The BC Lions made their final cuts and one of them may surprise you

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The B.C. Lions might just be the most Canadian team in all of the Canadian Football League.

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The club made its final pre-season cuts late Saturday, 24 hours after they wrapped up the pre-season with a 26-9 win over the Edmonton Elks on Friday. When the dust settled on Sunday with their formal announcements, a surprise name was among the 12 released: Halfback Marcus Sayles.

The Manhattan native was a lock as a starter for B.C. the past three seasons, making two West all-star teams and one all-CFL team in his six-year career north of the border.

But the 29-year-old will now be on the hunt for a new team, just fourth months after signing a two-year extension with the Lions.

The reason: The deepest, most talented crop of Canadian defensive backs that head coach Rick Campbell has ever fielded.

“It really is always a tough day, especially with any older guys like Sayles; those types of guys that are good people, and because it affects people’s lives. That’s that’s the tough part,” he said of the cut-down, which had to be formally completed by Saturday night.

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“That’s no fun, but it’s also pretty exciting that the group you’re going to work with, so both those things happen at the same time.

“No. 1, credit to the new guys,” he said of Sayles’ obsolescence.

“There’s guys that are playing really well. It was really a function of that, and that’s it. There’s guys that made a case that they need to be on the field.

“Sometimes you got to make some tough decisions on guys, and when you have the opportunity to go younger, you’ve got to take advantage of it, just to be sustainable.”

Third-round draft pick Cristophe Beaulieu (Laval) was a revelation at halfback in camp, looking to be an even more successful CFL player than his older brother, Jordan.

Ottawa native Patrice Rene is another player on the comeback trail. The six-foot-two, 206-pound corner was the top Canadian recruit when he went south to play NCAA football, but an ACL curtailed his time down there. The Bombers took him in the third round in the 2021 draft, but he was got hurt in his pro debut and missed the rest of the season before being released.

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But Rene also had a strong pre-season showing for B.C., as did safety Adrian Greene and both made the final roster.

One slight surprise was the release of Siriman Bagayogo, who was one of the brightest prospects in USports when the 6-3, 195-pound corner was taken by the Lions in the second round (14th overall) in 2023. Campbell expects him to be snapped up by another team quickly.

DB Charlie Ringland was impressing all observers at the 2023 CFL combine when the Saskatchewan Huskies standout suffered a non-contact ACL injury on the artificial turf, but that didn’t stop B.C. from taking him in the fifth round. He camp into camp in Kamloops motivated — and grateful — and made the most of his opportunity, grabbing a spot on the practice roster.

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Americans DB Ronald Kent Jr. and returnee Manny Rugamba, who played SAM linebacker last year but has fit in well at halfback in pre-season, are two more players in the secondary rotation.

“This is the deepest Canadian DB group I’ve ever been around in all my time in the CFL,” said Campbell. “I think in this first game, we’re going to be playing Canadian heavy, meaning playing more than seven guys on the field.

“We don’t care that they’re Canadian. We just want to play the best players. And so I could definitely see us starting eight, and sometimes on the field have more than that. It gives us big-time (ratio) flexibility.”

The Lions open the season next Sunday when the visit the Toronto Argonauts, kickoff at 4 p.m. PT.

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These players have been released by the B.C. Lions

• American running back Percy Agyei-Obese
• Canadian defensive back Siriman Bagayogo
• American defensive lineman Sam Burton
• American defensive back Chris Cooper
• American wide receiver Jeff Cotton
• American offensive lineman Jean Delance
• American wide receiver Ed Lee
• American linebacker Forrest Rhyne
• American wide receiver Jalen Sample
• American defensive back Marcus Sayles
• American defensive lineman Demetrius Taylor
• American offensive lineman Maea Teuhema

These players are on the B.C. Lions’ practice squad

• American wide receiver Stanley Berryhill
• American defensive lineman Juliano Falaniko
• Canadian linebacker Terrence Ganyi
• South African punter/kicker Carl Meyer
• Canadian wide receiver Kieran Poissant
• American wide receiver Devin Ravenel
• Canadian defensive back Charlie Ringland
• American defensive lineman Jonah Tavai
• American running back Jordan Terrell
• American offensive lineman Kory Woodruff

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