Monday Morning Sentimonies: Random Quasi-Coherent Thoughts

The combination of limited CFL news and me generally not having the ambition to put in any more effort has led to me breaking out my much beloved quasi coherent thoughts… well probably more like somewhat tolerated quasi-coherent thoughts but you have to take what you can get.

-       Depressing thought, now that the Super Bowl is over we must endure 5 professional football-less months… might have to ask people from Winnipeg for tips on coping, I mean they’ve lasted years without anything remotely resembling professional football.

-       Say what you want about the bush league CFL, we may have struggled in the past to actually pay players their wages but we have always paid the power bill during the championship game.

-       Evidently the Superdome was not ready for that jelly.

-       I’m still convinced the power outage was intentionally orchestrated by the NFL in an attempt to salvage ratings that were plummeting with every Raven TD.

-       The Esks made the big splash of the week by trading for Mike Reilly and working out a contract extension. Using the mathematical principle of extrapolation, given how much the Esks had to give up to get Steven Jyles, Reilly’s bargain basement trade cost must mean he’s awful

-       Wally Buono wins this offseason. First he gets a 3^rd round pick and player for a guy he was going to cut anyway, then gets a 2^nd round pick and an upgraded pick for a guy who was going to leave via free agency. I wonder if he manages to haggle money out his neighbours for his garbage too.

-       So with Reilly being essentially appointed the #1 QB in EDM it reinforces the point that Jarious Jackson was Wally’s worst QB recruit… sadly he has the most Grey Cup rings of the bunch.

-       My concern is growing over our inability to re-sign at least one of McKenzie, Russ and Brackenridge… though if this newly signed Skinner fellow pans out then we really need to go out and recruit a DB named Chalmers to pair him with… bonus points if Chalmers is willing to legally change his first name to Super Nintendo.

-       In more positive news, Jordan Sisco seems to think he should test the free agent market to see his value. I suspect he will find that whatever we are paying far exceeds his market value.

-       I bet we are all eagerly awaiting CFL Free Agent Frenzy on the 15^th… the nation will hold its breath as we wait to see where Dylan Steenbergen will end up. For any major sporting networks out there I am available and willing to host an all day special. Honestly it can’t be much worse than some of the NHL ones.

lNFL Watch

DL Chris McKoy – Signed with Philadelphia

CFL Ins and Outs

Saskatchewan

In: LB Aaron Crawford, LB Brian Peters, DB Terrell Skinner (free agent signing)

BC

In: WR Shawn Gore (contract extension)

The rage that Gore inspires within me will never dissipate… we consciously chose Jordan freaking Sisco over this guy who just happens to be one of the best Cdn Wrs in the league. You can’t even drink that decision pretty… believe me I’ve tried.

Edmonton

Out: DL Lee Robinson, DB Rod Williams (released)

These releases were likely tied to both guys pursuing NFL interests

Montreal

Out: QB Adrian McPherson, KR Trent Guy, WR Brian Bratton (released)

Still calling it… McPherson will call it a career before Calvillo

Winnipeg

Out: OL Jordan Taormina

Calgary

In: KR Larry Taylor (contract extension), DB Adam Berger (free agent signing)

Out: WR Romby Bryant, DL Ken Pettway (released), Jonathan St-Pierre (retired)

Monday Morning Sentimonies: Time To Get Defensive

The past couple weeks have been packed with huge announcements by the Riders (and no I’m not talking about the re-signing of Scott McHenry). We made a surprising but awesome move in adding George Cortez as OC. We also made a less surprising (at least if you know Taman) yet incredibly risky move in adding Geroy Simon to the receiving core.

Regardless of where you stand on the moves, the bottom line is we now should be set on offense. We have a franchise QB, an electric RB, an OC who might actually attempt a pass over 7 yards, the same OL as last year (which in my opinion is only four fifths a good thing) and now another receiving threat other than Dressler (despite not liking how much we are paying him, I do assume Simon can at least catch). We should be set on that side of the ball.

But for all the focus we have been putting on offensive, we should probably think about doing something on defense. I mean at this point we are only slightly ahead of the yet to be terribly named Ottawa team. We are solid at DT with Shologan, Alford and Mitch Williams. A healthy Kromah should once again lock down his outside LB spot. We are committed to Butler at safety. We have a lot of options at CB (Maze, Turenne, Collins, Harris, Jackson)… the spots are wide open but I’m assuming we can find 2 guys from that group. Hell I’d just be happy if it wasn’t a different set of guys each week like last year.  

Problem is that is about all we have figured out. For those of you keeping track at home a) I’m curious what scoring system you’ve invented and b) that leaves the Riders’ D only the small task of addressing Defensive End, Middle Linebacker, Cover Linebacker and both half backs… sadly that pretty much is a list of the toughest defensive positions to address in the CFL. Let’s look at each group a bit closer

Defensive End – I love Tearrius George but we still need to find 2 more guys to platoon in our DE rotation. Willis is off blindly chasing NFL ambitions that won’t materialize. Will we sign him back? Maybe, but no guarantees. We finally got a full year out of Hawkins (well 14 games, but by his standards we’ll count it) but it was very underwhelming. Even if Willis does re-sign we still need to bring in some guys to help here because last year proved that a Willis/Hawkins/George combo just isn’t good enough (certainly an improvement over the previous season but more is needed)

MLB – I honestly have no clue what we are doing here. I’m assuming the Shomari experiment has been stricken from the record but do we just hand Lobendahn the job? He played well but not well enough to be the uncontested started. Is Hurl ready? I doubt it but we may try. And that right there is our entire list of options. Lord I hope there is more on the way. Maybe we should call Mo Lloyd again J… not that he’d trust a contract from us anymore.

