{"id":584702,"date":"2026-04-05T23:18:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T23:18:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/584702\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T23:18:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T23:18:07","slug":"a-j-allen-reflects-on-cfl-free-agency-negotiations-with-riders-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/584702\/","title":{"rendered":"A.J. Allen reflects on CFL free agency, negotiations with Riders"},"content":{"rendered":"

After five seasons with the Saskatchewan Roughriders<\/a>, A.J. Allen finally emerged as a legitimate starter in the CFL in 2025.<\/p>\n

But that success meant it became hard to get a new deal done with the only team he had played for professionally.<\/p>\n

Read more:<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to go back (to Saskatchewan), but it seemed like we weren\u2019t going to be able to negotiate,\u201d Allen said.<\/p>\n

The Burlington, Ont. athlete<\/a> was a big part of the team\u2019s success last season and was named its nominee for the Most Outstanding Canadian award<\/a>. The season ended with Allen raising the Grey Cup as the team won the championship for just the fifth time in its history.<\/p>\n

Allen finished the season with 87 tackles, four sacks and three interceptions.<\/p>\n

Come free agency,<\/a> Allen was one of a number of players on the team\u2019s defensive side of the ball who signed contracts with other teams. Allen inked a deal with the Ottawa Redblacks<\/p>\n

\u201cRealistically speaking, it was a better offer. It was unintentional that I\u2019m the highest paid (linebacker). It\u2019s cool and stuff, but that was never my thing. Anyone in my circle or knows me, that was never my intention. It was a matter of being wanted and going where I was wanted and also going where they love football,\u201d Allen said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess at the price range I earned, I wasn\u2019t going to be able to fit in Saskatchewan. There\u2019s a salary cap and there\u2019s a limit to what they can afford and can\u2019t afford.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to hold it against anybody but it seemed like at the price range I was at, I was not wanted. That\u2019s OK. I don\u2019t hold it against nobody. That\u2019s life sometimes. To say I didn\u2019t deserve a raise would be foolish.\u201d<\/p>\n

Allen said it was around January when he realized he may not be back with the Riders.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had early conversations with the Riders at the start of January and after that, things got pretty quiet and that\u2019s when I had to get into the mindset of I may not be coming back here as things weren\u2019t going as I expected,\u201d Allen said.<\/p>\n

Defensive ends Malik Carney (Edmonton Elks) and Habakkuk Baldonado (Ottawa) along with wide receivers Tommy Nield<\/a> (Winnipeg Blue Bombers) and Joe Robustelli<\/a> (Edmonton) are a few of the other names who won\u2019t be back with the Riders in 2026.<\/p>\n

Allen said it\u2019s not surprising to see guys leave after a championship season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the reality of it, whether that be coaches or players. I feel like a lot of people are in a position where they can chase the bag and get as much money as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can respect that mindset. There\u2019s no harm, no foul to it. We can only play this game for so long. To be able to make as much money as you can and help out your family and help out yourself, that\u2019s something totally respected,\u201d Allen said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not something I intended to do but I was able to do it myself. It\u2019s crazy how that worked out. I\u2019m not surprised. This is the CFL, there\u2019s always a ton of turnover.\u201d<\/p>\n

Training camp for the Riders will begin in May in Saskatoon.<\/p>\n

Read more:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After five seasons with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, A.J. Allen finally emerged as a legitimate starter in the CFL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":584703,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-584702","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cfl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-canadian-football-league","11":"tag-canadianfootballleague","12":"tag-cfl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584702","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=584702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/584703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=584702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=584702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=584702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}