Photo courtesy: Jill Meagher/B.C. Lions
In the cut-throat world of professional football, some players are all too eager to air their grievances in the aftermath of a contentious release. Casey Sayles is not one of those guys.
The 30-year-old defensive tackle wasn’t certain he ever wanted to discuss his departure from the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. With emotions still raw, he declined an interview request from 3DownNation in February, not yet ready to open up. However, the questions were inevitable, and on Monday in Kamloops, he stoically addressed the ordeal for the first time.
“It was definitely a surprise to me and my wife. It was an unfortunate situation how it was handled. The way I found out was definitely unprofessional and embarrassing on their part,” Sayles said of his release. “The situation, there’s not a lot of words to say about it, if you can hear me now. I care about a lot of those guys in the locker room, and I hope nothing like the situation that happened to me happens to anyone else.”
At six-foot-three and 290 pounds, Sayles is an imposing figure. He has a well-earned reputation as one of the CFL’s toughest interior players. Few things can wound him, but there is a clear tinge of pain in his voice when he talks about the end of his tenure in Hamilton.
The reasons behind his release in January weren’t unique. The Tiger-Cats needed to free up cap space in order to extend several key pending free agents, including quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell, defensive end Julian Howsare, and safety Stavros Katsantonis. Coming off a career-low in sacks, Sayles was one of the few significant earners still under contract and was deemed expendable despite being named All-East Division in 2025. Unfortunately, the communication of that decision was botched from the very beginning.
“I accidentally found out through a Hamilton internal worker that was not included in the front office or coaching staff. I had a great relationship with this person, so it shows that this person cared. This person was not aware of me not knowing yet from the front office,” Sayles revealed. “After finding out the way I found out, I talked to a front office member, and they said that it wasn’t true about my release. They said that there wasn’t any word about it, and I thought I was fine from there. About three hours later, I get a call from Milanovich, being told I’m being released.”
Hamilton has typically received positive reviews for their treatment of players, finishing on top of the CFLPA report card in back-to-back years. Sayles enjoyed his time there, but after three seasons with the franchise and a pair of all-star selections, felt he was owed more than the human yo-yo treatment.
“It was an emotional night and day for my wife and I. We made a lot of connections out there, not only in the locker room, but the wives’ group as well. Obviously, we were there for three years and loved it there, but I guess that’s the name of the business sometimes. It’s unfortunate,” he said.
“I got an apology, obviously, but it was just not the way that I expected things to end there. Once a player is on a team, they hope to be there for as long as they can. But that’s the CFL — you switch teams sometimes, and that’s the business. That’s the way it goes, and I got over it.”
It helped that the phone started ringing almost immediately. Sayles’ release became public on January 8, and by January 13, he had signed with the B.C. Lions. There were multiple other suitors for his services, though he declined to say who or how many.
“Enough to feel comfortable, I guess,” he chuckled. “But my main want was going to be out here.”
“Talked to B.C., and didn’t really think twice about it. Signed here, and couldn’t be happier.”
That decision came down to personal relationships. Sayles began his career in Winnipeg when Lions head coach Buck Pierce was the offensive coordinator, so he was familiar with his style. More importantly, defensive line coach Randy Melvin had coached him in 2023 with the Ticats, a season in which he set career highs and was named All-CFL for the first time. His wife, who hails from Regina, also had a personal connection to the area, with extended family sprinkled around the Lower Mainland.
It is merely a fringe benefit that he now joins one of the league’s deepest defensive line rotations, with reigning Most Outstanding Defensive Player Mathieu Betts serving as the cornerstone.
“He’s destructive. I can tell from a lot of other o-lines that I’ve talked to that he’s tough to go against, and half the time his jersey’s ripped,” Sayles raved. “He’s going to be exciting to play with, and everyone else. You look at Sione (Teuhema) and (Jonah) Tavai, and all those other guys, and the depth that we have right now. It’ll be fun here to play with the guys, twist some stuff up and get after the quarterback.”
“I’m lucky and blessed to be out here in this amazing organization at the end of the day.”
The Lions will play their first preseason game against the Edmonton Elks on Saturday, May 23, in Langford and their second preseason game against the Calgary Stampeders on Friday, May 29. Final roster cuts are due on Saturday, May 30, after which the Lions will play their first regular-season game against the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Saturday, June 13.
