Courtesy Globe and Mail:

Another once highly prized NFL receiver appears headed to the CFL looking to put problems both on and off the field behind him.

Just weeks after the Toronto Argonauts signed former first-round NFL pick David Boston, the Montreal Alouettes are close to a deal with Charles Rogers, the second overall pick of the 2003 NFL draft.

“I would say there’s about an 80-20 chance of him being at training camp, coming in and competing for a job,” Montreal general manager Jim Popp said yesterday.

“It’s not completed yet, but he can come in as a CFL rookie and we’ll make an assessment of him, where he’s at in his career and his life.”

The parallels between Boston and Rogers are considerable.

Both are former first-round picks from Big-10 schools, still in their late 20s, who were prized for their size and ability to catch the football.

But both were plagued by injuries in the NFL and each was once suspended for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy.

The 6-foot-3, 220-pound Rogers was a star at Michigan State, where he set school records for career touchdowns and receiver yards.

In 2002, he captured the Fred Belitnikoff award as the top receiver in U.S. college football before the Detroit Lions made him their top selection in April of 2003, one pick after University of Southern California quarterback Carson Palmer went first overall.

The Lions signed him to a six-year contract that would have been worth $55-million (U.S.) had Rogers lasted that long.

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