Lindley takes pride in special teams role with Grey Cup finalist Alouettes

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Zach Lindley doesn’t hesitate when asked what’s kept him in the CFL.

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“My tenacity,” said the Montreal Alouettes special teamer from Chatham.

“I’m definitely not the biggest, I’m not the fastest, I’m definitely not the strongest, but I still find a way to make plays. I think that’s just due to my effort and my football IQ. I think that’s what I bring to the table as a football player.

“I’m not going to be a crazy athlete making crazy plays. I’m just going to be a guy that comes in and is a consistent player for you. You know what you’re going to get from me as a football player.”

The five-foot-11, 190-pound Lindley is one win away from celebrating a Grey Cup championship.

The Alouettes take on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers for the CFL title at Hamilton’s Tim Hortons Field on Sunday (6 p.m., TSN).

“It’s obviously a dream come true,” said Lindley, 24. “As a kid, I always wanted to see how far I could go with football. To be able to play at the highest level and get to the highest point of this sport, it’s obviously very exciting and a surreal moment.”

However, Lindley doesn’t expect to play. Although he has practised this week, he’s still bothered by headaches after suffering a concussion several weeks ago.

He was limited to 11 games this season because of three concussions.

“It’s been a recurring issue, which is obviously disappointing and frustrating, but what are you going to do?” he said. “I’m not going to change the way I play. I’m here because of the way I play. That’s just who I am as a football player.

“I’m not going to change my aggression level or (stop) coming down to make big hits on guys. That’s just who I am as a player. I’m going to suffer the consequences, I guess.”

Special opportunity

The Alouettes chose Lindley in the eighth round of the 2022 CFL draft after his 2021 OUA all-star season at Western. He made seven solo tackles in their Vanier Cup championship win.

He spent most of his Mustangs career at linebacker, but he knew his best shot to make the Alouettes was on special teams.

“I think all Canadians, especially rookies – unless you’re drafted fairly high, which I wasn’t – you’ve got to make your money on special teams,” he said. “… I was confident. I knew (with) my ability as a football player that I would be a good special teams guy. That’s what I shot for.

“Obviously, I shot to be the best in everything, but when special teams came around, I really focused on honing my craft to be able to impress the coaches and make a contribution to this team.”

The Alouettes have used Lindley a little at defensive back, too. He made 10 tackles this season after having 14 in 12 games as a rookie.

Lindley made the cut last season despite having two years of university eligibility left. Players in his situation tend to be sent back to school after training camp.

“I knew with where I got drafted that, yeah, it might be something that happens, but I wasn’t going to let that change my focus going into training camp last year,” he said. “I wasn’t going to let that make me think, ‘Oh, I can just take this off because I know I’m going back.’ I still went all out, gave my best effort and my coaches saw that and they believed in me. The rest is history, I guess.”

The Chatham-Kent secondary school graduate is grateful coaches gave him a chance. He chalks it up to his work ethic.

“That’s really it, just crediting my hard work and putting my head down and grinding and not letting people tell me what I can and can’t do,” the Chatham-Kent Cougars alumnus said.

Blue-collar culture

Lindley knows some saw him as a CFL longshot.

“I’m sure people could say, ‘Oh, this guy’s not going to be much,’” he said. “But I didn’t view myself as an eighth-round pick when I went into my first year. I viewed myself as a football player … getting the same opportunity as the guy beside me that’s here. It doesn’t matter if he’s a first-round pick, an eighth-round pick. At the end of the day, we’re still here, we’re side by side, we’re still on the football field together. That’s how I viewed that.

“I didn’t view myself as any less than anybody else there. I just tried to work hard and show them what I’ve got.”

He agrees that same attitude has the Alouettes in their first Grey Cup since 2010.

“Jason Maas, our head coach, has done an unbelievable job with creating a brotherhood culture but also a blue-collar culture as well,” Lindley said. “From the moment he stepped foot in training camp, he really instilled that we’re going to be the hardest-working team in the CFL. … No one was going to outwork us.

“I think that has really showed over this year, especially last week going up against Toronto. We didn’t care that they were 16-2. We didn’t care that they tied the CFL record for most wins in a year. We were just going to do our thing, go to work and play the best football we’ve got. I think the rest of the country saw how good we can be when we play like that.”

Lindley is disappointed he likely won’t play Sunday. The dizziness that followed his latest concussion is gone, but the headaches persist.

“It’s important that I put my mental health over football, obviously, even though it is the biggest game of the year,” he said.

He added: “I’m really just trying to listen to what my body says and listen to what my head is telling me. I’m not trying to do something dumb and play when I still have concussion symptoms. That’s just not me. I am going to put my heart and soul into this game. Whenever I’m on the field, you’re going to see that. But if I’m not ready to (play), when it comes to my mental health, then I have to make that decision.”