Toronto Brings Two Aboard

Mississauga – The Toronto Argonauts Football Club is thrilled to announce that All-Time Argos nominee WR Derrell ‘Mookie’ Mitchell and Canadian kicker Steve Christie have signed practice roster agreements with the club.

Just a week after announcing Derrell ‘Mookie’ Mitchell as an All-Time Argos nominee, the club’s second-leading career receiver is back in town. Mitchell is just 91-yards from passing Paul Masotti to become the club’s all-time leading receiver.

One of the greatest players to ever don the Double Blue, Mitchell made an already dominant offence even more explosive when he first joined the Argos in 1997.  Along with winning the Grey Cup that season, he was also named the league’s Most Outstanding Rookie and became the Argos’ second-most prolific receiver in club history (8,681). Mitchell, who has been playing with Edmonton since his release from Toronto before the start of the 2004 season, won a second Grey Cup championship with the Esks in 2005.

Mookie re-joins the Argos with his name already well-entrenched in the Argos record books.  In addition to having the second most receptions in club history (584), he has more career receiving touchdowns than any other player in franchise history with 73 and has the second highest single-season reception yards mark with 2,000 in 1998.  In addition, he sits sixth on the Argos All-Time Scoring list with 458 points and owns the Argos single-season record for receptions in a Playoff game with 16 versus Montreal in 1998.

Christie played 15 seasons (1990-04) in the NFL with Tampa Bay, Buffalo, San Diego and finally the New York Giants. He played in three consecutive Super Bowl championships with the Buffalo Bills from 1992-94 and kicked a Super Bowl record 54-yard field goal in his final appearance against Dallas.

The non-import kicker, who was born in Hamilton and grew-up in Oakville, Ontario, kicked 336 of 431(77%) field goals and 468 of 473 (98%) extra points, giving him a total of 1,476 points during his NFL career. Christie played his college football at William & Mary where he was teammates with Argos Head Coach Michael Clemons for one season. This will be the first time Christie has played in the CFL.

Derrell “Mookie” Mitchell #87

Receiver

5’9”, 196 lbs.

Texas Tech

Born: September 16, 1971

Miami, Florida

8^th Year Argo / 11^th Year CFL

Import

Acquired: Signed with Toronto as a free agent on July 2, 2007.

2007: Attended training camp with the Eskimos before being released on June 23.

2006: Finished the season with 70 receptions for 892 yards and 1 touchdown…Also returned eight punts for 95 yards.

2005: Started all 18 games at slotback for Edmonton, finishing the regular season with 94 catches for 1,207 yards and 5 touchdowns…Week 2, moved into 12^th place on the CFL’s All-Time Receiving list with 9,892 career yards …2005 Playoffs Started at slotback in both West Semi-Final and West Championship and made 3 catches for 19 yards…Grey Cup Championship Started at slotback and made 8 receptions for 117 yards and added another 12 yards on 2 carries out in the flat…Captured his second Grey Cup in win over Montreal.

2004: Waived by Toronto on May 19 before signing as a free agent with the Edmonton Eskimos…Left Toronto as the club’s second leading receiver in both receptions (584) and yardage (8,681)…Started all 18 games for Edmonton at slotback, registering 49 receptions for 868 yards and 12 touchdowns…2004 Playoffs Started at slotback in West Semi-Final versus Saskatchewan.


2003: Started 15 games for the Argos at slotback registering 64 receptions for 761 yards and 6 touchdowns…2003 Playoffs Started at slotback versus British Columbia…Started at slotback in East Championship versus Montreal.

2002: Named East Division All-Star…Started all 18 games for Toronto at slotback, registering 66 catches for 1,027 yards and 13 touchdowns…2002 Playoffs Started at slotback and had 7 catches for 87 yards in East Semi-Final versus Saskatchewan…Started at slotback and had 4 catches for 48 yards versus Montreal in East Championship.

2001: Named East Division All-Star…Started 15 games for Toronto at slotback, generating 1,276 yards and 6 touchdowns on 78 receptions…Had a mid-season streak of three 100-yard games that culminated with him surpassing the 1000-yard mark versus Montreal on September 17.

