MONTREAL | Pass receiver Austin Mack would still be a member of the Alouettes if he had accepted a reduction in his salary.
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The Montreal organization released him last Monday, thus ending a three-season association.
In 2026, the American was to play the third season of a four-year contract and would have received $211,000 in salary. It was obviously too expensive for the Alouettes, considering the recent production of the 28-year-old athlete.
“I asked him to restructure his contract,” explained general manager Danny Maciocia on Friday. We have had several discussions over the past few weeks. In all transparency, I thought we had an understanding.”
“Unfortunately, it didn’t work. There was a desire on his part to look elsewhere.”
Mack therefore asked the Alouettes GM to release him before the free agent market opens, on February 10.
The receiver signed a two-year contract with the Edmonton Elks, just three days after being released. According to Farhan Laljifrom the TSN network, he will pocket $205,000 this season and $220,000 the next.
“Edmonton signed him for an amount we weren’t prepared to pay,” Maciocia said.
An availability problem
The Alouettes GM unearthed Mack in the spring of 2023, after the latter had spent the previous few years trying to find his place in the NFL, without success.
The Indiana native was simply dominant in his first turn in the CFL. He caught 78 passes, for 1,154 yards and four touchdowns in 17 regular season games, before helping the Alouettes win the Gray Cup by amassing 185 yards and scoring two majors in three playoff games.
Mack then tried his luck again in the Goodell circuit, before returning to Montreal and signing a lucrative four-year agreement. However, he was not able to enjoy as much success as previously, having been hampered by several injuries.
He played in 15 season games and four playoff games over the last two campaigns, catching 64 of the 109 balls thrown his way, for 970 yards and three touchdowns.
Moreover, the fact that the 6-foot, 1-inch, 208-pound footballer gets injured relatively often seems to be an element that weighed heavily in the balance.
“When you sign a player and offer him a good salary, you want to make sure he is available. This is an element on which he was not satisfied, and neither were we,” stressed Maciocia.
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