By: Santino Filoso
Spoke with Kevin Glenn today and he told me he’s asked the Ottawa Redblacks to trade him. Story coming.
— Dan Ralph (@danralphcp) March 6, 2014
In a regrettable but predictable move, reporter Dan Ralph has confirmed that Kevin Glenn has indeed asked Ottawa Redblacks GM Marcel Desjardins for a trade.
Kevin Glenn’s trade request came a few days after the #REDBLACKS signed Henry Burris. http://t.co/ds4fAULgeH #CFL
— Farhan Lalji (@FarhanLaljiTSN) March 6, 2014
This isn’t going to end well for Glenn or the Redblacks. In a recent post, I discussed how I thought that the “hacking” incident had been blown out of proportion but clearly I was wrong. By publicly confirming that he has indeed asked for a trade Glenn has tied Desjardins hands.
@qterback5 Kevin Glenn’s only been in town a few months but he’s showing his local hockey knowledge by pulling a Heatley #REDBLACKS #Sens
— RedBlack Renegade (@RedBlackGade) March 6, 2014
If it wasn’t already, any trade that Desjardins pulls off now will give the Redblacks an extremely diminished return. Teams know he wants out and will bank on the fact that the Redblacks won’t want to keep a disgruntled player in the locker room.
That being said, going public could backfire on Glenn because in the end the Redblacks don’t have to trade him. And even if Glenn is traded, it’s not a lock that he’ll start anywhere else. Pretty well every team has an established starter, so in all likelihood Glenn will remain a back-up wherever he goes.
@qterback5 What city would you prefer to be a backup in? #justcurious
— RedBlack Renegade (@RedBlackGade) March 6, 2014
It’s also being reported that when Burris was signed Glenn immediately asked for his release, the Redblacks denied. Here’s what GM Marcel Desjardins had to say:
“Put it this way, we are not going to release him,” Desjardins said. “We have to be smart and put ourselves in the best position depth-wise at the quarterback position and that’s what we’ve done.”
If the Redblacks gamble and feel like the other veterans can keep Glenn’s discontent from dividing the locker room, they could choose to do nothing and wait. Glenn’s contract is very cap-friendly and based on playing time, so even though Burris is getting big money, the Redblacks won’t have a problem carrying the two of them into the season. If last season was any indication, a team’s starter will go down to injury and Desjardins could chose to move Glenn at that time, for a better return.
@danralphcp @ArashMadani No real incentive for #REDBLACKS to trade Glenn. His contract is fantastic as a backup. Assuming he reports to camp
— Farhan Lalji (@FarhanLaljiTSN) March 6, 2014
The biggest irony of this whole situation?
@TSNDaveNaylor He wants to start, but every team has a starter now. So he wants a GM to do to his starter what the redblacks did to him.
— Jeff McFarlane (@aardvarkpets) March 6, 2014
BINGO!
This whole Kevin Glenn mess could have been avoided if those dang Twitter hackers just left him alone. #REDBLACKS
— SensChirp (@SensChirp) March 6, 2014
Perhaps it was a Kevin Glenn impersonator who had asked for a trade and not the real KG himslef. #hacked
— CFLArsenal (@CFLArsenal) March 6, 2014
Could it be?
Wow, the person who hacked Glenn’s account was a visionary!!
— Capital Football (@FootballCapital) March 6, 2014
Miss Cleo’s on the loose!
It’ll be very interesting to see how Desjardins and the Redblacks play this, but one thing’s for sure: the Redblacks don’t need this kind of distraction going into their inaugural season. The Redblacks have done pretty much everything right since they’ve entered the league and this is exactly the kind of bad publicity that the new ownership group has taken pains to avoid.
“I need to do what’s in the best interest of our football team,” Desjardins said, “We’ve reached out to a few teams but at this point it’s certainly premature to say anything would actually happen.”
Would you trade Glenn now for the best offer or force him to report to training camp? If I’m Desjardins, I wait. Glenn created this mess all on his own. If I don’t get a good offer, I sit on my asset until I get a proper return.
Defend the R 
If I’m Desjardins, I name my price and wait for the phone to ring. The inmate won’t run this asylum and set a terrible precedent.
If Glenn wants to be a distraction in camp, he may want to consider might image that will give to future potential employers.
If he fail to report to camp, I fine him to every extent that I can.
At the end of the day, this was a guy that was projected to be a back up and picked up off a list of players his previous team was willing to part with. None of that screams “commitment” from the REDBLACKS and it’s not Ottawa responsibility to make up for the perceived lack of respect in his career to this point.
Dude has a hard time keeping a starting job despite decent numbers and I’m starting to wonder if personality isn’t a big reason why.
Lots of good points, JF. Must say I agree with most of them, too. Being the first pick in an expansion draft can’t be seen as a promise of anything. And with seemingly all starting jobs already filled, Glenn’s best bet is probably in Ottawa, where the starter is 39 years old.
The only problem I have with how Redblacks management dealt with all this was how they went out of their way to name Burris their ‘starting’ QB. I’m sure it went without saying to everyone anyway, but probably Glenn took it to mean he had no chance to start. I’m not even sure that’s true, but that’s how it was taken.
Thanks for commenting & keep them coming!
I agree with you completely JF, Desjardins and the Redblacks have all the leverage here.