- Just signed not yet posted on ticats.ca ..Keyarris Garrett. WR Tulsa...Someone to get excited about very tall and athletic.looks great. put up huge numbers catching passes from our very own backup QB Dane Evans.
I noticed these 3 recently signee db's all seem very aggressive and physical.
- Darius Allensworth DB California ...Aggressive Tackler.
- Tre Dempsey DB North Dakota State...lots of interceptions. 197 tackles and 16 interceptions in 59 games.
- Jarrod Harper DB West Virginia - Very physical .
- Terrance Plummer LB ex Argo---Pretty big and fast and physical. Monster numbers at Central Florida. Showed well in Toronto.
- Justin Tuggle LB ex Argo - Very Athletic, hard hitter, Played in 32 NFL games, starting in 11. Kansas State. Plummer, Tuggle, Frey and Wacha all likely competing for the starting MLB spot . Tuggle looked good in Toronto.
- Tunde Adeleke Safety , SAM - National ex Calgary Safety- very fast - Carleton.
This guy could start at SAM or Safety. Good on special teams and is an excellent kick returner. Was an all Canadian kick returner twice.
- J'Gared Davis DE . 3 years with CGY. Absolute Beast, likely should be in the NFL as an outside linebacker. He had 59 tackles which is really high for a Dlineman. Probably the best all-round DE in the CFL . Great against the run , doesn't overly commit to the pass rush so he's always around the ball and still provides a pass rush. After a game against CGY last year, June Jones said Davis belongs in the NFL. June coached against Davis when Davis was an All-star outside Linebacker at SMU.
Too bad he only signed for one year.
#95 Calgary
#56 SMU
9 Cameron Marshall - RB - Had success in SASK and WPG after a standout career at Arizona State. Would likely still be with SASK had they not sign ex Ottawa RB Powell .Bruising back with nose for the end zone. Not a speedster but has a good 2knd step. If June Jones was not so high on Alex Green, I would suggest he could land the starting RB role
#32 WPG
#6 Arizona State
- Chris Frey was a standout at linebacker at Michigan State a fine football team .It would seem he could more likely be a candidate for MLB or WIL and likely not SAM. I think at a minimum he could be great addition to special teams. He could be a surprise starter. Ferocious tackler,
- RB/ WR Dontre WIlson out of Ohio State looks like a potential star. He excelled at RB and WR at a top program school. I predict that he makes the roster. He seems like a cross between Earl Winfield and SpeedyB. He runs with his head up looking for blocking and holes. Amassed 2,881 all-purpose yards in 45 games.
- WR Andrew Turzilli is 6 foot 4 195 with good speed and hands from Kansas then Rutgers . Has bounced around the NFL a bit.
Rutgers
Kansas
- OT Vinston Painter 6 feet 4 318 pounds drafted in 6th round of 2013 NFL draft has played in over 20 NFL games playing for 4 teams. Will likely make the team possibly as a starter.
https://www.nbcsports.com/washington/video/former-hokie-vinston-painter-right-home-redskins
- DE Tobena Okeke - Fresno State. He played under Orlondo being Head Coach. He seems well suited for the CFL and too small for the NFL...Will have an edge as Orlondo knows what he can do. He could bump Howsare and maybe Tracy.
Junior year at Fresno State
- RB Ray Lawry - elusive and great success. Will really have to shine to beat out Cameron Marshall as backup to Alex Green. Old Dominion University football all-time leading rusher, compiling 4,080 yards on 660 carries over four seasons (2014-17)
- WR Cam Echols-Luper --went to 3 universities. World class speed, good route runner with good hands. He could be an odd man out considering the wealth in young talent coming in at WR. He was a QB in high school and has thrown the ball alot on trick plays which is a good asset to have. GOOd kick returner.
Western Kentucky
Arkansas State
TCU World class speed Punt Return
- WR Jaelon Acklin - 6 feet 2 and fast Western illinois--Has carried the ball a bunch of times.I`d rank him as the 4th best rookie receiver behind Dontre Wilson , Keyarris Garrett and Echols -Luper ahead of Andrew Turzilli .
WOW
I can't recall us having such young high-end receivers in camp. It will make for some tough decisions and some good receivers let go.
