Free Agents

With 16 free agents those changes will be impossible to avoid. Kornegay, Cates, Stevie Baggs, Marcus Adams, Eddie Davis, Steven Jyles, Omarr Morgan and Chris Szarka are among the big name free agents

I for one didnt realize we had this many free agents again.

Tough decisions in riderville again.

Rumours Eddie may retire but wouldnt be hard to after the way this grey cup ended.

My opinion is

Jyles doesnt get resigned (lots of prospects need to play)
Szarka retires to office
Kornegay yes
Davis yes
Morgan yes

Baggs ??
Will his ego get in the way, we all know he was pissed about not getting def nod for team
Adams did ok
Cates, I love the guy but maybe time for younger legs

But obvious it depends how much players want for salaries

Hopefully, this ends up being the silver lining to losing Lloyd and Mckenzie last year. I don't think teams will be as willing to fork out the cash on Baggs and Kornegay the way the money was flying around last free agent period. The guys that left proved that they are more a product of a system than an individual that can revamp your defence by themselves. If they want to be here I am sure they will be offered comparable $$$ to what anyone else would give them, but I would think you can look for all the West teams to show some interest, as much as to have them as to break up a divisional rival. All it takes is one "unnamed source " to express interest in the media and all signings are off until after Feb. 15 or whatever the date is.

I hope we resign baggs, adams, kornegay, morgan, davis (if he doesn’t retire), szarka (if he doesn’t retire), Maybe make a trade for jyles if possible although I do like his skill level and wouldn’t mind keeping him around but I do want to see graham harrell, Cates has to stay its was obvious he still has the skill level in the grey cup it was the play calling all year

Well, does anyone think it might be worth it to say goodbye to Cates since we have Charles,Foord, and Hughs? just a thought.

Also if Stevie Baggs go's to Edmonton I will.... well i won't be happy!!!!lol

I don’t think he’ll be coming off an injury this off season for the first time since joining the Riders, I say you give him the chance to win a spot in training camp, we didn’t see the best Wes Cates this year.

If we sign Szarka, then Cates is probably gone if not then I can see Cates back in green and white next year. Neil Hughes can play either fullback or half back so whatever way we go is a toss up. Eddie Davis will retire. Omar Morgan still has some left in him although he got picked on with the deep ball all year. Jyles, I could really care less. Fantuz will try out in the NFL. Hopefully he stays true to his word and comes back if he doesnt make the NFL. Stevie Baggs is a good player, but if his ego gets in the way then he can easily be replaced. We have to re-sign Kornegay to keep some young legs in our secondary.

Jyles has to be gone
I realize having 0 experience at backup is risky
but if Ottawa does come in the league soon
WE have to find out Bell talent (little disappointed so far)
and Harrell is here for only 1 more year (contract wise)

there's a lot of important decisions to make. we have a lot of talent that we can trade away too.

I heard, not sure from where, that although Fantuz is great up here he’s just not good enough for the NFL. I think it was something about his size. I know he’s a big kid but players in the same position in the NFL are bigger.

I agree sparky. I dont know if Fantuz is fast enough to play in the NFL. I wish him all the best however if he tries out.

Kornegay, Cates, Stevie Baggs, Marcus Adams, Eddie Davis, Omarr Morgan need to come back. I really don't think Eddie Davis wants to go out like that.

Fantuz prob won't get too far inthe NFL. I don't mean that as an insult, he's just a really good route runner, but not all that fast. He's made for the Canadain game, not the American.

I've also heard a rumor that Reynolds wants out of calgary. If this is true, you think we make a move for him and let Cates go????

Szarka is a fullback so signing him has little to do with Cates returning! I’m a Neil Hughes fan but he is not an elite running back in the CFL. We need Cates and I believe it will be high on the Riders agenda to re-sign him. He had good rushing numbers in the Grey Cup against the best defense in the CFL The leadership that Cates brings to the locker room along with his pass catching and pass blocking ability make him a must sign. I look for him to have a much better campaign in 2010.

