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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.
3 comments:
Riders were a gust away from 1st last year & should take a step upward. Elks had a lot of changes but they targeted to get off to a decent start. The DL played under Maxie in T.O, who's back in Edm, & added Barlow who was in T.O. in 2023. Should be little change in playbook there or familiarity. They have a 1/2 dozen who played under Kilam. Dunbar, Beard all played in Edmonton prior. They may be the biggest threat.
The Bombers IMO have gone to the well too often. The OL ain't what it used to be & the only change was dropping their youngest member, an All-Star. And adding another 30+ something to their DL which had problems all year with pressure.
BC isn't much better this year & Alberta looks to have another tire fire down south.
Bottom line - IMO the West is there for the Riders to take.
Really excited with the team the addition of McEwen is the biggest imo. I would like the riders to still try and bring in a Tre Roberson or a Richard Leonard as I am not sold on Campbell as a starter at all. Also possibly bring in Alex Hollins for a look ,as well as J-Min Pelly massive canadian who if nothing else will consistently take double teams
West will be real interesting. I think a full offseason and training camp will have Rourke/BC better. Elks are starting from the basement but should improve under Kilam. I have no clue about Calgary. In theory VA improves the offense. The D has not improved and the same Head Coach/GM that has led them on the current nose dive is still there. Bombers don't appear to be improving.
Anon 2 - The guys you listed would all be nice. Especially Roberson. That said, I bet O'Day can recruit a CB.
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