Monday Morning Sentimonies: Mail Bag

I spent a long time trying to come up with an idea for a post this morning. We're in a major lull in terms of CFL news. Free agents news is down to a trickle. Probably won't be much more until Mark's CFL Week in a few weeks. So talking about something topical is out (not that that has ever stopped me). I also went through and rejected a number of filler posts, including but not limited to: what if CFL players had to compete in random Olympic events, an op ed how the only logical way to stop the debate over the Eskimo team name is to move the team to the Northwest Territories, the merits of a regular season CFL game in Las Vegas just like how the NFL goes to London... only far drunker, what combinations of names on the back of player jerseys standing in a row on the sideline would make the funniest sentence (john WHITE, john CHICK, glenn LOVE, rakim COX) and a piece on random players of years gone by that I still hate (remember Jason Fench? ). 

But instead I opted to open the Rider Prophet mail bag and answer some questions from you my valued readers. Now in the spirit of full disclosure there is no actual mail bag. Its 2018, if someone sent me an actual letter that would be pretty weird. Also, all the following questions are made up because no one has sent me any questions electronically. Surprisingly this is does not even top the list of most questionable concepts for a post I've done over the years.  

Q: What are the Riders' chances in 2018?
A: About 1 in 9... Ok 1 in 8 since Montreal doesn't really count. Ok, more seriously I would say as good as last year. The west will still be super competitive but if you take away our slow start last season, we actually held our own pretty well last year. Last year I rightly predicted us in a crossover. Not to toot my own horn but "toot toot". There's still a ways to go yet in terms of shaping the roster but I see us in contention for 2nd or 3rd in the West.

Q: Is Chris Jones crazy?
A: Clearly. Of late he seems to be keeping under wraps more than in the begging but its still there. But for all his madness, he thus far has the team trending in the right direction. Provided he keeps winning, we will learn to live with the crazy.

Q: Are you crazy?
A: Let me put it this way. I cheer for the Riders, Vikings and Canadiens (and only really began following them in the 2000s). So based on my natural attractions to teams who especially and repeatedly break my heart you tell me if I'm crazy. Not to mention the whole robe and beard thing.

Q: Do you wear anything under the robe?
Well if I didn't I would need a longer robe or I'd be arrested for indecent exposure, if you get my drift. Also,this is Saskatchewan and frost bite is a real thing, so yes, yes I do.

Q: Who are some under the radar players to keep an eye on this season?
Well I've already expressed my love for both Derrick Moncrief and I'm Nick James Bitch. Other names to add include Cameron Judge (Assuming he's still playing football, no one has ever really addressed this) and Jake Harty.

Q: Do you see anymore big names being let go?
A: Nothing for sure but I don't think guys like Bakari Grant and Chad Owens are guaranteed anything. I think Trent Richardson currently sits dead last in the RB depth chart. And (maybe this is just me being overly optimistic) but I wouldn't rule out one of Clark or Dyakowski being beat out in camp and starting the year as the back-up. (Fingers crossed for Clark)

Q: Do you do birthday parties?
A: Sounds like the world's oddest birthday party but sure. You'd be surprised (and likely sickened) by the things that I would do for money. Serious inquiries only.

Q: Don't you hate pants?
A: Clearly

All My Exes Round 2

Now that the dust has settled on Free Agency its time for another round of All My Exes.

As a reminder of the rules:

I will name a CFL team and you have to name me one player on that team's current roster who used to play for each of the other 8 teams in the CFL. Seems simple enough right? A couple rules:
- You can only use each player once. I.e. Zach Collaros previously played for Toronto and Hamilton but you could only use him for one or the other, not both.
- The player must have actually dressed for the team (simply owning neg rights or draft rights don't count)
- Kevin Glenn cannot be used. His greatness in the realm of ex teams is beyond reproach.

You can submit your answers by Twitter or by leaving a comment here. By a completely arbitrary and made up scoring scheme I will award a winner and announce it on Monday.

