Martavis Bryant is playing football professionally again. Just not with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Or even in the NFL. Still suspended by Roger Goodell, Bryant has inked a contract with the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts, the team announced Monday morning.
Pittsburgh traded Bryant to the Oakland Raiders in 2018 for a third round pick. A terrible move for the Raiders, Bryant was released prior to the start of the season only to be brought back one week later. Ultimately, he played eight games, catching 19 passes and failing to find the end zone before being suspended in late December. The NFL has yet to reinstate him. Bryant. now 29 years old, has sat out the last two years.
The CFL will provide him a chance to put up big numbers in their more wide-open offense and hopefully create a path back into the NFL. Bryant’s talent was never in question. His off-field decision-making has always been his downfall.
Drafted in the fourth round in 2014, Bryant played three years for the Steelers. He caught 126 passes for nearly 2000 yards and 17 touchdowns, emerging as one of the league’s best big-play threats. His troubles began in 2015, suspended for the first month of the season. He then missed the entire 2016 season due to another suspension.
With three career suspensions, it’s unknown if the league will ever let him back into the NFL. It seems likely they eventually will, just as they did with Josh Gordon, but Bryant will have zero margin for error if he is reinstated. For now, he’ll get back onto the field Toronto and use that as a springboard back into the league.
