Lots of football left but to date who are the individual award leaders you think?
Mine:
West:
MOP: Matt Nichols. Very surprising choice for me because I've never really thought of him as elite before. But he's been fantastic.
Top Canadian: Jerome Messam or Andrew Harris. Tough call. But I'd probably say Messam
Top Defensive Player: Very tough call but Ed Gainey. Probably could go to any of 3 Stampeders
Top Rookie: Love the play of Jackson Jeffcoat in Winnipeg. Big, big influence on that defense
East:
MOP: Ricky Ray ( SJ Green?)
Top Canadian: Brad Sinopoli again
Top Defensive Player: I really have no idea. Bear Woods has been solid. So too has old man Kyries Hebert on a terrible team in Montreal. If he played like this on a good team he'd be celebrated this year. Played about 4 positions.
Top Rookie: James Wilder Jr
You?
Edit to add James Wilder Jr.-how could I have missed him??
Could this be the year that Canadians dominate the individual awards?
Alex Singleton appears to be in the running for top defensive player honors, while Andrew Harris should garner serious consideration for Outstanding Player (after getting the nod as outstanding Canadian ).
Ya good points. Singleton. vs Harris vs Messamin the West for top Canadian is very likely. And he could easily be the choice for top defensive player too. I love watching him play. In many ways it is the year of the Canadian.
At this point Nichols has overtaken Mike Reilly - but can't forget about Bullee Mitchell, he's always in consideration. Guess it boils down to how the final 3rd of season shakes down.
As for western rookies - I'll defer to Jethro Jeffcoat as well. The CIS kid, Dariuz Bladek in Sask'n would be the next to consider. None of the new WR drafts have shown much which is surprising!
Woods has been very good and will likely be Toronto's nominee for MODP, but a strong case can also be made for Marcus Ball and Victor Butler. The latter was on a hellacious sack pace but an injury cost him six games. Yet he's still at or near the top of the sack stats.
I honestly don't think there is a passer in the league more accurate than Nichols (maybe Reilly?), though if there are stats that prove me wrong I'm sure somebody will post them
He gets my vote. Fantastic player and an obvious reason why the Bombers don't suck this year.
