First Cuts

The Riders announced their first rounds of cuts this morning. Overall they weren't very suprising. In quick point form here are my thoughts on the cuts:

Levi Brown - For the 2nd year in a row Brown came into the preseason as a leading contender for a roster spot only to lose it to another QB who stepped up and performed in game action (Willy last year and Sunseri this year).  He didn't play that bad but Sunseri was just better. For me its sad because Brown/Willy as a back up QB combo had a ton of untapped pun potential... Sunseri/Willy just doesn't deliver like that.

Kenny Rowe - Slight surprise here given that Rowe had been taking 1st team reps while Foley was out. I think it came down to him being a 3rd year guy and not significantly better than some of the new guys. Chamblin said as much in today's interview.

Aaron Crawford - With guys like Hurl, Newman, Black, McCullough, Regimbald-Gagne and Spoletini... Crawford was a longshot to make the team anyway.

Phillip Livas - There's always one player who you can pinpoint the precise moment in the preseason game where his fate was sealed... for Livas that was about the time the kick he was supposed to field was bouncing around on the ground while he stood there looking as confused as an Ethiopian at a curling bondspiel.

Aaron Heygood - He was behind Rey Williams, Peters and Kromah in terms of import LBs. Considering we are planning on manning a few LB spots with converted DBs the math was clearly against Heygood.

Stefon Green - Really surprised he went before Dorsey (who I still consider a waste of a roster space) but its not like Green showed anything special in the game.

Chip Vaughn - Early reports were that people liked his size (6'2) but competition at DB was intense this year and he evidently did not have the coverage skill to go along with his size

David Rybinski - I got nothing... he was a late addition, pretty much just because he was a local Canadian. Training camp body... nothing more.

As expect Mike McCullough and Pat Neufeld were added to the 9 game. Never like to lose Canadian content like that but in both cases I think we have players to step in and take their place.