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Argos release all-star DT Khalif Mitchell, reportedly to let him pursue NFL opportunities

Andrew Bucholtz

The Toronto Argonauts have released numerous players this offseason, but many of those moves haven't been about players underperforming, making too much money or not fitting into the team's future plans, reasons typically cited for releases. Instead, most of the Argonauts' releases have been to let players go try the NFL, and that appears to be what's behind their surprising release of defensive tackle Khalif Mitchell Monday. Mitchell has created controversies before with racist tweets, rough on-field play and temporary trade refusals, but a league source told The Canadian Press this release wasn't about any of that, but rather to let him test the NFL waters. If so, that would make him the fourth Argonaut released to try the NFL this offseason, following receiver Dontrelle Inman (who wound up with the Chargers), defensive back Neiko Thorpe (who went to the Raiders) and linebacker Marcus Ball (who hasn't been signed yet). The key questions now are if this move will work out for Mitchell and if this approach will benefit the Argonauts in the long run.

The NFL could be a natural fit for Mitchell if he's able to find the right situation. He's relatively young (28), he's got great size (he's listed as 6'6'' and 316 pounds), and at his best, he's been a very capable CFL player. He was named a league all-star with B.C. in 2011 for a 33-tackle, six-sack season and was crucial to the Lions' Grey Cup win that year. He was named a league all-star again this past season for a strong campaign that saw him rack up 32 tackles, five sacks and a fumble recovery. Moreover, defensive tackle's an extremely tough position to fill, as there are few players with the necessary mix of size and athleticism to play that role. Mitchell has proven effective as both a run-stopper and as a pass-rusher in the CFL, and the NFL has been interested in him before; he was with San Francisco in 2008 and 2009 before coming to the CFL, and he reportedly turned down a NFL offer from Miami in 2012 to return to the Lions.

CFL success doesn't always translate to NFL success, though, and plenty of things could go wrong for Mitchell. The controversies he's been involved with both on and off the field in Canada may not sit well in some NFL locker rooms where strong discipline is emphasized and individuality is diluted, and they may make him a tougher sell for some organizations. Mitchell's quirky personality and widespread off-field interests (including playing the piano) might make it tougher for him to fit in in the NFL as well; Arizona Cardinals running back Rashard Mendenhall announced his retirement at 26 Monday and cited the pressure he felt to conform to a football-loving box as a reason:

Over my career, because of my interests in dance, art and literature, my very calm demeanor, and my apparent lack of interest in sporting events on my Twitter page, people in the sporting world have sometimes questioned whether or not I love the game of football. I do. I always have. I am an athlete and a competitor. The only people who question that are the people who do not see how hard I work and how diligently I prepare to be great -- week after week, season after season. I take those things very seriously. I've always been a professional. But I am not an entertainer. I never have been. Playing that role was never easy for me. The box deemed for professional athletes is a very small box. My wings spread a lot further than the acceptable athletic stereotypes and conformity was never a strong point of mine. My focus has always been on becoming a better me, not a second-rate somebody else. Sometimes I would suffer because of it, but every time I learned a lesson from it. And I'll carry those lessons with me for the rest of my life.

Those sound like some of the comments Mitchell has made over the years, and like some of the reasons he cited for turning down the NFL in 2012, so he might not have the easiest time making it south of the border. That isn't a task that's easy in general, though. NFL teams have 90-man offseason rosters now, but only 61 players (a 53-man active roster and an eight-man practice roster) will still be with each team once the season stars, so almost one out of every three players who's in the NFL this offseason won't still be there in the fall. Still, Mitchell has plenty of size and talent, and he's still young. If he finds the right fit, he could be a NFL star.

What about the larger implications for the Argonauts? Losing four quality players is never easy, and letting them go for nothing so they can go test the NFL waters would at first appear foolhardy. It isn't necessarily a bad move, though. First off, Inman was going to be a free agent anyway, so Toronto just let him go a little early (right before Christmas, in fact). Yes, the Argonauts could potentially have retained the other three players, but it's awfully tough to make someone play for you that doesn't want to. If Toronto had tightly hung on to their rights, those guys could have potentially sat out and forced a Chris Williams situation. Instead, the Argos opted to let them go, and that could pay off. If those players are cut (or, like Ball, don't wind up signing in the NFL after all), they may be more tempted to return to Toronto than to head to another CFL team given the way the Argos treated them. Moreover, this could be a big recruiting benefit for the team, as they not only can cite an impressive number of alumni in the NFL, but also can point to their past releases of players (not just this season, as they've done this before with guys like Armond Armstead) as evidence they're willing to be a NFL gateway. Losing players like Mitchell to the NFL may seem tough for the Boatmen in the short term, but in the long haul, it could well pay off.