Get it?

Okay the team of the day is: Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Good luck
 

Monday Morning Sentimonies: Belated Family Day Edition

Happy Family Day. A day intended for you to spend more time with your family... even though I think  given the option most would prefer a vacation from their family but "Go get drunk with your buddies day" doesn't have the same ring to it.

We are now about a week into Free Agency, so I thought I would spend today taking a look at where the Riders' roster stands. I'm not going to bother assessing who "won" and "lost" free agency. If "winning" free agency correlated with winning championships, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers would be in the midst of a dynasty. 

Coming into free agency the plan was consistency. Maintain as a much of the core from 2017 as possible (we were as a reminder one drive away from a chance to benefit from the Stampeders' annual Grey Cup choke). A lot of our early moves were in that line. Guys like Jefferson, Jones, Butler, Bridge,Carter, Bailey, Coleman, Moore, Clark got extended.

But somewhere in there the shear monotony of it all must have gotten to Jones and the consistency plan started shifting into bigger changes. There were the high profile trades for Collaros and Hughes. But few would argue that last season some key weaknesses of our team included lack of consistent play at QB and a lack of anyone named Jefferson getting anything resembling pressure. So far so good. 

Even early in free agency, the moves were all headed in the right direction. We shed Dennis and his salary (by the way I fully expect him to have a monster year back in Calgary) in order to repatriate a young stud Canadian DT by the name of Zach Evans. An impact player in the middle of a D-line that is suddenly very imposing and bona fide Canadian starter. We even made some moves that may fly under the radar for most but are great additions. I'm talking specifically about Jake Harty. In him we get a young Canadian receiver (a place where quality, young depth is needed) and a great special teams player. Again, all good.

I won't rehash my rant about the whole Messam/Muamba thing. I've made my thoughts on that very clear and it stands out as the one aberration (albeit as massive one) in an otherwise good offseason.

So where do we stand roster-wise. Honestly for the most part we are in really good shape. There are a couple areas that still need addressing. Obviously there is a vacancy at left tackle. You can initially pencil Bond in that spot though given his lack of recent playing time there I imagine we are still looking at other options for competition (such as Campbell). We also need a new middle linebacker. I staunchly refuse to believe Sam Hurl is our plan A (please, please, please). With Messam, Bagg, Bailey and Harty we have the ratio flexibility to start 5 Cdn on offense (3 OL, 2 WR/RB) so an import is a possibility (please,please, please).  We also need a new CB but I expect that to be filled through scouting (where we have not a bad record when it comes to DBs). But that's really it for starters.

From there its all about depth. We have no depth at import OL. We need some Cdn depth behind Zach Evans (look for us to draft there). We desperately need depth a LB. I love Eguavoen and Moncrief but see no one behind them. All in all though, the roster is not in terrible shape. 

I'd be a lot happier with Maumba on the roster and Messam off but we still look to be in a competitive position in the West. Having lived through many offseasons of doom and gloom, I'll take where we are at for now.

Thoughts on Free Agency

What was supposed to be a relatively quiet Free Agency year for the Riders has been anything but. It's been a roller coaster ride of Duron-type highs and whatever the opposite of Duron-type highs would be (Alouettes in the standings-type lows?  My interest in the Johnny Manziel drama-type low?).

Here's a play by play of commentary on free agency
- Signed Dan Clark: alright decent start, not the greatest but we need OL depth
- Signed Spencer Moore: Great! Solid FB and special teams player
- Cut Dennis and Love: What the ?
- Signed Evans: Hell Yeah!!!!!! Love it! Back on board.
- Signed Travis Bond: Makes sense. All headed in the right direction
- Signed Jerome Messam: Umm wait.. I'm confused. We seem to have taken a wrong turn
- Cut Muamba: What the hell is going on? We're going off the rails on a crazy train (Ay, Ay, Ay)

What started our so great is suddenly heading in a concerning direction.

