Monday Morning Sentimonies: Free Agent Assessment

The year is 2025. American is better at hockey than Canada and some white dude is the best slam dunker in the world. It is a confusing and unsettling reality. At least Saskatchewan is beacon of consistency amidst this turmoil. It’s cold as hell and people are irrationally irritated by what the Riders are/are not doing. It’s a tale as old as time.

Look, there is no denying that Jeremy O’Day’s cell phone likely did not dip below 95% charge over free agency. He was like the anti-Hervey, trying to set records for least contracts signed. But we should be taking that as a good thing not a negative.

First of all, our roster was solid enough that it did not require a major overhaul. You may pine for the headline grabbing signings of Edmonton but remember that’s because their roster was utter garbage. I prefer our situation. Second, we were extremely successful at retain our core players. We extended the contracts of the following people: Harris, Dabire, Zerr, Dalke, the Herdmans, Allen, Carney, Thurman, Lokombo (sigh), Tate, Milligan, Oneyka, Sayles, Alford, Picton and Micah. When you are a team that just made the West Final in the first year of a rookie head coach, consistency is a good thing. O’Day didn’t do a lot in free agency… because he didn’t have to.

That said, while O’Day wasn’t big on quantity of moves. He was big on quality. You need two things above all else to succeed in the football. Quarterback depth and strength in the trenches. We had a winning percentage of 33% in games that Harris didn’t start last year. So O’Day went out a secured a quality back-up QB (some may debate the word “quality” in that statement but in terms of a back-up Maier is an upgrade). Our O-line was surprisingly awesome last year despite a rotation of players that would rival year 1 of Chris Jones as your GM. O’Day went out and added on of the best centres in the CFL in Sean McEwen and also added a solid starting guard in Phillipe Gagnon. With Fry and Zerr for depth our OL looks solid. On the defensive side, he added another perennial all-star in Mike Rose. Shane Ray is a bit more of a question mark but the interior of that line with Rose, Micah, Sanders and Dabire should be dominant.

My point is O’Day may not have made many moves, but the ones he made addressed the most important needs. I am really happy with how our roster looks as of today. We are solid across the board.

Now, I am under no illusion that things are perfect. There are 3 question marks on this roster than remain for me. Receiver, D End and Secondary.

While we have numerous quality WRs, we lack a go-to game breaker. Emilus and Baker can be that guy. Johnson and Myers could develop into that guy. Bane (when healthy) has shown flashes of being that guy. But most teams can easily point to their go-to guy when you absolutely need a play. We can’t.

D-End is similar to WR. I don’t worry about our overall talent level. But we do lack “the guy”. Carney is OK. Shane Ray has a ton of potential but hasn’t played in the CFL since 2022. Baldonado and Korte-Moore are good rotation guys. I do think the strength of the interior will compensate and make the ends looks better than they probably are.

Secondary remains the biggest question mark on this team. 40% of it (Milligan, Sayles) will be outstanding. 20% of it should be solid (Fields was a starting HB as a rookie. Give him a year of experience and he should improve). 20% of it is a crapshoot (Lokombo and Campbell). There are many people (our coaches leading the way) who believe in these 2. I have the same level of optimism on these as I do for a lottery ticket. Yes, there is the potential of things turning out awesome but I pretty just assume it will not and then anything above that is a bonus.  

So boring as free agency may have been, I am very happy  with the roster O’Day is building.

Monday Morning Sentimonies: Free Agency

It has been a busy week across the CFL as the negotiation window opened and teams could speak to pending free agents. Ed Hervey seemed intent on setting an all-time (and unbreakable) record for most deals negotiated. 90% of the deals this past week were Hervey. His aggressiveness extended beyond players. Per my sources (aka me), Hervey also made offers to me to join the Elks in addition to offering deals to try and sign Winnipeg’s mascots, the guys that cut logs in Ottawa and BC Place. 

As expected, the Riders were not super active. There was still a number of moves so let’s get you caught up. 

Re-signed: Marcus Sayles, Micah Johnson, Mitch Picton and Mario Alford.

I was most happy to see Sayles and Johnson retained. If we want our secondary not to suck for a second year in a row, keeping Sayles was important. I just flat out love Micah Johnson. He’s a leader on and off the field and guys 6 years younger than him would be ecstatic if they could play at the level he is. With Ajou’s departure keeping a guy like Picton for depth is important. Crazy to think we drafted him back in 2017.  Alford was honestly a surprise. But I assume it means he came relatively cheap. Not a bad thing to retain him just assumed we’d go younger at returner. 

