By Canadian Press

Former NFL star Collinsworth nearly began pro career in CFL

Jun 23, 2023 | 2:06 PM

It took 42 years, but Cris Collinsworth is finally part of the CFL.

Earlier this month, the CFL announced a partnership with Pro Football Focus. The sports analytics company is owned by Collinsworth, NBC’s Emmy Award-winning football analyst and a former NFL receiver.

In 1981, after being drafted in the second round by the Cincinnati Bengals, Collinsworth seriously considered playing for the CFL’s Montreal Alouettes. In fact, he even made the trip north to meet with team officials.

“I came close,”  Collinsworth said during a recent phone interview. “I’m in contract negotiations with the Bengals and Vince Ferragamo had signed with Montreal and that was kind of a topic at the time.

“I actually took a trip to Montreal and my agent said to me, ‘Look, they could put an offer on the table that you’d need to sign and are you willing to do that if you go up there?’ I said, ‘Yes, I am.'”

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That didn’t materialize and Collinsworth spent his entire NFL career with Cincinnati (1981-88). But the three-time All-Pro still remembers going to Montreal.

“I got off the plane and I’ll never forget it, there’s media there,” he said. “The very first question I was asked was just this short: ‘How do you feel about taking Canadian citizens’ jobs?’

“Not very often in my life have I just been stuck for an answer and I can’t remember what I said. I hadn’t really considered that was an issue, which I think clearly it was at the time.”

Collinsworth registered 417 career receptions for 6,698 yards (16.1-yard average) with 36 touchdowns over his NFL career. The six-foot-five, 192-pound former University of Florida star set a Bengals record for most catches by a rookie (67) his first year in the league.

Four times the native of Dayton, Ohio, cracked the 1,000-yard plateau. Collinsworth helped Cincinnati make it to Super Bowl XVI and was the game’s leading receiver (five catches, 107 yards) but he had a costly fumble in the second quarter the San Francisco 49ers converted into a touchdown en route to a 26-21 victory.

Collinsworth has long felt American receivers should give Canadian football serious consideration.

“I’ve always been intrigued by (CFL), especially playing wide receiver because, man, you get some real advantages,” Collinsworth said. “The depth of the end zone, you only  get three downs so you’re throwing it all the time, you get a 10-yard running start, nobody is ever jamming you off the line of scrimmage.

“There’s really a reason if you’re a receiver to think about wanting to play in that league. The quarterback is the star but receivers are an even bigger part, to me, of that league because of all of the advantages that are built in.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 23, 2023.

Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press