The prospect of the B.C. Lions starting next season without the two biggest cogs in its defence grew a lot bigger when Adam Bighill effectively joined Solomon Elimimian in free agency after he was granted his release by the CFL club Friday.
Bighill will rejoin the Lions if he has not signed an NFL contract by Jan. 27, the club outlined in a release, but in the interim will exercise an option in his contract to look at his prospects south of the border.
There was no mention of an option outlined by the club when it announced a three-year deal for Bighill had been signed in February, 2015 on the same day Elimimian agreed to a deal linking him to the Lions through the 2017 season.
But the Elimimian deal was renegotiated prior to last season and Bighill confirmed the same provision was given to him around the same time. B.C. will also have to nervously wade through next off-season when Jon Jennings invariably opens the option-year window also given to him in the deal he signed last year.
“I have a lot of intangibles and hopefully that will be enough to get me a look,” said Bighill, who added he has no workouts currently lined up. “But I don’t need to play the head games. If nothing works out I’m quite happy to come back.”
Neither linebacker likely represented much of a risk to leave when they initially signed their respective deals but the fact is both players have had a remarkable two-year stretch.
Bighill, 28, has piled up 229 tackles during that span and Elimimian, 30, of course was named the league’s top defensive player last season which makes both players clearly deserving of another look.
“It’s tough to do much more than I’ve done the last two years,” said the linebacker who preceeded Elimimian as the league’s top defensive player in 2015.
But it can play sheer havoc on a defensive system coordinated by Mark Washington which has been designed to feature the two linebackers. The pair came up with the tag of Team 100. It could be Team Zero next season, however for the Lions, who were given another dose of reality associated with operating in the second-best football league in the world.
