Free Agency Thoughts

We all knew that the Riders went all in in 2013 and regardless of the outcome odds were that in some way the team would need to be blown up afterwards. Fortunately our all in bet paid off big time. Unfortunately, the time has come for the “blow up” part. Also unfortunately, I don’t think any of us expected the scale of the blow up. Shologan left but we had to lose someone good to Ottawa. Dressler left but he’s too good of a guy to begrudge an NFL shot. Butler left but his market value was insanely high for a team as close to the cap as us. Sheets left but… OK this is getting ridiculous!!! Tack on the loss of Zach Evans, Drew Willy, Abraham Kromah and Graig Newman and the addition of David Lee and Jade Etienne hardly seems to ease the pain or lessen the urge to medicate with rye.

Now before you get all doom and gloom on me don’t forget that we were able to extend Taj Smith, Terrell Maze and Chris Milo who also could have left for greener pastures (or less green I suppose). We also re-upped key pieces in Getzlaf, Bagg, Picard and Labatte. But still the loses can’t be downplayed or softened. We are down our best receiver, an elite RB and 2 starting Canadians and 2 other roster-worthy Canadians. I guess we can take some solace in the fact that we get play Winnipeg 3 times and the fact that some poor team has mistakenly decided to employ Jim Daley again. (Sorry it’s the best I got in terms of news).

While you won’t be able to replace Sheets’ production, if a GM in the CFL can’t find a half decent RB then they are in the wrong profession. A healthy Hurl covers for Newman. Lee replaces Evans. So we are slowly getting there. But this year more than ever our scouting will need to work overtime. I also expect a trade in our future for some NI bodies. It’s a weak draft year and outside of OL (where we can’t roster more than the 6 we already do) and maybe a WR we don’t have much in terms of young up and coming NIs.

Here are my general impressions of how other teams have faired so far:

BC: So far the losers of Free Agency. Have lost Bell, Mydelton and Moore and maybe Kerron Williams yet and also missed out on pretty much every FA target they so bolded tweeted they were targeting.

Calgary: As usual not very active. Lost Randle and Jackson but got Josh Bell so the net effects are minimal.

Edmonton: Managed to not get fined for tampering which is progress. Made the best of a weak group of FA O-linemen and nabbed Sorenson and Andrew Jones (though they lost Scott Mitchell). To the surprise of no one they landed Pat Watkins which is a nice addition. Overall they are incrementally better.

Winnipeg: Landed Nick Moore to help new QB Drew Willy have options outside of Terrence Edwards. Have added Chris Randle and Korey Banks to their secondary while jettisoning Jovon “my play has dropped so much it makes my Humpty’s commercial look good” Johnson. They lost Henoc Muamba to the NFL and he was about the only good thing about last year and their OL should concern Willy but in terms of a team needing to rebuild I think they are headed in the right direction.

Toronto: Made a surprise splash by nabbing Shea Emry who is younger and more Canadian than McCune, balances the loss of Watkins. Otherwise they have been quiet.

Montreal: Managed to keep most of their big FAs (Bourke, Whyte, Hebert). Lost Emry but have Brouillette to step in so much like Toronto they were in maintenance mode.

Hamilton: Stole the Taman “sign everyone” plan from last year and nabbed Craig Butler (for a reported $150K per season), Cary Koch, Brandon Stewart, Abe Kromah, Steve Mydelton in addition to Collaros. Hard to argue they aren’t the most improved team on paper. I’ll pass on awarding them the Cup though until I see them actually play.

Ottawa: Not as big of players in FA as I thought they’d be. They did add needed veterans like Malik Jackson, Kevin Scott and Jovon Johnson but I expected at least one major signing from them and it never came. Only thing coming out of Ottawa were tweets from a disgruntled Kevin Glenn naming the team (Sk, BC, Win) Ottawa was trying to trade him to. He says he was hacked… what are the odds that he was hacked by the only spam-bot with an intricate knowledge of REDBLACK football ops?

Monday Evening Sentimonies: CFL Free Agent Frenzy

Despite the fact that I have yet to be asked to host an all day special on TSN, CFL Free Agency will open tomorrow at 11am Saskatchewan time. While coverage will probably be lacking due to the Olympics, I maintain that we should care a lot more about CFL Free Agency than a made up event like team figure skating.

There are a number of big names still out there both for the Riders and other teams so here are my meandering thoughts on what will go down tomorrow:

- Craig Butler will be going to the highest bidder, and spoiler alert: that won’t be use. Expect BC, Edmonton and Ottawa to make big pushes for him. With BC a likely landing spot (we should all collectively spit on the ground at this point). Its not that we don’t want Butler back, its that we can’t/won’t give him a blank cheque where others will. Our “fair” offer likely won’t be good enough.

- Chris Milo is the other name to watch. Taman said today that its not likely that we get both him and Butler back, meaning we might have the budget for one of them, most likely Milo. My gut still says either Ottawa or Montreal use the french connection to swoop him but he still might return here. Been saying for a while that if Milo goes, look for the recently released Luca Congi to make a return to green.

