Sunday’s roaring orange oasis of 66,625 at Paycor Stadium is the largest crowd wide receiver Dohnte Meyers ever played in front of, and that doesn’t count the two most famous CFL players in Bengals history who are watching his every move from afar.

When the 5-11, 186-pound Meyers looked in his first NFL catch Sunday from quarterback Joe Burrow and made Tampa Bay rookie cornerback Keionte Scott miss on the way to an 18-yard gain that jump-started the Bengals’ last keep-away drive, ESPN’s Andrew Hawkins couldn’t help but remember his run-and-catch screen at Paycor that he caught on his first target in his first NFL game as a 5-7, 175-pound wide receiver.

It was rookie quarterback Andy Dalton’s first completion in the 23-20 upset of the Bills that ignited that playoff run.

“That’s the first check mark that you’ve got something special,” Hawkins says. “It’s kind of this testing mark where, all right, you think we have something here? Throw the screen and see what he does with it. I take it for 25 and then everything kind of goes from there.

“So Dohnte has all this stuff around him. It’s like, oh, is it preseason? Is it that? We’ll just throw him the ball and see what happens from there. And you can make a lot of money in the NFL by turning little opportunities into big gains for a team … You only get three downs (in the CFL). You have to turn five yards into ten yards.”

Cincinnati-bred wide receiver Milt Stegall, a 6-foot, 184-pounder who caught four balls for his hometown team during three years with the Bengals in the early ’90s before becoming “the Jerry Rice of the CFL,” has his eye on Meyers, too, because he already has.  As a long-time studio host for TSN covering the CFL, Stegall saw a lot of Canadian Football League in Meyers’ first NFL catch

“It’s definitely a faster game. The only true position on defense that may be similar to the NFL is your middle linebacker,” Stegall says. “Your outside linebackers are basically safeties or DBs. Your defensive ends are basically outside linebackers. You may have a couple of big interior linemen, but other than that, you have to be able to run. You have to be able to run and run and run all day. If not, you’re going to get used up.”

Hawkins did it like Meyers, complete with the movie storyline. He went to the CFL after playing at Toledo, but had to sleep on the couches of buddies for a year as a Toledo graduate assistant coach before playing two seasons in Montreal.

Hawkins then got his shot with those Baby Bengals of Dalton and A.J. Green, and then got that cherished second contract with the Browns before retiring after catching 209 balls for nine touchdowns in 59 games across six seasons.

“I don’t think I would have played in the NFL for as long as I did had I not gone to the CFL,” Hawkins says.

Stegall, quite famously, did the opposite. The Roger Bacon High School burner (“Track was my first love,”) bolted to Canada and 14 years later retired as the CFL’s all-time leading receiver. At 56, Stegall is still the league’s all-time leader in touchdowns and touchdown catches.

“When I left the NFL and went to the CFL, my first thing thinking was, ‘I’m about to go up here and tear it up,’ and I was humbled quickly,” Stegall says. “I was humbled very quickly. It smacked me in the face right away until I figured it out … It took me 15, 16 games to get adjusted.”

Both are bright guys who figure out things for a living. After Hawkins retired, he got his MBA from Columbia with a 4.0. Stegall is a Miami University product who actually went back to Oxford, Ohio to run track after his rookie NFL season, and has his hand in businesses in Winnipeg, home of Milt Stegall Drive, and Atlanta, where he lives.

Stegall’s not saying they’ll name a road after Meyers in Cincinnati, but he thinks he can be around long enough in the NFL that they won’t name one for him in Canada, where Meyers had a 1,000-yard season last year for the Grey Cup champ Rough Riders. Which means Stegall thinks he’ll stick in the NFL.

Stegall spent a few months with Bengals head coach Zac Taylor when Taylor had a cup of coffee on the fringes of the Bombers roster for a couple of months, and he thinks that gives Taylor an appreciation for Meyers’ journey.

“Zac got a taste of the CFL life, so he understands what Dohnte is going through,” Stegall says. “He understands the grind that he’s going through. He understands that this man is willing to do whatever it takes.

“It’s amazing because … not many guys who you know start off in the CFL and go to the NFL make the team. Let’s be honest, but the fact that he did it says a lot about his character, his grind. It’s not like he went to a football factory in college … He had to go to an open workout to make the CFL team. So this guy is a testament to not giving up on yourself.”

