Monday Morning Sentimonies: Football!

The 2024 CFL Season is officially underway with the opening of main camp yesterday. This season brings with it a new coach and a new energy. I know it’s going to be tough to top team bowling but I get the sense already that Mace may just be marginally better motivator than his predecessor.

There are close to a hundred players currently in Saskatoon vying for 46 active roster spots or the chance to stick around on the practice roster. In exactly one week we get out first live look at the new team. Given that Rider football has been crappy for all but like 2 months of the previous 2 years, its nice to have some renewed hope. Its also nice to not have our QB show up in a walking boot or under suspension for sexual harassment.   

Training camp did open with a bit of a shocker as it was announced that DB Jalen Edwards-Cooper has been released. He was a highly touted free agent signing and was expected to start at CB. Something must have went down but that definitely opens another starting spot wide open for someone. 

Let’s take a look at each position group and what the key things to watch there will be. I do want note that you should take any players I highlight with a grain of salt. Last Monday I highlighted 7 rookies to watch and 2 of them were cut and one is on the suspended list. What can I say? At this point players should pay me not to endorse them.

QB – Obviously the health of Trevor Harris and how well he a Mueller are able to get in synch is the most important thing. This team will go as far as Harris can take them this year. Next is obviously the battle for the most beloved person in Saskatchewan… aka the back-up QB. It should be a battle between Fine and Patterson. I don’t like the thought of Pipkin doing anything but plunging on 3^rd down and unless Coan is a phenom he probably will need some time on the practice roster to learn the game (if he is indeed worth developing at all). 

RB – Most boring position battle in camp. It’s the Ouellette show. Everyone else is vying for backup and practice roster. 

WR – There is a golden opportunity at American receiver. After Bane and Sterns, there is no one. Can Kendall Watson take a step forward in year 2? Can Geronimo Allison turn his NFL pedigree into CFL success? Will some unknown like Braylon Johnson step up? 

O-line – Godber will be the starter at centre. Hardrick the RT. After that there’s some intrigue. It’s a wide open battler for LT. Coach Mace liked what Reid and Emmanuel showed in rookie camp but its one thing to look good against people who have never played CFL ball before and another to replicate that with veterans. Brammer and Tucker are also in the mix. One of them needs to pan out if we have any hope of Harris not finishing this season early and in a cast. The guard positions will also be interesting to watch. It will be some combination of Ferland, Blake and Sceviour, but which 2 it is remains to be seen.

D Line – The departure of Robertson and the long overdue move to put Lanier back at DT leaves us without a bona fide #1 DE. I think it’s a reasonable guess that it will be some rotation of Albright, Korte-Moore and Carney manning the edges but Cox and Crawford will be pushing as well. We need at least one to establish themselves as "the guy" 

Linebackers – I am guessing the starting 3 will be Auclair-Thurman-Reavis. But depth in behind them is what I will be watching. AJ Allen has been steadily progressing and may be on the verge of earning some more defensive reps. Outside of TJ Brunson there is next to no experience among the American LBs. 

DBs – I had planned for this to be a very boring position. My main thing to watch was Amari Henderson. For 2 years now he has been good enough that he needs to be on the roster but not good enough to be an unquestioned starter. If Mace can take him from decent HB with some flashes of genius and some flashes of “good god please proceed to the bench” to a consistent reliable player it would go a long way to locking down that secondary.

But now we add the CB spot intended for Edwards-Cooper to the mix. We need to find a new starter. This is one I have some faith in. O’Day seems to be good for one solid DB recruit per year. Reavis, Williams, Milligan, Clark. Be interesting to see who steps up this year.

Monday Morning Sentimonies: Rookie Camp

At long last, football is about to return. There has been no football at all since February, no CFL football since November and no meaningful Rider football since sometime last summer. It’s been a while and in the words of Michel Scott “No question about it, I am ready to get hurt again”. 

Rookie Camp opens this week. So today I am going to highlight a rookie at each position to keep an eye. Now keep in mind that traditionally an endorsement by the Prophet is akin to the kiss of death for aspiring recruits. 