Added: Tevaughn Campbell, Tommy Nield

I knew the secondary would be a priority in free agency but would not have guessed in a million years that Campbell would be the target. I am very conflicted on this move. I have watched Campbell play with my own eyes. What I saw was a guy with elite speed and no clue what to do with it. I was shocked when he stuck for one year in the NFL… and floored that he lasted multiple years down there. Obviously for him to stick that long down there he’s got top end talent. Hell, he scored TDs down there. Though in fairness if you assume the NFL knows how to properly evaluate talent remember that multiple teams let Chris Streveler play QB and wanted him to pass more than he ran. So on paper a NFL caliber Canadian player is a great add… but until I see it with me own eyes, I remain skeptical that he is the answer to our secondary woes.

Tommy Nield a big bodied Canadian that will add depth at receiver.

Agreed To Terms: Philip Gagnon, Tommy Stevens

Philip Gagnon was the 2^nd overall pick in 2016 (after we famously and tragically took Josiah St John at #1). We needed more OL depth and Gagnon can slide in a start at guard immediately. I assume the plan is Ferland at centre with Fry and Gagnon at guard. Stevens was another surprise but for a team that has struggled in short yardage he does offer an upgrade there. I do hope that Coan beats him out in camp for the #3 though, since Stevens is essentially a poor man’s Streveler. 

On the way out: Deontai Williams, Amari Henderson, Adam Auclair, Peter Godber, Jerreth Sterns, Godfrey Oneyka, Shae Patterson

Other than Godber and Auclair, I am not sure fans will bat an eye at those departures. Williams and Henderson showed flashes of talent but were wildly inconsistent. Sterns and Oneyka are nothing more than depth. Godber and Auclair were impact players and are loses but with Gagnon and Campbell we have in theory replaced them.

So what’s left? 

Free agency officially opens tomorrow and it will primarily be a day of paperwork as all the deals agreed to in principle this past week get formally signed. Ed Hervey better have a stamp to approve those otherwise his wrist will be cramping something fierce.

I still think the Riders need at least one more Canadian OL. Be nice to keep Sceviour or Knevel might be an option. Evan Johnson is also available… just saying. In theory we could also address this need by luring Kyle Hergel north or drafting an OL. But adding at least one more OL is needed. 

Beyond that I don’t see a ton of needs and could see us focusing on depth/role players that won’t capture many headlines.

Monday Morning Sentimonies: Tamper Tamper

Whether you call it legal tampering, or the negotiation window, or Ed Hervey’s enduring legacy, free agency officially got underway yesterday. Though, if you truly believe that no communication had been occurring prior to the negotiation window opening then I have some oceanfront property near Davidson that you may be interested in. 

The Riders made a couple of big moves along the D-line ahead of free agency adding Shane Ray and Mike Rose. Both are guys Coach Mace knows very well. The last time Ray was in the CFL in 2022, he notched 6 sacks in 13 games. Rose has been a force in Calgary for many years and is a big add to our interior. While individually I love the new look line we are forming, there is a minor concern that 3 of our projected starters will be 30 or older come the season. 

Fortunately unlike previous years, the Riders enter free agency with relatively few holes to fill. We have some good continuity and it should lead to a quieter free agency than we have been accustomed to. 

Here’s what I see as our primary needs and some potential targets (both in-house and external) to address them. 

Canadian OL – Ferland is a flat out stud. Fry took a big step forward. Zerr proved an adequate fill in. If we had to go into 2025 with that as our interior it would be workable. But I’d prefer to be better than “workable” and we definitely need some depth. Right now that would be all on the shoulders of 2024 draft pick Daniel Johnson (if you asked who? Then you have justified my concern).

Potential targets – I would still love to get at least one of Godber or Sceviour back. If we do dip into the free agent market I doubt it will be for the big names like McEwen, Dobson, MacKellar, or Beard. That would leave guys like David Foucault, Michael Couture or Cyrille Hogan-Saindon

Cornerback – Its no secret that the primary weakness of the 2024 Riders was the secondary. Basically anything that did involve Milligan or Sayles after his first game was a curse-inducing trainwreck of a liability. 

Potential targets – I would still like to bring Sayles back but would not shed a tear if the other pending FA DBs did not return. There are a number of DBs worth a call hitting the market. Big names like Tre Roberson, Ciante Evans and DeShaun Amos all have history with Mace. A couple other names that intrigue me are Damon Webb (I thought it was a mistake for the Riders to ever let him go) and Jalen Edwards-Cooper (maybe the second time is a charm).

