Montreal Alouettes head coach Jason Maas is hoping other members of the team’s receiving corps will step up to fill the void left by Austin Mack.
“We always think about what’s best for the organization, and that’s what we take care of. I think (general manager) Danny (Maciocia) has done a tremendous job of always looking after that fact, and then you live with it from there,” Maas recently told the media in Montreal regarding Mack’s departure.
“Now, it’s Alex Hollins, it’s (Jerreth) Sterns, it’s Cole (Spieker), it’s everybody on our receiving corps having more opportunities now to win jobs, and to provide what Austin had provided for us.”
Mack was cut ahead of a $45,000 offseason roster bonus, which was due on February 1. He signed with the Edmonton Elks shortly following his release from Montreal, reuniting him with former Alouettes quarterback Cody Fajardo.
The 28-year-old target caught 48 passes for 674 yards and two touchdowns in 2025, missing six regular-season games due to injury. He was hampered by a nagging hamstring problem during the playoffs, making five catches for 119 yards over three postseason games including the 112th Grey Cup loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Mack finished third on the Alouettes in receiving in 2025 behind Tyler Snead and Tyson Philpot. Snead, who was named All-CFL after surpassing the 1,000-yard mark for the first time in his career, signed a contract extension in September that ties him to the team through 2027. Philpot signed a new contract in December that made him the highest-paid Canadian receiver in the CFL.
Sterns was brought over from the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in free agency after making 48 receptions for 530 yards and four touchdowns in 2025. Hollins, a former All-West Division selection with the B.C. Lions, appears primed to start in 2026 after filling a depth role with the Alouettes last season. Both players are projected to start by 3DownNation, though nothing will be official until the team makes decisions during training camp.
As for Mack’s departure, it appears Maas and Maciocia agreed to try to retain the veteran receiver on a new contract but that those negotiations didn’t work out.
“We looked at all of it. What (Mack) did his first year (in 2023) here was tremendous — win a Grey Cup, have the year he had. We all wanted him back and we all wanted him to be here as an Alouette forever. Then he goes down south (for a shot in the NFL in 2024), comes back up and the same feelings are there,” said Maas.
“When you have great players in your building, you want to retain them, you want to keep them. That doesn’t always happen, so no matter how many years they sign for, a lot of times it is year-to-year. It’s the amount of money you have invested in them and each year you look at your club, where you’re spending your money, and the value you’re getting. There’s so much that goes into one player being here and being retained.”
“When Danny comes to me — and he and I speak a lot on our players and how it affects everybody — it’s not one day of thinking about it. There’s a constant talk through what the roster’s going to look like if we make these decisions. The fact is, we came to an agreement with Austin, it was with the thought of bringing him back under the conditions and under the terms that we believed helped everybody.”
“What transpired (with Mack’s departure) was out of our control a bit, and we decided to say that is what’s best for both parties. When you make that move, you’ve just gotta believe it’s what’s best for the organization.”
The Montreal Alouettes were relatively quiet in free agency, though they still added quarterback Dustin Crum, receiver Jerreth Sterns, and return specialist DeVonte Dedmon. The team also suffered some key losses, including Austin Mack (Edmonton Elks), linebacker Darnell Sankey (B.C. Lions), defensive back Marc-Antoine Dequoy (retirement), and return specialist James Letcher Jr. (Saskatchewan Roughriders).
The Alouettes hold the eighth overall pick in the 2026 CFL Draft, which is scheduled for Tuesday, April 28 at 7:00 p.m. EDT. All CFL training camps are scheduled to open on May 10. The team will play its first preseason game against the Ottawa Redblacks on Friday, May 22 and its first regular-season game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Thursday, June 4.
In 2025, Montreal finished second in the East Division standings with a 10-8 record and beat the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the East Final before losing the 112th Grey Cup to the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
