On Wednesday afternoon, the Montreal Alouettes signed S.J. Green, who “will be back with the team”, as the team announced via Twitter. This later turned into an announcement of his contract length: the club signed Green to a three-year contract.
The announcement was a surprise. Multiple sources, including the highly-praised Rick Moffat of TSN 690, claimed that “contract talks were not going well” between the veteran receiver and general manager Jim Popp. Moffat tried to speak to S.J. via Twitter near the end of 2014, but Green shrugged off the reporter’s questions with a minimal response. He even retweeted an article about the delay and slow progress in his contract talks by the Montreal Gazette’s Herb Zurkowsky.
Nonetheless, the team will be glad to have him back for the 2015 season onwards until 2017. The 2014 season was his slowest as the slotback was second in team receiving behind All-Star Duron Carter 835 yards on 53 grabs and 4 TDs. These numbers are far lower than in the previous three seasons, where he was a 1000-yard receiver and had a career year in 2013 with 13 touchdowns and 1197 yards.
He was not content with last year’s situation, behind Duron Carter. But with Jonathan Crompton at the helm come playoff time, Green excelled with four majors – matching his season total – and 221 yards in just two games. Carter was in Green’s shadow in those games against the Lions and Tiger-Cats, and fans got to see the S.J. Green of old, from back when he was Anthony Calvillo’s number one target in Montreal’s formerly high-octane offence.
Carter has been generating a lot of interest from a lot of NFL teams – quite a bit, actually. Over 15 scouts attended his pro try-out following the ending of the CFL season. The team hasn’t made an official announcement yet, but sources point to a probable signing with the Indianapolis Colts.
With Carter leaving next season, the Alouettes didn’t have much depth at the wide receiver and slotback positions, even after acquiring Fred Stamps early this month. Green’s contract extension fills a huge hole and gives Turk Schonert’s offence some stability.
Green will be stepping back into the number one role and will be a leader on the offence. The Alouettes will be happy they got his signature on a contract.
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