Photo courtesy: Bob Butrym/RFB Sport Photography

Adarius Pickett may be known as ‘The Party Starter’ by fans around the CFL, but even he couldn’t inject life into contract negotiations with the Ottawa Redblacks.

Speaking to the media on Friday after signing with the Toronto Argonauts, the three-time all-star opened up about his departure from Ottawa on Tuesday by way of an early release. While he remained professional about the situation, the 29-year-old suggested that the writing had been on the wall for some time.

“I think the biggest thing was the negotiations were real slow, almost none,” Pickett revealed.

“The way the season went, I just would have thought it would have went in a different way. No disrespect to anybody, but I’m sitting here, and I’m watching other top players get signed around the league. I’m like, ‘Man, what’s going on?’ I should be a real priority for Ottawa, especially with the season that we had last year. Feeling like I wasn’t, I’m talking to my agent like, ‘Man, maybe we should do something about this.’ I’ve got nothing but respect for my teammates that I played with, and it was just interesting going through that whole negotiation period. Like I said, it was just real slow, almost like they were indecisive about if they wanted me to be there or not. When that happened, you hit them up, talk about it, and then we mutually parted ways.”

Pickett had spent the past two seasons with the Redblacks, earning East Division All-CFL honours in both campaigns. That recognition came despite a torn Achilles tendon suffered late in 2024, which appeared to put his 2025 season in jeopardy.

The Berkley, Cal., native made an impressive recovery in time for training camp and played all 18 games for the Redblacks last year, notching 84 defensive tackles, 14 special teams tackles, two sacks, and one interception. After taking a pay cut to remain with the team after his injury, he anticipated Ottawa would return the favour when he was a pending free agent, but that never materialized.

“Their biggest worry was that I was going to miss four to six weeks of the season, and I told them from the exit meeting, ‘I’ll be ready to go first day of training camp.’ There was a lot of doubt that I was going to be ready. A few other people had injured their Achilles in the organization prior to me being there, and it was like, ‘Guys are usually not the same the first year, it’s a major injury. We’re not expecting you to be exactly the same, and we want to ease you into the process and not rush you.’ Of course, I took the pay cut,” Pickett recalled.

“Now that being said, I come back first day of training camp. I did exactly what I said I was going to do. I was ready to go first day of training camp. I didn’t miss one practice, I didn’t miss one game the whole season. Arguably, was one of the best players on defence last year for them.”

Even though the Redblacks underwent substantial changes after the season, an extension for Pickett was considered likely by many analysts. Ryan Dinwiddie, who was hired as the head coach and general manager in Ottawa, had previously coached the defender during his All-CFL season with Toronto in 2023, and a reunion seemed like a natural fit.

Pickett indicated that he was excited when Dinwiddie was hired and thrilled to see incumbent defensive coordinator Will Fields remain on staff. However, his relationship with the new boss was not a factor in negotiations.

“I didn’t get a chance to talk to him during the whole negotiation thing, period. I know he has the general manager position as well, but I do know [vice-president of football operations Shawn] Burke is helping him out with that, this being his first season in that role and all that. I didn’t get a chance to talk to him,” Pickett explained. “My agent was talking to Burke, and that may be because of the relationship of them already handling those contracts before. I don’t know. I don’t believe Dinwiddie had any part of anything. I know they’re probably talking about it, but who knows?”

After being granted an early release, Pickett did not last long on the open market. He confirmed that there were multiple suitors for his services, but he decided on a return to Toronto with a deal that will reportedly pay him $191,000 in hard money with a maximum value of $202,000 in 2026.

The five-year veteran expressed excitement about returning to a major city and playing alongside former UCLA teammate Cam Judge, but revealed that his decision came down to the level of interest that the Argos showed immediately following his break from Ottawa.

“Right when the news got released, [general manager Pinball Clemons], he hit me up literally like 30 seconds later. Everything was simultaneously happening, like back to back to back,” Pickett said. “I talked to him, I talked to Coach [Greg] Quick, I talked to Coach [Mike] Miller. The interest level was real high from them. The other teams, it was kind of sporadic throughout the day. Respect to all the other teams, but I just liked how Toronto did everything.”

That level of communication appears to have been a refreshing change of pace from what was offered by the Redblacks over the final few weeks of his tenure.