I was surprised to see Dennis go but as soon as we signed Evans I got it and was fully on board. We dumped an American starter to make room for a stud Canadian DT. As a I said on Twitter we essentially traded Dennis for Evans and you make that trade any day. The whole Regina connection is certainly a feel good story, as is the part about finally righting the wrong of Taman stupidly not protecting him back in the expansion draft but what I care about is getting a 27 year old Cdn DT with 18 sacks in the past three season. We needed an impact guy in the middle and another Cdn starter and Evans checks both those boxes. We now have a line with Hughes/Evans/James/Jefferson. That is an intimidating rush. This was a hugely unexpected but awesome move. Yes it leaves a whole at LT but we have Bond and are working on Bruce Campbell so we should be okay there.

As for the whole Messam/Muamba thing... I will reserve full judgement until all the pieces fall into place as there may be other moves coming that are part of a larger plan that make everything make sense but for now I do not like it. Messam will be 33 this season and his yards per carry have decreased steadily over the past 3 seasons. He's still a force but is clearly on the downside of his career. We have 3 RBs (albeit imports) and no pressing need there so I really can't understand the desire to spend $120k on Messam. Seems like a poor investment. I don't think he can be a fulltime back for a full season anymore so at best you have a rotational RB (say 60/40 split) who you hope to have healthy for the stretch run. So I did not like the Messam deal from the start.

When the other shoe dropped and we cut Henoc Muamba for salary reasons, I was completely lost. Did we use up all our logic in the Evans deal? Look it get it, in a salary cap $200k is a lot to pay for a non-QB. But Muamba was not only a starting Cdn but a STUD  middle linebacker. Those don't grow on trees. There are many players I would have cut before Muamba is salary savings were needed. For example, cutting Chad Owens and Jerome Messam would completely pay for Muamba. Now given the choice between Muamba and Messam/Owens which one do you think would have a bigger impact on our performance in 2018? I really don't like this.

There is still a chance this could all work out. Guys like Bear Woods and Taylor Reed are still available and if we get a decent American LB then this could look not as awful. I just hope Plan A wasn't Sam Hurl because that is a massive downgrade to our defense. Still lots of time to build a defense but after taking a step forward with Evans I see this as a big step back.

Hopefully there is more to come to calm my worry.

Day 2 Free Agency Summary

Saskatchewan

Extended: n/a

Added: OL Travis Bond, LB Sam Hurl

Lost: LB Henoc Muamba

BC

Extended: LB Solomon Elimimian

Added: WR Cory Watson

Lost: n/a

Edmonton

Extended: RB John White, LB Doug Parrish, WR Jamil Smith

Added: n/a

Lost: WR Cory Watson, K Swayze Waters, DB Andrew Lue

Winnipeg

Extended: n/a

Added: WR Mitchell Baines

Lost: WR Julian Feoli-Gudino, OL Travis Bond, LB Sam Hurl, DB TJ Heath, DL Jamal Westerman

Toronto

Extended: n/a

Added: DB TJ Heath, K Swayze Waters

Lost: DB Rico Murray

Ottawa

Extended: LB Tanner Doll

Added: WR Julian Feoli-Gudino, DB Rico Murray

Lost: WR Jake Harty

Montreal

Extended: QB Drew Willy

Added: WR Jake Harty, DL Jamal Westerman

Lost: n/a

 

CFL Free Agency Day 1 Summary

Here's a summary of all that went on for each team on a busy Day 1. I expect a few more moves on Day 2 so I will hold off and provide full analysis of the Rider moves on Thursday (Spoiler alert: I'm pretty pumped about the Zach Evans thing!).

PS - It's Valentine's Day, if you haven't already gotten a gift now would be a good time to fake a severe stomach flu. 

