CFL’S free agents might face a struggle to secure big payday
there might not be any tickets to sell this year, but if there is a championship to win, the defensive players available in free agency would certainly help get it done.
In fact, that side of the ball should draw plenty of attention through the current weeklong negotiation window and again on Feb. 9, when the Canadian Football League officially flings open the doors to the free agency marketplace.
erstwhile Toronto quarterbacks Matt Nichols and Mcleod bethel-thompson were both expected to be in the wind. but Nichols signed Sunday with Ottawa after Nick Arbuckle, who was due a roster bonus Monday, was released by the redblacks. It is now expected Arbuckle will sign with the Argos, completing a quarterback swap.
In fact, unless you’re the b.c. Lions, who have yet to re-sign receiver bryan burnham and running backs John White, brandon rutley and Chris rainey, there just isn’t that much left to do on offence. In the past week, Calgary traded receiver eric rogers to Toronto, so the Argos must believe they can sign him; quarterback Jeremiah Masoli re-upped with Hamilton, and two big-name receivers stayed put — Greg ellingson in edmonton and b.j. Cunningham in Montreal.
While the Qbs sort themselves out, burnham should be the offensive prize driving that portion of the market, while fellow receivers devier Posey, ricky Collins Jr. and Quan bray could generate some noise. And there should be teams in pursuit of linemen Jason Lauzon-seguin, Sirvincent rogers and Matt O’donnell.
even so, there should be far more action on defence and the position to watch, the one that could set the rest of the dominoes falling, is linebacker. Henoc Muamba, Cameron Judge, Solomon elimimian, Larry dean, Justin Tuggle, Jovan Santos-knox, don unamba, Chris Ackie, Micah Awe and Patrick Levels are at the top of the class of 2021 and, as of Sunday, had not re-signed with their respective teams.
Word is Judge will seek NFL opportunities, and that could turn teams away from the talented young Canadian. If so, Muamba would top that part of the food chain and drive the market. either way, some teams will have set aside budgets to attract one of either Judge or Muamba, and won’t likely be spending on a Plan C until those two are out of reach.
There’s a tonne of available talent along the defensive line, too, with Charleston Hughes, Micah Johnson, Almondo Sewell, drake Nevis, Chris Casher, Alex bazzie and Adrian Tracy all poised as of Sunday afternoon to hit a decidedly unusual market.
“It will be different in the sense that not all the money will be there, but I think the high-end players will still be able to receive their signing bonuses, just maybe not as much as in previous years,” said Jason Staroszik, whose firm, New World Agency, represents several CFL players.
And it’s likely that the trickle-down economics just don’t trickle down as far as they have in previous years.
“you better get a deal done quickly because the (upfront) money is going to run out,” one veteran player agent said. “you better hope there is a team out there who has targeted you.”
If a player isn’t the subject of a bidding war, what should he expect in a financial landscape that was devastated when COVID-19 wiped out a year’s worth of league revenue in 2020?
“There is an adjusted market that needs to be calculated for players and their agents,” said rob Fry, who believes he will have fewer than 10 free agents in play this year. “It’s just important to be diligent and understand that with cap spending at the floor, it’s not so much looking at it on an individual basis of restructuring a certain percentage. you kind of have to look at the entire market as a whole. you have to be diligent and have a lot of conversations with every team’s management, to understand their cap situation, the way they are looking to build their roster. I’ve had to spend more time educating my players on what the new market looks like so proper expectations are set.”
The new market has seen many general managers happy to re-sign the free agents they inked in early 2020, before it became obvious there wouldn’t be a season. but even those players have been swallowing serious pay reductions. The top-echelon quarterbacks have restructured their deals and an overall reduction in spending and player movement is certainly the expectation heading into this freeagency period.