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We took the family down to Universal Studios Orlando... where I spent all lot of time looking down my nose at all the Harry Potter nerds and then turned around a geeked out when we got to Simpsons Land. I'm aware of my hypocrisy and perfectly okay with it.
But you probably didn't come here to hear about my emotional well being or my vacation (and if you did then that's pretty sad) so lets talk football. There isn't much to talk about. But the lack of material has never stopped me from drawing a couple coherent thoughts into a lengthy post.
Random Quasi-Coherent Thoughts:
- Sad to see John Murphy go. I think he and Jones had just finally gotten our recruiting pipeline to where there wanted it to be (with the exception of QB). When your GM has as many roles as Chris Jones does he needs a strong right hand man. Hopefully Jeremy O'Day can step in fairly seamlessly. By the way the irony of a front office guy leaving because he was asked to take a pay cut should not be lost on anyone.
- Only other notable Rider news is that Sam Eguavoen is in the midst of a big time NFL tour. 3 confirmed tryouts so far (Miami, LA Rams, New England) with up to 7 more to come. Pretty safe bet he's heading south. I like his odds off sticking past training camp too. For one he's a damn good player. Also, as an LB he can contribute almost immediately on special teams. Bad for us, good for him.
- Coach vacancies have filled up Steinhauer to Hamilton, Chamblin to Toronto and Claybrooks to BC. That means that 5 of 9 teams have defensive guys as Head Coach. 6 if you count O'Shea though he's really more Special Teams.
- Hopefully the next big news will be that a new agreement with the CFLPA is signed... given that that may take some time I'd settle for Brandon Bridge being released. I get that its unnecessary given that he's a pending FA but the symbolic significance would be appreciated.
NFL Watch:
OL Dakota Shepley – tryouts with Denver, Cleveland
LB Samual Eguavoen (Ssk) – tryouts with Miami, LA Rams, New England, 7 more scheduled
QB Bo Levi Mitchell (Cal) – tryouts with Minnesota, Denver, Jacksonville, 2 more
scheduled
DB Winston Rose (BC) – tryout with Minnesota
DB Chris Ackie (Ott) – tryout with Minnesota
WR Diontae Spencer (Ott) – tryout with Minnesota
LB Jameer Thurman (Cal) – tryout with Minnesota, Chicago
DB Tevaughn Campbell (Mtl) – tryouts with Cleveland, Green Bay
DL Kwaku Boateng (Edm) – tryout with NY Jets
LB Alex Singleton (Cal) – tryouts with Cleveland, Minnesota, Arizona,
Philadelphia, LA Chargers
DL Avery Ellis (Ott) – tryout with NY Jets
K Ty Long (BC) – tryout with NY Jets
OL Rykar Matthews (Ham) – tryout with NY Jets, New England
WR Bryant Mitchell (Edm) – tryout with NY Jets
WR Duke Williams (Edm) – tryout with NY Jets
DL James Vaughters (Cal) - tryout with Chicago
QB Mike Reilly (Edm) - tryout with Jacksonville
5 comments:
Teams did well with less. The most top-heavy teams on the management side were Riders plus Toronto & Montreal. How much good did that do them? Not sure I buy the recruiting acumen of the Riders. Jones is a great DC & can take young players & get them to play really good defence. I would argue not a lot of coaches would have got that production out of those young guys. But there's another side to being a good team offence. The Riders have had 3 veterans in Durant, Glenn & Collaros the past 3 years &, outside of maybe Glenn, didn't get much out of them. And after Glenn played very well he was dumped to the curb a day after Collaros arrived. League wide Bridge was already known for being a wildly inaccurate guy who couldn't read defences. The answer - sign him up in case the injury prone Collaros goes down & then severly restrict anything he does on offence. The offence, pretty much across the board was abysmal. Unless they do something about offence, better try & drum up another record setting season getting TD's out of the defence. Ain't gonna happen. Very lucky to be 12-6 considering the total team roster.
Disagree completely on recruiting. If you exclude qb I see evidence of solid recruiting at every position
OL - Cofield, Bladek
WR - Lambert, evans, moore, cannon (if even just 2 of them pan out we are golden)
DL - Antigha, geter
LB - Eguavoen, moncrief, judge, Elam
DB - Cox, Butler, Marshall
ST - Gagne, Chevrier, Radford
Add a healthy, competent qb and we go further in the playoffs with that d and supporting cast on o. Big gap but really the only one
I agree Jones has done well recruiting on defence but not on offence. Yes, Lambert is good but in relation to who? When since the departure of Jones & Murphy from Alberta, those teams have fielded, Williams, Zylstra, Mitchell, Jorden, Daniels, Michel & can put a Begelton on the field, the Riders recruitment pales in comparison. Our National receivers are mostly from other teams drafts. As for the OL, I'd take Dennis & maybe Bond over Cofield. They either were expensive mistakes or misused as Dennis was back to his dominant self once he was cut. Either way, mistakes Jones has to own. Let's not dismiss the fact that every year we have signed expensive free agents only to get rid of them for nothing, often soon after they were signed (Lemon, Carter, Capicccotti, Muamba to mention a few). Outside of our team, who dumps their top signings for nothing in return partway through their contract? Shouldn't we have an idea if they fit the scheme before you sign them? Do they not talk to the free agents in advance where they fit in? Nope, no offence (pun unintended), Rider but an offence which produced 11 TD's & 18 int's among their QB's was historically bad & I'd be hardpressed to find another 12 win club with that kind of production ever. You want to take this offence into next year? On a good note, have a great holiday. Still my favorite read. Can agree to disagree.
Well Chris Jones likes to let everyone know he runs camps day & night once the green bags are packed. They looked at 4000 players I think he said in '16. Gets credit for every player brought in on any teams he's coached. Funny the pipeline didn't dry up in Edmonton or Calgary when he left and Murphy left. Don't doubt he's the hardest working guy in the league but value for dollar? Good thing the league put a limit on the madness. Weren't the Riders to get minimum one Grey the first three years? Most insiders will tell you it's tough to be a co-ordinator and head coach. It's madness to hold all the titles he has. Be a GM, VP etc OR coach. Not doing anyone any favors except your ego. It's laughable. Someone has to save the man from himself. Alas only he has the power to do it. Won't win a Grey that way. Write it down.
No arguing that our free agency track record is horrid. That needs to change. I do like our offense going forward. Poor qb play plus rookie receivers was a bad combo but those receivers all showed something and are now more experienced. Same guys in year 2 with our strong run game ... all it needs is a qb and we are good. Lambert was top 10 in the league in receptions in a shit offense and missed a game. He's good. I do love debates like this though. Who knew that respectful disagreements are a thing?
I don't believe that Jones and Murphy are miracle workers. Other teams recruit as well or better than us. We may be compensating our recruiting quality with quantity. Scout thousand guys and you'll likely find a couple.
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