McInnis credits his QB for blistering start to season

BC Lions receiver Justin McInnis has started the season on a blistering pace that has put him on track to break a longstanding CFL record.

Through six games, the Pierrefonds, Que., native leads the league in targets (61), catches (45), and receiving yards (725), and is tied for first with five touchdown catches. He is on pace for 2,175 receiving yards, which would be the most by any CFL player ever. Former Calgary Stampeders receiver Allen Pitts currently holds the record when he amassed 2,036 receiving yards in 1994. 

McInnis played his college football at Arkansas State and is in his second season with the Lions after he started his career with the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 2019. McInnis has already met or surpassed his totals from all of last season in categories like touchdowns, catches, and yards.

When asked about his start, he immediately deferred to the man throwing him the ball. 

“The biggest thing for me was probably dialling in with [Vernon Adams, Jr.],” he said. McInnis’ Lions are in Calgary to play the Stampeders on Sunday. “We spent some time this off-season building chemistry and him just building that confidence in me.”

McInnis said that he loves how Adams communicates and encourages teammates.

“He really pushes me to be better,” McInnis said. “He holds me to a high standard. If we’re gonna work out, it’s not gonna be light. It’s, ‘Get up and get here.’ During training camp, he was texting me, ‘I really need you to lock in and step up and be that guy.’”

McInnis, who wears No. 18 as a tribute to his favourite NFL receiver, former Cincinnati Bengal A.J. Green, often makes improbable catches look routine. 

He has the ability to jump and use his body against defensive backs that have him smothered. Adams can throw to him in tight coverage because he has faith McInnis can come down with balls that sometimes look uncatchable. 

“Nothing is out of my radius,” McInnis said, with a chuckle. “That’s what I pride my game on. I’m a big, tall receiver. I feel like I run good routes. I’m not the fastest out there…if I’m gonna be good at one thing, it’s gonna be contested catches because I know I have the upper hand on the [defensive backs].”

Those talents have allowed Lions offensive coordinator Jordan Maksymic to get creative with schemes and use McInnis in different spots on the field. Maksymic said that McInnis reminds him of former Edmonton receiver Adarius Bowman, who was a three time CFL All-Star during his career. 

“We can really just put him in positions that just handcuff the defence,” Maksymic said.  “Whether they want to play zone on the defensive side and he’s just so savvy and he can find the [soft spots in the coverage]. He has such a wide catch radius that [Adams, Jr.] can really put the ball into awkward spots for him and avoid some zone defenders, whether it’s high or low, inside or outside…he’s able to use his length to go get it.”

Adams, Jr. often jokes about McInnis’ ability to make those catches. 

“VA says all the time, ‘I’m putting the ball in the area and y’all make me look good,’” McInnis said. “I feel that. That’s our job as receivers.”

Maksymic still remembers one of the first interactions he had with McInnis, during training camp in 2023 in Kamloops. His new receiver had a blunt message for the Lions coaching staff. McInnis told them that he was willing to do whatever they asked of him, be it lining up on any area of the field or blocking or playing special teams, to help the team win. 

“He just opened up and said that he wants to be a part of things and whatever he can do to help, he’s going to do it at 100 per cent,” Maksymic said.

Maksymic allowed that McInnis has exceeded every expectation the Lions had for him two years ago when they signed him as a free agent.

“Quite honestly, we weren’t looking to bring him in as a No. 1 or No. 2 [receiver],” Maksymic said. “He was going to come in as a role player last year and help us with our depth.”

McInnis said his strong play on the field has been motivated by an important person off the field, his five-year-old daughter Aria.

“I’m not doing it for myself anymore,” he said. “When I see her, it gives me a purpose. It gives me a ‘want to’ of why I want to be special…I don’t want to be an average player. I want her to be able to say her daddy was amazing.”