What Is the CFL’s Negotiation List, and How Do the Tiger-Cats Approach Theirs?

What was once so private is now oh so public.

On Wednesday morning the CFL announced that, starting immediately, all nine teams’ negotiation lists will be constantly available, open for football fans to study at any time.

Negotiation lists—“neg lists,” in football-ese—contain the names of 45 players who, if they want to play in or even try out for CFL teams, may do so only for that team. The lists change almost daily as teams add or delete players, depending upon a number of factors.

For the entire negotiation player list, click HERE.

Prior to 2018, the contents of those lists were known only to the nine teams in the league. All teams were updated on who was on the other franchises’ lists, but no one else was privy to that information.

But in order to stimulate a deeper interest in potential future CFL players among followers of the league, in the winter of 2018 the CFL ruled that twice each season each team could, and must, reveal 10 of the 45 players on their list. The other 35 remained as insider-knowledge.

“You’re trying to balance the long-term needs of your football team, while keeping in mind what’s right around the corner.”

As of Wednesday, all 45 neg-list players must be revealed. All the time.

“They are guys who are either in school or they can be active in the NFL,” Tiger-Cats General Manager Ted Goveia explains. “So they’re at all stages of their careers. I guess in a nutshell, it’s a list of guys who, at some point down the road if they’re available, we would sign.

“It’s almost like a fantasy board. Players you determine could help you win football games. In our case they are guys who your scouts, or you, have been out on the road and seen live, preferably.”

Goveia isn’t going to reveal specific details of the Ticats’ blueprints for building a negotiation list, or how he prioritises various position needs, because those are in-house strategies meant to provide the Cats with a competitive edge.

But he did select four players on the list to discuss in general and provide Cats fans with some background on why Hamilton has protected them: Jalen McKenzie, a 6-foot-5, 310 pound offensive tackle out of USC who has spent time with five NFL teams; running back Shane Watts, a converted safety from Fort Hays State who was a small-college 2nd team All-American and who scored 13 rushing touchdowns and four pass-reception majors last season; defensive back Cam Dantzler of Mississippi State, who has a big wingspan at 6-foot-2 and was with the Ticats during an expanded practice roster stretch last fall after spending significant time (17 knockdowns and three interceptions) in the NFL with Minnesota; and defensive back Zyon Gilbert, who made 14 tackles and a sack in the NFL, and ran a 4.49 40-yard dash in his pro day.

Here are Goveia’s thumbnail sketches of that quartet:

• “I’ve seen Jalen McKenzie in person at the NFLPA (Collegiate) all-star game and I’ve met his dad (Reggie) who was a GM in the NFL for the Raiders and is now with Tennessee. Jalen is quick on his feet. Has had opportunities in the NFL and he may—or may not—have exhausted those. He’s a good athlete and our director of pro scouting, Dane Vandernat, worked for his dad so there’s a connection there. He’s athletic enough to be a starter in our league.”
• “Shane Watts’s coach Cooper Harris played for the Argonauts and Ticats (editorial note: he was special teams captain for the Cats). Shane’s a small-school guy with great speed and upside. A well-rounded back who plays the game hard and would fit well on our football team. He’s a guy who has interest in the CFL, so he’s there in the case that we run into injuries. And at some point he’ll be in camp with us. He also played multiple positions and we like that well-rounded skill set. We like his explosiveness.”
• “Cameron Dantzler is a legitimate NFL player who was up here in Hamilton last year. He had a bit of an injury bug: went to the UFL and, respectfully, he’s probably at the final stage of hoping he can get re-signed in the NFL. In the event he doesn’t, he’s had a little taste of the CFL and he enjoyed his time in Hamilton. We’re in touch with him and respecting his process but he’s a guy, being a third-round NFL pick, who has the pedigree to come up here and continue to play the game he loves. When you spend time with a guy, you keep in touch.”
• “Zyon Gilbert is a guy we’ve seen many times. He’s recovering from an injury now and is still not 100 per cent. We have a great relationship with his agent and at some point he’s going to be up here. When that is, I don’t know. He’s more of a veteran player. Dane had him at the NFLPA all-star game when he was director of the game and he has specific information on him. So that is very helpful.”