Cover LB – Brackenridge remains unsigned. I imagine he wants to wait until free agency to see what his value is before committing to us. He is too damn talented to let slip away. It’s even scarier considering we do not have a backup plan at all if he goes… unless you consider Graig Newman a back-up plan.

Half Backs – Continuing the theme of “things that concern me given that we have no back-up plan”, we currently have no half backs… none. McKenzie and Russ are unsigned and we don’t really have any reliable options on the roster. Maze can play inside in a pinch but I don’t consider him as a starter at the spot. For the love of god do not let Collins play inside!!! I think it’s pretty much a guarantee one of Russ/McKenzie re-sign but unless we get both back we have a tough spot to fill. It’s a sad world when you have 7 DB Coaches but no HBs.

There’s still plenty of time before training camp in June to address these issue so here’s hoping after blowing his load on offense in January, Taman still has enough left in the tank to piece together a competent defense. George Cortez may be an offensive mastermind but we saw firsthand the limits of that offensive when no paired with a remotely capable defensive unit.

NFL Watch

Jason “Savio” Vega – signed with New England

Odell Willis – worked out for Tampa Bay

CFL Ins and Outs

Edmonton

In: Greg Marshall, Doug Sams (hired as DC and OC)

Marshall and Kavis Reed will make a perfect pair. Reed never stops screaming like a madman and Marshal doesn’t believe it’s his job to motivate people.

Hamilton

In: DB James Patrick (free agent signing)

Toronto

In: WR Darvin Adams, DL Mohammed Marah (free agent signing)

Out: DL Ron Flemons (released)

Winnipeg

Out: DL Jason Vega (signed with New England)

Calgary

In: DL Junior Turner (contract extension)

Riders Trade For Geroy Simon

As soon as I heard rumblings yesterday morning that the Riders were in discussions with BC, I knew it was only a matter of time before we traded for Geroy Simon. Let’s face it, this is Brendan Taman we are talking about. Once he sets his mind on making a bad move there is no stopping him. Then by mid day it became official and we shipped Justin Harper and a 3^rd round pick in 2014 to BC for the CFL’s all-time leading receiver.

As you can tell I do not like this move. The price does not bother me. Justin Harper proved useless (just the latest in the long, long line of failed Taman WR recruits) and while I do not like trading picks away for imports, a 3^rd rounder for a starter is not unreasonable. Personally I wouldn’t give up anything for a guy you know is about to be cut but the price itself is negligible so it does not bother me.

What bothers me is what we are going to be paying Simon. It was a given that Simon would have to take a pay cut from his $200,000 salary this year. But despite the fact that he’ll soon be 38, is coming off an injury plagued season that was statistically his worst in over a decade, and the fact that odds are slim many other teams would be lining up to throw money at a guy deemed expendable by the most successful coach in the CFL’s history and all we managed to negotiate him down to was $170,000. That is pure idiocy unless Simon is among the best 3 receivers in the league next season. Dressler has achieved demi-go status here and all we pay him is $120K.

So now we have a ridiculously expensive receiving group: Simon (170), Dressler (120), Getzlaf (120) and Carr (120). And of that expensive quartet only one of them is a sure thing.  We know we have big money invested in our OL from last offseason so that logically means we will be skimping on the defense. Considering that our best LB, 2 starting halfbacks and starting DE remain unsigned, you can see where the effects of this will start to be felt in a salary cap environment.

This is a massive gamble by Taman. There is a chance that Simon could return to his all-star form and help create an explosive passing attack. There is also a chance that last season was just the start of the downward slope and Simon will perform like 38 year old Milt Stegall who sauntered around like a wounded giraffe and failed to put up 500 yards. While I can understand how you might be swayed by the first possibility, it’s ridiculous to invest $170K on that gamble (something tells me Taman is not a great poker player or market investor).

Maybe Simon will prove to be an ageless wonder and re-establish why he is the leading receiver in league history but for me it’s not worth risking $170,000 to find out.

The one good thing I'm noticing is that although Taman is still determined to continuously trade draft picks for imports, at least he's now focusing on midround picks instead of first rounders like he did in Winnipeg. In particular he seems to have a huge aversion to the 3rd round as we have not made a selection in the 3rd round in the last 3 years,

NFL Watch

DL Armond Armstead – signs with New England for big time $$$

DL Odelll Willis – worked out for Pittsburgh

K Justin Medlock – worked out for NY Giants

DB Carlo Thomas – worked out for Minnesota

OL Brian Simmons – worked out for Washington

DB Geoff Tisdale – worked out for Minnesota

DB Rod Williams - worked out for Minnesota

DL Lee Robinson – worked out for Miami

CFL Ins and Outs

Saskatchewan

In: DL Tearrius George, FB Neal Hughes, LB Mike McCullough, RB Stefon Green, DB Ramzee Robinson (contract extension), Geroy Simon (trade with BC)

Out: DB James Patrick, K Sandro DeAngelis (released), WR Justin Harper (trade with BC)

Montreal

In: DL Chima Ihekwoaba (contract extension)

Calgary

In: WR Marquay McDaniel, LB Derron Mayo, DL Justin Phillips, LB Karl McCartney (contract extension)

Winnipeg

In: OL Glenn January (contract extension)

BC

In: QB Travis Lulay, DB Ryan Phillips (contract extension)

Out: WR Geroy Simon (traded to Sask)

Edmonton

In: DL Marcus Howard, LB Mike Cornell (contract extension), DL Eddie Steele (free agent signing)

Out: QB Steven Jyles, WR Glenn MacKay (released)

Hamilton

In: WR Dave Stala, OL Marwan Hage, Peter Dyakowski (contract extension)

Toronto

In: WR Spencer Watt (contract extension)

Out: DL Ron Flemons (cut)

Ottawa

In: Marcel Desjardins (hired as GM)