Will Henoc Muamba wind up elsewhere in the CFL, or is he again NFL-bound?

One of the CFL's biggest remaining free agents only recently joined that class. That would be Canadian linebacker Henoc Muamba, who was officially released by the Montreal Alouettes ahead of a $60,000 offseason salary advance he was due Tuesday. Alouettes' GM Jim Popp told Herb Zurkowsky of The Montreal Gazette the team wasn't able to find a way to keep Muamba given his substantial salary ($230,000 in 2016) and how much of it ($106,000) was due before the season started, and they couldn't find a trade partner thanks to other teams knowing they were likely to cut him. What's particularly interesting is that this release may yet provide an unexpected opportunity for Muamba, though; a chance to return to the NFL.The question is if he'll be able to pull that off.

The NFL has long been a goal for Muamba, and there were talks about him heading there even after he was initially drafted first overall by Winnipeg in 2011. He wound up signing with the Blue Bombers and doing well with them for three seasons, especially in 2013 where he was named the team's top player, top defensive player and top Canadian player. Muamba then headed to the NFL in the 2013-14 offseason, signing with the Indianapolis Colts, and he made an impact for them in 2014, appearing in 13 games and recording six tackles. However, they cut him in September 2015, which led to the Alouettes paying big bucks to bring him in after he couldn't find another NFL spot. Muamba would seem to still have interest in playing in the NFL, though, and at least two NFL teams are reportedly already interested in working him out. Zurkowsky reported Tuesday night that Mumba is going to explore NFL opportunities before CFL ones.

If Muamba can't catch on in the NFL, though, he should draw some CFL attention. He's a Canadian who can play a traditionally-American position and play it well, and that's usually quite valuable. The challenge facing him on the CFL front is the timing; a week into free agency, many teams have already planned out their budgets and their ratios, so there aren't as many opportunities as there would have been if he had hit the market earlier. Teams may not be willing to pay the $230,000 he was getting from Montreal, either; that deal was signed when the Alouettes were desperate for MLB help thanks to injuries and hoping to make a push to the playoffs, while the offseason allows teams the opportunity to perhaps be a little more picky thanks to the numbers of players out there. There certainly will be teams interested in him, though (Edmonton and Saskatchewan in particular have been mentioned as possibilities), even if only potentially at a lower price. We'll see if that's enough to lure him in, or if he'll keep chasing NFL opportunities (which may not be fully determined until after those teams see what they get from the draft in May).

Either way, this release comes as both an opportunity and a peril for Muamba. It gives him the chance to perhaps return to the NFL a year earlier than expected, but it means his CFL employment (certainly at the price he was set to make) is a little more challenging thanks to the timing of the Alouettes' decision to cut him. We'll see if he can get back to the NFL, or if he can sign with another CFL team for close to what he was set to make in Montreal, or if he'll be forced to take a pay cut if he wants to play in the CFL this year. If Mumba can land in the NFL, that could be very financially rewarding (their minimum salary in 2016 is $525,000 for active-roster players), but if not, this cut may wind up hurting him a bit.