photo by: AP Photo/Ryan Sun

Los Angeles Rams defensive back Kenny Logan Jr. gestures during an NFL football organized team activity Tuesday, May 21, 2024, in Thousand Oaks, Calif.

The months after the Los Angeles Rams released Kenny Logan Jr. were an opportunity for him to “regroup and regather,” he said.

But the period without a team was also something Logan simply wasn’t used to. He wasn’t far removed from completing a five-season career at Kansas in which he played in 59 games and started 45 with 373 career tackles. While he debuted under Les Miles, the safety was on the field quite consistently in the foundational years of the Lance Leipold era.

In 2024, though, he didn’t play at all.

“It kind of humbles you, gives you a different outlook on everything,” he said.

More than four months after the Rams released him early in their training camp, after spending time in Kansas working to get better, Logan signed with the Edmonton Elks in late December. On Wednesday he spoke with the Journal-World following his first workout with the team on the opening day of Edmonton’s rookie minicamp.

The Florida native is a long way from home but grateful for an opportunity to “prove my worth,” as he puts it.

“It’s a beautiful place to get better and a beautiful place to chase your opportunity,” he said of Edmonton.

The rules of the CFL may take some getting used to, as they often do for the numerous American players who seek professional opportunities up north.

“I just knew the field was bigger,” Logan said. “I knew it was going to be a lot more running.”

Indeed, the field in Canada is both longer and wider, and for good measure there are 12 players on it from one team at any given time, plus only three downs. The goalposts are on the goal line like they used to be in the NFL in days gone by, the game allows for vastly more presnap motion and there are some unusual ways for a team to score one point via what is called a rouge if a team doesn’t bring the ball out of the end zone.

Logan said he leans on older players like Royce Metchie, a veteran defensive back, two-time CFL All-Star and three-time Grey Cup winner whom Edmonton recently acquired from Toronto, to help familiarize him with Canadian football concepts.

He said he believes his play style will be well suited to the Canadian game.

“I’m physical, I can play inside the box, I can play back at safety,” Logan said. “Wherever the opportunity comes I’ll be willing to go and earn my spot.”

Plus, he’s armed with what he learned from his time with the Rams — “a lot about body control, a lot about body movement, body positioning.”

“You never got it all figured out,” he said. “(I needed to) clean up my feet, clean up my body, and continue to be a sponge anywhere I go.”

Also trying to catch on with Edmonton in the near future will be linebacker Alex Raich, a fellow former Jayhawk with whom Logan overlapped in Lawrence. Raich, who is from Switzerland, was selected by the Elks in the second round of the CFL Global Draft on April 29.

Logan spoke with his former teammate on Tuesday and said, “How crazy is it that we’re back together?”

Rookie camp in Edmonton continues through Sunday, at which point training camp officially begins. Logan said he’s hoping to demonstrate his versatility and wide-ranging value to a team as he vies for a roster spot in his second year as a pro.