Saskatchewan

Extended: OL Dan Clark, FB Spencer Moore

Added: DL Zach Evans, RB Jerome Messam

Lost: DL AC Leonard, WR Nic Demksi, LB Glenn Love, OL Derrick Dennis, DL Antonio Longino, DL Ese Mrabure

BC

Extended: QB Travis Lulay

Added: DL Euclid Cummings, OL Joel Figueroa, OL Jeremy Lewis, DB Gary Peters, DB Cauchy Muamba, DB Dominique Termansen, LB Mitch Barnett, DB AJ Jefferson, OL Chris Greaves

Lost: DL Alex Bazzie, DB Louchiez Purifoy, DB Chandler Fenner,

Edmonton

Extended: DB Forest Hightower, DB Johnny Adams

Added: DL Alex Bazzie

Lost: DL Euclid Cummings, OL Joel Figueroa

Calgary

Extended: WR Da’Varis Daniels, RB Roy Finch, WR Anthony Parker, LB Deron Mayo

Added: DB Emmanuel Davis, DB Adam Berger, Ese Mrabure

Lost: RB Jerome Messam, DB Tommie Campbell, DB Joe Burnett

Winnipeg

Extended: DB Kevin Fogg

Added: WR Nic Demski, DB Chandler Fenner, RB Kienan LaFrance

Lost: LB Sam Hurl

Toronto

Extended: DB Cassius Vaughn, DB Jermaine Gabriel, DB Johnny Sears

Added: n/a

Lost: K Lirim Hajrullahu, DB Mitchell White

Hamilton

Extended: DL Ted Laurent, WR Luke Tasker, LB Larry Dean, LB Nic Shortill

Added: K Lirim Hajrullahu

Lost: LB Mitch Barnett, DB Dominique Ellis

Ottawa

Extended: DB Jonathan Rose

Added: DL AC Leonard, DB Louchiez Purifoy, QB Dominique Davis

Lost: QB Drew Tate, DB Adam Berger, DL Zach Evans

Montreal

Extended: OL Matt Vonk, OL Xavier Fulton, WR SJ Haidara, K Boris Bede, DB Tevaughn Campbell

Added: DB Tommie Campbell, DB Joe Burnett, DB Mitchell White, DB Dominique Elis

Lost: OL Jeremy Lewis, DB Dominique Termansen, OL Chris Greaves

Monday Morning Sentimonies: Free Agency Primer

While tampering has been going on behind the scenes for week, free agency officially opens tomorrow at 11. Barring any ridiculous Ed Hervey/Odell Willis scenarios we will have to wait at least 20 minutes after that for any deals to be announced.

I've said all along that the Riders won't be very active this year (particularly as compared to the first 2 years of the Jones regime). But not very active is not the same as idle.  We have some needs to be filled and some player hitting the market could potentially fill those. (Somewhere in there is a joke about big football players filling holes but it's too early on a Monday for me to put in the effort needed to find it). 

So let's take a look at what Jones is likely to be targeting tomorrow.

#1 - Big Canadian Men In The Middle
We need a centre and a Cdn defensive tackle. As a sign of how thin the OL market is this year, Dan Clark is legitimately one the best free agents out there. After him there are some depth/back-up guys that we may look at to add to the competition is camp. Names like Matt Albright, Cameron Thorn or Danny Groulx.

On the defensive side, obviously in a perfect world we would be going hard after Laurent or Evans but unless either is willing to take a portion of their salary in perogies and cabbage rolls (not the worst deal for a linemen), they are likely out of our price range. So in light of that our preference is likely to retain Mrabure (if he's not actually NFL bound) or Steele. We may need to also look at more unproven/depth options such as Arnaud Gascon-Nadon, Daryl Waud or Michael Klassen.

#2 - Canadians
We only have 6 of our 7 starting Canadian spot set (3 OL, 1 WR, 1 LB, 1 S).  I think the plan is a Canadian DT like last year but a second less likely option is a 2nd Cdn WR. Either options requires the addition of some players. Generally speaking (with the exception of LB) our Cdn depth at all positions could use reinforcements. The bulk of that will have to come from the draft but there may be a couple under the radar guys out there to stock the shelves. In addition to what's been mentioned above names like Jake Harty, CO Prime are ones to watch.

