Photo: Gord Weber/3DownNation. All rights reserved.
When Martez Ivey picks a side, he sticks to it. Unfortunately, that’s meant that when he picks a team, they haven’t always stuck with him.
After signing with the B.C. Lions this week, the 31-year-old offensive lineman can claim to have been under contract with a third of the CFL’s member franchises in the last calendar year alone. Released by the Edmonton Elks after an offseason spending spree in February, he began this season as the starting right tackle for the Ottawa Redbacks.
After two games, both the player and franchise determined that wasn’t a good fit, and Ivey became a free agent for the second time in five months.
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“I think it was more of a mutual thing. It was me wanting to go back and get back to my natural side of left. My whole career, you look at it, you track it from high school to pros, I’ve been a left tackle,” Ivey told 3DownNation this week. “I played right tackle for (Ryan) Dinwiddie in my first year (in the CFL), and I did a good job, so he kind of trusted me to go and play right tackle and do it well. But it’s the pros, and so I’d only focused on what I was playing — I’ve been playing left my whole pro life. It is what it is, and I’ll just move on from it.”
The Redblacks had signed Ivey in an attempt to upgrade their beleaguered offensive line with an experienced veteran, but had no interest in displacing Dino Boyd as Jake Maier’s blindside protector. Trapped on his non-dominant side, the former West Division all-star allowed seven total pressures and surrendered two sacks in a pair of appearances, according to ProFootballFocus.
Because Ivey had briefly played under head coach and general manager Ryan Dinwiddie with the Toronto Argonauts in 2021, the two were able to speak frankly about the disconnect and left things on good terms.
“I think we both felt the same way. I was like, you know what, I’m not bettering nobody by me playing right. I know what I can do on the left, and so that’s how I felt,” he said.
“I’m definitely a better left player than a right player without a doubt. I think that’s what it came down to. We had the exit meetings, and it was like, ‘Hey, we know you want to play left, and I think we’re gonna just release you, give you a shot to go play left somewhere, and you’ll be a starter somewhere else.” I was like, ‘You know what? I think we both can agree on that.’ We went our separate ways, and left on a good foot that way.”
Ivey takes no satisfaction in the struggles of his former team, which dropped to 0-8 on Friday night with a 42-20 loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders. He’s surprised by Ottawa’s record and feels for those still in the building.
“It’s a good group of guys in there. They work hard. They come in, and they watch the film. They do the extra work,” he said. “Unfortunate stuff happens, but like they said when I was there, you’re just one play away. They’ll figure it out.”
The Apopka, Fla., native’s other former club has had a much different experience in 2026, as the Elks have rocketed to the top of the West Division with a 6-2 start to the season. Though he won’t say it outright, Ivey’s demeanour betrays the fact that that involuntary departure wounded him more deeply, understandably so given the time he’d spent in Green and Gold.
“I loved being in Edmonton. I’d been there for four years and got a bunch of good friends there and stuff,” he said. “It’s kind of a shock, but I didn’t let it keep me down. It’s just the game. Everybody’s got their guys and can’t be mad at them for that.”
Ivey appeared to be a cornerstone piece for the Elks after his all-star campaign in 2024, establishing himself as an elite run blocker and a high-level blindside protector. PFF credited him with just 28 pressures allowed that year and no sacks surrendered, resulting in an overall grade of 75.9.
Major organizational changes ensued that offseason, and Ivey survived the initial locker room purge by incoming general manager Ed Hervey. However, his play fell off significantly, as he allowed 46 pressures and nine sacks in 2025. Though there was another year remaining on his contract, the writing was on the wall once the Elks went out and acquired a pair of American tackles, Brendan Bordner and Jordan Murray, both of whom had played under Hervey with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Ivey was formally released a few days after those signings became official. Notably, Edmonton’s outspoken GM did not deliver the news personally to the veteran, choosing to have an assistant do it.
“I didn’t talk to Ed when it happened. I never had a conversation with Ed about the whole thing, and I don’t blame him for that,” Ivey said. “I think it was just that I’d been there for so long, and he came from Hamilton. I think he just wanted his guys in the building, and I can’t blame him for that. When new coaching staffs come in, they bring their guys in. They don’t keep the old coaching staff. He had those guys before in Hamilton, and he trusts them; he knows them. That was his decision to move on.”
The six-foot-six, 335-pound blocker has taken all the recent changes in stride and is excited to have found a new team in Vancouver.
“It’s adversity. I think everybody’s faced adversity in their life, and it’s just a matter of how you deal with it,” Ivey said. “Dealing with it the right way, and biting some bullets here and there, and just moving on, having the right mindset. That’s all. It’s just unfortunate circumstances, and don’t let that be the end for you.”
Ironically, it was the release of right tackle Dejon Allen and the subsequent injury to his replacement Josh Donovan that created Ivey’s opportunity in B.C. For now, he’ll get up to speed on the practice roster and won’t dress in Week 10, but could be the next man up in the event of another injury or if inexperienced starter Tyran Walker-Hunt falters.
Left tackle Kory Woodruff is banged up, but the Lions have also opted to start four Americans up front for much of this season, which means that Ivey could be asked to slot in anywhere besides centre. He’s willing to show a bit more flexibility in his new uniform, though he won’t deny that he still has a preference.
“I played a little bit of guard back in the day in college. If they ask me to do it, I’ll do it,” he said. “I’m not going to say I’m just exclusively a tackle, but if I had to pick, it would be only tackle. But I’ll hop in and play guard, whatever you need. That’s what I do.”
The B.C. Lions (2-5) host the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (3-5) on Saturday, August 8, with kickoff scheduled for 7:00 p.m. EDT. The Lions beat Winnipeg 35-19 at Princess Auto Stadium last week, while the Ticats lost 44-20 at home to the Calgary Stampeders.
The game will be broadcast on TSN and RDS2 in Canada, CBS Sports Network in the United States, and CFL+ internationally. Radio listeners can tune in on 730 CKNW (English) or Sher-E-Punjab Radio AM 600 (Punjabi) in Vancouver or the Ticats Audio Network in Hamilton.
J.C. Abbott is a University of British Columbia graduate and high school football coach. He covers the CFL, B.C. Lions, CFL Draft and the three-down league’s Global initiative.