The Seattle seahawks placed Tyler Roehl on the waive/injured list so Tillman may be able to convince him to come to the CFL. Roehl is on the Riders’ neg list and is a powerful (30 reps at 225 lbs.) fullback with good speed (4.53 in the 40) along with good hands and good blocking skills. If E.T. can sign him Szarka may be asked to retire.

Age is catching up with Davis and Morgan and they had their lunch eaten a few times this year. I think it’s about 50/50 for them to be re-signed. E.T. may take a page from Trestman’s book and go see if there are a couple more guys like Parker and Brown who are available.

I think the Riders will make a sincere effert to re-sign Jyles as Miller is very high on him. I guess it will probablly come down to whether or not Jyles is willing to continue in his role as a back-up.

Even if Fantuz does get an NFL tryout I’m willing to bet he will be back. I just don’t think he has the neccessary speed to make it south of the border. He has committed to the Riders so if comes back to the CFL he is obliged to play for the Riders.

I really can’t understand the negative comments from some fans regarding Stevie Baggs. The guy has demonstrated time and again that he is a team player and I see nothing that would lead me to believe that he is selfish or has an ego problem. We all know this started when he was passed over as an all-star nominee and he questioned the media who (along with the head coaches) make the selections. There is no denying the fact that he had a better year than Chick yet everytime he was asked about it he took the time to congratulate Chick. Give the guy a break! I totally disagree with the statement “he can easily be replaced”. Guys with Baggs attitude and ability don’t come alomg every day.

Re-signing Kornegay is probablly a good idea but he played at linebacker and not in the secondary for most of the year.

The real question is how close are we to the cap and how many of those players would be looking for significant increases? If we can sign the majority for small or no raises and if one or two (Davis and Szarka?) retire, we should be able, financially, to afford to retain most of them.

Marcus Adams l DT - wants to stay. Solid player. Small raise
Stevie Baggs l DE - this one will take some extra cash to sign - only significant raise
Chris Best LG - ???
Wes Cates l RB - injury plagued year - nominal increase if any
Hugh Charles l RB - status quo or released if we keep Cates, Foord and Hughes
Eddie Davis l DB - retiring? If not, no reason for an increase
Stu Foord RB - showed flashes but there won't be much interest from other teams.
Jocelyn Frenette LS - ?????
Steven Jyles l QB - status quo
Tad Kornegay l LB - small raise
Omarr Morgan l CB - status quo - decent year but getting old and odds are he is already well-paid
Luc Mullinder DE - Nice player to have so a small raise
Marc Parenteau RG - ?????
James Patrick l S - solid but not spectacular. status quo
Chris Szarka FB - retires in offseason
Gerran Walker l WR - status quo - nice receiver but we have extensive depth at the position

Question marks by the linemen because in all honesty I do not know where they all grade out and what their values would be.

"The real question is how close are we to the cap and how many of those players would be looking for significant increases? If we can sign the majority for small or no raises and if one or two (Davis and Szarka?) retire, we should be able, financially, to afford to retain most of them".

Good point! Especially when you consider E.T. is probablly going to have to offer Durant a raise for the 2010 season. Even though Durant has stated that he intends to honour his contract.

On the Steve Baggs negative things, from what I understood, he was upset for not being nominated by Miller for defensive player of the year award, considering his contributions. I don't think he was slagging Chick, I think he was just disappointed with that one situation. I wasn't aware of any other situations, I had to agree that Baggs had a right to be upset, but Chick was probably equally deserving. Tough call.

From what I heard, Durant did quite well with bonuses and such. I doubt they have to give him anything right now. He might even want to have another year to raise his stock even more.

As for the point about cap room, I have heard that the Riders have a fair amount of wiggle room this year.

He will get like no interest I’m thinking in all honesty.