“I narrowed in on those four but there are 45 guys and it could be any of the other guys too,” Goveia added. “If you look at them, there’s a connection there and the bottom line is we’ve seen them all, in person. Most of the failure rates I’ve had in this game are when we haven’t seen the guy live or we didn’t get to know him. And you failed on the person…you read the bio, watched some tape but you didn’t figure the guy out.”

Currently, the Ticats neg list is made up of 10 offensive linemen, 10 defensive linemen, eight defensive backs, seven quarterbacks, five linebackers, four wide receivers and just one running back.

Goveia emphasises that in building a neg list, it’s important to consider both long-term and immediate concerns.

“You have to determine at some point ‘When does a player become available?’” he says. “And you’re trying to balance the long-term needs of your football team, while keeping in mind what’s right around the corner.”

When a player is added, subtracted or retained, is that based on the changing circumstances of that player or on the team’s needs?

“Both,” Goveia says. “Actually, the drivers would be those two things alone. We’re constantly working to try to stay ahead of potential rosters, rather than be reactionary to roster issues within our own team.

“Then there’s the cycle of the season: where they’re at for NFL training camps; trying to project if a player becomes available, the possibility of the UFL and other leagues. There’s all kinds of moving parts; balancing the future needs of our team and, obviously, answering the bell when we suffer injuries or we want to do something within the organization shortly. So there’s movement on that neg list.”

And would the team ever take a “flyer” on a player who seems locked into an NFL job, or is likely to be a high draft choice if he’s still in college?

“Sure,” Goveia replied. “Like I said, it’s kind of a fantasy list. I would describe them as impact players who are more challenging to get up (to Canada). They usually have greater options, because availability doesn’t always mean ‘good’. These are good football players who’ve been vetted by us and in a lot of cases they’re playing on other teams. But at some point, people can become available and if you don’t own their rights when that time comes, it’s very rare they’ll stay available for long. And they may end up on another CFL roster.”

It was at the league meetings in the winter of 2018 that the clubs were directed to reveal, twice per year, 10 names on the 45-man neg lists.

But a year earlier than that, then-Ticat Eric Tillman made it known that Johnny Manziel—the Heisman Trophy winner nicknamed “Johnny Football”—had been on the Ticats’ list for years and it was not out of the question that he’d soon play in Hamilton. Manziel himself said he’d try the Canadian league if he didn’t get another chance in the NFL, which he did not.

The CFL had to approve his Ticat signing and after a series of starts and stops Manziel was indeed at training camp just before it opened in May of 2019. But it didn’t take. Another JM—Jeremiah Masoli—had the No. 1 spot locked up and Dane Evans emerged as a viable backup. After just five games, with no time on the field, Manziel was traded to Montreal in a deal which heavily favoured Hamilton in the long run. It turned into one of the best trades of this century for the Ticats.

When the CFL’s first official list of 10 names was revealed just a few weeks earlier, among the Ticats’ protected players were Julian Howsare of Clarion College, cornerback Jumal Rolle from Catawba College plus quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, then at Alabama.

Howsare and Rolle both became all-stars for the Ticats and Howsare is back for a second stint with the team and scored a defensive touchdown last weekend against Montreal.  Tagovailoa was drafted fifth overall two years later by the Miami Dolphins, for whom he had  the NFL’s best completion record last season. His younger brother, Taulia, came out of Maryland and dressed for eight games with the Ticats last year and rushed for a touchdown in the Labour Day Classic.

“I do remember that,” says Howsare, who’s from western Pennsylvania. “I forget how I found out but think someone tagged me on social media. I had no idea what a negotiation list was and that Hamilton had my rights.  Honestly, I didn’t even know where Hamilton was. I looked up Hamilton and said ‘Wow, that’s really close to me’.

“Seven years later….I’m still here.”

Full Negotiation List as of July 2, 2025