The CFL's full of stories of those who were overlooked by the NFL for one reason or another and went on to fame north of the border (and sometimes south of it again as well), and most of those are unambiguously positive. Giving players a chance after the NFL ignored them because of race, size, college history and other factors has generally been a good thing. What about players the NFL discarded thanks to injury issues, though, and especially those NFL teams don't want because of their concussion issues? Does the CFL giving them a chance mean the Canadian league is less tough on concussions? That's a more difficult question, and it's one that's bound to percolate with B.C. Lions' receiver Austin Collie, who has an extensive concussion history and signed with the team in January. This week, Collie told Mike Beamish of The Vancouver Sun he feels the discussion around concussions, and the more stringent NFL protocols it's led to, are the reasons he's playing in the CFL:

“Why am I not in the NFL? I don’t know. I would think, I would say, the big part is the injury history that’s right there. ... The bottom line is, if those didn’t happen when they did, right at the height of the concussion discussion, I’d probably still be playing. ... Football is a childhood dream for me. It’s a way to provide for my family and play a game I love. To not be playing, because of a label, is hard. I’ve been labelled.”

How much merit is there to this theory of Collie being blacklisted from the NFL thanks to concussions? As Yahoo's Frank Schwab writes at Shutdown Corner, there are other potential answers as to why NFL teams don't want him, but the concussions stick out:



Many NFL players will give you plenty of excuses why they're not in the league anymore, after they are unable to get a job. It's possible Collie just isn't the same receiver that looked on his way to big things early in his career. The New England Patriots, who can use available talent as well as any team, had him play seven games in 2013 and he caught just six passes. And the NFL has no problem employing other talented players with long concussion histories. But Collie is also correct in his comments to the Sun that he was having trouble finding a new team after the Colts moved on right as the NFL was starting to become very aware of the concussion dangers. ...Was Collie, and perhaps other players, passed over because of concussion dangers? it seems unfair if so, if they're aware of the risk and willing to take it.

We'll never know for sure exactly why NFL teams passed on Collie, but assume for a moment he's right and the entire league refused him because of his concussion history. Does that mean the CFL has a lower concussion standard? On one hand, the Lions are certainly taking a risk on Collie given his injury history, and they may take some fire if Collie suffers another significant concussion. However, it's not clear that Collie violated the NFL's specific standard for concussions; he doesn't appear to have failed medical exams with New England in 2013 or Washington in 2014, so any concussion-based ostracism of him is about team decisions not to take that risk rather than a specific medical standard. Thus, the CFL medical standard for signing previously-concussed players isn't necessarily lower than the NFL's.

Even if the CFL did have a lower standard, that wouldn't automatically be a bad thing. Consider the case of B.C. offensive lineman Jovan Olafioye, who signed in the CFL in 2010 after going undrafted by the NFL. After two stellar CFL seasons, including a 2011 one that saw him named a league all-star and selected as the DeMarco-Becket Memorial Trophy (top West offensive lineman) winner, Olafioye tried to head to the NFL in 2012, but he failed a physical with the St. Louis Rams thanks to a blood-pressure condition. He returned to the CFL and was named the league's top offensive lineman in 2012, then tried to go to the NFL again in 2013, but failed a physical with the Packers. Olafioye's clearly been able to play professional football just fine so far, and he's still starring in the CFL thanks to the NFL refusing to take a chance on a player with his condition. Thus, in his case at least, the CFL not walking in lockstep with the NFL on medical matters has been a positive thing. An argument can be made that Collie's case is similar.

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