Differing views lead Roughriders to release Newsome

A disagreement with his boss seems to have cost Jonathan Newsome his job.

In a surprising move, the Roughriders announced Newsome’s release during practice on Tuesday.

After practice,  head coach Chris Jones said the two of them weren’t seeing eye to eye.

“Unfortunately, we had a few views that we viewed a little differently, so it was in the best interest of both parties that we part ways,” he said.

Jones went on to thank Newsome for the hard work he put into the team while he was in the green and white, but declined to elaborate on the nature of the disagreement — or if there was a specific event that got them to this point.

The release seemingly came as a surprise to his teammates, including Henoc Muamba, who played with Newsome for the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts.

“To be honest, I didn’t even notice when he left,” said Muamba, after practice concluded. “As a matter of fact, he was just in the room with us in the meetings this morning, so I don’t know exactly what happened.”

“When you sign up to play this game, at this level, these are the things that happen,” he added. “My heart goes out to him obviously, but he’s a good player and he’ll bounce back.”

Newsome signed with the Riders in 2016 and went on to play all 18 games of the season. He recorded 27 defensive tackles, six special teams tackles and a pair of sacks. Newsome missed the first game of the 2017 but played the home opener, and notched a defensive tackle and an interception.

INJURY UPDATE

After being placed on the six-game injured list many thought Muamba would miss a significant amount of time, but on Tuesday morning he was back out in his regular spot, practising with the team.

“We put him (on the six-game) there just to be safe in case it was a worse injury that we thought,” Jones said, adding that they didn’t have the information they have now when they initially made the decision.
As for Muamba, he said he went through all the motions to make sure he was ready to come back.

“I wouldn’t be out there if I wasn’t feeling good, I wouldn’t put my team in jeopardy,” said Muamba. “I did a lot of running yesterday, I tested it with a good workout this morning as well and it’s been feeling good, so I’m good to go,” said Muamba.

Not good to go is receiver Caleb Holley, who injured his shoulder in Saturday night’s game — it’s the same shoulder he injured during training camp in June, and Jones said they’re still not sure how long Holley will be out.

“He’s another one that we’re trying to monitor whether it’s going to be a six week deal or a thing where we can put a guy on the one game,” Jones said.