#3 - Depth
The good news is that we have the depth to withstand the loss of guys like Jeff Knox, Kacy Rodgers, Elie Bouka and potentially/likely Nic Demski, Otha Foster. But now it means the shelves need to be restocked. Recruiting will likely provide the bulk of that but with a star studed class of DB free agents and a few top end LBs, the chance that some more affordable options fall to us us greater.

Other random thoughts:
- If the price is right I would not be opposed to looking into the possibility of swapping Marquay McDaniel for Bakari Grant. 
- Unless the contract is crazy cheap, I don't see Jerome Messam coming here.

Friday Thoughts: Stay or Go

I originally had this typed up and ready to go for Monday but then all hell broke loose on Friday with trades, pot charges and allegations or marital infidelity. Okay maybe I made that last one up (but I probably had you briefly wondering what you had missed and who was in trouble) but the point remains that Friday was crazy and so this post got bumped in favour of more pressing commentary. I’ve since had to edit it a couple times (and likely within 5 mins of posting something will happen that renders more of this irrelevant) but here but goes anyway.

I wanted to take a look at our remain unsigned pending free agents to see which we should be making a final push for and who may or may not end up back in 2018.

WR Nic Demski–I heading into the offseason I felt like we needed to retain at least one of Demksi and Bailey. Obviously my preference would be for the more versatile/dynamic Demski. But of the 2 he is likely to command the most money on the open market and we are not a team with the liberty of offering many big pay days. Now that Bailey is secured, I’m even more skeptical that Demksi will be back. I certainly want him back and would guess the Riders do too but my gut says Demski gets more money from another team.

DL Ese Mrabure – We would gladly take him back given his passport and versatility along the D-line but Coach Jones said he’s likely to get a chance down south. So he’s either NFL bound (and I can’t see Jones saying that unless it was highly likely) or back here if that falls through.

DL Eddie Steele – Ratio-wise, its highly likely we need to start a Canadian on the D-line. We currently have 0 under contract and it sounds like Mrabure is gone. I’d love to say we are going to pony up the cash to land a Ted Laurent or Zach Evans but I don’t see that happening. That leaves very few options if we intend on starting a Canadian. Almost by default I would think bringing Steele back is a priority. I would rate him as adequate but not great. In the absence of better alternatives that will have to do. And quite frankly with Hughes and Jefferson working alongside him and a hopefully big year for Nick James, adequate may just be enough.

LB Otha Foster – Foster and Jones have been together dating back to Edmonton. Foster plays the very difficult cover LB spot and can fill in at HB. Bottom line is he’s talented, valuable and loved by the coach. There’s only one issue… Derrick Moncrief. Moncrief established himself as a viable starter in his rookie season at Foster’s spot and I think his ceiling in year 2 is even higher. With Moncrief able to fill that spot, likely for League minimum, there’s not a huge need for us to pay a lot more for Foster. If he will agree to a discounted salary we’d gladly keep him but with Calgary and Edmonton both in need of a new cover LB, I bet there will be money out there for Foster’s taking.

OL Dan Clark – I have a love for Clark much like how some people love changing diapers or repeatedly hitting themselves in the head with a frying pan. That said, it may surprise you to hear that I would recommend we re-sign Clark (I’ll pause here for your shocked gasp). I have no desire to see him starting but the fact remains we don’t exactly have a ton of OL depth or a viable alternative Centre so for purely insurance reasons I’d keep him. Honestly Clark’s calling in life is to the 6^th OL and if we could build sufficient talent along the OL to make that a reality, what a wonderful world it would be. Clark could go back to scoring TDs and I could go back to not repeatedly cursing his name. Everyone wins.