D-Line – Despite the addition Rose and Ray we still need at least one more body. With Rose signed, I assume Lanier and Brown are gone. 

Potential targets – I am still holding out hope that we give Micah one more season but with Ray and Rose the wrong side of 30 I would also understand adding some youth. Not a particularly strong market (other than Ceresna who we are not getting), Some names I’d be calling include Josh Banks, Jared Brinkman and Robbie Smith. I would not rule out one of Cox or Brown returning. 

Receiver American and Canadian – The loss of Ajou and the fact that Picton has yet to re-sign leaves us short a Cdn WR. With only Picton and Kiondre Smith as viable options this is something we likely address through the draft. In theory Johnson and Myers are poised to take the next step. But with that not a guarantee and Bane coming off injury, I would like to add a bit of certainty at the WR position. 

Potential targets – I doubt we can afford one of the big names guys like Lewis or Lawler but I am still making the call to see. Also, once those two sign I could see the price point or receivers dropping dramatically and there being some value to be had. Steven Dunbar, Reggie White, and Dominique Rhymes would be options.  

Monday Morning Sentimonies: Welcoming the Enemy

Its not often that the hiring of a running backs coach will be big news. For the older readers amongst you we might call that page 4 news. For the younger crowd who have no concept of newspapers I had to ask my son to give me a relevant comparison. He came up with “It is definitely not sigma”. He also shook his head at me for my lame attempts at connecting with a younger audience. 

Anyway, the Riders’ choice of RB coach was front page, trending, etc… Longtime Rider enemy Andrew Harris now an employee. You might remember Andrew Harris from such things as being a hated member of the Bombers for 5 years, ripping a Rider player’s helmet off and not getting penalized, and being suspended for a failed drug test. This wasn’t just a “we don’t like him because he’s good and beats us” scenario. That was definitely part of it but there was some general hatred above and beyond that and I’m sure it went both ways. So its certainly weird to see Harris in Green and White.

That said, I think it’s a great hire. He’s one of the best to ever do it and he’s proven winner at ever step of his football career. That’s the kind of people we want leading our team. When the hiring was announced some people commented that Rider fans must be scrubbing their timelines of all the awful things they said. Not me. I’m doubling down. Being a Rider doesn’t absolve him from my snarky commentary. In fact, I will go so far as to allege that Harris is only here as part of his ongoing investigation into who tainted his supplement. He’s going undercover to find the evidence he needs to finally prove the Riders did it. OJ never finished his investigation, but Harris just may. 

On the player front, the Riders have been keeping steadily busy as free agency approaches:

-        On the negative side, we released Ajou squared so he could sign with the Indy Colts. Great opportunity for him and I hope he crushes it but another loss for us.

-        Can you recall the last time that two Rider rookies got NFL looks? Our scouting is bringing in talent. Also, the success of Reid and Ajou should further help our scouts sell other players on trying their luck here.

-        On a more positive note, we re-signed Trevon Tate. I was honestly not expecting much when we signed a Stampeder castoff midseason. But Tate was very solid to the point that despite losing Reid, I feel OK with Tate and Hardrick on the tackles. After bouncing around most of the East Division in addition to the Stampeders, Tate may have finally found place where he fits perfectly. We’ve certainly come a long way from the days of Na’ty Rogers.

-        Speaking of Hardrick both he and Ouelette had their contracts reworked this past week. I imagine it resulted in a reduction (though likely a small one) or a shifting of guaranteed money to incentives. Either way I think it’s positive that both opted to stay. I believe both had an impact on the culture in the locker room that goes far beyond what the stat sheet would tell you.

-        On a less positive note, Nelson Lokombo was extended. Look, I get why. We need Canadian depth and he is a starter… in theory. Now you can choose to side with Coach Mace on this. He is a noted defensive genius who is actually employed in the business of football at a pro level. He obviously sees something in Lokombo and believes he will continue to improve. Of you can side with the guy making smart ass commentary from his couch while hiding behind a robe and beard. I think Lokombo may have his uses in run stopping but in the pass defense he’s always late and stress inducing… so much so that my new nickname for him is Unplanned Pregnancy. I guess my hope now is that we find someone better who can win the starting job in camp and move him to a back-up.

-        Is it wrong that I would OK with Harris giving Lokombo some “nutritional” coaching?

