Cats Canadian content and depth heading into the draft

With the annual draft now only a few weeks away I thought this would be a good time to take a look at exactly where we stand in regards to our Canadian depth , talent , strengths and weaknesses and what positions we might be looking at upgrading and improving upon with this years draft class .

With the recent retirement of Girard , the team is now showing 28 Cdns on the current roster . I'll list them by position with projected starters bolded and possible potential starters in Italics depending on how the team decides to work the ratio . Looking at the list we can see where we might need some bolstering and also where we appear to be in good shape and finally where we stand in regards to what positions look to be needing upgrading and added depth.

I would have to think that the top 5 priorities in order in this draft would be at :
#1......Wide Receiver
#2......Offensive Line
#3......Defensive Tackle
#4......Kicker
#5......Linebacker

Offence (13 players )

rb.....Mercer Timmis
fb..... "C.O. Prime"
fb.....Felix Fauber-Lussier (rookie)
wr....Giovanni Aprile
wr.... "Spencer Watt"
wr....Mike Jones
wr....Matt Uren
ol.....Mike Filer
ol.....Ryan Bomben
ol.....Brandon Revenberg
ol.....Landon Rice
ol.....Everton Williams (rookie)
ls.....Aaron Crawford

Defence ( 15 )

de.....Justin Capiccotti
dt......Ted Laurent
dt....."Michael Atkinson"
dt......Evan Gill
lb......"Nicholas Shortill"
lb.....Geoff Hughes
lb.....Terrell Davis
lb.....Mitch Barnett
db....Courtney Stephen
db....Craig Butler
db..."Mike Daly"
db....Jay Langa
db...Elroy Douglas(rookie)
db...Tyler Storie (rookie)
db...Tristan Doughlin (rookie)

They better develop a very strong Oline or Zach will be shinning the pines again. :cowboy:

Yup , incredibly thin on the O-Line in Canadian depth with Dyakowski gone and now Girard suddenly retired we are looking at having only Rice and the yet unproven Williams ( 2 yrs on the PR ) as Cdn back-ups on the line. Filer , Bomben and Revenberg are solid as starters but we are in big trouble if one of them goes down with an injury . I can see us hopefully drafting at least 2 new linemen in this years draft or perhaps a trade or two to shore up our sudden lack of depth in that department .

Heading into the OTAs, 11 Nationals, who finished the '16 season with TiCats, are no longer with the team.
They've been replaced, so far, on the roster by just 4 players, 2 of whom are new to the club -- LB Shortill and DB Doughlin. The other 2 are training camp returnees -- DB/KR Storie and '16 draftee Faubert-Lussier, a receiver and kicker in college, listed by the Cats as a FB. The 11 gone -- Archambault, Coates, Dyakowski, Fantuz, Girard, Herbert, Landry, Omara, Plesius, Richardson, and Woodson all have CFL regular season experience. Among the 4 additions, only Shortill has. I must say, perhaps à la Yogi Berra, our depth is shallow!

Let’s bring in two big International’s on the “O” line to protect Zach!!
oh wait we can’t, we have that unreasonable ratio number to fill … :thdn:

I meant to say earlier, and apologize for the delay in doing so … but

This is an excellent analysis of the current situation and extremely helpful.

Thank-you BoBo82

I agree with Fender Guy. Bobo has been a life line through the long winter off-season. Thanks for keeping Cats fans informed! :smiley: :smiley: Thanks for being a fan of Canadian players and the Canadian game.

Pat Lynch (the old guy)

:thup:

Me too. Thanks Coach Bobo.
You may not be coaching the players, but you’ve coached me, and I’m sure other fans here too, many times.

Uh Jim , we have two big Internationals already pencilled in as starters on the line at Tackle in Fulton (6’ 4" 300 lbs ) and Olson ( 6’ 7" 302 lbs ) so if I’m reading you right you are saying let’s bring two more Internationals in at Guard or perhaps one at centre and one at Guard as starters ? So my next question is which two Cdns of Revenberg (6’ 4" 300 lbs), Bomben ( 6’ 4" 295 lbs) or Filer (6’ 2" 307 lbs) would you replace with two new big Internationals ? Kindly explain to me and everyone else why you think that none of these three are good enough to be starters on this team and need to be replaced by a so called superior American player ?

As for the protection of Zach I’ve already mentioned this a thousand times in here BUT I guess I’ll have to say it one more time once again for those that don’t pay attention . The team’s main trouble on the line the last year and a half was due to the fact that in the same game in 2015 that Zach went down with his season ending injury we also lost stud LT Jake Olson for the rest of the 2015 season and all of last season as well . Since that time the team has gone through a plethora of International players trying to replace Olson with not much success . Players such as Brian Simmons , Jeremy Lewis , Terrence Campbell , Joel Figueroa , Cord Howard , Marc Dile…and guess what ? with the exception of Lewis (who is at best barely adequate to say the least ) none of these guys are still here and why is that ? because in spite of being so called superior American players none of them were good enough !!!

