Rick Moffat
CFL.ca
Being an Alouette free agent is a lot like the days immediately following Valentine’s Day. You may see more empty candy wrappers than boxes of chocolates, more thorns than rose petals. And a boss who is more likely to say, “Kiss my contract offer” than make you a sweetheart deal.
Just ask Avon Cobourne.
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The ’09 Grey Cup MVP and stalwart star in the Als’ backfield in 2010 made the move to Montreal this offseason with he and his wife expecting a baby. That seems to have prompted the Als to expect a “hometown discount.”
Don’t take it personally, Avon. Testing free agency can be a blessing in disguise for some Alouettes.
“I’ve had guys who left and told me the grass isn’t always greener,” says GM Jim Popp, as poker-faced a competitor as there is in this league. “But I’ve also told players ‘you need to go… as much as I’d like to keep you, to be fair if you want the playing time and the money, you need to leave.”
It is clear if you are going to be a CFL free agent player, you also have to be strategically adept at being a NON-player. When other teams are going “all in” for a top talent on the bidding market, Popp is most likely to fold. Or to have never even grabbed a seat at that table.
“Our philosophy is it’s all about the system and the players who surround that star free agent,” explains Popp. “We aren’t usually looking for a quick fix, so we don’t have to overpay players. If we do get a guy, we will not pay him more than our starters already on the roster. We just don’t want to bring salary conflict into the locker room.”
“And believe me; the players ALWAYS find out what guys are making.”
The Als have always built around the draft, around their NFL camp scouting and signing “Neg List” players and other free agents tryouts. Rare is the dominant free agent who has been on Popp’s shopping list.
Even the year 2011 Hall of Fame inductee Joe Montford left Hamilton, the Alouettes stayed on the sidelines. “Big Joe” may have terrorized QBs including Anthony Calvillo, but Als’ coaches didn’t feel he was going to be a fit in their system for the size of the contract.
Staying out of the bidding wars also means being prepared to let top talent walk if they don’t fit your salary cap plan.
After winning the Grey Cup in 2002, the Als did not open the vaults for their TD heroes that game including Jeremaine Copeland and Pat Woodcock. Both followed the money, with mixed results.
In one high-profile case, letting a key player go to free agency came back to haunt Popp: Scott Flory.
In 2004 Flory refused to sign before the deadline and dragged out heart-wrenching offers from Saskatchewan well into the spring.
Popp says Flory gave him a verbal commitment, but turned the car around, headed back to Regina and signed a deal with the Riders. A deal Popp says was never registered with the league.
When Flory asked Popp to help win his freedom and bring him back to Montreal anyway, Popp surrendered a first round draft pick to ensure Flory’s return.
“I get on him from time to time that he cost me a player,” chuckles Popp from the comforts of two more Grey Cup victories at Saskatchewan’s expense.
Not that Popp has selective memory. He acknowledges that players like Terrence Edwards and Chad Owens made the right moves by moving on from Montreal and may never have had their shots at stardom if they had stayed with the Als.
But Popp says loyalty is a two-way street even in a three-down league.
“SJ Green had a chance to go to Toronto and he’d waited around a couple of years for his shot when the Argos came calling. He contemplated leaving, but next thing you know, he was stepping into a game for Jamel Richardson and had 100-plus yards.”
Sorry CFL romantics, including you Als fans. There’s no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Free agency day is a cross between Ground Hog Day and the day after Valentine’s. Discount chocolates. Discount roses.
As Paul Lambert told me a few weeks ago, “my whole career’s been a hometown discount.”
