Back on January 28th, the Montreal Alouettes added Virginia Tech quarterback Kyron Drones to their negotiation list, which is the process that the Canadian Football League has to allocate American players to its teams. For those unaware, each CFL team can place up to 45 players on their negotiation list, giving them “dibs” on these players if they ever become available to sign in the league. These lists had always been behind the scenes until July of 2025, when the league finally made negotiation lists fully
public for the first time.
The CFL minimum is $70,000 (Canadian), roughly $50,000 USD. For perspective, the NFL minimum is $885,000 (for a full season) and practice squad players make $247,500 over 18 weeks. In the UFL, players make $64,000 for a 10-game season.
So it doesn’t make sense for Drones to head up north anytime soon, after he signed an undrafted rookie contract with the Green Bay Packers over the weekend. If he ever does, though, his first stop will be in Montreal.
Interestingly, a good amount of the Packers’ pre-draft visitors this cycle were on CFL negotiation lists. Green Bay leaned into undrafted free agent recruiting with its 30 visits this cycle, but many of these projected UDFAs ended up getting drafted on Day 3. This was the case for Texas Tech quarterback Behren Morton (Calgary), East Carolina receiver Anthony Smith (Montreal), Washington defensive tackle Anterior Thompson (Winnipeg) and Wake Forest cornerback Karon Prunty (Winnipeg). Another visitor on CFL negotiation lists, and who was signed by the New York Giants as a UDFA, was New Mexico running back Damon Bankston.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Packers (and other clubs in the NFL) are now using the CFL’s negotiation list as a way to spot potential hidden gems in the draft. For perspective, all of the players listed above were added to negotiation lists well before the combine or these players’ respective pro days.
In other CFL negotiation list news, two of the Packers’ three most recent cuts have made the list. Green Bay cut three players when they began Phase 1 of their offseason program: tight end McCallan Castles, linebacker Jamon Johnson (given an injury designation) and cornerback Tyron Herring. Both Johnson and Herring were added to Hamilton’s negotiation list following their release, while Castles hasn’t received any burn.
