12 Audibles: Why the CFL was wrong to give Khalif Mitchell a second chance

Welcome to another week of 12 Audibles, our weekly look at storylines from around the CFL. This time around, we start with a follow-up on the Saskatchewan Roughriders' signing of Khalif Mitchell despite his anti-Semitic tweets and the response that's provoked...

1. The CFL finally weighs in, but with no punishment: On Thursday afternoon, over a day after the Roughriders announced Mitchell's signing, the league office issued its first comment on the matter in a formal statement from Commissioner Jeffrey Orridge. That statement has a lot of strong language, including "there is absolutely no place in our league for commentary used to divide or disparage people on the basis of their religion, race, gender or sexual orientation," and it mentions that the Riders have assured the CFL that they'll terminate Mitchell's contract in the case of any future "inappropriate behaviour," and says that both the team and the league will be "monitoring." That's all well and good, but it's worth keeping in mind what's not said there. What's not said is that the CFL is allowing Mitchell to play in this league (which they don't have to do, as the Ray Rice ban illustrates), and that there will be no punishment levied against him for anything he has done to this point. That means the league believes his past behaviour is not bad enough to keep him out, and that's a problematic message.

Could the league have banned Mitchell outright? It sure looks like it. Former commissioner Mark Cohon's Ray Rice statement was just "the league will honour the NFL’s suspension of Ray Rice, making him ineligible to play for a CFL team," but the NFL's suspension was a pretext, not a reason. Rice was not under contract to a NFL team at that point (he had already been released by the Baltimore Ravens), and the CFL made it clear in 2014 that it's NFL contracts the CFL honours, not NFL suspensions, leading to the league signing players suspended by the NFL such as LaVon Brazill. The CBA doesn't appear to specifically say anything about what players clubs can sign, but it certainly appears that the commissioner can tell clubs not to sign a player and they have to abide by that. That may have happened when the Roughriders reportedly tried to sign Greg Hardy (who has a past of ugly domestic violence accusations), or it may have been a lighter nudge than that (as the league claims).

Should the league have banned Mitchell outright? That's a trickier discussion. Banning Mitchell would make sense on a lot of levels, as banning Rice did. No league in their right mind would want to be associated with the tweets he retweeted and the tidal wave of criticism that's sparked. However, there is a debate to be had about how Mitchell's comments stack up against other offences. Mitchell has not been charged with anything, and does not appear to have committed any violence outside the football field (he did receive a two-game suspension in 2012 for hyperextending an opponent's arm during a game). There are players in this league with problematic pasts that include domestic violence (including B.C. RB Chris Rainey, who's faced charges of stalking and battery) and other charges, and the CFL's domestic violence policy has made it clear it only applies to acts committed while the player is in the league. Allowing Mitchell to play is similar to the general decisions the league has made on those who offended while outside the CFL, and that's unquestionably how they would defend it; they would argue that all they're responsible is for what players do in their jurisdiction.

From this corner, that's not a valid argument, though. Yes, the CFL is most responsible for what players do in its jurisdiction (and it hasn't always done too much there; consider the Riders' players who received no league punishment for assault charges in 2013), or Adam Braidwood, who "mutually parted ways" with the Eskimos months after his arrest on charges of kidnapping, sexual assault and aggravated assault, or former Rider Trevis Smith who was sentenced in 2007 to five and a half years in jail for aggravated sexual assault committed during his time with the team, or the way Lawrence Phillips was quietly cut by Montreal in 2003 after charges of sexual assault only to be signed by Calgary later that year), but the league and its teams always have a choice on who to employ. As such, every player in this league is a player they have chosen to allow to play in this league, and they can be judged based on that.

A CFL contract is not a right. The league, like any employer, is not required to hire anyone in particular and likely could not be successfully sued by anyone for excluding them unless that exclusion was based on discrimination against a protected class (which "people who express anti-Semitic views" is not). The CFL was actually sued over its import rule way back when, forcing it to be written to discriminate based on "training" rather than citizenship, but that's a very different situation. There's no reason to believe that Mitchell would have a legal case if he was cut (or even better, not allowed to be signed in the first place) after expressing these views. Thus, the CFL first allowing him in and then allowing him to stay shows they don't believe his past expression of anti-Semitic views is a significant enough reason to keep him out. The CFL does not need Khalif Mitchell, and allowing him into the league is a PR nightmare, but they've apparently decided that his actions aren't enough for a ban.

I strongly disagree with that logic, and so do many others. A poll I ran on Twitter Thursday had 51 per cent say the CFL's action wasn't strong enough and Mitchell should be banned from the league, another 17 per cent say their action wasn't strong enough and he should be fined or suspended, and just 32 per cent say the league made the right move. Granted, that's with only 41 votes, so it's not a huge sample size, but it helps to show there are plenty of people who think he never should have been allowed back into the CFL. There have been lots of tweets from those disgusted with Mitchell, too, with some saying they'll boycott the league:

That's not to say either that all players with a problematic past should be automatically barred, or that Mitchell's speech (which has not led to criminal charges so far) is necessarily worse than physical violence that has resulted in charges. The CFL has long been a league that offers second chances, and some of those chances have been to people with criminal charges, convictions or other ugly incidents in their past. Some of those people have gone on to be great CFL players, and more importantly, great parts of the community.