- One name that I am getting increasingly concerned about is Jermaine McElveen. Assumed he would be signed right away after Shologan left. But unless we have a lot of faith in practice roster prospect Richard Sumlin (who is also unsigned as this point) or a stunning new recruit we currently have a big hole that I would love McElveen to fill (pause for immature chuckling at wording of previous statement)

- Chris Garrett was released today and while nothing is for sure yet that move tells me that we are very confident that Kory Sheets will re-sign. There is no way we go into camp without a vet RB so either Sheets will be back shortly (probable) or we have our eyes on an FA RB (e.g. Will Ford, Chad Simpson) (less likely)

- Been saying all along, that other re-signing our own guys and maybe adding a depth guy or two (ala Jade Etienne), I doubt we are very active tomorrow. 

- Would love to see Newman and Schmitt re-sign. Anyone expecting Alex Hall back here is off in lala land.

- Be interesting to watch the kicking position play out. Currently us, Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa have no kicker. BC has a senior citizen Edmonton and Winnipeg has junk. With Milo, Congi, Whyte and Waters in play, could be a lot of kicker shuffling going on.

- Lots of big name defenders hitting the market with Kerron Williams, Torrey Davis, Ted Laurent, Damaso Munoz, Shea Emry, Jamall Johnson, Pat Watkins and Robert McCune all in play. I expect Ottawa to go hard after an LB like Johnson or Emry to help build their non-existent D. Expect Chris Jones to do everything in his power to land Pat Watkins. Expect Winnipeg to make a lot of offers to this group that mostly will get rejected.

- Other than Butler another big name Canadians to watch will be Josh Bourke (who will go with either Montreal or Edmonton)

In lieu of a television special, if you have questions about free agency you can either leave a comment or tweet me with the hashtah #AskProphet and I’ll do my best to answer.

Sponsored Video: 8.6 Bavaria by Jeaze Oner and Resa

In its ongoing efforts to get you to drink more beer, Bavaria has come out with a new video. This one features some graffiti artist (whose name I assume means something to the artsy fartsy crowd) turns some old rusty grain bins into giant murals of beer cans. Personally I think it would have been better to actually turn the bins into giant beer cans and fill them with Bavaria, but what do I know. Anywho you should check out this video. It will help a few more minutes of the football offseason pass by.

Disclaimer: This post has been sponsored by Bavaria but all thoughts are my own.

Thursday Evening Sentimonies: Dressler Leaving

Apologies for the delay in posting my weekly sentimonies. A ridiculously busy few days in the CFL happened to coincide with a busy time in the other areas of my life. I don’t like neglecting the blog and my readers but unlike those other areas, neglecting you won’t result in me getting fired, talking to social services or sleeping on the couch.

Even though I’m super late in doing so, I still want to give some thoughts on the biggest Rider story of the offseason… Weston Dressler signing with Kansas City.

We all knew it was a possibility but that didn’t make the news any easier to take. We love Weston and want to wish him all the best in a truly deserved shot in the NFL but we all feel the urge to grab onto his legs as he heads towards the airport terminal and beg him to stay in a tear-filled, blubbering, emotional outburst. He is one of the best to receivers to ever play for this franchise and I think we all just assumed he would play his entire career here.

From the moment I first saw him in rookie camp in ’08 he stood out. I won’t lie and say I knew he was destined for the Plaza at that moment but there was no doubt that midget was making the team. The only good thing to come out of the outbreak of broken fibulas that season was that is forced to Dressler into the spotlight far sooner than anticipated and thankfully made us realize how good he was right away. I will always remember his first TD against Hamilton. It was a toss from Durant and that’s when I think we all started to realize that Dressler was going to be more than just a returner/depth guy.

Another memory from the ‘08 season (most of which I have tried to drink out my brain to forget the pains Michael Bishop caused me) was his diving catch in the endzone in Winnipeg when Bishop just launched the ball and Dressler stretched out (all 3 feet of him) and hauled it.

And that’s pretty much the story of Dressler’s 6 year career. He just had this ridiculous ability to come up with ball. Be it one handed, diving, while be face-masked, in traffic, while bouncing off a defender like a Smart Car off a semi, you name it. He made the spectacular look routine and was the model of consistency and reliability. It was a treat to watch him play every week. 

A few more Weston memories that are etched in my head:

- Everyone remembers that long TD that Getzlaf had in Calgary in ’09 to steal a victory, but I will always remember the massive return off a missed FG that Dressler delivered to set it up

- His forays into marketing: All Dressler, UnDresslers, Westermelons and the ever popular Teaser Pleaser.

- Dressler holding the Grey Cup… well I assume it was Dressler. I saw the Cup about chest level of a few other players and just assumed that Dressler was somewhere below holding it up as high as he could.

As for how he will do in the NFL I have no clue. He could be like Fantuz and be back by September or he could be like Chick and be gone for 3 years. Hard to say but he brings more to he table than Fantuz did (quicker, can play on special teams) so my gut says he will be there for more than a cup of coffee. Either way I see him returning here at some point. So until then I guess we can just wish him all the best.

As a side note, given that UND colours were also green, it’s going to be insanely weird to see Dressler in red and white. 

At least he went out on top like he deserved: