I'm not seeing a lot of marquee players up for grabs this year. There is no Jason Tucker or Barrin Simpson on the list who could join your team and immediately become one of your best players. Anyone who has had notable success in the league is either past his prime, or playing in the NFL.
Not great news if you're a team in need of serious rebuilding. Pretty good news for those who are already strong, and apparently not at risk of losing critical personnel.
One interesting coincidence is that many of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers defensive backs are on the free agent list and their defensive secondary coach, Gregg Butler, is about to sign with the Ticats. Maybe one or two of them will find their way onto the Ticat roster some time after February 16th.
I think we should go after the following
disagree or agree
Mike Abou-Mechrek - decent NI Lineman
Cory Hathaway - NI Te/Fb would be great in the "tightend style" offense Taafe spoke of.
Ryan Thelwell - NI but still has some decent ability
For salary cap reasons I would think the list will grow before it declines. I am sure many players have roster bonuses coming up and I wouldnt be surprised to see them cut before they see any of it.
Free agent pool definately does not look as good as past years. There are a few DBs that would be a nice addition, but certainly no marquee receivers or line backers, where we need a lot of help.
Hopefully we can make a few upgrades that will have some impact.
There are some above-average DB's on this list, but I think our secondary is actually one of our team's strengths. So I can't see us going after any FA's to improve that part of our squad.
Belli would be a total waste of cash (he was a colossal dud in Hamilton, in my opinion. The "next coming of Angelo Mosca." Give me a break). Furthermore, I do like Abdullah, but we already have Cheatwood and Collier, who are no slouches at DE.
Bottom line: out of all the free agents on the list, I think Hamilton will definitely take a run at signing Thelwell, and either Brad Banks or Spergeon Wynn. Also, if Winnipeg doesn't pay him what he's worth, and if we have the cap room, I would love to see Westwood kicking for the Ticats. He is a very good player, despite his age.
The TSN Free Agent Tracker is up athttp://tsn.ca/cfl/feature/?fid=5524&hubname= . I find it is often more up to date than cfl.ca's own list, but I digress.
Could rob them of serious talent
or be a source of new blood
Thu Jan 11 2007
By Ed Tait
THE list is long -- longer than any other in the CFL -- and features some juicy names. Indeed, when the annual free agent market opens on Feb. 15 the Winnipeg Blue Bombers could have as many as a dozen players available to the highest bidder. And that, folks, is close to a third of the game-day roster.
With the release of Tim Cheatwood today and James Cotton last week, maybe the Ticats will inquire about non-import defensive end Nautyn McKay-Loescher if he becomes a free agent on Feb 16/07. He had five quarterback sacks in limited action with the B.C. Lions in 2006.
It was reported in the Jan 9/07 edition of Metro News that he wants to come east and live in the Toronto area. Apparently, his first choice would be to play for the Argos but he did not rule out playing for the Ticats or the Alouettes.
I think Thelwell would be a great addition to any team in the league, but particularly in Hamilton where you need a major upgrade in your receiving corps.
I would not at all be surprised to see the Cats make an effort at signing Cavil, either. He was in Hamilton at the beginning of last year, but for some strange reason, never explained, Marshall and then Lancaster just refused to use him (why? the guy was a 1,000 receiver in Montreal).
With Desjardins now running the show, with his Montreal background, I would not at all be surprised to see him try to sign Cavil (and I'm reasonably confident that Cavil's agent would want some sort of assurance that Cavil would actually get to play and be used in the offence, rather than being inactive or sitting on the bench collecting splinters).
Does anyone think the Ticats might go after Ezra Landry? I think Fowlkes is just as good, and will actually shine once we hire a good special teams coach.
:roll:
