Monday Morning Sentimonies: The Cuts

Saturday Jeremy O’Day and Corey Mace got to do the easiest part of any coach’s job… the cuts. As expected, it was a relatively drama free even lacking in surprises. Here are my thoughts on the cuts: 

-       Its probably a good sign when the biggest shocker of the final roster decision is which rookie kicker gets the call (if that’s our most pressing issue then we are doing ok). That said, Hale winning the kicking job over Kim was a shocker. Both showed they had big legs. They were both about even on kickoff length. Kim didn’t miss in the preseason. Hale did. I don’t know what more Kim could have done to win that job. Obviously Mace saw something I did not. Let’s hope his right.

-       Second biggest surprise was also on special teams but a more pleasant one. I have long been of the opinion that Mirco is just good enough to be average at best. I kept hoping we could find better. Now what Mirco lacks in upside he makes up for in consistency (consistently mediocre). Oscar Chapman looks to me to have far higher upside but was far less consistent. I am OK rolling the die on the higher upside guy.

-       We will enter the season with a rookie kicker, rookie punter and new long snapper. Buckle up.

-       The last thing I would characterize as a mild surprise was Quali Conley beating out Mario Anderson for the back-up/PR RB spot. I really liked Anderson and think he can be an impact player. Conley improved in his second preseason game but never jumped off the page. Wonder if Anderson was not interested in another year on the PR? Or if Conley was deemed a better pass blocker by the coaches?

-       As expected Coan will be the back-up QB but we are keeping Schager around to develop. Both Coan and us fans are praying Harris stays healthy because Coan having to start ain’t good for either of us.

-       4 guys named Johnson made the team… 3 of them are receivers. As I have often said, you can never have enough Johnson's on hand. 

-       Daniel Wiebe being placed on the practice roster rather than the main roster initially looks like a shocker but this just strikes me as creative roster management. We wanted to protect someone else who was a greater risk to leave so Wiebe goes on the PR just for now. Guaranteed come our first game Wiebe gets activated and plays.

-       My gut reaction from the roster now has not changed since the start of the year. Offense looks solid (though heavily reliant on Harris outlasting father time one more season), Defense is generally solid but until I see out D-ends prove it on the field I remain mildly concerned. Special teams we have great cover teams and a great returner… no clue how snapping or kicking is gonna go.

-       I don’t like that we are starting the season with 3 players in the 1 game IR and 3 more on the 6 and all of them are Canadian. Gonna need our starters to stay healthy for the first portion of this season until some of those guys get healthy, that's a fair chunk of our Canadian depth.

-       Hope you enjoyed the bye week… now please go enjoy another bye week.