extension of Muamba and Ambles now brings the Argos list to five available free agents from the 2022 season. QB McLeod Bethel-Thompson, DL Fabion Foote, WR Eric Rogers, DE Shane Ray, and DB Shaquille Richardson.
Argos Bring Back Ambles, Add Two More To Receiving Corps
We have re-signed WR Markeith Ambles and signed American WR Tanner Gentry and WR BJ Byrd.
Markeith Ambles was pivotal to Ryan Dinwiddie and George Costanza’s offense in 2022. The CFL veteran is coming off his best season, catching 72 passes for 737 yards and scoring five touchdowns.
Toronto also announced today that they had added American WRs Tanner Gentry (Wyoming) and B.J.Byrd (Morehead State).
The former XFL 2020 player, Gentry, Josh Allen’s favorite target at Wyoming, has spent the last three NFL seasons on and off the Buffalo Bills practice squad and active roster. He was most recently with Buffalo this past season, playing in three games. His foray into Canada suggests he is looking for playing time beyond a futures contract in the NFL.
B.J. Byrd is also trying to spread his wings and advance his pro career. The Morehead State standout is a genuine pro rookie who just missed the cut after being drafted by the Houston Roughnecks in the XFL.
Toronto has a deep receiving corps. But has shown the propensity in recent seasons of being willing to expand their view to other leagues for talent. See Shawn Oakman and Grey Cup leading receiver Cam Phillips as recent examples.
TORONTO – The Toronto Argonauts Football Club announced today the team has re-signed American WR Markeith Ambles and signed American WR Tanner Gentry and WR BJ Byrd.
Ambles, 31, set career-highs across the board in 2022, his first season with Toronto, after catching 72 passes for 737 yards and five touchdowns. Those numbers were good for second, third, and tied for first on the Argos a season ago. The Georgia native spent his previous three CFL seasons (2018-2021) with Calgary, where he would haul in 117 passes for a shade under 1,400 yards and seven majors while helping the Stampeders won the Grey Cup in 2018.
Gentry, 28, spent 2021 and 2022 with the Buffalo Bills, playing three games for the western New York team in 2022. The 6’2, 209lb pass-catcher was initially signed by the Chicago Bears as an undrafted free agent in May of 2017 and would go on to play four games that season and catch three passes for 35 yards before being waved in August 2019. The Colorado native played four seasons at Wyoming (2013-2016), bringing in 180 passes for 2,815 yards and 20 touchdowns in 42 games, including a 72-1,326-14 line in his Senior season, which earned Gentry a Second-Team All-Conference nod.
Byrd, 23, spent some offseason time with the XFL’s Houston Roughnecks in 2022 after being drafted by the club last November. The 6’0, 190lb receiver played two seasons at Morehead State (2020-2021). In his final season, he was the conference’s Offensive Player of the Year after posting 90 receptions for 1,313 yards and 13 touchdowns, all single-season records for the Eagles. The California native’s first season at MSU saw Byrd lead the conference in kickoff returns touchdowns (1), receiving touchdowns (8), and total touchdowns (9), while catching 31 passes for 467 yards in a shortened seven-game season. Byrd played at Jacksonville University before his time at MSU.
