The B.C. Lions have made their final cuts and one of them may surprise you

One of the best group of Canadian players in the secondary has spelled the end of a former starter and all-star’s time in B.C.

The B.C. Lions might just be the most Canadian team in all of the Canadian Football League.

The club made its final pre-season cuts late Saturday, 24 hours after they wrapped up the pre-season with a 26-9 win over the Edmonton Elks on Friday. When the dust settled on Sunday with their formal announcements, a surprise name was among the 12 released: Halfback Marcus Sayles.

The Manhattan native was a lock as a starter for B.C. the past three seasons, making two West all-star teams and one all-CFL team in his six-year career north of the border.

But the 29-year-old will now be on the hunt for a new team, just fourth months after signing a two-year extension with the Lions.

The reason: The deepest, most talented crop of Canadian defensive backs that head coach Rick Campbell has ever fielded.

“It really is always a tough day, especially with any older guys like Sayles; those types of guys that are good people, and because it affects people’s lives. That’s that’s the tough part,” he said of the cut-down, which had to be formally completed by Saturday night

“That’s no fun, but it’s also pretty exciting that the group you’re going to work with, so both those things happen at the same time.

“No. 1, credit to the new guys,” he said of Sayles’ obsolescence.

“There’s guys that are playing really well. It was really a function of that, and that’s it. There’s guys that made a case that they need to be on the field

“Sometimes you got to make some tough decisions on guys, and when you have the opportunity to go younger, you’ve got to take advantage of it, just to be sustainable.”

Third-round draft pick Cristophe Beaulieu (Laval) was a revelation at halfback in camp, looking to be an even more successful CFL player than his older brother, Jordan.

Ottawa native Patrice Rene is another player on the comeback trail. The six-foot-two, 206-pound corner was the top Canadian recruit when he went south to play NCAA football, but an ACL curtailed his time down there. The Bombers took him in the third round in the 2021 draft, but he was got hurt in his pro debut and missed the rest of the season before being released.