Add in the Als were ranked 8th out of 9 teams for training facility. To me, that is hard to comprehend.
Should be able to have a decent training facility for the players to work out.
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I tend to agree that Mack’s release makes room for Rambo, or if not Rambo, then a pending or current free agent American receiver.
Lost in this is Theis extending, which is good news!
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They seem to be high on Hollins, which is hard to understand given that he showed almost nothing in the admittedly limited time he spent with us last season. I guess time will tell.
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Very possible. But yeah, either way, I don’t like this decision at all.
I hope DM knows what he is doing, and that he has a good budget to work with. Mack’s release worries me.
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The budget he possibly has to work with worries me.
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The release of Mack has nothing to do with the budget. What has Mack really brought to the Alouettes in the past 2 seasons? Son rendement ne justifiait pas son salaire.
Danny won’t go after a A receiver of $200,000. or more. No needs. Il sera plus d’accord à payer un Gittens Jr. $180,000 + incitatifs ou $165,000 + incitatifs à un Brissett.
Richard
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Releasing him before free agency is generally considered the “player friendly” approach as it gives Mack a couple of weeks to freely discuss things with all 9 teams (including the Als) before the market is flooded … they could just have let his contract expire and “thrown him” into the FA free-for-all.
Gotta love the usual suspects coming out to cape for the bosses. Capitalist authorist fetishism is a hell of a drug. 
The strawmen are also hilarious. No one is saying we should go after a $200k receiver in free agency. (But also, $200k for a receiver is substantially less against the cap in 2026 than it was when Mack signed his contract.)
Simply asserting that Mack’s release isn’t budget-related is just that: an assertion, with no basis in fact. Repeating it doesn’t make it true. At this point, we’re all just speculating.
What has Mack brought in 1.5 seasons? (remember, he was trying the NFL for a chunk of 2024) You could make that same argument about many players on the team, but even playing that game, Mack made a lot of contributions. Were they at the level he was expecting? No, but he sure wasn’t the only guy to miss time with injury the past two years.
You cut a guy without giving him a fair chance to reestablish his value, a guy who played a pivotal role in the 2023 Grey Cup, who moved his family to Montreal and committed to the team? That is bad business, particularly when your PA report card is pretty low across the board.
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Find it hard not to believe it has nothing to do with budget when Mack was due a bonus in a week.
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Yeah, that whole “we released him early to explore his options” is just cover for the fact that they didn’t want to pay him his bonus.
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Merci de l’information, un de ses deux receveur N serait une excellente acquisition.
Mack/Sankey/Dequoy
that’s 3 massive leaders that had a big impact on the 2023 Grey Cup
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Add to that Lemon being gone, Stubblefield heading to Hamilton last year, and Cody getting traded last year, and the 2023 Cup core is mostly gone.
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So far this off-season the Alouettes/Danny has signed more veterans than any other team to extensions. Some of the veterans agreeing to extensions are:
Alexander Davis QB A Extended to 2028.
Tyler Snead WR A Extended to 2027.
Jose Maltos Diaz K G Extended to 2027.
Joseh Zema P G Extended to 2027.
Donald Ventrelli G A Extended to 2027.
Geoffrey Cantin -Arku LB N extended to 2027.
Travis Theis RB A New contract for 2026 and extension to 2027.
While we don’t have the increase for each player, all these players received an increase by agreeing to an extension. To me, the total increase for these 7 players should range between $150,000 and $180,000.
Alsao in this off-season the Alouettes/Danny has re-signed 7 potential free agents, including Tyson Philpot and Pier-Olovier Lestage.
Tyson Philpot WR N Re-signed for 2026 and 2027 at $275,000. and $285,000. For 2026, he received a $100,000 signing bonus paid in 2025. For 2026 an increase of $127,000. over his 2025 salary of $148,000. EXCLUDING his $100,000. signing bonus paid in 2025 for 2026.
Pier-Olivier Lestage G N Re-signed for 2026,2027 and 2028 at $240,000,$250,000. and $260,000. For 2026 an increase of $50,000. over his 2025 salary of $190,000. I do think that he received a $50,000. signing bonus.
Yes, in 2026 a $200,000 salary for a very good WR is the norm. Often teams, including the Alouettes moved in a different direction and top paid players could be released. That is what has happened with A LB Sankey being released and replaced by N LB Cantin-Arku; yes, there will be $$$ savings, at least for 2026, but it was not the reason for this change. While we don’t know the direction of the Alouettes with the release of Mack, but nothing guarantees that there will be $$$ savings. The similar scenario could happen with Dequoy. Not always budget related.
Richard
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Mack n’est jamais redevenu le receveur de 2023 mais c’était une erreur de Maciocia de s’être commis sur le long terme avec lui. Il avait fait la même chose avec Adams Jr.
Si Mack 2026 est le même Mack de 2025 nous ne perdons pas énormément au change, mais à ce stade j’espère juste que Maciocia va sortir les billets pour signer un gros receveur canadien s’il y en a un de disponible. Sinon, avec la situation incertaine de Rambo, nous n’aurions que Snead et Philpot comme réels receveurs de qualité.
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Un article du 26/01/26, Austin Mack fait ses adieux à Montréal.
Merci Austin Mack pour ta contribution de 2023-2025 avec les Alouettes et en particulier lors de la victoire à la Coupe Grey du 19/11/23.
Bonne chance pour la poursuite de ta carrière.
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Allow me to somewhat re-phrase, I did err in ignoring the bonus in this context … pre-free-agency bonuses are specifically designed by the players/agents to give them a head-start on free agency if the team feels that the bonus is no longer warranted
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Nous avons aussi l’option de garder Evans comme #2 avec Patterson derrière lui.
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Writing was on the wall that Austin Mack would be released. All it takes in the CFL for that to happen is the player being in some way overpaid, being less productive the previous year, and then having an off-season bonus coming up.
I actually started to question how valuable the Als actually considered him when they started the 2025 season with him not in the boundary.
Anyway if I were Mack, I would see if Edmonton is interested so I could reconnect with Cody Fajardo.
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