On Tuesday, former Ole Miss cornerback Derrick Jones was selected in the ninth round of the USFL Draft by the New Orleans Breakers.
However, hours after he was selected, TSN reporter Farhan Lalji tweeted that Jones was under contract with the Calgary Stampeders that he signed on February 1st and was being removed by the league, leaving the Breakers with one less player on the roster. Before the draft, players were not supposed to be under contract with other leagues, including the CFL.
After Lalji’s tweet, Jones put out a tweet explaining the situation. According to CFL News Hub, Jones was having passport issues dating back to December.
He called out the Calgary Stampeders for their unprofessionalism and revealed a text conversation between him and Stampeders defensive coordinator Brent Monson on wanting his contract terminated.
The communication between these two happened on February 11th, when Jones was trying to find out if his contract was terminated in order to enter the USFL Draft. After no contact from Monson for four days, Jones told Monson he was entering the USFL Draft.
That led to a Monson response saying, “I have let our personnel department know, and they will be in touch after they speak with the league.”
The problem was the Stampeders office did not notify Jones that they were not terminating his contract until after the Breakers drafted him.
Jones found out about it from Lalji’s tweet. If he is having passport issues, the Stampeders should release him so he can play for the Breakers this season. Jones is still listed on the Breakers roster page.
Consistently, CFL teams release players all the time to pursue other opportunities outside the league, mainly the NFL. CFL contracts are not guaranteed with many players only signing one-year deals. This is why a lot of them don’t bother playing up north.
This situation is the start of a war between spring football leagues to keep players under contract and not let them play for their competition unless it’s the NFL. The USFL season runs from mid-April to June.
Next season, the XFL will return with eight teams, giving more players opportunities to play football, and most importantly, it gives them a choice of which league they want to play.
With Jones not able to play for the Breakers, New Orleans will have an opportunity to replace him with the upcoming USFL supplemental draft on March 10th.
UPDATE: The Calgary Stampeders released Jones on April 15th, and he will suit up for the New Orleans Breakers this season.
