How Ottawa Redblacks 'superstar' Geno Lewis is shelving bitterness to pursue CFL mark, Cup

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The menu of goals in front of Eugene (Geno) Lewis this season includes breaking the CFL record he’s chasing and winning the Grey Cup.

If he can make Ed Hervey eat his words along the way, that would be gravy.

Lewis, the Ottawa Redblacks’ marquee free agent signing over the winter, ended the 2024 campaign by catching a touchdown pass in eight consecutive games with the Edmonton Elks.

The 32-year-old receiver will get a chance to make it nine straight on Thursday when the Redblacks open the season in Saskatchewan against the Roughriders.

That would give him a chance to tie the all-time mark of 10 held by Terry Evanshen, who played 13 CFL seasons (1965-78) split between the Alouettes, Stampeders, Tiger-Cats and Argos, when Ottawa hosts Montreal in its home opener a week from Friday.

Naturally, the record is important to Lewis.

“One hundred per cent,” he said after Tuesday’s practice at TD Place. “I don’t think people understand how hard it is as a receiver to get eight touchdowns in a row. It’s super, super hard, in any league. I’m super grateful. I’m glad that I put my name in those categories, and yes, I am trying to beat it. At the same time, I’m not going to make it the main focus, where it’s overshadowing the Grey Cup and winning the game. That’s the main thing.

“It’s not just for me. I want to do it being an Ottawa Redblack. I want to do it with Dru (Brown) knowing that he was the quarterback who got me there. I want to do it with Tommy (Condell), so he could also say he was the offensive co-ordinator who helped me get that. So it’s bigger than just me. This goes a long way for everybody in the organization.”

Born in Norristown, Pa., Lewis was heavily recruited by the late Joe Paterno and was with the Penn State Nittany Lions from 2012 to 2015 before transferring to the Oklahoma Sooners, where he shared an offensive huddle with future NFLers like Baker Mayfield, Joe Mixon, Mark Andrews, Samaje Perine and Dede Westbrook for a season.

Rated the 71st-best receiver entering the 2017 NFL draft, he was bypassed and headed north to sign with the Alouettes, where he saw limited action as a rookie.

But then his career took off.

Over the next four seasons, he caught 269 passes for 4,227 yards and 28 touchdowns, despite missing five games in 2021 and one more in 2022.

That production earned him a whopping $640,000 deal over two years in Edmonton, where Lewis made 122 grabs for 1,914 yards and 13 TDs in 30 games.

Enter Hervey, who was the Elks’ GM from 2013-2016 and began a second stint in the position last November.

Not only did he have zero interest in re-signing Lewis for “anything close” to the $320,000 he made last year before he hit the open market in February, but he didn’t even reach out to the player himself.

Lewis felt “degraded” by the lack of communication.

“This is what I have to get people to understand: I’m a superstar in this league,” Lewis said in a passionate rant when asked about the snub on radio station 620 CKRM in Saskatchewan after signing a one-year deal with Redblacks for $225,000. “I’m not a regular player, I’m not just a rookie or nothing like that. Think about if this was the NFL and you’re trying to talk to Ja’Marr Chase or something like this, and you don’t have a conversation with him. That’s not smart.”

Hervey maintained he was “focused on the guys that we wanted in Edmonton” at free agent time.

“I don’t know any superstar players in the CFL,” he said of Lewis’ comments, per 3DownNation. “If guys feel they’re a superstar, fantastic. I’m not really into guys’ personal feelings about themselves. That’s not where I go. That’s not the road I go down.”

Asked on Tuesday why he accepted a cut of approximately $95,000 in Ottawa, Lewis replied:

“First of all, the opportunity. Talking to (the Redblacks) during the off-season, and how they felt like I could help the team, and how they could help me as a player and as a person. The other main thing is for my family. This is the closest place for my family to come and drive to see me play. My mom just got her passport, probably about a year ago, so she’s going to be able to come up and see me. I know where I’m at in my career now. So I want my family and my friends to be able to come see me as much as I can and enjoy and spend these times with them here.

“You’ve got to understand this is the CFL, so when a guy like me gets the contract that I got the last two years, the odds of me getting that again back-to-back, I’m not,” he added. “I understand the game. It’s a game inside of a game. I knew I was going to probably have to take a pay cut for sure. But like I said before, there’s a difference between taking a pay cut because it’s just part of what’s going on, and somebody degrading you and telling you that you should have to take a pay cut, even though the stats and the film say that I shouldn’t. That’s my whole thing. I understood what I had to do this year, but it’s not what you do, it’s how you do it. That’s all it comes down to.”

Lewis didn’t answer when asked if he’s still bitter about the way things were handled by Hervey.

“At the end of the day, the season’s going to tell what it’s going to tell,” he said. “I’m just going to go out there and do what I’ve got to do. Help my team win. I’m an Ottawa Redblack. That’s all I’m worried about now.”

The Redblacks visit the Elks in Week 5 (July 6) and the two teams meet again at TD Place in Week 12 (Aug. 22).