O’Leary: Als as sellers makes sense for both franchise and veterans

He sat on the sidelines, the frustration of this season and two prior just like it finally breaking him down.

The lasting image from the Montreal Alouettes’ season might be that of veteran defensive end John Bowman sitting on the bench with tears running down his face with his team minutes away from elimination from playoff contention.

There is a potential silver lining around the dark clouds in Montreal — at least for some of the members of the Alouettes. The CFL trade deadline is on Wednesday and Bowman is the perfect candidate for a deal that could extend the 35-year-old’s season and give him a shot at a Grey Cup.

The emotion he showed on the sideline and his willingness to tell it like it is says a lot about him.

Bowman gets it.

He’s that always-needed veteran presence that leads by example. In his case, the example is sitting as the Alouettes all-time sack leader (119 and counting) and being a part of two Grey Cup-winning teams. With it widely expected that he’ll retire at the end of the season, there’s next to nothing to lose for the Alouettes. Moving him to a team that has a good shot at a Grey Cup appearance this year — Calgary would be a nice destination, as would Winnipeg or Toronto — for a draft pick or two would be a blessing for the team that gets his help and a stockpiling of future Canadian talent for the Als.

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As the minutes and hours tick away on this day, rumours will likely fly through the CFL Twittersphere for every team in the league. Many fans will hope that Zach Collaros is wearing new practice by the end of this short week (June Jones has shot that idea down, for what it’s worth) what makes the most sense for this day centres around the 3-12 Alouettes.

GM and interim coach Kavis Reed has the most to gain and potentially the most to lose out of anyone in the CFL through the next four weeks. With the Alouettes missing the playoffs for the third straight year, everything is up in the air for the team and the franchise’s future. As of Monday’s loss to Edmonton, the present is irrelevant and the future means everything. Reed has a number of quality veterans on his roster that are at or near the end of their contracts. With contending teams looking for that add-on to get them over the hump in the playoffs, he could set himself up to reload for the future.

Als’ receiver Nik Lewis is in the same position as Bowman. Thought by many to be retiring at the end of the season, the league’s all-time receptions leader would love to have this season end with a shot at winning a Grey Cup.

Linebacker Chip Cox, returner Stefan Logan and running back Tyrell Sutton (Sutton being the youngest of the group, at 30) are all in similar situations as productive veterans that teams around the league could be eying today.

For Reed, a fire sale on some vets would do a few things. It would give him the chance to stockpile draft picks for 2018 and beyond. It’s also an opportunity to pluck a neg-list player or two from a rival team in a deal, as we saw in last week’s C.J. Gable trade, where the Esks reportedly sent two neg-list o-linemen to the Tiger-Cats.

Liquidating some of his roster would also allow Reed the chance to see what he has in front of him right now. He could open up those vacated spots to younger players that have been developing through the year, so he could get a feel for what he might like at those positions next year.

Acquiring picks and younger players is always on a GM’s mind and taking advantage of a contender’s desire to get to the Grey Cup is a great way to do it.