2000: Named CFL All-Star at slotback…Named East Division All-Star…Started all 18 games for Toronto at slotback, making 100 catches for 1,398 yards and 14 touchdowns…He also ran back a kickoff 101-yards versus Edmonton…Signed a contract extension with the Argos in December.

1999: Attended training camp with the Chicago Bears (NFL) before being released on September 2…Re-joined the Argos on September 6, in time for the Labour Day Classic in Hamilton where he made two catches for 73 yards and a touchdown…Finished the season with 682 yards and 7 touchdowns on 39 receptions in 10 games…1999 Playoffs Started at slotback and caught 4 passes for 71 yards in East Semi-Final versus Hamilton.

1998: Named Argos nominee for Most Outstanding Player…Named CFL All-Star at slotback…Named East Division All-Star…Started all 18 games with Toronto and recorded 160 receptions for 2000 yards and 10 touchdowns…1998 Playoffs Started at slotback and recorded a remarkable 15 receptions for 180 yards and one touchdown in East Semi-Final loss to Montreal.

1997: Signed with the Argos as a free agent in February…Had an outstanding rookie campaign, being named CFL Most Outstanding Rookie after recording 1,457 and 17 touchdowns on 77 receptions…His 17 touchdowns broke Gill Fenerty’s 1987 record for most touchdowns by an Argos rookie and his total receiving yards broke Raghib “Rocket” Ismail’s Argos rookie record set in 1991…1997 Playoffs Started at slotback and recorded five receptions for 61 yards…Grey Cup Championship Started at slotback and recorded five passes for 58 yards and a 14-yard touchdown in win over Saskatchewan.

1995: Attended training camp with the Saints before being allocated to the Scottish Claymores (NFL Europe)…Caught 11 passes for 145 yards and 1 touchdown in his inaugural season with the Claymores.

1994: Drafted in the 6^th round (77^th overall) by the New Orleans Saints (NFL)…Played in 14 games with the Saints, catching one pass for 13 yards and returning 9 kicks for 138 yards.

College: Played two seasons at Joilet Junior College in Illinois before transferring to Texas Tech in 1992…Finished his Texas Tech career with 91 receptions for 1,312 yards and 9 touchdowns…Was named NCJAA All-American second team and was his league’s co-Player of the Year…Earned All South-West Conference honours in the 1993 season.

Personal: Mookie spends the majority of his off-season in Mesquite, Texas with his wife Velishia and his 12-year old son Derrell Jr.

REGULAR SEASON CFL STATISTICS

		Receiving						Rushing
	Team	GP	NO	YDS	AVG	LG	TD	NO	YDS	TD
1997	TOR	18	77	1457	18.9	71	17	1	6	0
1998	TOR	18	160	2000	12.5	46	10	3	19	0
1999	TOR	10	39	682	17.5	74	7	3	8	0
2000	TOR	18	100	1398	14.0	76	16	5	56	1
2001	TOR	16	78	1376	17.6	66	6	0	0	0
2002	TOR	18	66	1027	15.6	86	13	4	41	0
2003	TOR	15	4	741	11.6	56	6	0	0	0
2004	EDM	18	48	868	18.1	73	10	1	12	1
2005	EDM	18	94	1207	12.8	49	5	1	13	0
2006	EDM	18	70	892	12.7	69	1	3	24	0
TOTALS		167	736	11,648	15.1	86	91	21	179	2
		Kickoff Returns					Punt Returns
	Team	NO	YDS	AVG	LG	TD	NO	YDS	TD
1997	TOR	1	17	17.0	17	0	0	0	0
1998	TOR	1	7	7.0	7	0	0	0	0
1999	TOR	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0	0
2000	TOR	6	211	35.2	101	1	2	28	0
2001	TOR	5	79	15.8	32	0	0	0	0
2002	TOR	1	31	31.0	31	0	1	18	0
2003	TOR	2	36	18.0	20	0	0	0	0
2004	EDM	0	0	0.0	0	0	1	1	0
2005	EDM	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0	0
2006	EDM	0	0	0.0	0	0	8	95	0
TOTALS		16	381	12.4	101	1	12	142	0