By Chad Klassen

Olafioye happy to be ‘home’ with the B.C. Lions

May 23, 2018 | 3:41 PM

KAMLOOPS — Jovan Olafioye is still one of the best offensive tackles in the league, and after a squabble with the Montreal Alouettes he’s now back protecting quarterback Jonathan Jennings after a year away. 

“It felt great,” said Olafioye, who participated in his first practice with the Lions on Wednesday in Kamloops. “Coming out here, I was sitting on the sideline watching them guys practice, so I wanted to get out with my teammates, get my feet back under me. I’m moving to a new position this year and I wanted to get my feet back under me. Today, I think I did a pretty good road towards that.”

Head coach Wally Buono said the Lions are fortunate to have a player like Olafioye back in the fold. 

“He’s a great football player, and when you get a guy that’s been an All-Star for seven years. Him and [Joel] Figueroa are going to give us a great twosome at the tackle position, and our club has got a whole lot better,” he noted. “All offseason we talked about improve the line of scrimmage and definitely that’s been improved. 

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Olafioye, who was traded to Montreal last offseason after seven seasons in B.C., was released by the Als over the weekend, at his request following a dispute with GM Kavis Reed, who asked the All-Star tackle to take a $50,000 pay cut. 

“[Reed] told me he wanted me to take a pay cut, restructure my contract. I asked him why, why so late, why wait until I had already drove to Montreal,” said Olafioye, a trip that took him 10 hours. “I wasn’t willing to restructure my contract. He didn’t give me a reason why, so I called my agent and he took care of it and we moved on.”

With the Lions adding Joel Figueroa at left tackle this offseason, Olafioye will switch side to right tackle after protecting the blindside all of his eight-year CFL career. 

“It’s a huge difference. Your foot placement, your angles, the way you push off,” noted Olafioye. “Everything is different.”

Buono noted that everything the Lions hoped to accomplish in making the offensive line better was wrapped up nicely with the Olafioye signing. 

“He’s a 6’5″, 325 pound man that can dominate those defensive ends,” said Buono. “When you look at the CFL, usually the most dominant pass rushers are those defensive ends, so with him and Figueroa we have excellent tackles, and Jonathan should feel a lot more secure.”

Olafioye is excited about being “home” and coming to a solid O-line, something he hopes will translate into a great year. 

“I believe every season that we’ve been successful here, we’ve had a great offensive line. Even back in 2016 and we went 12-6, our offensive line was really solid. 2011, 2012, offensive line was really good,” he noted. “It starts up front. Defensive line, offensive line all the time. If you’ve got a good defensive line, offensive line, you have a chance to win a championship.”