We also have 3 or 4 free agent camps in May in the US. We drafted a beast of a DE first overall in the European draft. According to our GM Advisor Ken Barker, we were scrambling to add AAF players to our negotiation list along with the other CFL teams once the AAF folded. Teams are not yet able to sign any AAF players but that should change soon. They released DB Don Blackmon yesterday as well.
I can see some more current roster players being replaced by ex AAF players or CFL free agents. There is also alot of talent available via CFL Free Agency and I am guessing some bargains can be had since most teams have already spent alot with the exception of Ottawa.
Well below, I listed the quality CFL Free Agents that are still available and their price tags have likely dropped and it should be interesting to see where some of this talent goes, 31 year old EX BC 6 time all-star Offensive Tackle Jovan Olafioye retired to take on high school coaching job. I know from speaking to him directly that he was waiting for an offer and his salary expectations were far below his market value. .
He would have been a great fit in Hamilton at a bargain price to replace Rycker Mathews. That made me scratch my head and maybe they think Painter or Avery can handle the job at the league minimum salary. My gut tells me that Rycker won't stick with the Patriots and I don't see his name on their website roster. Now that the AAF players are going to be available at the 2 year league minimum salary. I would imagine that does not bode well for the remaining CFL Free Agents Salary expectations. We also have the Canadian draft coming up and we have the 2knd overall pick and 3 or 4 more picks in the top 25.
I Bolded i'd like to see the cats draft
If it were me I might go after one of these 3 Dlineman ;
Mathieu Betts - Laval from Montreal Quebec
Robbie Smith - Laurier from Brampton Ont
Jonathon Kongbo - Tennesee from Surrey BC
and draft 1 or two from these 3 receivers;
Justin Mcinnis - Arkansas State from Quebec
Hergy Mayala - Conneticutt from Montreal Quebec
Kurleigh Gittens - Laurier from Ottawa Ont .
There are some olineman that have moved up the rankings and I think we should try to get two from the following;
Shane Richards - Oklahoma State from Calgary Alberta
Zack Wilkinson - Northern Colorado from Vancouver BC
Drew Desjarlais - Windsor from Belle River Ontario
Alex Fontana - Kansas from Toronto Ontario
We could us a national rb after losing Mercer Timmis
Malek Irons - Ohio from BC
Brad Oliviera - North Dakota from Winnipeg
We could use decent a natiional db as well like;
Malcom Lee - UBC from BC
I wonder what our last year's first overall pick Mark Chapman's plans are now that the AAF is done. He walked away from the team for personal reasons, I hope that he finally decides to sign with us.
I was shocked and disturbed to see WR Justen Buren.retire as he was looking promising
It doesn't look like we did how homework with these two players regarding their intentions and options in football and outside of Football..
I hope we do our homework this year and draft players that are not planning on exploring the NFL or XFL and those that intend to play in the CFL for a while. I have heard Betts has received some NFL interest.
I would imagine that Richards, Fontana, Mcinnis and Mayala may be thinking NFL or XFL or have received.interest I guess only Justin Dunk knows
So here are the quality free agents still out there;;
- The following receivers are likely not a match for us due to all our impressive training camp invites who will be much cheaper;
Adarius Bowman WR Import - would love to have him if we didn't have so many great young receivers
Weston Dressler SB Import - Ditto to sub in for Jalen Saunders but Dontre Wilson or Gilbert likely will land that role and the other will make the team
Chris Williams WR Import
Terrence Tolliver WR Import
Bkhari Grant WR Import
WR Robb Bagg national --too old for us now..we have Chambers
DE Tristan Okpalaugo import - Don't need an import DE---
LB Chip Cox - Too old and plays Simoni's position
LB Kyries Hebert -same
LB Marcus Ball - plays Simoni's position
[ Sign one of these two bolded guys]
LB Fred Plesius National - perfect for us to play special teams replace Terrel Davis
LB Ron Omara National - same
LB SAM National Chris Ackie - He would be a great catch for us but he will still cost alot being a coveted ratio buster
[ SIGN one of these bolded guys ]
TJ Heath DB Import--- good fit
Ronnie Yell db import---good fit
Eman Davis db import ---not a fan
Jon Gott - we don't need a centre we have Giraud
Landon Rice - might as well sign phim as he knows the offence and can backup both guards
.
;D :