The 2015 CFL season is officially underway, with the Ottawa Redblacks upsetting the Montreal Alouettes Thursday night.

The most interesting player appearance of the night was when Montreal’s third-string quarterback, Brandon Bridge, was called into action due to injuries to Jonathan Crompton and Dan LeFevour. When Bridge took the field it was the first time since 2010 that a Canadian had acted as QB in a CFL game.

But at least as interesting—at least to me—were the names who weren’t playing for the Alouettes.

Chad Johnson didn’t even show up for training camp after playing a secondary role with the team last year in what was likely his swan song as a pro football player.

Former Heismann Trophy winner and NFL veteran QB Troy Smith only lasted six games in 2014 before getting his walking papers.

And going into their preseason exhibition schedule this year, the Montreal Alouettes learned that rookie Michael Sam was going home “for personal reasons.” He has now returned to the team following their season opener, but his unexplained departure doesn’t bode well for his future with the team.

Montreal has invested a lot of time and effort into NFL reclamation projects in the last couple years, without much in the way of success. In fact, they’ve gone from one win away from the Grey Cup to dropping their first game of 2015 to a team that only managed two wins in 2014.

Perhaps Alouettes management should invest more in the guys they’ve definitely got rather than taking flyers on guys who washed out of the NFL in the hopes that they’ll pan out north of the border, because for every Brandon Banks that makes it big in the CFL, there’s a dozen guys like Johnson, Smith, Andre Rison and Ricky Williams that don’t.

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