Reilly deal done, Burnham next in line
Star receiver tweets his enthusiasm after hearing about quarterback's return
Mike Reilly's contract with the B.C. Lions is cleared up and, from the sounds of it, working out a contract with Bryan Burnham may be a little easier for the club because of that.
The Canadian Football League Lions announced on Thursday they had reached a settlement with Reilly, who reportedly had filed a grievance against the club with the CFL over nonpayment of a guaranteed $250,000.
The restructured deal keeps the quarterback with B.C. through the 2022 season.
That news had Burnham, a wide receiver who is one of the Lions' top pending free agents, responding this way via text message Thursday afternoon: “Seeing the situation with Mike resolved is something to celebrate and will play a key factor in my decision regarding free agency. As a receiver and as a group that's the guy you want leading the way.”
It's impossible to guess how this might have played out if the Lions and Reilly hadn't worked things out.
An arbitration case would have happened in the new year. Reilly still would have been under contract. He signed a four-year, $2.9-million deal with B.C. as a free agent in February 2019 after six seasons with the Edmonton Eskimos. As for Burnham, who had 100 catches for 1,492 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2019, he has been with the Lions since 2014, so he had strong ties with B.C. before Reilly arrived.
The fact that this is settled, though, means that the Lions can move forward today trying to sell the idea of a 2021 season after the CFL missed out on last season entirely, with the club having Reilly as a frontman for those pitches.
He remains one of the league's more recognizable talents. He was the CFL's Most Outstanding Player in 2017 and the Grey Cup most valuable player in 2015. He's also loaded with personality. At one point in Thursday's Zoom call to announce the deal, Reilly had a giant picture of Lions manager of communications and content Matt Baker as his screen background.
Reilly has kept a low profile of late, though. He admits part of that was him avoiding social media because of all the negative news surrounding both the pandemic and the CFL cancelling its season, but
he also didn't want to be a “distraction.”
“As things are starting to clear up for the CFL and the world in general … I certainly do expect to be more public with my life again,” Reilly said.
TSN's Farhan Lalji tweeted that Reilly was due $725,000 and $750,000 for 2021 and 2022 in his original deal and that “when you factor in the grievance and the net tax effect of his large signing bonus he will actually come out ahead for those 2 years,” and that he “will get over $600K before he plays his next game.”
According to Lalji, Reilly will receive $525,000 in 2021, including a signing bonus of over $350,000. He's slated to receive $575,000 in 2022 and he gets that $250,000 bonus that was in question.
“I knew that things were going to get worked out,” Reilly said on the video call. “And the reason that I knew that was that I knew I wanted to be here and I feel like that feeling is mutual between the club and myself.”
Ed Hervey, the general manager who inked the initial Reilly contract with B.C., resigned from the Lions on Oct. 16, citing personal reasons. News of Reilly's contract issues broke soon after that.
Reilly was asked Thursday if Hervey parting ways with the Lions was tied to the contract.
“I honestly can't speak to you about that. That's between Ed and the B.C. Lions,” said Reilly, who also had Hervey as his general manager in Edmonton. “I won't speculate. I know everybody has their speculation of how and why and this and that. I actually haven't had a chance to speak with Ed, to talk with him, to find out all the reasons.
“I do know that Ed, for a while, was dealing with some challenging things that didn't have anything to do with football. The only thing that I hope — again, Ed means a ton to me personally and not just football-wise — is that whatever he does he's healthy and he's able to enjoy whatever he's going to be focused on.”
CFL free agency opens Feb. 9. The Lions have re-signed six of their own 38 free agents already. The regular season is slated to begin June 12, with a visit to the Calgary Stampeders.