Jarrett Payton
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PAYTON ROMPS: Jarrett Payton has the Montreal Alouettes on a nice roll.

Aug/13/07 03:28 AM
The son of former NFL legend Walter Payton ran for 141 yards and a touchdown in Montreal's 30-18 win over Calgary on Thursday night. The victory was the Alouettes' third straight since Payton was inserted into the starting lineup.

Payton missed Montreal's first four regular season games with an ankle injury. He returned to the lineup three weeks ago and helped the Alouettes sweep a home and home series with Toronto before Thursday's game.

In three games, Payton has rushed for 301 yards and scored two touchdowns and is averaging over six yards a carry.

(sportsnetwork.com)

Starting for Alouettes has made football fun again for Jarrett Payton

Aug/09/07 05:00 AM
(CP) - Football is finally fun again for Jarrett Payton.

Three years after leading the Miami Hurricanes in rushing, the son of Chicago Bears legend Walter Payton is back as a starting tailback, this time with the CFL's Montreal Alouettes.

"It really has put a jump in my step," Payton said of his role with the Alouettes. "I love playing the game of football and having an opportunity to just play again is wonderful.

"But I've said from the beginning that I wanted to play where I felt I belonged and where I felt wanted and this is a place where I really feel wanted and connected to the guys. In the NFL sometimes, guys get blindsided by other things. Here's it's just a little bit different. Guys here are really loving the game of football and that's the reason I play the game."

Carrying the ball runs in Payton's family

Aug/02/07 08:36 AM
MONTREAL -- As far as Jarrett Payton is concerned, it is fitting the Montreal Alouettes play home games at Percival Molson Stadium, near the top of Mount Royal.

The Payton family has always felt at home on a mountaintop, whether it was National Football League record books or at the precipice of a hill in the Mississippi delta, where Jarrett's late father, Walter, pioneered off-season conditioning en route to missing just one game in a glorious 13-year career.

When he retired following the 1987 season, Walter Payton, who died in 1999 of a rare liver disease, was the NFL's all-time leading rusher. He was also one of the league's best citizens, and that legacy lives on each year at the Super Bowl when the Payton family presents the NFL's man-of-the-year award, which is named after the legendary Chicago Bear.

Payton, Alouettes dump Argos

Jul/30/07 03:26 PM
Call it a sweet debut for Jarrett Payton.

The son of late NFL great Walter (Sweetness) Payton rushed for a team-high 63 yards in his first CFL game to help the visiting Montreal Alouettes to a 26-13 win over the Toronto Argonauts on Thursday night.

Payton, who missed the first four games of the season after turning an ankle during Montreal's first training-camp scrimmage, made three runs of nine yards or more, including an 18-yard scamper in the first quarter. He was forced out of the game for a stretch in the second half due to leg cramps.

"He ran hard but unfortunately was unable to play four quarters because he cramped up," said Alouettes coach Jim Popp. "But I thought he played well."

Payton gets shot for banged-up Alouettes

Jul/30/07 03:23 PM
Away from the pressures of home and facing a defence that is vulnerable against the run. Is there a better setting for Jarrett Payton to make his Canadian Football League debut?

Not according to Montreal Alouettes coach Jim Popp, who will unleash the son of Pro Football Hall of Famer Walter Payton against the rival Argonauts on Thursday night in Toronto.

The younger Payton, sidelined since turning his ankle during Montreal's first training-camp scrimmage, should get the bulk of work in the Alouettes' backfield since a healthy Robert Edwards didn't make the trip.

"I've been waiting for this a long time … just to have the opportunity," the six-foot-two, 217-pound running back told the Gazette in Montreal on Wednesday. "Now that it's here, it's like a dream."

Jarrett Payton, Son of Walter, to Play Canadian Football

May/28/07 11:22 AM
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Walter Payton was a great player on the field and a good person off the field, and that has engendered a great deal of fan support for his son, Jarrett Payton.