QB – This one is pretty easy as there is only going to be one rookie in camp, Jack Coan. Opportunity is wide open for Coan. Harris is entrenched as the started. Pipkin’s sole purpose is as a 3^rd down QB. Obviously Fine and Patterson have the inside track at the #2 spot but neither are a sure thing. If Coan can quickly pick up the CFL game Riders may decide to keep him around. 

RB – Tough going for aspiring RBs as you are essentially competing for a practice roster spot. Ouelette is the unquestioned starter. Bertrand-Hudon can backup. Its 50/50 as to whether we bother dressing 2 American RBs and if we do it’ll be Hickson to start the season. Jerrion Ealy is the guy I will be watching. Successful career at Ole Miss, can catch as well as run, has experience returning kicks. His skillset could line up well with the Canadian game.

WR – Of all the positions in camp American WR is the most wide open in terms of opportunity. Other than Bane there is no sure thing. Sterns mostly likely keeps his spot but he can be pushed. We will dress at least 3 American WRs and Watson is the only other guy with CFL experience. If you are looking for height (which Bane and Sterns lack) then O’Joshua Bunton is worth watching. As a Div 2 player he lacks the notable resume of some but he was a track star so has speed to complement his size. He also has an average catch distance of almost 25 yards so has some experience with the deep ball. 

OL – The tackle spot opposite Hardrick is still up for grabs. In theory Hawkins has the inside track but with 6 other American OLs in camp its clear that we are looking for improvements. The one I’m watching here is Jonathan Hubbard. A natural left tackle. He’s just 26 but has managed to stick on the practice roster of both the Dolphins and Bucs. 

DL – This is actually a very veteran heavy position group. Of the 16 guys currently signed only 4 have no prior CFL experience. Going to be tough for one of them to crack the roster. At just 23, Roman Harrison is one of the youngest guys coming to camp. A 4 year career at Tennessee with 8 sacks and 17 tackles for a loss. Be interesting to see how he adapts to the CFL game. 

LB – Bit of a cheat on this one as the guy I’m highlighting spent the end of last season on the practice roster. Jalen Moody catches my eye for one primary reason. Obviously playing a Alabama is notable but he primarily played on special teams there. Well if a rookie LB is going to make this roster they better be good on special teams. 

DB – Interesting but useless tidbit, we have two DBs coming to camp with the last name Fields. Who I do want to highlight though is Antoine Brooks. He’s an intriguing prospect. He’s only 25 but he has 4 games with the Steelers, 8 games with the Rams the year they won the Super Bowl and a season in the XFL. That experience may give him a leg up on the competition.  

Thursday Morning Sentimonies: Assessing the 2024 Draft

The 2024 CFL Draft went down Tuesday. Coming into the draft there was lots of curiosity about what approach the Riders would take with Corey Mace now at the helm. That approach was apparently risk be damned.

It is really tough to give an assessment at this point on how we did because it’s a big question mark. 1-2 years from now we may look back on this draft and say “Damn, they nailed it”. We may also look back and put in it the same success category as 2016 (Josiah St John and David Oneymata for those without photographic CFL draft memory).

 

There is no doubt that the players we selected are talented. Talent-wise we got some of the best at their respective positions… well, we got their rights. Who knows if/when we actually see them in a Rider jersey. We seemed to take a strategy that we think our current Canadians are good enough and we are stocking the shelves for the future. That’s a quality strategy… if you are a currently successful team like say the Bombers. We have been stinking up the league for 2 straight years and while I don’t think our Canadian talent is bad, I do think there was room for improvement and this draft did nothing to help the 2024 season.

