Montreal Alouettes sign three, including one CFL veteran

Photo: Edmonton Elks

The Montreal Alouettes have signed three American players to the practice squad, including receivers Arkell Smith and Cortez Braham Jr. and defensive lineman Bryce Ganious. The team made the announcement on Monday.

Smith played 22 regular-season games with the Edmonton Elks during the 2024 and 2025 seasons, recording 50 catches for 550 yards and one touchdown. He became a free agent in February and remained unsigned until this week.

The 26-year-old played collegiately at the University of Central Missouri, where he tallied 196 catches for 2,816 yards and 34 touchdowns, nine carries for 65 yards, and one kick return for 20 yards over 41 games. The six-foot-one, 194-pound target was named second-team All-Conference in 2022.

Braham Jr. attended training camp with the Baltimore Ravens earlier this year as an undrafted free agent, but was waived at its conclusion.

The six-foot-two, 203-pound target finished his collegiate career at the University of Memphis in 2025, where he tallied 63 catches for 889 yards and four touchdowns. In 2024, he was named an an All-Mountain West honourable mention after he caught 56 passes for 724 yards and four touchdowns at the University of Nevada.

The native of Baltimore, Md. previously played at the University of West Virginia and Hutchinson Community College.

Ganious attended training camp with the Alouettes earlier this year. He also attended training camp with the New England Patriots in 2025, though he didn’t make the team’s final roster.

The six-foot-one, 300-pound defender finished his collegiate career at Wake Forest, where he made 54 total tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, and four sacks in 22 games. He previously played at Villanova, where he notched 58 total tackles, 10 tackles for loss, four sacks, three forced fumbles, and one fumble recovery in 24 games.

The Montreal Alouettes (11-3) will host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (7-7) on Saturday, October 3 with kickoff scheduled for 7:00 p.m. EDT. The Blue Bombers are coming off a tight loss to the Argonauts, while the Alouettes were on bye.

The game will be broadcast on TSN and RDS2 in Canada and CFL+ internationally. Radio listeners can tune-in on 680 CJOB in Winnipeg or TSN 690 (English) or 99.5 Montreal (French) in Montreal.