Monday Morning Sentimonies: Ins and Outs

Nothing unites CFL fans more than complaining. Refs, video review, Grey Cup halftime show. The specifics of the complaints may differ from person to person, but we are united in voicing displeasure. The most recent uniting force was the schedule. Essentially from the minute the Bombers finished their annual Grey Cup choke up until the schedule release late last week fans we’re united in their complaints about a lack of a schedule. And we enjoyed a brief moment of happiness before immediately starting to complain about the schedule itself. CFL fans… we’re only happy when we are miserable. 

Actually from a Rider perspective the schedule was great news and should not garner much in the way of complaints. Evenly spaced bye weeks, next to no short weeks. Clearly the CFL owed us one after all those Thursday road games against teams coming off byes. I give the schedule a thumbs up. 

Moving on to free agency… 

With less than a month to go before free agency opens, time is starting to run short to re-sign our pending FAs. With that in mind, today I present 5 Ins (guys I think we should be re-signing) and 5 outs (guys that either I wouldn’t re-sign, or I would not be surprised for us to let walk). 

Ins

1.     Peter Godber -  given how our OL fared without him it may be tempting to think we could let him walk. Wrong! O-line depth is paramount. Godber is a rock in the center of that OL I want him and Ferland locking down that interior longterm.

2.     Micah Johnson – Old man Micah still gets it done! Despite his age he his coming off his best season ever as a Rider. He’s a leader. He’s still an impact player. He hasn’t missed a game in 2 seasons.

3.     Miles Brown – As much as I love Micah, we need some youth at the D Tackle too. Brown is 27. Aside from that unfortunate run of bad luck that turned him into a notorious QB crippler, Brown has been doing really positive things over the past few seasons.

4.     Adam Auclair – Gotta have Canadians, especially ones that can start. I still think our preference to have him as a rotation guy but he is good enough to start if needed.

5.     Marcus Sayles – He was the only non-Milligan part of our secondary that wasn’t awful last season. After BC mysteriously deemed him expendable he came here and tied a career high with 4 INTs. Be nice not to have 4 question marks in our starting secondary heading into the season.

Outs

1.     Philip Blake - I’ll start with an easy one. At 39 years of age, Blake has managed to be on the field for 8 games over his 2 seasons in Saskatchewan. We desperately needed OL help when we signed him but we are in a much better place and if he plays another season (big if), it won’t be here.

2.     Anthony Lanier – This one hurts me a bit. I have always been a big Lanier fan. He can be among the most disruptive forces in the league. The issue is that we have been paying him accordingly but that force is very intermittent. He has never played more than 14 games in a season. With the rise of younger cheaper guys like Brown and Sanders, I just don’t see us being willing to pay him what it will take to retain him. I would love to keep him if he’s willing to take a big discount to do it. But if I am looking at places to save money, he’s at the top of the list.

3.     Mario Alford – Another one that hurts. I love Alford. He’s the best returner I’ve seen since Corey Holmes. And arguably one of the best ever in the franchise history. But how long do you continue to pay a 34 year old guy who does nothing but return?

4.     Nelson Lokombo – This one is me being wishful not me thinking its likely. I bet we keep him… but I cannot think of many reasons why we would want to. I have not seen a less impactful safety in my times watching the Riders and I lived through the Scott Gordon era.

5.     Amari Henderson – Henderson is a frustrating player. He makes enough plays that you don’t want to bench him. But he screws up enough plays that you regret starting him. Early on I was willing to give him more time to develop. But after 3 seasons I think we have seen his ceiling. I’ll give him this, if I ever needed a DB to shut down a WR screen that’s his jam. He just struggles when receivers run routes longer than 2 yards.

Tuesday Morning Sentimonies: Signings

The official story behind these sentimonies being a day late is that based on my prophetic powers I knew big Riders news was coming today so I waited. I will take no questions on the matter.

I was very glad for some good Rider news on Monday because, as a Vikings fan, the rest of the day was the equivalent of a boxer doing speed bag drills on your crotch. I mean I had been bracing myself for this all week. The only thing lower than my confidence in Sam Darnold was evidently Sam Darnold’s confidence. It was just further reminder that I have the absolute worst decision making when it comes to choosing sports teams. If you are a fan of a sport other than football or hockey and would like me to curse a rival of your favourite team by pledging my allegiance to them, we can work out a deal. 

But enough about my sports-related miseries, let’s talk Rider football.

 

-        Biggest news was re-signing Jameer Thurman. The cherry on top was him committing for 2 years. He was an absolute must re-signing. The best defenses always have a rock solid middle linebacker. Thurman is that guy.

