Somewhere on his drive upon leaving the Montreal Alouettes to rejoin the BC Lions the mild-mattered Jovan Olafioye re-emerged, willing to apologize for his recent social media outburst but still quite willing to defend himself.
Before he even was cleared to medically rejoin his first CFL club, the 30-year-old apologized to Als general manager Kavis Reed. Olafioye charged that Reed, who traded for him prior to last season, didn’t even know his salary and said he was ‘unorganized’.
But when Olafioye arrived at Lions training camp in Kamloops he exhibited a more rational posture.
“That’s not me; that’s not my character to lash out on Twitter, but I was emotional,” Olafioye said. “I feel like if you got a problem with me before I leave my family and drive 10 hours away to come to camp and you tell me you want a pay cut, you should have some more respect for me.”
Olafioye was on edge after spending 20 hours driving to and from Montreal but in the current climate surrounding CFL contract bonuses might not have been surprised. The lineman received a scheduled $50,000 bonus from Montreal in March and in essence the Alouettes wanted half of it back in the form of a pay cut before camp opened Sunday.
Olafioye refused and quickly asked for his release. Even quicker, at least based on social media postings made by both teams, was his return to the Lions, which was announced just 15 minutes after he was cut on the weekend. The last time Lions general manager Ed Hervey acted so quickly, when he signed Odell Willis in Edmonton at the onset of free agency in 2013, he was fined by the CFL.
The current wave of protest directed towards players in a similar position was Olafioye’s quarterback last season in Montreal, Darian Durant, who took a $70,000 bonus only later to retire from the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
Olafioye says Durant didn’t do anything wrong and he didn’t either.
“Durant is a really good guy. That’s not even in his character just to get some money and to take it away,” Olafioye said. “(Teams) will do the same thing to you… if you have a bonus in February they’ll cut you Jan. 30.”
The date on the calendar that has suddenly become more relevant for Olafioye and the Lions is the regular season opener June 16 at B.C. Place Stadium, with Olafioye and Gabe Knapton among the former Als playing for the Lions against Chris Williams, Khari Jones and a handful of other ex-BC teammates with the Alouettes.
If Olafioye has built up a head of steam next month towards the general manager who wanted to engage in his own buyback program, the Lions would be fine with that as well.
LIONS TALES: Olafioye didn’t take part in either back-to-back practice sessions Tuesday but eventually was medically cleared and will be on the field Wednesday….. The dubious distinction of the first player cut at camp Tuesday was import Keavon Milton, but not because he was lining up at Olafioye’s right tackle spot. Milton showed up to camp at a reported 360 pounds… Coach Wally Buono gave a unqualified thumbs up to the first back-to-back practice session in years by the Lions Tuesday. Back-to-backs were a staple when Hervey was with the Eskimos and after years of pushing back on the concept Buono is trying it all this week, taking advantage of the limited allowable use of pads during training camp. At the end of Monday’s practice sessions, which took place in 32C heat, the Lions for the first time unleashed the built-in overhead sprinklers that ring their training facility which was met with welcome relief.
