The Alouettes’ first pick in the last draft narrowly missed his chance at camp with the Seattle Seahawks, and now the Montreal club is waiting.
Jonathan Sutherland, an Ottawa native whom the Alouettes selected with their first pick (fifth overall) in the last CFL draft in early May, has been cut from the Seahawks camp.
Important detail: the young man was not dismissed because of his performance, but because of a thigh injury.
Another important detail: Sutherland could take two months to recover from this injury.
“I learned on Monday that the Seahawks were cutting him, and they are in the process of negotiating compensation with him for the injury,” Alouettes general manager Danny Maciocia said in a phone conversation Wednesday.
“It’s an injury that could keep him out for six to eight weeks, so we’ll have to wait a bit longer before we know what happens next. »
In the immediate term, it would be very surprising if the Seahawks brought Sutherland back, and Maciocia is expecting to hear from him in the coming days.
“Right now, his priority will be to recover well from this injury,” he added. If he ever gets here by the end of October, that would be the best-case scenario. But I don’t know if he would be able to play with us then. »
The problem is that Sutherland might run out of time if he lands in Montreal; the Alouettes’ last game of the season is scheduled for October 28, which leaves the 25-year-old young player very little time to learn a new system of play, and also to make the transition between American football at four tries and the one, practiced here, with three attempts.
This is a bad injury for him for several reasons, the first being that he was causing a surprise among the safety backs at the Seahawks camp. There, several observers had estimated that he would have a chance to make a place for himself with the formation of 53 players. But the injury, suffered in training two weeks ago, came to ruin everything.
Sutherland was chosen by the Alouettes after a notable stint at the very prestigious Penn State University, where he wore the Nittany Lions jersey for five seasons in the NCAA.
It was an Alouettes bet, and now Maciocia hopes the bet can pay off for him and his club, sooner or later.
“If he’s recovered and he’s able to play, we sure would like to be able to have him here with the team,” summed up the GM.
The Alouettes will take advantage of their next game, Saturday night at Percival-Molson Stadium, to pay tribute to five of their alumni who will soon be inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. Thus, John Bowman, Josh Bourke, Lloyd Fairbanks, Jacques Dussault and Larry Smith will all be introduced to the crowd at halftime of this game against the British Columbia Lions. The five new immortals will then be formally admitted to the Temple at a ceremony to be held Sept. 15 in Hamilton.