Elks trade Trevor Harris to MTL

Harris to Als

Harris currently has another year left on his contract which runs through next season. He is scheduled for a $300,000 roster bonus on February 1, 2022 as part of his $550,000 compensation for next year — if needed the agreement can be renegotiated in various ways with a new team.

3 Likes

Edmonton wins this trade.

2 Likes

Elks unloaded a HUGE salary and a player they were going to drop in the offseason anyway. That’s rebuilding 101. They got something for nothing while Montreal got a QB that may or may not be damaged goods. Montreal rolled the dice like Winnipeg did in 2019 with Collaros.

Good luck to Montreal and Trevor Harris. For the sake of the league I hope something special happens here. :smiley: :+1:

3 Likes

Good move by Edmonton!!!

1 Like

Edmonton is officially in shambles. Sunderland stands back and allows his head coach to scapegoat his all-star QB out of town. Harris had nothing to do with the inconsistent running game, the 'culture fit' roster moves and the dumpster fire special teams (another blocked punt this week). When you skin one of your coaches alive on national TV no wonder everyone in the locker room is playing scared. You can't focus on your assignment when you have one eye always over your shoulder. Instead of leading his team through a funk (which he himself created) Elizondo covers his ass by slitting throats.

Make no mistake, Harris was not traded to improve the team, he was shown the door because Elizondo is panicking at 2-8 and Sunderland is sitting back and letting him.

2 Likes

Good move for both teams. Rebuild in Edmonton with money to play with. Bit of a gamble for Montreal. Not sold on Harris’ leadership abilities but his presence might be enough to push the ALS higher this year. Would like to see shiltz run with the offense and develop

2 Likes

Elks officially in sell mode. They got fortunate that VA got hurt.

I don't think the salary going over is a big deal.

Now let's see what kind of buyer's market is left for Arbuckle

That Cornelius kid nearly beat the Bombers. I know it's not saying much but he has a rocket of an arm. Needs to be in the right environment though.

1 Like

The move is pointless for Edmonton so long as Brock and Jaime are running things. They could find some of Warren Moon’s DNA in the locker room to clone him and will still never win.

1 Like

Harris is not an ALLSTAR or even close to it. What Edmonton did in the past, was to bring young QB talent, into the league and rejected cast-off QB’s. Smart, smart move Edmonton.

1 Like

Disagree. Edmonton hasn’t made a smart move all year.

Harris IS an all-star QB, proven many times. He puts up huge numbers and wins games every year. He threw for 4000 yards last season in Edmonton in only 13 games.

3 Likes

I am not a Trevor Harris fan, but to me both teams did well here. Edmonton clearly wanted to unload Harris and his salary, and they aren't playoff-bound this year so it's rebuild team. They get a good defensive end to help them rebuild. I don't know why they gave up on Harris, but they didn't trade him for a bag of footballs. They got value.

Montreal acquired a veteran, proven QB with talent in a year when Vernon Adams is on the 6-game and the current starter (Shiltz) is still very green. They are still in the mix for a playoff spot, so this trade makes sense. They can also release Harris in the offseason if he doesn't perform or if cap issues make it necessary. Simmons is a good player, but our D-line has been ferocious without him in the lineup, so the timing was good.

2 Likes

This is one point where I disagree. Edmonton lost this trade hard. No disrespect to Simmons at all, but even if the Elks are rebuilding, the first place you look at is QB. You may not be a Harris fan but he is a proven winning QB who has put up big numbers every year so they already have that QB under contract for another season: Harris.

If this is really a salary dump then they should ask him to restructure. Maybe they did and he refused but if that was the case then it would almost certainly be because he didn’t like the situation there (and we can all see why) as most QBs are happy to restructure if it keeps them in a good place. Also, this is the contract that Sunderland himself wrote back in 2019 so to dump it now means that he is bailing on his own plans.

And lastly, if this move is for rebuilding, the rebuild would be handled by the same crew (Elizondo/Sunderland) that wrecked the competitive roster that was already there. I would not trust such hands with any rebuild nor give them the chance. The better move would have been to replace the coach and improve the morale of the room which Elizondo seems to have decimated single-handedly.

For Edmonton’s part, this is nothing but pure knee-jerk ass-covering panic. The worst move possible. :-1:

Montreal on the other hand moved in to vulture the spoils of a dead carcass. Great job. :+1:

Well, you clearly know Edmonton’s situation better than I do, so I’ll defer to your judgment there, but at least they got a good defensive end in the deal. DE isn’t a throwaway position in this league or any league. On their motivations and the ass-covering, I agree with you. Actually I’m quite surprised to see them pull the trigger on this deal. But if you disregard the wisdom of trading Harris, what they got for him really isn’t bad at all. Or, to put it another way: could they have gotten a better deal with another team? I don’t think they could have TBH.

Oh don’t get me wrong, if Edmonton was truly in a remodel phase, say an aging roster slowly slipping, this trade would have been pretty good as it’s tough to get good value in return when you are the active shopper. Simmons is a good player that can contribute no doubt. Although I’m unaware of Simmons’ contract status. I would assume that he is not a pending FA this winter. I would be shocked if he was, cause then it really would be bad for the Elks.

But they shouldn’t be in retool/rebuild mode, or at least if they are it’s by their own ineptitude.

1 Like

What this trade primarily tells me is the injury to VAJ is far more serious than first expected. If VA was only going to be out 2 or 3 games I think they would've easily hobbled along with Schiltz. If VA is down for 6, maybe more - THATS THE SEASON. You can't leave yourself exposed like that.
Only reason Edmonton got a decent player for Harris is there musta been more than 1 feeler for Mr. Harris. I suspect Winnipeg was lurking in the background and The Als told Brock/Jaime that you should cough up a player in order to be considered.

Regarding MTL, some posters are saying pressure is on Shiltz, but what happens regarding Shea Patterson?

It Montreal can seal a playoff spot with a few games left, do we see Patterson get game time to gain experience and have the potential risky scenario of Patterson and Shiltz as the QB pair with Adams on the trade block?

The idea being they'd both be on cheap contracts so money can be spent improving the rest of the team rather than one QB taking a huge chunk of the cap.

Nope.

Barring injury Shiltz and Harris will be taking all of the remaining snaps for Montreal this year, even if they clinch a spot, which is very unlikely in such a tight race and only 5 games left.

1 Like

Vernon Adams went on the six-game last week. That’s why this trade happened.

1 Like

Question for me is what's the long term plan in Montreal? Do they offload Adams Jr now in the offseason? Can't imagine they have the cap space for both