The buzz in their old stomping grounds is how much trust Taylor and quarterback Joe Burrow have in Meyers. Just 3:19 left Sunday, and the Bengals starting the drive protecting a 33-27 lead when Taylor hoped the Bucs would play zone so Burrow could get the ball to All-Pro receiver Ja’Marr Chase. But Tampa Bay took him away, and there was Meyers catching a flare and in a flash it was 18 yards,

“Joe did a good job with the location on the ball, allowing him to catch and turn and get upfield,” Taylor said Monday. “Just really impressive. The plays that came his way. He made them.”

Meyers has been talking about trust for weeks.

“That’s something I wanted to do when I first got here,” Meyers said Monday. “Being a new guy, instill that I’m hard working with you guys and I’m working for the same goal. For that to be reciprocated and to gain that trust for the opportunities is pivotal.”

When he heard that Meyers had driven overnight from Atlanta at Burrow’s request for a throwing session, it reminded Hawkins of a moment he had with Bengals veteran safety Reggie Nelson in the weight room at Georgetown College during training camp. Hawkins had been there about four days, didn’t know anybody, and was a bit stunned when Nelson asked him what year this was for him.

“Rookie,” Hawkins said, and he had to say it again because Nelson said, “You’re no damn rookie.” Then Nelson asked where he played the year before.

“So you’re used to playing against grown men. You’re  no bleeping rookie,” Nelson told him.

“Getting a call to throw and then busing up from Atlanta, a rookie doesn’t do that,” Hawkins says. “A rookie doesn’t know how important that is. But he’s been around professionals, and it certainly seems by the way he talks and acts that Dohnte is a consummate professional.”

Hawkins also says what helped his NFL journey is that the CFL is a veteran’s league and tougher to make with 43 roster spots and 19 going to Canadians. The Alouettes receiver room had two Hall-of-Famers and Hawkins had to start on the CFL’s version of the practice squad. So did Meyers in 2024.

“In 2024, he was just getting his feet wet, like he was trying to understand what was going on. He was on the practice roster a little bit, then he got on (active), and then he got hurt,” Stegall says. “But in 2025, you could see his understanding of the game was at top-notch, and he could play with the speed that he has and the quickness that he has. Because when he gets the ball in his hand, if you’re not up in his face right away, he can make you miss.

“It’s evident what he did when he had his first catch last week, and what he was able to do in training camp and also in the preseason. He has some quick feet. He has some great ability. He’s not the biggest, but you don’t have to be the biggest when you’re as quick and fast as he is.”

Hawkins thinks it’s tougher to make tacklers miss in the NFL because the field is 11 yards narrower than in the CFL. But he also believes he was able to take advantage of his quickness in the NFL like he couldn’t in the CFL.

“I was a better NFL player than I was a Canadian player because it was like my speed and quickness finally fit in the NFL like a puzzle piece,” says Hawkins, who had 41 catches and five touchdowns in two seasons for Montreal.

“I think Dohnte has the same thing. He catches that out route. He makes a fake and cuts back, and it looks like a beautiful dance because everybody can run it and change direction like that … That (CFL) DB  is probably two yards closer to the inside, so now it’s like when you catch it and have the effort to cut back, you might cut right back into him because he was a yard slower than the NFL DB.”

Hawkins also doesn’t think Meyers is headed back to Saskatchewan anytime soon. Big things are ahead, he thinks. If you A-I Meyers’ No. 81 with Antonio Brown’s Steelers No. 84 , a 5-10, 185-pound four-time All-Pro in Hawkins’ era, he doesn’t think you could notice much of a difference.

Stegall isn’t surprised Meyers is already a fan favorite in his hometown. “They like guys who work hard.”  And Hawkins, who was and is very much a Cincy favorite, knows this town has grown accustomed to wide receivers in all shapes and sizes.

“He’s that type of Cincinnati wide receiver. It’s what the front office and the Brown family are better at than the rest of the NFL. Getting value for wide receivers,” Hawkins says. “In the last 20, 30 years, they’ve had top-level wide receivers. Literally, it’s deep.

“They don’t rebuild, they reload. Whether it’s guys that you expected to be past their prime coming in and playing to the next level, or guys like Andrew Hawkins or Dohnte Myers that you’ve never heard of, and they become important pieces to the team. Or you get T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the seventh round, Chad Johnson in the second. Marvin Jones is a fifth-rounder.  Mo (Sanu) a third. The list goes on and on. It’s what they’re better at than the rest of the NFL. Getting value and unearthing top-level receiver talent.”

The latest in the line looks like he won’t be a CFL Hall-of-Famer. And that’s just fine with this one.

“Believing in yourself and wanting to make your dreams come true. So shout out to him,” Stegall says. “I’m hoping he can play another 50 million years in the NFL.”