Numbers just don’t matter very much to Marquay McDaniel.

Like 50, as in the TSN top 50 CFL player list from which the veteran Stampeders slotback was excluded this week?

McDaniel only shrugs.

How about 100, as in the 100th regular-season game the Virginia Beach, Va., product will be playing on Saturday when the Stamps face the BC Lions in their 2016 season-opener?

A nice achievement, to be sure, but one McDaniel hadn’t exactly been tracking.

“I didn’t even know that,” he said after practice at McMahon Stadium the other day.

Even when informed of the impending milestone, the stoic McDaniel maintained his usual cool.

“I mean, I guess if you looked back on it, 100 games is a lot,” he said. “But it should have been a lot more if I didn’t get hurt a few years and I lost a year in Hamilton. But I guess it’s a good accomplishment.

“Everyone talks about their 100th game so let’s hope it’s a good one.”

One reason the 100-game milestone may be meaningful to McDaniel is that his games-played clock could have permanently stalled in the 30s.

After two full and productive 18-game seasons with Hamilton in 2009 and 2010, McDaniel played just one game for the Ticats in 2011 before being released. He signed with the Stampeders just five days after getting cut loose but he never saw the field the rest of the season as he was placed on the practice roster.

It wasn’t until the following year when he cracked the Stamps lineup and he got his career back on track.

“I fault myself for what happened in Hamilton,” he stated. “I was young. But once I came here and got my second chance, I knew I was going to take full advantage of it and it’s worked out for me. I got a ring here and that’s all I really care about. It’s been a great four years and I’m hoping it’s another great year this year.”

So what’s the difference between the guy who wore out his welcome in Steeltown and the guy who has worn No. 16 with such distinction in Cowtown?

“Obviously, I don’t drop balls like I did back then,” said the Hampton University alum. “I matured and stayed out of that night life. That had a lot to do with it. I’m just taking care of my body and few little things. But basically it was just growing up and football got more serious.”

McDaniel has a couple of 1,000-yard seasons to his credit with the Red and White, a CFL all-star berth and, of course, that Grey Cup ring. What’s left for the 32-year-old to accomplish?

“I just told the guys I want us to be great this year,” he replied. “We’ve got a good group. Everybody’s doubting us and saying (negative things) about Calgary but me personally? I love it when they look at us like that because we’ve got the group to prove them wrong.

“I told those guys, ‘Man, I want another ring.’ That’s what you play for. Especially at my age, who cares about all-stars? I really don’t. But those rings, that’s what you’re really going to look back on at the end of your career.”