The key, though, is that most of the success stories have admitted what they did was wrong and demonstrated real progress from it. Mitchell said he would do that in his apology for Holocaust denial promotion last year, and would even work with Jewish organization B'nai Brith, but they say he never called them after the initial apology. Even more importantly, Mitchell continued to tweet horrifying stuff until he locked his account following the outcry this week. He clearly didn't learn from that past controversy, so why would anyone assume that he'll be better now? From this corner, there are some players whose backgrounds seem so toxic that they shouldn't be touched; Rice fit that category, Phillips fit that category, and Mitchell fits that category. Choosing to employing someone who's demonstrated this kind of refusal to change seems like a bad look for the CFL. It's also a bad look for the Roughriders, especially when you throw in...

2. Chris Jones downplaying the situation. Someone who really hasn't helped throughout this scenario is Saskatchewan head coach/general manager/vice-president of football operations Chris Jones. On Wednesday, he said “I’ve not seen anything" and "I have no idea what you’re talking about" when queried about Mitchell's recent tweets. That seems highly improbable; a team with the resources the Riders devote to scouting didn't bother checking out the publicly-visible Twitter account of a player who left the CFL after a Twitter controversy last year? On Thursday, Jones dug himself deeper, saying Mitchell's tweets were "misconstrued":

That's not a good look for Jones or the Roughriders. Why not drop some pablum about how "He made a mistake, we'll work with him to make sure he doesn't make more" instead of almost affirming Mitchell's tweets? Yes, Jones is focused on football, and no one's expecting him to have great insights on this situation, but his comments suggest he doesn't find Mitchell's behaviour problematic. CFL fans should expect better from a head coach and general manager.

On a more positive note, there's....

3. ESPN's latest CFL article. The most recent piece from Kevin Seifert's trip north of the border (also known for such pieces as "How the CFL can claim Johnny Manziel") is a pretty good one, on how the NFL might consider some of the CFL's officiating changes (specifically the "eye in the sky" official and reviewable pass interference). There's not a ton in there we haven't covered before, but Seifert's access to the command centre and description of how replay reviews are conducted is certainly notable. There are also some insightful quotes from Glen Johnson (the league's senior vice president of football), and it gives a good description of specific things the league is addressing and fixing with the extra official and with expanded reviews. It also briefly addresses the issues with illegal contact away from the play, which has popped up recently. Also notable here is...

4. Ticats' QB Zach Collaros criticizing illegal contact (even after his team benefited from it in Week Nine) and replay in general:

Speeding up replay reviews is certainly a common theme (and Seifert's piece does note how the officials strive to get them done as quickly as possible), but replay on the whole has been very positive for the CFL, and the expansion of making pass interference reviewable has generally worked well (and may well someday be copied by the NFL). The midseason rule change to make a first missed challenge cost a timeout also appears like a good fix. The illegal contact challenges away from the play are problematic, though, going against Johnson's stated goal of fixing "obvious mistakes," and they may need to be addressed further. Another good American piece with a CFL connection is...

5. Tim Graham's look at Björn Nittmo. This longform Buffalo News piece has several elements that are relevant to the CFL. For one, Nittmo (a Swedish-born kicker who's the only Swedish-born player ever to play a full NFL season, but who's been suffering from the effects of a concussion sustained in the NFL for almost the last two decades) had a couple of stints with CFL teams, playing with the Shreveport Pirates in 1995 and trying out for the Ottawa Renegades in 2005 (thanks to Lonie Glieberman remebering him from Shreveport). He also had another stint in Canada with the Montreal Machine of the old World Football League in 1991.

Perhaps even more importantly, though, this piece illustrates not only how concussions can destroy a player's life (something we've seen many times with former CFL players), but also how it's quite possible for kickers and punters to get concussions as well. Football often has too much of an exclusionary attitude towards kickers and punters, who wind up involved in the physical side of the game more than you'd think (especially on big returns), and the derogatory comments about kickers and punters in the NFL concussion lawsuit illustrate that. It wouldn't be suprising if there are some kickers and punters who wind up being involved in the ongoing CFL concussion lawsuit, and the Nittmo story shows their claims should be considered with respect, not dismissed automatically because of their position. Speaking of former CFL players...

6. The Hall of Fame's move has been delayed. The idea of moving the Canadian Football Hall of Fame from a separate building in Hamilton to the Ticats' stadium at Tim Hortons Field was first seriously discussed last summer, strongly endorsed by CFL and Ticats' executives, and ratified by city council last July 10. For some reason, though, the process seems to have been dragged out. Kevin Werner reported at 3 Down Nation this May "the CFL and Hamilton are poised to sign agreements that will officially kick off the renovation project," but reported in The Hamilton Spectator Thursday that the move has been delayed thanks to delays in signing some of those agreements:

It's unclear why these delays have popped up and which side is responsible, but it's certainly unfortunate that they won't be able to show off the Legends Row at the Hall of Fame game.