 

Let’s take a more detailed look at each pick:

 

1^st Rd – OL Kyle Hergel

This pick was a rollercoaster of emotion. When I heard the Commissioner say “Riders select, offensive lineman..” I was on cloud 9. Finally! Years of complaining about O’Day’s refusal to draft OL early and he listened! The Ambrosie said the name and there was stunned silence. 3^rd overall… the chance to draft any OL we want… and we take a guy already signed in the NFL. He’s legitimately one of the best OL in the draft no doubt but usually you want a sure thing at #3… particularly when your OL has been utter garbage for 2 seasons and you can have any OL you want in the draft. Sometimes swinging for the fences pans out. Dakota Shepley at #5 was risk but we didn’t wait overly long on him. Montreal is happy with how Lestage turned out. But Calgary is also still waiting for Amen Ogbongbemiga and Carter O’Donell ain’t coming back anytime soon.

 

If we were stacked at OL or if we were a later pick then sure take the chance. But this is a ton of risk when we have immediate needs and you might not get value on a 3^rd overall pick for 1,2,3 years or never. So we wait. This could very well be a great pick but we won’t know for a while.

 

Side note, while I absolutely love the TSN panel they had for the draft why oh why did they interview Hergel? Such an awkward and useless conversation. Guy being polite but really not giving 2 craps about this draft because he is focused on the NFL (where he is currently signed). Don’t make the poor guy pretend to be polite.

 

2^nd RD – LB Nick Wiebe

I actually like this pick. Is it a bit of a reach? Maybe. But if you truly think he’s a stud LB (and his resume would support this) then a second round pick is not an unreasonable price to pay. My only real issue is doubling up on risky picks. You take a sure thing in round 1 then this looks great. You swing for the fences in round 1 then maybe you get some certainty here. There is risk in terms of Wiebe’s recovery but its not an unprecedented injury.

 

3^rd Rd – WR Dhel Duncan-Busby

I had to look up this guys college. Never heard of Bemidji State. Turns out it’s the home of beavers. Now a less mature Prophet would have probably made a joke about that. This more mature version of me still wants to make a joke but is too lazy. Even though we have a lot of Cdn depth at WR, I expect it to be tested during the season so more was definitely needed. Marshall Fergusson talked about how deep the receiving group was in the draft so I like that we waited and still probably got a good prospect. We could have used an OL or DL more here but there really wasn’t anyone worth chasing left.

 

4^th Rd – LB Melique Straker

Probably the first pick of this draft I really liked without any reservation. Straker was a productive LB and between special teams and defensive depth you always need Canadian LBs. He has a great college resume and was a possibility to be drafted much higher were it not for disappointing testing at the combine. This is the perfect use of a 4^th round pick.

 

5^th Rd – OL Daniel Johnson

Back to the risk… which is actually perfectly ok at this point of the draft. Late to football, injuries, and an invite to Colts minicamp put all kinds of uncertainty on Johnson. Not to mention the last OL named Johnson we had was a terrible experience. Likely a developmental project (but that’s the kind of OL you get in the 5^th round), normally the fact that Indy wants to take a look at him would give me some hope, but they also once signed Jordan Sisco so, you know, take it with a grain of salt.

 

6^th – WR D’Sean Mimbs

I don't mean to devalue Mimbs specifically but I think its written in the constitution that the Riders must select one Regina Ram per draft. He comes from strong Rider lineage (yes that Mimbs). Book on him appears to be a fast dude with so-so hands. Were Chris Jones here Mimbs would be a projected starting safety.

 

7^th Rd – WR Ajou Ajou

Probably overdoing it on the WRs at this point but its not like you picking from A list material in the 7^th. Ajou is an intriguing prospect. Highly touted college recruit but he just seems to keep failing to live up to the potential. Worth a shot to see if we can bring out the talent that first got him noticed but his story reminds me a lot of another late Rider WR draft pick Josh Stanford. Worth a shot but did not pan out.

 

8^th Rd – DB Richard Aduboffour

He’s an 8^th round pick… what do you want me to say? Probably comes to training camp for a look but that’s about it.

 

Overall I don’t mind this draft class. We got good players. I don’t like how much risk we took on or that we are 6-12 team and at best this draft class may get us a practice roster WR in 2024. You do need to balance winning now with building a sustainable foundation. Time will tell if the risk is worth it.