MADANI: LIONS ADD NFL’ER TO NEG LIST

By Arash Madani
Sportsnet.ca/SportsCage

Just days after Jonathan Martin walked out on the Miami Dolphins, amidst allegations of bullying inside the organizations walls, the B.C. Lions added the offensive lineman to the team’s confidential negotiation list, sources told Sportsnet.

The Lions now hold the CFL rights to the 24-year-old, who has not returned to the Dolphins, or the National Football League, since an alleged incident in the Dolphins cafeteria that promoted him to leave the club.

The organization placed Martin on the non-football injury list Dec. 1, ending his season, with pay. His contract was worth $607,466 in 2013.

Martin left the Dolphins abruptly on Oct. 30, the victim of an apparent hazing incident. He reportedly checked into a facility for “treatment,” and fellow Miami offensive lineman Richie Incognito was accused of bullying Martin, which led to his departure.

Shortly after, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell called for an independent investigation into the Dolphins workplace conduct, and its relation with Incognito. Goodell hired attorney Ted Wells to lead the investigation.

On Nov. 6, two days before B.C. put Martin onto its negotiation list, Wells interviewed Martin for over seven hours. Few details of the conversation were made public, but the lineman, in a statement vowed he would, at some point, be “resuming my career in the National Football League.”

If the Lions hope Martin comes to Canada, it will be no time soon. He remains under contract with the Dolphins for two more years. Only if he is released by Miami, and is unsigned by any NFL team, would a venture to the Canadian Football League even enter the equation.

Martin’s status in South Florida now becomes intriguing. Jeff Ireland, the general manager who drafted him in the second round out of Stanford in 2012, parted ways with the Dolphins on Tuesday. Whether the next GM will want Martin in the building becomes one of the many issues Ireland’s successor will have to deal with in Miami.

No player under contract in another league is eligible to sign in the CFL.