Sticking with Hamilton and big games, but moving on to on-the-field issues, let's look at...

7. Argos-Ticats on Labour Day. It's always good to see one of the CFL's oldest rivalries have its historic Labour Day game. When Argos-Ticats isn't on that date, it feels like something's off. The teams have faced each other on Labour Day tons of times over the years, including every year since 1995 (with the exceptions of 2011 and 2013), and many of those games have been memorable. This year's should be no exception; it was one of the dates to circle on the calendar before this season started, and it has extra meaning now thanks to the teams being tied in the standings at 4-5. One interesting element to watch will be that the Argos are on short rest after Wednesday's loss to the B.C. Lions. Hamilton last played Sunday (in a loss to Calgary), so they'll have had several extra days of rest and preparation. We'll see if that's a factor. It's also notable that while this is the easternmost game in the Labour Day doubleheader, it's the later one (6:30 p.m. Eastern Monday). The earlier one is...

8. Edmonton-Calgary. It's unusual to see the Western game first (3 p.m. Eastern, 1 p.m. local), but the  7-1-1 Stampeders and 5-4 Eskimos should provide a pretty good matchup. Calgary's been the most consistent and dominant team so far this year, and they've won their last six games, while Edmonton's had some incredibly high peaks and has won their last three. Eskimos' QB Mike Reilly and Stampeders' QB Bo Levi Mitchell are first and second in the league in passing yards, too, with 3,096 and 2,857 yards respectively. That could lead to a great aerial duel. A matchup that looks a little more lopsided is...

9. Winnipeg-Saskatchewan. While poor off-field decisions such as signing Khalif Mitchell are attracting much of the headlines, the on-field product in Saskatchewan is worthy of criticism too. The Riders are 1-8, and their only win this season was a 30-29 Week Five victory over Ottawa where Redblacks' quarterback Trevor Harris went down early and was replaced by rookie Brock Jensen. Meanwhile, the Bombers are 5-4 and have won their last four. You never know what will happen in the Labour Day Classic (not actually played on Labour Day), though; in Regina, against a rival, with a lot of Rider fans desperate for a win cheering them on, Saskatchewan would seem to at least have a chance. Another team that somewhat surprisingly had a chance this week was...

10. The Montreal Alouettes. The Alouettes seemed like substantial underdogs Thursday against Ottawa, especially considering that they were 3-6 coming in and lost 32-18 to Winnipeg last week and were without leading receiver Duron Carter (whose suspension finally kicked in). They did thump the Redblacks 43-19 on the road two weeks ago, though, and they looked pretty decent in this one, especially on defence. Ottawa eventually came out with the 19-14 win, but it was a game the Alouettes really could have won. However, this performance shows they still have major issues on offence, and one they may have to contemplate changing is...

11. Kevin Glenn. There's no dispute that Glenn has been a great quarterback in the CFL, and he's had good moments this year (including that win over Ottawa two weeks ago, where he threw for 382 yards and five touchdowns with an 83.8 per cent completion rate). His stats on the year aren't terrible, either; he has 2,547 passing yards, fourth in the league, and a 70.7 per cent completion mark. However, he has just 13 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, and his showing Thursday wasn't great; he completed 21 of 33 passes (63.6 per cent) for 205 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. While Montreal's issues aren't all about Glenn (their receiving corps has been highly depleted, and their ground game hasn't been great), he hasn't been good enough for the Alouettes to win most weeks. The 37-year-old Glenn also doesn't appear to be the solution for Montreal going forward. They have promising young quarterbacks such as Rakeem Cato and Vernon Adams Jr.; will they admit this season's likely a lost cause and turn to one of them at some point, or will they keep butting their heads against the wall with Glenn?

Meanwhile, there's almost the complete opposite situation in B.C. with...

12. Jonathon Jennings. By the numbers, Jennings' showing Wednesday against Toronto wasn't good. He threw for just 199 yards with no touchdowns and an interception. However, there isn't a lot of concern about him. It helps that the Lions won that game 16-13, but Jennings also played masterfully down the stretch, orchestrating a 10-play, 70-yard drive that perfectly killed the clock and set up Richie Leone's game-winning field goal at the buzzer. Moreover, he's been very good this year; his 2,689 passing yards are third in the league, and he has 12 touchdowns against six interceptions. Jennings could still stand to bolster his completion percentage (64.6 on the year), but Wednesday's 71.0 was a step up on that front. What's impressive is that he's continued to improve almost weekly this year. Last season, he showed potential and had some tremendous highs, but also had some terrible lows. This year, Jennings been much more consistent, and even less-stellar performances like this one aren't causing all that much concern. What's scary for the rest of the league is that he's still just 24, and that it's quite possible to see him getting even better and becoming a quarterback to fear for years to come.

Thanks for reading 12 Audibles! Stay tuned to 55-Yard Line for CFL coverage, and come back here next week for the next installment of this column. You can also contact me with feedback on Twitter or via e-mail.

Correction: This piece initially had the times for the Labour Day games as noon and 3:30 p.m. Eastern. The correct times are 3 and 6:30 p.m. Eastern.