To everyone’s surprise, Jonathan Sutherland, the Alouettes’ first choice in the recent Canadian Football League (CFL) draft, showed up at the Alouettes’ offices on Thursday at Olympic Stadium.
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“We didn’t call him to come and visit Montreal,” revealed general manager Danny Maciocia. He was at home in Ottawa and called [mercredi] and expressed his desire to come to know the people who took a chance on him. The fact that we are here and that he is present means a lot. It confirms that he is a good person.”
“I wanted to show my appreciation,” Sutherland said. It’s always been my dream to play professional football, whether it’s in the CFL or the NFL.”
For now, Sutherland has an appointment at Seattle Seahawks rookie mini-camp next week. Some clues lead the Alouettes to believe that the Ottawa native could however return to Montreal in the coming weeks, hence his selection.
“If NFL teams show patience with players coming out of the NCAA, it’s more often with players who have been drafted, not with undrafted free agents, as is the case with Jonathan Sutherland. , argued Maciocia. We must also not forget that there are also players who are already under contract with Seattle and who play in the same position as him.
There is no doubt that Maciocia had a good look at the formation of the Seahawks before betting on Sutherland.
With pride
Naturally, the main interested party aims first and foremost for a position in regular training in Seattle. By showing up at the Olympic Stadium on Thursday, he nevertheless proved his interest in Montreal, where his mother Sylvie Cloutier is also from.
“We really fell in love with him during the interview,” Maciocia said of the former Penn State captain. It was pretty clear to him that if it doesn’t work out in the NFL, he wants to come to Montreal. He said he was going to come in the next 48 hours and wear the Alouettes jersey with pride.
If so, the stands at Percival-Molson Stadium will undoubtedly welcome several members of the Cloutier family, uncles, aunts, cousins and many of whom sent him a message when he was drafted by the Alouettes, Tuesday evening.