K Quinn van Gyslwyk – He has no reason to re-sign here and we have no reason to try very hard to keep him.  Over the past 2 season we’ve needed him for 2 games and 3 kicks (2 of which he missed). I think he could be a solid kicker given the opportunity but with both Crapigna and Bartel locked up here for 2 more years his place ain’t here. I wish we would have traded him prior to this point to at least get some return on him.

FB Spencer Moore – An underrated “glue” guy that I would love to have back. He’s a decent blocker, can catch when called on and plays well on special teams (15 tackles last season). We also currently have zero fullbacks under contract. I hope we can retain him.

DL AC Leonard – I have made no secret that I’m not a big Leonard fan. I will admit he produced more than I expected he would last season but with Hughes on the team and Antigha emerging as a strong rookie last season, the time may be right to move on from Leonard. Thing is Coach Jones would disagree with me here and my vote tends not to count. Jones has been grooming him since he was a Tight End curiously hand-picked to play DE. I would be surprised to see Leonard anywhere else in the CFL than here… but I guess that really depends on if another team also shares the view that Leonard is a DE and is willing to pay him accordingly.

RB Greg Morris – There is a lot to like about Greg Morris. He is a Canadian that can back up both RB and kick return. He has been productive in limited opportunities to touch the ball. If it weren’t for the fact that he has a case of the butterfingers he could be making a lot more money. I would love to have him back but with us clearly going American at RB and Christion Jones as returner I’m not sure that there is a spot for him. A utility back-up Canadian is never a bad thing and now that LaFrance is gone it may open up room for Morris.

OL Bruce Campbell – From a purely talent standpoint I think we would want Campbell back. Complicating matters though are his 2 game suspension and the fact that we want to start 3 Canadian OL. I could see us holding off and if he’s still available mid-season, bringing him in as depth/injury replacement.

DL Makana Henry – Doesn’t appear on the Free Agency list but by my records show his deal is up. Normally you would side with the large organization that has the official records over the internet blogger with questionable grammatical skills but the CFL doesn’t exactly have a pristine record when it comes to record keeping. Either way, given that Jones gave Henry an opportunity to play when it appeared his football career was long over, I see Henry back in Green and White in 2018 providing Canadian DL depth.

Monday Morning Sentimonies: Making Sense of a Wild Friday

The normally quiet CFL offseason got knocked over and sent flying as more news hit Friday then in all the combined trade deadlines that I can recall. Friday had everything, drugs, non-retirements, the cops, big name trades, big name double trades and contractually binding fruit emojis. So let's get right to it and try to make sense of it all.

The day started when news broke that Duron was charged with pot possession at the Saskatoon airport. I can't begin to fathom why taking weed to the airport seemed like a good idea but it's not like anyone is surprised that Duron is an enthusiast of the Green in Green and White, and its also not surprising that he would have a lapse in judgement.  Apparently he also was charged in Winnipeg back in November (just further evidence that nothing good happens in Winnipeg). I'm actually amazed the November charge stayed quiet for this long. If a Rider farted in public it would be front page news in this province. Now most people (myself included) could care less if Duron takes a puff now and then (next to working out, weed may be the second biggest past-time in the CFL). But with 2 charges (and one of them at the airport), it likely means we have to do something. Maybe a fine, hopefully not a suspension, maybe we'll just relegate him to CB again. The bottom line is we need to get Duron a fall guy. Dan Clark, you are officially in charge of carrying Duron's luggage.

The more positive Rider news is that a couple trades led to us acquiring Charleston Hughes. Charleston Hughes as in the perennial all-star D-end. As in only once in the past 6 seasons has he had less than 10 sacks. As in, everyone who plays opposite of him has career years. At 34 his age is somewhat of a concern but he had 11 sacks in 14 games last season so clearly he's got something left in the tank. He is a huge boost to a team that struggled to to find a D-lineman that could take some of the pressure off Jefferson. With all intended disrespect to AC Leonard we have replaced a converted TE with one of the past pass rushers of the past decade. This is huge! Him and Jefferson should be fun to watch. It also means that we no longer have to defend against him as he always seems to have big games against us.

