AP
If Michael Sam is a success with the CFL’s Montreal Alouettes, the NFL might not get a shot at him until 2017.
Sam’s two-year deal is essentially two one-year contracts, with Montreal holding the option for 2016, Alouettes General Manager Jim Popp told PFT on Friday. The club has until the end of 2015 to exercise the second year of the deal.
Short of the Alouettes terminating the contract, Sam’s playing rights will belong to Montreal for the duration of the deal, Popp said. Also of note: the NFL’s CBA forbids clubs from signing “any player who in the same year has been under contract to a Canadian Football League club at the end of that CFL club’s season (regular season or postseason, whichever is applicable).