With his NFL aspirations apparently dashed, the CFL's 2016 Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman, Derek Dennis, appears set to test free agency.

A large fish could be swimming in the CFL free-agent pond when teams start dropping lines in the water next month.
After checking out NFL interest since his Calgary Stampeders were upset in the Grey Cup two months ago, all-star left tackle Derek Dennis has set his sights on a return to the three-down game and the sizeable contract that’s sure to come along with it.
Coming off being named the CFL’s top offensive lineman last year in his first full season as a starter, Dennis worked out for the Chicago Bears and Washington Redskins in Dece mber, but interest in the 28-year-old could be best described as lukewarm. ...

There wasn’t any guaranteed money to be had down south, which has Dennis narrowing his focus leading into the start of CFL free agency Feb. 14.
That puts the Stampeders on the clock, giving them an exclusive three-week negotiating window with their 6-foot-3, 341-pound blindside protector.
Dennis will command a hefty contract, with the realistic starting point somewhere in the range of $180,000, which would put him in the vicinity of the CFL’s highest-paid American left tackles.
B.C. Lions stalwart Jovan Olafioye, 29, Ottawa RedBlacks’ SirVincent Rogers, 30, and Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ Stanley Bryant, 30, have all played at an all-star level and they’ve all been paid at an all-star level.
Dennis, 28, should be the next.
Whether or not it’ll be Calgary forking that loot over is another story altogether as general manager John Hufnagel has been busy locking up his terrific Canadian trio of Shane Bergman, Spencer Wilson, and, on Tuesday, centre Pierre Lavertu to lucrative deals.
Hufnagel also balked at paying Bryant the $160,000 he was asking for in free agency two years ago, preferring to develop a young American or two instead, a plan that worked out beautifully when Dennis emerged.
Now the question will be whether he views Dennis differently or if the Queens, N.Y., native will have to shop his services elsewhere to find the contract he wants.
http://www.torontosun.com/2017/01/25...urn-to-the-cfl