The cost for Hughes was Vernon Adams and it essentially boiled down to money. Collaros and Bridge are entrenched as 1 and 2 so at best Adams was going to be the #3. He was making decent money for a #3 with no real chance at starting anytime soon. So while he has potential, in shipping him off we save a bit of $ and give Marquise Williams a shot to be the new "comes in randomly to execute a super obvious QB run play" guy.

Other Rider news included Willie Jefferson finally OFFICIALLY re-signing. There was a report back before the new year that a deal was agreed to and Jones repeatedly said he expected Jefferson to be back but the delay in it becoming official had some people worried. Not me though. I was always confident, particularly this weekend when Jefferson tweeted out a Watermelon emoji. I'm not a internet law expect but I'm fairly certain fruit emojis are contractually binding. Jefferson is far and away our best defender and keeping him here is super important. We also released Kacy Rogers to sign in the NFL (widely expected for a while now, at least by me) and Erik Dargan to not sign in the NFL (not widely expected but not a big loss). We also released Kienan LaFrance which was hardly surprising. We signed him to a $110K contract to be a starting Cdn RB. He lost the job to Marshall/Richardson/Thigpen. He's a decent guy to have around but was making too much $ for his role.

In addition to Charleston Hughes getting flipped to Hamilton then us, another high profile D-end was shipped east only to be sent back West quickly. Odell Willis, the mayor of Swaggerville, turkey gobble enthusiast and part time kickoff guy was sent to Ottawa before being flipped to BC. I get why Edmonton dumped Odell for a younger, cheaper promising prospect. I get why BC wanted to upgrade their D-line. I don't get what Ottawa got out of the deal. Other than to stamp Willis' CFL passport which now has 6 teams checked off... Kevin Glenn, here he comes.

NFL Watch:

Micah Awe (BC) – Signed with NY Jets

Jeff Knox (Ssk) – Will soon sign

DeVier Posey (Tor) – Signed with Baltimore

Kacy Rogers (Ssk) – Will soon sign

Luke Tasker (Ham) – workout with NY Jets

CFL Ins and Outs

Saskatchewan

In: DL Willie Jefferson (contract extension), DL Charleston Hughes (trade)

Out: LB Jeff Knox (signed in NFL), RB Kienan LaFrance, RB Shakir Bell, LB Erik Dargan (released), QB Vernon Adams (trade with Ham)

Calgary

In: DL Ja’Gared Davis (contract extension)

Out: DB Josh Bell (retired to become a coach), OL Dan Federkeil (retired)

BC

In: OL Hunter Steward (contract extension), DL Odell Willis (trade), WR Jenson Stoshak, WR Robert Wheelwright, WR Mitchell Hillis (free agent signing)

Out: LB Micah Awe (released to sign in the NFL)

Edmonton

In: WR Kenny Stafford (contract extension), DL Jake Ceresna (trade with Ott) DB Ahmad Dixon (free agent signing)

Out: DL Odell Willis (trade)

Winnipeg

In: DB Anthony Gaitor (free agent signing)

Out: QB Dominique Davis (released)

Hamilton

In: DB Demond Washington, DL Justin Capicciotti (contract extension)

Out: DB Emmanuel Davis (released)

Ottawa

In: WR Noel Thomas (free agent signing), FB Jean-Christophe Beaulieu (trade with Mtl)

Out: FB Patrick Lavoie (trade with Mtl), DL Jake Ceresna (trade with Edm)

Toronto

In: QB Ricky Ray (contract extension)

Montreal

In: FB Patrick Lavoie (trade with Ott)

Out: FB Jean-Christophe Beaulieu (trade with Ott), LB Frederic Plesius (released)