Henry Burris Contract Status

Hanks Contract expires at the end of this season. :frowning:
He has said he wants to play another few years, next season he will be 39 yrs old.
That is a very fit and athletic 39 yrs old,
His stats from last season and so far this season show that he is still one of the best QB's in the league.
My personal feelings are that I want him re-signed!
He has shown he has a history of working with younger QB's, Tate in Cal. and our own LeFevour.
Opening Tim Horton's Field next season without Hank leading this team is unimaginable to me
and would be a huge mistake IMHO.

From Drew Edwards,

Meanwhile, Burris is a free agent after this season and will be 39 years old when 2014 begins but says he wants to play a few more seasons.

ā€œWe'll get something worked out. Hamilton has done a lot for me and I'm a Ticat. This is where I want to be,? Burris said. ā€œI have a contract and I'm just enjoying playing the game because I don't know how many more years I have left.?

Will Young, Austin et al. protect Burris for the upcoming expansion draft?

I really hope he comes back :thup:

8) I am sure that the reason Austin is now inserting LeFevour into the games with certain packaged plays, is to actually get
  a good look at him under game conditions !!

  If LeFevour continues to impress the coaching staff with his play, and even shows improvement through this season, 
  then it would be foolish not to protect him in the upcoming draft !!

   He is quite possibly the QB of the future for the TiCats, and I would certainly want to protect him, draft wise, over
   a 39 year old QB !!

    If we can retain them both, then that is even better, at this point in time.

     We will see how this situation transpires throughout this season, and that end result will give the Cats a better idea
      of what to do before the draft !!

Almost verbatim what he said to Roughrider fans LOL !

Have you got a link to that HfxTC?

Nope, but Iā€™m sure some Rider fan will fill in the blanks, theyā€™ve hounded him for years and still do.

I have zero doubts in my mind Ottawa wants to grab a veteran QB and a prospect QB in the upcoming draft, and given that the draft itself seems catered to these choices (two QB picks only) hereā€™s my take.

If Henry Burris, Kevin Glenn and are Buck Pierce is available (and really the only Vet QBs that could be, baring a major controversy) I will take Henry Burris, for three years all day long especially if Iā€™m chasing him with a solid prospect. Conversely if I want a prospect, and Zach Collaros, Bo Levi Mitchell, Drew Willy and Dan LeFevour are available, thatā€™s a much harder choice. Burris should be the one to protect.

Absolutely. Winnipeg and possibly Edmonton and Montreal could be interested as well. Factor in that Tillman has shows more than once that heā€™s not willing to pay market price for a starting QB and you kind of get where this could be heading.

If heā€™s a free agent they canā€™t protect him, they will only protect signed players. Free agency means free to talk and sign with the team that makes the best offer.
Ottawa could sign him if they are thinking that they want a proven veteran to give them a chance from day one. If they do sign a free agent they can still take 2 unprotected QBs in the expansion draft. My guess is that Ottawa will sign Glenn under free agency and then take Willy and one of the other top backups. They may not be able to afford all three but they will have excellent trade bait.

If he is unprotected, the Redblacks will take Collaros, in my opinion. He appears to be just as good at managing an offence as Willy and Levi-Mitchell, but has much better athleticism in terms of escapability/elusiveness in the pocket, which is a skill that an expeansion team will need in their starting QB (their O-Line will lack talent and chemistry compared to established CFL clubs).

very true, which is why it may be wise for the Cats to sign Burris to an extension before free agency (if he is receptive) as Lefevour is as yet still unproven, and could be a disaster in the newly christened stadium if he were to be thrown to the wolves without discernible live reps.

and at the moment, Collaros, Mitchell and Willy are ahead of Lefevour in the expansion sweepstakes thus unlikely for him to be scooped by Ottawa unless something dramatic occurs in the near future to upgrade his stock.

Yes thatā€™s true but if they get Glenn or Burris under free agency they could take Willy, Collaras. Having Collarus and Willy to backup Glenn or Burris would give them a strong QB trio. I think Burris would demand a lot more money under free agency and they could get Glenn cheaper and I think Burris would want to stay anf finish in Hamilton on a high note.

Actually I think they can protect free agents, but that would be a stupid gamble IMO.

Guaranteed he will be open air for Ottawa just going by the way the Ticats treat "the boys who got them there " $ salary dump # what ? :roll: :thdn:

Chronology really matters here. The draft is Dec 16, and the free agency window wonā€™t open until February 2014. So Ottawa canā€™t exactly plan its draft strategy around its free agency signings.

In some ways that timing benefits existing teams. For example, the Ticats could leave Burris unsigned through December, making him a risky draft pick because thereā€™d be no guarantee Ottawa could re-sign him. We could then sign him to an extension prior to the free agency window, keeping both Burris and LeFevour. (As long as Burris is OK with this strategy and doesnā€™t take offence.)

The aspect of the draft timing that benefits Ottawa is that they will know exactly what their gaps are when free agency begins.

Please correct me if I am wrong,

If Burris got claimed in the expansion draft in Dec, would he not then become property of Ottawa and his neg. rights would be owned by Ottawa.
At that point Hamilton could not negotiate an extension, only Ottawa could.
If Hank would not sign an extension and became a Free Agent then he would be able to negotiate with any CFL team looking for an outstanding QB.
As a Free Agent, Montreal, Winnipeg, Hamilton, Ottawa, Edmonton would all be interested in Burris.

IMHO I would like to see Burris sign an extension of a 2+1 and be protected in the draft.
This would have him under contact to 2016, the year Hamilton hosts the Grey Cup.

7. The succession of Grey Cup host cities for the next four years is: Regina (2013), Vancouver (2014), Winnipeg (2015), Hamilton (2016) and Ottawa (2017). That means the succession for Congress is the same because itā€™s always held in the Grey Cup host city. This list is subject to change of course, due to stadium availability. As we all know Winnipeg was supposed to get the 2014 Grey Cup but their stadium is too far behind. What a mess.

[url=http://www.rodpedersen.com/2013/03/friday-rodservations.html]http://www.rodpedersen.com/2013/03/frid ... tions.html[/url]

I havenā€™t heard how the CFL is going to deal with the expansion draft and free agency. My guess is that Ottawa will stay away from free agents in the draft but then they will be allowed to negotiate with all the free agents in Feb just like all the other teams.

wonder how it work if teams "CUT" wink wink nudge nudge a player before the expansion draft to save themselves from protecting said player.... and then re-signed them shortly thereafter

All the other teams would be allowed to claim them off waivers

In my view, Ottawa would be crazy to use one of their two QB picks on a guy who is set to become a free agent in two months. What possible reason would that player (e.g. Burris) have to extend with Ottawa rather than testing the free agency waters? It would be a crazy risk for Ottawa, and the opportunity cost (i.e. the possibility of drafting a QB who will be under contract) would be too great.