When Chris Ackie arrived at the Montreal Alouettes training camp on Monday, the first round selection in this year’s draft had an enormous cloud hanging over his head. After a lengthy contract dispute, the defensive back failed to report to the team’s rookie camps, and decided to arrive at their training facilities a day after training camp opened.
Last week, the Montreal Gazette’s Herb Zurkowsky reported that Ackie and the Alouettes were in a standstill on the terms Ackie’s rookie contract. General manager Jim Popp told Zurkowsky that “it is always the money” that causes the issues and that the team “is trying to be fair” during the negotiations.
Judging by the rest of the article, the meetings between the two parties didn’t go very well and Popp was having none of it from a player who has yet to prove himself on the professional level.
Ackie wasn’t the only 2015 draftee looking for a good salary on their first contracts. Alex Mateas and Sukh Chungh, who went one-two in the draft, will both earn $80,000 in Ottawa and Winnipeg, respectively. After Ackie was drafted fourth overall, the Lions picked up Ese Mrabure-Ajufo and will pay him $89,000. The seventh overall selection, Danny Groulx, will earn $95,000 next year, as reported by Zurkowsky – as the same with all the aforementioned salary figures.
The base rookie salary in the league is $51,000, making the salaries handed out to the first round selections almost double of what other rookies will be making this year.
After a long back-and-forth dispute, Ackie finally agreed to a three-year contract, and according to Justin Dunk, his salary will be worth $100,000 this season alone, including a $21,000 signing bonus. This money puts him on par with another CFL rookie, Michael Sam, and sets him at about half of what other league stars such as S.J. Green, Chad Owens, and Chris Getzlaf are making.
Leaving money aside, Ackie still needs to prove himself on the big team. The 23-year-old has been living a good life as of late: he was a star in the CIS, he was taken fourth overall in the CFL draft, and then he attended the New York Giants mini-camp. Upon returning to his home country he signed a mammoth contract for a rookie in the league. All is going well for the former Wilfried Laurier Golden Hawk.
He needs to forget about his increase in fame and popularity in the football world and show defensive coordinator Noel Thorpe that he belongs in this defence. Like Sam, whose joining the Alouettes was last week’s banner CFL story, Ackie will also need to prove that he is indeed worth that money – not to mention worth the extra time off that Popp and the Alouettes gave for from training camp.
It will be tough for Ackie to earn a starting spot on this Alouettes defence, but luckily for him, the depth at defensive back is thinning, with many inexperienced players fighting for spots. Jerald Brown is the veteran of the group at 35 years old but Jamahl Knowles, Andrew Lue, and Dominique Ellis all have little experience in the league. Cornerback Billy Parker also has the ability to play defensive back in Thorpe’s defence, providing some competition.
Ackie proved to be one of the most athletic players at the Draft Combine this past March and the Alouettes will certainly need his athletic skill and size (6’2″, 205 lbs) when the season rolls around in just over three weeks. But after all the issues around Ackie just showing up at the Alouettes’ training camp over a few dollars, management must be seeing him under a cloud of doubt.
Ackie needs to forget about all the special accommodations he received leading up to training camp. Now he needs to go hard, and prove he is worth the money that the Alouettes are willing to spend on him.