Jarrett has played running back for the Miami Hurricanes and the Amsterdam Admirals and the Tennessee Titans, but he doesn't have anywhere near the talent of his father, and he's never been more than a role player. He couldn't find an NFL team to offer him a spot at its training camp this year.

But in a strange way, there's something especially admirable about Jarrett Payton's efforts to make it in football. Payton has signed with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League, and he says he's going to keep pursuing his lifelong ambition of playing pro football. Jarrett Payton knows he'll always be defined as his father's son in the eyes of most fans, and he knows he's never going to match his father's accomplishments. But he continues to play because he loves the game, and wherever he goes, he'll be a fan favorite.

(aolsportsblog.com)

Payton's new place - The Bears' great's son aims to restart his pro football career in Montreal

May/28/07 11:22 AM
MONTREAL -- It's final now/

The decision's made/

So I pack up and dip in the Escalade/ Cause I belong now/

NFL passed me/

You ask me/

I'm so happy now/

I hope that my Dad sees/

The workin' finally paid off.

-- First lines of the rap song "I Belong," by Jarrett Payton

The telephone rang in Chicago and he didn't answer. He didn't recognize the number. The phone rang again and still he hesitated. The area code was foreign and he had no idea who was calling. The phone rang a third time and curiosity got the better of him. Jarrett Payton said hello.

Alouettes look to Walter Payton's son Jarrett to add punch to running game

Feb/22/07 06:50 PM
MONTREAL (CP) - Signing NFL legend Walter Payton's son was almost as big for Montreal Alouettes coach and general manager Jim Popp as it was for 26-year-old Jarrett Payton.

A Walter Payton poster adorns Popp's office wall and there are no fewer than six action figures of the former Chicago Bears running back in his collection of momentos. Now he looks forward to having Payton's six-foot, 225-pound son carry the ball in the Canadian Football League next season.

"Walter Payton was my favourite player," Popp said Thursday as Jarrett was introduced to the Montreal media after signing for one year plus an option.

Payton held up jersey No. 33 - his Hall of Famer father made No. 34 famous in Chicago - and said he was grateful for the chance "to show you my talent and help bring the Grey Cup back to Montreal."

Alouettes sign Jarrett Payton

Feb/22/07 01:26 PM
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MONTREAL (CP) - The son of legendary running back Walter Payton has signed with the Montreal Alouettes.
Jarrett Payton agreed to a one-year deal with Montreal that includes an option.

Like his father, the 26-year-old Payton is a running back and has spent the past three years with the NFL's Tennessee Titans. He appeared in 13 games.

Payton also spent time in NFL Europe with Amsterdam, where he won a championship in 2005 while being named a league all-star.

Walter Payton dominated the NFL with the Chicago Bears between 1975 and 1987. He had 3,838 carries for 16,726 yards and 110 touchdowns.

(http://www.tsn.ca)

Walter Payton's son receives award

Feb/16/07 08:16 AM
Jarrett Payton is used to fans of his father telling him so many reasons why his late father, Walter Payton, was great.

What surprised him Thursday, Jarrett Payton said, was getting a bit choked up when he saw video footage of himself at 12-years-old, helping induct his father, a Chicago Bears great, into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Jarrett accepted the PricewaterhouseCoopers Doak Walker Legends Award on Thursday in honor of his father.

Jarrett Payton isn't through with his own football days. Payton said he's finalizing details to play with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football
League. The Tennessee Titans released him after the final preseason game in 2006.

Payton played collegiately at Miami and was an undrafted free agent with the Titans in 2005.

(dallasnews.com)

Jarrett Payton viewing game in the Valley

Jan/19/07 08:15 AM
AURORA -- More than two decades ago, 5-year-old Jarrett Payton watched his father and the 1985 Bears win a Super Bowl in New Orleans.

With a 15-1 record, Bears Hall of Famer Walter Payton and his teammates steamrolled over the New England Patriots 46-10 on Jan. 26, 1986. And da 1985 Bears went down in history with their coach Mike Ditka.

Today, Jarrett can only remember the parties and celebrating of that landmark event in Chicago sports lore.