-        Malik Carney was another welcome re-signing. The fanfare around this one isn’t near as loud as for Thurman but Carney is a decent guy to have in the DE rotation. More importantly up until he re-signed, we had essentially Colonel Sanders as the only notable American DL under contract.

-        Thurman and Carney both help bring continuity to the defense. Our front 7 were fine last year so we don’t need to tear it down and start again.

-         The other signing of note was Jake Maier. I explained last week why I like the addition of Maier. To the people lamenting that we only signed him to a one year deal, consider that this is the absolute lowest Maier’s value will ever be. Why on earth would he agree to a multi-year deal when his value can only go up? Guarantee we wanted a 2 year deal but if he had agreed to that I would have started questioning his decision making abilities in general.

-        A signing that won’t get any fanfare but should is AJ Allen. Were it not for the fact that Milligan stole all the attention, people would have taken more note of how good Allen is on teams. And more and more he can contribute on defense. Underrated but important guy to keep around.

-        The bad news was of course that Trevor Reid got an NFL shot with the Vikes. Given that Darnold was sacked 12 times as I drafted this, Reid can’t get on the field soon enough there. Reid is a big loss but with guys like Brammer and Hardrick under contract we at least aren’t immediately screwed as we would have been in previous years.

-        We did sign Brandon Kemp to help start building the competition in camp at OT.

-        The CFL schedule is still not out making it the second most delayed thing next to Sam Darnold’s decision making when under pressure.

-        I could solve the schedule issue in less than an hour. Present a draft schedule to the owners and then say that if you want to propose a change to the schedule it will cost you $100,000 paid to each team impacted. Their cheapness will override their unwillingness to compromise and voila.

Monday Morning Sentimonies: Welcome to 2025

Happy New Year. Before I get to football I want to take a moment to recognize that 2025 marks the 18^th year of the Rider Prophet. This blog is now old enough to smoke, gamble and jump across provincial borders to drink. If you are curious what the world was like in 2007 when this blog launched, it was the year the iPad was introduced. At the opposite end of the technology success spectrum it was when Windows Vista was launched. It also marked the final time Bob Barker hosted Price is Right. Over these past 18 years, we’ve been through at least 4 general managers, 8 head coaches, 24 starting QBs and more bottles of Wisers than I care to know the exact number of. No matter how long you have been a part of this crazy ride I thank you. If people didn’t read my sentimonies I would very easily descend into Old Man Yells at Cloud territory. I am targeting the Kevin Glenn template for my career. Am I the best? No. But as long as I do above average for longer than anyone else they will have to reluctantly include me in the conversation of the all-time greats.

With that sentimental drivel out of the way, let’s talk some Riders. 

The big new (and also so obvious that even a CFL official couldn’t miss getting the call right) was the trade for Jake Maier. I don’t understand how some people don’t see this as a positive. I get it, Maier lost his job as a starter. But a) everything about Calgary was brutal. Maier was definitely a part of it but there is no way its all on him. Put better talent and coaching around him and we may start to see the guy the earned a starter spot in the first place. And b) we don’t need him to be a starter. We need someone reliable to step in when old man Harris gets hurt. Maier is more experienced and as much I didn’t mind Patterson, he’s a surer thing than Patterson. We needed QB depth, of the options available Maier was our best move. That said, we’d all be happiest if his only contribution this season was effective clipboard holding.

A few Riders have garnered some NFL interest. Tryouts have been held for Ajou Ajou (Colts, Steelers), Trevor Reid (Colts, Bengals, Vikings), AJ Allen (Broncos) and Logan Ferland (Broncos). Remains to be seen if any of those translate into contract offers. Of that group Reid would be the biggest potential loss.

With the exception of JC Sherritt it seems the Riders’ coaching staff we be largely remaining in tact for 2025. Stability like that is very important, particularly at OC. Our recent history includes transitions from the McAdoo offense (if you can call it that), to the Maas offense, to whatever it is that Kelly Jeffries did. In fact, 2025 is poised to be only the second time since 2016 that we have the same OC/QB combination in back to back seasons.

Now that the fiscal year has rolled over we should start to see some more re-signings in advance of free agency in February. Topping my wish list (in order of preference) are Jameer Thurman, Peter Godber, Bryan Cox, Micah Johnson, Miles Brown, Adam Auclair, Malik Carney and Marcus Sayles.

Here’s to a prosperous and successful 2025, for you and for the Riders.