Argos release Dwight Anderson; will he find a third team this year, or are his CFL days done?

The Toronto Argonauts have become the second team this year to decide that they no longer want defensive back Dwight Anderson. Anderson was a West Division all-star last year with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, but appeared to wear out his welcome there early this year, and they shipped him off to Toronto for a conditional draft pick in July. The question is if this will mark the end of his CFL career, or if another team will take a chance on him. Anderson's shown lots of talent over the years, earning four divisional all-star nods and one league all-star selection (2010) in his seven full CFL seasons to this point, and he's only 33, which isn't all that old by CFL standards. However, he's also gotten into plenty of trouble both on and off the field, and that may limit the interest in him.

It's notable that Anderson has done plenty of good things on the field. He's generally been quite effective in coverage, especially playing a physical man-to-man style. It's not like the last few years have been all downhill for him either; in fact, he recorded five interceptions last year in Saskatchewan, which tied his career high. He's been regularly named the league's top trash-talker in TSN's player polls, and he's always good for a headline, but he's shown in the last few years he can bottle that up when needed and focus on the game. Plenty of his teammates appear to like playing with him, too, and there are teams out there (maybe Ottawa in particular) that could use an extra veteran in their secondary.

Whether Anderson will bring valuable leadership is another question, though. He's gotten in plenty of trouble in football situations, such as the 2011 eye-gouge of Weston Dressler, the allegations he spit on Tiger-Cats fans that year and the clashes with Montreal head coach Marc Trestman; those eventually were patched up, but a player being told to stay away from the team is never a light matter, or one that recommends him. Anderson's off-field behaviour's notable too, particularly the aggravated assault charges that were brought against him (and teammates Taj Smith and Eron Riley) following an incident outside a Regina nightclub last year. Charges against Anderson were eventually dropped, but involvement in an incident like that still doesn't look good on him, and it may be a red flag that keeps teams away.

Bringing in a player with those kinds of red flags can be a tough balancing act between on-field potential and potential problems, and CFL teams take different approaches to it. Perhaps even more notably, it depends on the player involved. The Argonauts just cut Anderson, but they took a chance on Khalif Mitchell after he worked his way out of B.C. following a streak of on-and-off field discipline issues; they then released him, though, and the Lions wound up bringing him back again despite his previous problems there. However, B.C. declined interest from Chad Johnson given his previous domestic violence charges; Montreal eventually brought him in, but they're the team that cut Arland Bruce III following his offensive social media comments. All teams have so far passed on former drug-runner Yonus Davis, though. Thus, it's not like there's a hard-and-fast unilateral rule about who's worth another chance and who isn't; it depends on the team, the player, and the potential upsides and downsides. We'll see if Anderson's upside remains substantial enough for another team to give him a chance.