CFL Players Finally Held Accountable

The NFL is usually the league known for the off field problems that occur among their players, and players with egos bigger than their bank accounts. These players are apparently bigger than the team.

The CFL hasn’t been as bad for this seeing as most players can’t afford to act out of fear for losing their jobs. Many of the players have to keep other jobs in the offseason because they don’t make a huge salary in the football season.

Recently the CFL has seen a rash of behavior that can cause a lot of problems among teams and their players. The disrespect shown by players has a lot of people shaking their heads.

The disrespect showed itself in the very early parts of the preseason when JoJuan Armour was disciplined for action detrimental to the team when he heavily tossed Jeremaine Copeland to the turf in a practice.

Derrick Armstrong showed how big his ego is when he refused to play for the Blue Bombers when he was asked to play the role of the Designated Import.

The latest incident happened when Arland Bruce III went to the media to state his disapproval of his coach and quarterback after his suspension for multiple incidents.

While I haven’t had a lot of experience in a CFL dressing room, I am sure these things aren’t new to the league. They seem to be more public than other situations, and also the fact that there have been three incidents before week four of the CFL.

The biggest part of this story isn’t the severity of the actions of these players, but the fact these players are actually being held accountable for these actions.

It can’t be easy for coaches to make these decisions, especially since all three players who are no longer with their teams were team leaders. Bruce and Armstrong were both the team leaders in receiving yards, and Armour was a definite force on the Stampeders defense.

I give full respect to all three coaches that made the decisions to let these players go. John Hufnagel started it in Calgary with the choice to release Armour. It wasn’t just one incident that brought Coach Huff to this decision, and it wasn’t a decision made lightly. He actually took three days to decide what to do. It had to have been a tough one to make since days before, Armour’s physical showed an irregular heartbeat, and the Stampeders made a very public effort to stand behind Armour.

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