Courtesy Winnipeg Sun:

Veteran quarterback Dave Dickenson, released after injury-plagued seasons with the B.C. Lions, is not ruling out a return to the playing field.

He told a news conference yesterday that he would also consider coaching or a career outside football, but for now all he wants to do is explore his options for a month or so.

“I know there will be interest,” Dickenson said. “I’m sure that if I want to do something I can get a job in all three facets.”

The five-foot-11, 195-pound Dickenson, who signed with B.C. as a free agent in 2003 after an unsuccessful bid to play in the NFL, has proven to be brittle at football’s most important position.

He suffered his third concussion in less than two years last season. In 2005 he was out with ankle sprains in addition to a concussion. In 2004 he missed 10 games with a knee injury.

He was released Monday after being told by coach and GM Wally Buono that the club couldn’t justify his $400,000 paycheque against the CFL’s salary cap when the money could be used to re-sign other core players.

“There’s been a lot of good things but I guess the tough part is that it is a business,” he said. “But … I was treated fairly and Wally was nothing but class.”

On the other hand, Dickenson said if he had led the team to a Grey Cup title, a bonus clause in his contract would have kicked in during the new salary cap year and made it difficult to release him.

The Lions never made it to the CFL title game, losing the West Division final 26-17 to the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Dickenson entered the game late in the first half but couldn’t rally the Lions past the eventual Grey Cup champions.

“It needed to be done this way,” Dickenson said. “I structured my contract so that if I played well and things went my way it would be pretty hard to release me … And if it didn’t go my way and things happen like they did, then you’re at least released earlier and you’ve got a chance to keep your options open.”

He didn’t rule out a return to the Lions. Dickenson, a 10-year veteran who turns 35 on Jan. 11, has two Grey Cup rings — one with the Calgary Stampeders, one with the Lions — after 10 years in the CFL.