ALOUETTES ACQUIRE OLAFIOYE
MONTREAL – The Montreal Alouettes have acquired all-star international offensive tackle Jovan Olafioye from the B.C. Lions for the rights to national offensive tackle David Foucault.
The Lions also receive international offensive tackle Vincent Brown, while the Alouettes will receive future considerations.
The six-foot-six, 325-pound Olafioye has been named a CFL all-star the past six seasons. The seven-year veteran was the league’s top offensive lineman in 2012 and helped the Lions win the Grey Cup in 2011.
“It’s not every day that you have the opportunity to acquire a player of Jovan’s calibre, one who has performed at such a high level day in and day out, without ever missing a start,” Alouettes general manager Kavis Reed said in a statement. “With this transaction we are addressing a pressing need that we had on the offensive line.
“Unfortunately, we had to trade away a player that we were looking forward to see in an Alouettes uniform to do so. We are very excited to welcome Jovan in the nest and are anxious to see him out on the field to protect a veteran quarterback such as Darian Durant, all while creating holes for running back Tyrell Sutton.”
Olafioye, a 29-year-old Detroit native, has made 126 consecutive starts since his CFL debut on July 4, 2010. He helped the Lions’ offensive line finish atop the CFL for least sacks allowed in 2011 and 2012.
He was moved to the left tackle position last season and helped protect quarterback Jonathon Jennings, who threw for more than 5,000 yards, while allowing the Lions offence to amass over 2,000 rushing-yards.
The Alouettes selected Foucault fifth overall in the 2014 CFL draft. The 28-year-old then spent the following two seasons with the NFL’s Carolina Panthers, playing five games with the team in 2014, including one start.
He was waived by Carolina during training camp last year after spending all but one week of the 2015 season on the Panthers’ practice roster.
“Acquiring David allows us to possibly develop a plan to play four Canadians along the offensive line and perhaps more importantly, it ensures there is a depth of talent backing up each position,” Lions GM and head coach Wally Buono said in a statement. “He’s a former first-round draft choice with two years of NFL development, so we expect him to come in and compete at a very high level.”
Brown, listed at 6-6 and 350 pounds, was originally signed by Montreal in 2015 during the CFL’s annual practice roster expansion period.
He saw action in the Alouettes’ season finale that year and also attended training camp with the club in 2016.
(CP)
