Monday Morning Sentimonies: Training Camp Thoughts

I assume that as you read this post on Victoria Day you have a full day planned out of how you will honor Queen Victoria and the Victorian era. I will attempt to be brief today so as not to take away too much of your time from honoring the Mother of Confederation. It’s a hell of a case study to try and track how we evolved from this being a day to honor a queen to this being an excuse to go get ploughed with your buddies while camp in what is almost ways super crappy weather. 

A full week of training camp is now in the books and the Riders are gearing up for their first preseason game this Saturday. Like most of you, I have been trying my best to keep up from afar. Lets get caught up on some of the noteworthy things coming out of Saskatoon.

O-line has by far been the hottest topic of discussion. We unfortunately kicked off training camp with a significant injury to a projected starter (great omen). McEwen will be out for the foreseeable future. Never a good thing to lose a starting Canadian but the saving grace is that for the fist time in a long time, we have the depth to not be in full panic mode despite the injury. 

American Jacob Brammer has being playing guard likely signaling a change in ratio (at least until McEwen is back. Though I think even then, Brammer at guard is Plan A). I really liked Brammer as a rookie so excited to see what he can do in year 2. Starting only 2 Canadians (Ferland and Fry) helps mitigate the loss of McEwen. It also means our depth will be less strained. 

Noah Zerr was a surprise release but he was a victim of a lot of things not working in his favour. An American at guard reduces how many Canadians we need to keep around. The arrival of 2025 2^nd round pick Erik Anderson did not help. Mace is also very happy with the progression of 2024 pick Daniel Johnson. He’s a guy I have been keeping an eye on. He was considered a developmental project but had enough raw talent to get an NFL training camp invite. He may well be the next late round O’Day pick to pan out. Would not surprise me to see Zerr show back up mid-season if there are more injuries but for now, if we feel we are confident enough in our roster that a guy who was a half decent emergency fill in last year was deemed expendable this early in camp that’s gotta be a good sign. 

Some new names that I keep hearing positive things said about include: WR Wayne Ruby, DB Eddie Heckard, DL Alex Gubner, DL Aaron Patrick and DB Antoine Brooks. It will be interesting to see if they are noticeable when they are playing in a real game… or at least as close to real as preseason is. I also keep hearing Joe Robustelli's name a lot. We liked him enough to keep him around all last year so there must be something there. 

I am glad to hear that its all very positive news and vibes coming out of camp but honestly, ask yourself if you have ever heard anyone say “I’m just disgusted with our talent level this year. Just pure garbage. There will be some very easy decisions to be made.” Go back to the training camp reports of 2015… I bet you will find a similar level of optimism. I am optimistic about the season but I will temper my excitement until we start lining up against other team.