{"id":350467,"date":"2025-12-17T05:50:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T05:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/350467\/"},"modified":"2025-12-17T05:50:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T05:50:09","slug":"brady-oliveira-guaranteed-money-was-non-negotiable-in-extension-with-winnipeg-blue-bombers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/350467\/","title":{"rendered":"Brady Oliveira: guaranteed money was ‘non-negotiable’ in extension with Winnipeg Blue Bombers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Photo: Kevin Sousa\/CFL.ca<\/p>\n

Brady Oliveira\u2019s three-year contract extension with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers includes guaranteed money in 2028, he told the media on Tuesday. According to the star running back, he wouldn\u2019t have signed a new deal without it.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Guaranteed money) was one of the non-negotiables for myself. If I wanted to sign a three-year deal and show my loyalty and commitment to this organization, I want them to show it back to me. From the top down, this organization through the negotiation process showed me nothing but love and respect. For them to do that, it just made me feel really good,\u201d said Oliveira at Princess Auto Stadium.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour shelf life is short as a professional athlete and I think all players should ensure that they have protection. I think adding guaranteed money into your contract does that for you, especially signing a long-term deal. You don\u2019t know the direction that the club wants to go in. If another coaching staff comes in, God forbid, and they want to make some decisions and move pieces around, that protects you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lack of long-term contracts in the CFL is arguably still a problem, though it used to be much worse. With teams having the ability to release players partway through multiyear contracts without penalty, players and agents often sought to protect themselves by signing only one-year deals. This was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which put the league on uncertain financial footing that resulted in most of the league\u2019s veterans being forced to restructure their contracts for 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way the (collective bargaining agreement) is set up right now, it makes it difficult for people to sign long-term deals,\u201d said Zach Collaros shortly after the 2021 season<\/a>, when he was the league\u2019s two-time reigning Most Outstanding Player. \u201cI think that players would like to, but I don\u2019t think it\u2019s in our best interest to do so, to be quite honest.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A few months later, the CFL and CFL Players\u2019 Association (CFLPA) ratified a new CBA that allowed players to negotiate partially guaranteed contracts. There were a few caveats \u2014 guarantees had to be in the final year of a multiyear deal, couldn\u2019t exceed half the value of the salary, and could only be provided by the player\u2019s incumbent team \u2014 but it was still a groundbreaking development for the league.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve since seen more players sign long-term extensions, resulting in less transiency across the CFL. After previously speaking out about why players weren\u2019t signing long-term contracts, Collaros signed a three-year deal with the Blue Bombers near the end of the 2022 season, which included guaranteed money<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Other CFL teams were arguably too freewheeling with guaranteed money, at least in the first year it was available.<\/p>\n

3DownNation reported that Taylor Cornelius and Jake Maier were the first two CFL players to sign contract extensions that included guarantees and neither player ended up being a long-term fit at quarterback. Edmonton cut Cornelius in 2024 despite his guarantee, costing them $100,000 against the salary cap, while the Stampeders kept Maier for the 2024 season when they may otherwise have chosen to move on.<\/p>\n

According to multiple sources around the league, guarantees are still relatively rare but they\u2019ve certainly led to some marquee players signing long-term extensions. Players with active guarantees include Montreal receiver Tyson Philpot, Saskatchewan offensive lineman Logan Ferland, and Montreal offensive lineman Pier-Olivier Lestage.<\/p>\n

For Oliveira, he wasn\u2019t willing to sign an extension that didn\u2019t include guaranteed money. With a resume that includes four 1,000-yard seasons, two All-CFL selections, two CFL rushing titles, two Most Outstanding Canadian awards, and one Most Outstanding Player award, it probably wasn\u2019t tough for him and his camp to secure a guarantee from his hometown team. As first reported by\u00a03DownNation<\/a>, the contract is worth $290,000 in 2026 before increasing to $300,000 for 2027 and 2028.<\/p>\n

\u201c(The CFLPA) fought hard for that. Now that it\u2019s in our union, why not try to get that guaranteed money?\u201d he said. \u201cThey fought for that and now it\u2019s there. Obviously, not every guy\u2019s gonna be able to get it, but if you\u2019re able to, why not try and get that done?\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo: Kevin Sousa\/CFL.ca Brady Oliveira\u2019s three-year contract extension with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers includes guaranteed money in 2028,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":350468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-350467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=350467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/350468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}