Team eager to settle Reilly grievance
Team's brain trust looking to settle with quarterback
Expect Mike Reilly back as the B.C. Lions' starting quarterback for the 2021 CFL season.
Neil McEvoy reiterated that plan on Monday in the midst of being officially named the team's co-general manager, alongside head coach Rick Campbell.
Monday's announcement was a formality, since the Leos have been public for a couple of weeks about splitting GM duties between Campbell and McEvoy, the team's longtime director of football operations who worked his way through the organization since signing on originally in ticket sales in 1995.
The post has been open since Ed Hervey resigned in October, citing personal reasons.
Also public since last month has been news that Reilly has filed a grievance against the Lions with the league office over nonpayment of a guaranteed $250,000. Lions president Rick LeLacheur told a virtual town hall of Lions season-ticket holders that he was “confident” that things could be worked out with Reilly.
TSN's Farhan Lalji has been reporting that LeLacheur and Reilly's camp have been looking at a potential settlement before the issue goes to arbitration, which wouldn't happen until the new year. Hervey inked Reilly to a four-year, $2.9-million deal as a free agent in February 2019 after six seasons with Edmonton.
“I'm confident that we can work out something,” McEvoy said on Monday when asked about the status of the pivot.
The next order of business for McEvoy and Campbell is figuring out which pending free agents that they want to bring back. The league announced on Friday that teams could start re-signing their own players on Monday. Free agency opens Feb. 9.
The Lions have 38 pending free agents. Notable names include wide receiver Bryan Burnham, left tackle Joel Figueroa and defensive lineman Micah Johnson.
Burnham, 30, has become a face of the franchise, totalling 327 receptions, 5,115 yards and 30 touchdowns for the Lions over the past four years. Figueroa, 31, has been the Leos' outstanding lineman nominee the past two seasons, and Johnson, 32, was one of their key free-agent signings last February, two seasons removed from a 14sack campaign with Calgary.
The CFL didn't play this year due to COVID-19. Campbell was brought on as head coach on Dec. 2, 2019, after guiding the Ottawa Redblacks from 2014-19. B.C. is slated to open the 2021 regular season June 12 with a visit to the Stampeders in Calgary and, assuming that goes off without a hitch, Campbell will have had 558 days between his hiring and his first league game at the controls.
“I think there's a good core group of veteran players here and we're going to make every effort to extend (the contract of ) guys,” Campbell said Monday. “We're going to work hard to retain and fit as many guys as we can on our roster. That's the next big step.”
McEvoy added: “If we would have had this conference in March 2020, we would have said that we really liked our football team. Starting today, we're going to work on getting all those guys retained and build the best football team we can.”
Campbell will also be defensive co-ordinator and he admitted Monday that he “wanted to make sure that I was putting myself in a good position and not wearing too many hats,” as the Lions figured out how to replace Hervey.
“Just the way Neil and I work, I think it works really well,” Campbell said. “I think we complement each other as far as our skill sets. I'm comfortable with how the whole thing is going to be set up.”
McEvoy's in his sixth year as director of football operations for the Lions. He saw his duties expand under former GM/coach Wally Buono, handling things like player contracts, training camp and travel logistics.
“Neil knows this league inside out and he knows the B.C. Lions and this community inside out,” said Campbell.
“The other thing I like about Neil is that I don't think this is going to be an ego thing for anyone in this organization. I don't think it's going to be about who's going to get credit for what. I think it's going to be about wanting to see the Lions win football games. When everyone is pulling in the same direction, just wanting to win football games, usually good things happen.”