Collins Jr. new model of being cut with bonus due

Ex-Edmonton WR just greeted his fourth child

No matter the sport, the focus of free agency is always placed squarely on the numbers.

But as some players cash in and some teams cash out, there is a human component to each transaction. The benefits and consequences of coming and going are equally real.

Receiver Ricky Collins Jr. has now felt both sides of that coin. The Tyler, Texas, native had a year left on the three-year deal he signed with Edmonton in 2019, but the CFL team released him on Sunday. The bad news came the day before he was due to receive a $33,000 CDN roster bonus, and three days after his wife Haley delivered son Amani Dreak, the couple's fourth child.

“I was looking forward to that money, to put it in the bank to fall back on, you know,” Collins Jr. said Monday from his home in Tyler. “Teams guarantee this money but they can up and take it away from me?” Indeed.

The deal he inked on the opening day of free agency in 2019 included a $20,000 signing bonus and called for a base salary of $97,000 in the first year. He responded with a career-high 1,103 yards and three TDs on 78 catches. Both his yardage and receptions were good for eighth among CFL receivers in 2019.

Five of the seven receivers who finished with more yards than Collins Jr. in 2019 — Hamilton's Brandon Banks, B.C.'s Bryan Burnham, Saskatchewan's Shaq Evans, Edmonton's Greg Ellingson and Eugene Lewis of Montreal — have been resigned by their respective teams, while Bralon Addison was already under contract with Hamilton for 2021. The other, former Stampeder Reggie Begelton, recently signed a futures deal with Green Bay of the NFL, after spending the 2020 season with the Packers.

The COVID-19 pandemic wiped out the CFL campaign in 2020, but Collins was able to convert a roster bonus into a signing bonus to help get him through a year without a full salary.

In addition to the roster bonus due Monday, he was contracted to make $105,000 in base salary, as well as $12,000 in a housing bonus pro-rated by game, for a total of $150,000. However, early in January Edmonton made a successful play for receiver Derel Walker, who had gone unsigned through 2020, and general manager Brock Sunderland said he didn't have the money to keep Collins. Jr. in the fold.

There might not have been enough footballs to keep everyone happy, either.

“Once they had signed Derel Walker I kind of saw the writing on the wall,” said Collins Jr., who came into the league in 2016 and also spent time with Saskatchewan, Hamilton and B.C.

“Without a doubt, Derel Walker is an extraordinary talent. He's top of the top in the CFL. I know him well.

“Then you have Greg Ellingson. When you already have two thousand-yard receivers on the team and you bring in two more, somebody has to go at the end of the day. I told my wife, I said `yeah babe, I'm probably going to be looking for a home, in regards to somewhere to play.' ”

He joins a thin free agent class of receivers, now that

ONCE THEY HAD SIGNED DEREL WALKER I KIND OF SAW THE WRITING ON THE WALL.

Burnham has re-upped with B.C. and Eric Rogers signed a two-year deal with Toronto on the heels of a weekend trade from Calgary. Collins Jr. should be in demand, along with the likes of DeVier Posey and Quan Bray.

“I know teams have seen my name run across the ticker,” said Collins Jr. “So you have to give teams time to adjust, to having seen a receiver of my calibre come up in free agency out of the blue like that. I definitely see myself as being one of the top receivers in free agency right now, so I definitely feel I'll land somewhere. I just have to play it by ear now.

“A top-10 receiver gets 1,100 yards and still gets released because of a bonus that's due. That right there is an eye-opener, a jaw-dropper, you know.”

As unsettling as it is for someone like Collins Jr., this kind of thing happens in the CFL all the time. In fact, quarterbacks Matt Nichols, now with Ottawa, and Nick Arbuckle in Toronto were both due six-figure roster bonuses on Monday before they traded places on Sunday.

“Fans get mad at players when players sign one-year deals,” said Collins Jr. “But at the end of the day, you sign a two- or three-year deal, you make a commitment, and look at my situation.

“That's what happens to us.”

JASON FRANSON / THE CANADIAN PRESS Five of the seven receivers who finished with more yards than Ricky Collins Jr. in 2019 have been re-signed by their respective teams.