Corey Mace.

BY PERRY LEFKO
sportsnet.ca

Buffalo Bills' defensive tackle Corey Mace has been with three Canadian Football League teams, but he hasn't played a single down for either, and if the truth be known he wants to stay in the National Football League.

The Port Moody, B.C. native is in his second season with the Bills, and will be on the 53-man roster when Buffalo plays host to the New York Jets Thursday night at Rogers Centre.

The Bills activated Mace from the practice roster for last week's game against Miami and he made an interception, which contributed to Buffalo's win.

Mace is the current property of the Toronto Argonauts, who acquired his rights from Hamilton in the trade that sent Arland Bruce to the Tiger-Cats this year. Hamilton acquired Mace's rights last year from Winnipeg, which drafted him in 2007.

"My focus has been with the Bills and the NFL right now," Mace said on Wednesday. "I feel that coming into the league at age 21 and going through the experience I have been against the people I have been around, I just think there's a lot of things I want to accomplish still in this league."

Last year, Mace was activated before the Bills' game in Toronto against Miami, so this will be his second experience playing on Canadian soil for an NFL team.

"I go out every day (on the practice roster) and I never know when I'm going to get called up (for the 53-man roster)," he added. "Obviously my game plan going into each season in training camp is to make the opening-day roster. It hasn't worked out like that, but some guys get picked up early, some guys get picked up later. Regardless of the situation, I get to come to Canada and play and have fun, so I'm never, ever going to complain about that."

He plans to exhaust every opportunity in the NFL before looking at the CFL. He was involved in a contract dispute with Hamilton and refused to sign unless he was compensated for what he was worth. A day after the Ticats traded him to Toronto, the Bills signed him to the practice roster for a second season.

"The CFL is always an option for me," he said. "I grew up a Canadian and a CFL fan, so it's always there as a plan. I'm never going to look past that."