Ed Philion
CFL.ca

As the old saying goes...  “One man’s loss is another man’s gain”. In this case, the loss is Etienne Boulay’s opportunity to land a job with the New York Jets and the gain is to the Alouette organization and its fans.

For those who are unfamiliar with the scenario, Boulay had signed a free agent contract with the New York Jets of the National Football League in the offseason. As most people are aware, NFL players’ salaries far exceed the money available to similar positional players in the CFL. For example, the minimum salary in the NFL for a first year player is about $300,000 while in comparison, in the CFL the same first year player’s salary is around $40,000. Not including the dollar conversion and taxes, the difference is about $260,000. For that reason alone, you can see why so many CFL players who are given the opportunity jump at the chance for the huge financial windfall south of the border. The reality; however, is that for most of those players, the opportunity is taken away from them before they even step on the field in a preseason game.

For those free agents who are able to make an NFL roster it has as much to do with ability as it does being in the right place at the right time. As an NFL alum, I got to experience first hand what many CFL players who sign these NFL contracts do not. For me, that timing came in the form of an injury to the starter and a former second round pick playing out of position. Because of the injury I was able to move up the depth chart and get important practice reps that I would otherwise not get.

It was those extra repetitions that allowed me to gain the confidence that I belonged. As my game developed I began to slowly outperform those I was competing against. Eventually, I was able to move past being just another training camp practice body and I was thrown into some preseason games where my play continued to improve.  It was only after a gruelling six-week training camp and four preseason games that I learned I had made the team. I was one of the fortunate ones; so many first year players in similar situations aren’t so lucky.

What happened to Boulay is more prevalent then one would like to believe. With a limited roster, many coaches feel squeezed with the amount of time they have to evaluate players. For many of these coaches the easiest and less expensive way around this dilemma is to cut or release a player with the least amount of financial investment.

Free agents such as Boulay are inexpensive. They weren’t drafted by management and/or given a lump sum of cash in the form of a signing bonus that would typically be given to a draft pick. You see, it’s much easier to explain to the public that you made a mistake on a free agent than you did on a player management and the coaching staff spent so much developing from the draft. Although Etienne’s NFL hopes may be dashed at the moment, the opportunity to play for his hometown, in a city he loves, for a lot less money will be there for him for years to come.

Ed Philion played eight seasons along the defensive line for the Montreal Alouettes. He was a three-time East Division All-Star and helped the Alouettes win the Grey Cup in 2002. Currently, he is a member of the Alouettes’ broadcast team on CJAD Radio in Montreal.