So let’s just cut to the chase here Jim , we all know you hate the ratio , hate Canadian players , would love to see a CFL full of nothing but American born players and hey you’ve even mentioned on a number of occasions about how we should go from having 3 downs to 4 downs . I tell ya what Jim you want to see football played with 4 downs and by Americans than there’s a league you might like called the NFL . A league by the way that if you pay attention has starting QB’s going down with injuries every year at an alarming rate playing behind O-Lines consisting pretty much exclusively of so called superior American players .

It is a great post bobo. Well done! :thup:

Once we draft Vandervoort at #4 pick and Fantuz re-signs with us we will be set at REC
I expect/hope an OL to be picked with our 2nd round pick(13th ovr) to add to our NAT depth on the line
Then pile on with LB's and DB's to strengthen our ST's

May 7th is Draft Day

I agree with Pat, FenderGuy and others re bobo's excellent contributions.

I'm most concerned at this stage to find a punter and a kicker. We have zero right now.

I personally feel that the 3 nationals of Revenberg, Filer & Bomben are amongst the best interior trio if not the actual best 3 inside offensive linemen in the league. Other GM's would gladly have any one of them on their roster. They are all fairly young with Bomben being the oldest at 29. Bomben & Revenberg can kick out to tackle if need be due to injury or performance issue of one of the international OT's during a game. Revenberg can also play centre in a pinch.

As mentioned, with Olson coming back & Fulton being resigned those are your projected INT OT Starters. A battle between veteran Lewis and newcomer Bunche for the backup. The TiCats, and for that matter most every team rarely retains much more than 2 INT Olinemen on their active roster. Maybe stash a 3rd or 4th on the game day reserve or 1 game IR or PR, but you simply cannot dress 1 let alone 2 extra backup INT OL due to the not only ratio but primarily special teams duties! These guys can't contribute elsewhere and if you dress them you're basically wasting a roster spot that day.

From Drew Edwards at 3DownNation in his preview of TiCat Mini Camp which starts tomorrow through Thursday:

"One of those vacant positions is undoubtedly kicker and the Ticats are expected to have at least six players at mini-camp hoping to impress Austin and new special teams coordinator Dennis McKnight. Jordan Gay, who served as a kickoff specialist for 33 games over three seasons with Buffalo Bills before being released last December, will be among them. So will Sergio Castillo, who was originally signed by the Ticats before seeing limited time with Winnipeg and Ottawa the last two seasons."
[url=http://3downnation.com/2017/04/19/ticats-holding-evaluation-session-mini-camp/]http://3downnation.com/2017/04/19/ticat ... mini-camp/[/url]

Good to hear, FenderGuy. Thanks for info. I hope there are some decent choices among them.

Well said!! :thup: :thup:
I’m really tired of every thread talking about any player always becomes a ratio rant by a very, very few posters. You guys know who you are…get the freakin’ h€ll over it…not gonna happen…in fact let’s up the National number!!! Just to pi$$ you off :rockin:

Here is a great youtube collage of Castillo’s FG’s, KO’s and punts while he was with the Bummers and Rubbies

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CA7SxJoo5e0

Marsh ?Verified account @TSN_Marsh 16m16 minutes ago
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Replying to @TSN_Marsh
#Ticats GM Eric Tilman says the team plans to add a couple more offensive tackles and a few defensive backs before training camp opens. #CFL

:D

Here is an interesting late add to the upcoming draft

Game-changing linebacker late add to CFL draft

At UCLA’s pro day the 22-year-old measured six-foot-one and weighed 220-pounds then performed, running a 4.50 40-yard time, 6.69 3-cone, 10-foot, one-inch broad jump, 36.5-inch vertical leap and 19 reps of 225 pounds on the bench press.

That 40 time would be the fastest 40 in the draft and he is a LB! :rockin:

[i]“He’s going to be a guy that teams fall in love with once you get him because of how he understands and embraces his role,? White says. “At the next level that’s what it becomes: you have to be a star in your role and he’s every bit of that. He’s going to compete, know what to do and execute at a high level.?

White coached four-time CFL all-star linebacker Adam Bighill at Central Washington.

“Cam is every bit as good as Adam who was more of a natural, instinctive player, but physically Cam is better, he’s bigger, faster and more athletic. That’s where they’re most different,? White explains. “Cam has a lot of upside and he’s the better athlete of the two. He could go to the CFL and have a big-time career.[/i]

Lots more here

[url=http://3downnation.com/2017/04/26/game-changing-linebacker-late-add-to-cfl-draft/]http://3downnation.com/2017/04/26/game- ... cfl-draft/[/url]

Hopefully this addition to the draft increases the odds that a certain MAC receiver is available to us @ 4