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“It wasn’t a thing where I was chasing dollars or anything like that. I wanted to be back, I wanted to finish my career there and I don’t regret saying that. I thought that was going to happen.”

People will wonder how the Redblacks could choose to go in a different direction, how Harris could move on. There are plenty of questions with answers that lead to more questions.

The sides had a deal worked out — the contract number was $475,000 for the coming season. Harris’ agent, Paul Brown, asked for a chunk of money to come in the form of a signing bonus. The Redblacks countered with an offer that included an increased signing bonus from the original offer. Apparently, it wasn’t enough. After that, there was little communication between the sides.

Photo by Nathan Denette / THE CANADIAN PRESS

“The contact was pretty minimal,” said Harris. “It was just a couple of email exchanges between the two (the Redblacks and Brown). They asked if we were going forward with the number (we had talked about) last year and we said, ‘Yep.’ We sent out an offer with the signing bonus; it was the same total number, it was to do with the signing bonus. They countered it. As time went on, it became clear they were ready to move in another direction.”

There was another twist less than a month ago.

“I asked to have a conversation with Marcel,” said Harris. “I hoped we could smooth things over and talk about which way things were going. I was concerned whether we would keep all the guys (who were potential free agents) together; that didn’t seem to be the case. That’s why I reached out, I wanted to have a conversation to ease my mind. It never happened. That’s when it started becoming clear to me that they were going in a different direction. That was disappointing. I was holding out hope we could make it work.”