Fair enough
Time to face the facts that we are the laughing stock of the CFL.
Can we consider this the delayed hangover from the Grey Cup win? You guys went over cap that year, I believe, to win the Cup, and Taman has never been good at retaining national talent or keeping the cupboard full.
2 years ago over the cap by a few bucks yes…and yes, the backloaded contracts are definitely a factor in it all…everyone knew, or should have know, that with all of the rental players brought in for the home cup run there was going to be some pain…I think what makes it hard are 2 things:
1 - The team started out very well last year and has tanked since…if they had started out like this last year most would have said ‘cost of going all in,’ but the hot start made a lot higher expectations
2 - While the O struggled last season the D kept them in a lot of games…the collective brass decided to axe the architect of that D and it has been crap since…that is a lot of egg on faces…they own it
As far as NI talent, my biggest concern is not as much so losing people…they made some decisions on a couple of guys who wanted big bucks and that is not where they wanted to put their money…I can respect that. My issue is building up talent at DE to back a very solid DE who happens to be Canadian and is playing for a reasonable contract then flushing the whole idea away…trading him for a position that a serviceable guy should be VERY easy to find (imagine last year’s D with a respectable MLB like Doughty…who is not top end but at least does not need guys covering his area)…then basically going to a NI DT and squandering the talent you have built up at NI DE…that is very very very concerning long term planning
Yeah, the lack of planning on national deployment is concerning. Foley-Emry in hindsight was a brutal trade. Quality mike backers are WAY easier to find than quality DEs and if you've got a national at the latter position you hang on to him like grim death. Ditching Hall as DC looks pretty silly now too. Having said all that, if Durant doesn't go down in the first game of the year, who knows what happens? The team might be 1-5 or 2-4 and then nobody is pushing any panic buttons.
I can’t entirely agree on the DD thing…sure…maybe…but Glenn was doing very well overall. Does DD do better…maybe, maybe not…Glenn has a way faster release than DD so might fit this O better…hard to say really. A couple costly passes aside, no real complaint about Glenn
I wanted the Emry thing to be good…I really did…but the thing that sucks is that Foley loved being in Sask…he is admittedly surprised how much he liked it and wanted to stay…he was a vocal leader as well…I understand that they needed to do something after busting on MLB, but my god…if you can’t find someone via overpaying free agency or a a US scout…that says a lot about their system
Yeah, I’m just playing what-if. I don’t think Glenn was a big drop-off, he was playing well.
I understand that they needed to do something after busting on MLB, but my god...if you can't find someone via overpaying free agency or a a US scout...that says a lot about their systemNo reason to give up assets for a mike backer when you can throw a stone and hit 5 solid enough guys from the US who can do the job. I agree that it says a lot about Taman as a recruiter that they felt they had to sacrifice Foley just to plug the MLB hole. You also have to know when to grab a guy and when you're throwing money at someone's legacy rather than what they can offer in the here and now. Emry's peak years were in Montreal and he's been a shadow of his former self since then...
Even if Emry was at his peak...200k for a MLB...no thanks ...140...sure
You can pay 150 and have a superb Import
You can pay 100 and have a good import
You can pay 80 and have a serviceable import
Yep. That was a ridiculous Barker contract that Taman made the mistake of taking on. We’re playing a 22-year-old league rookie (Elsworth) because Bear Woods is done for the season and there has been no drop-off.
In hindsight? I’m boldly on record the moment that it happened it was a brutal trade!
DD is easily better than KG. Look at the picks that Glenn throws. Thise are the dumbass forced throws that DD USED TO throw 4 or 5 years ago that he was so heavily criticized for. He doesn’t make those errors anymore or at least maybe once every 3 or 4 games rather than once or twice every game. On multiple occasions the past 3 years DD has gone 4 or 5 games without a pick. KG has huge numbers this year because they run a fast paced offense with lots of snaps, chips away tons of first downs and doesn’t score. His short and intermediate throws are not as good as everyone says, his receivers have bailed him out many times. And finally DD’s deep all IS WAAAAAYYYY better than KG’s. KG has put the deep ball on the wrong shoulder several times this year, not to mention many over and under throws. The vertical game is MILES better with DD throwing.
Durant is MUCH better QB than Glenn.
As for the Emry thing, totally agree. Scouts should have had enough decent talent to fill the hole cheap. Taman should know that the scouts had failed and should know that he didn’t need to f up the NATs on the depth chart to gamble on a high priced guy coming off easily his worst season ever. Taman let the media and fans make that trade. Inexcusable.
Exactly! I’ve been saying this all along. I was saying it when fans and media were yelling their head off for a MLB while at the same time praising Craig Smith for being such a wonderful scout.
Finding LBs when Tillman was in charge was never a problem. When Shivers was here we were tripping over LBs in the hallways. No excuse for that Kilgore garbage last year - OR THIS TRADE!
I didn’t like the trade when it happened either but I’m not a Rider fan, so I didn’t want to offend anyone by coming down too hard on it at the time. I’m an Als fan and had a chance to see Emry in action for many years. Good player who had some great seasons but concussions had taken their toll when he signed in Toronto. We made him a good offer but he went for absolute top dollar with Barker, and the chance to be reunited with Tim Burke. It backfired for him in a big way.
MLB is a position where IF you can start a national without breaking your bank / SMS and you don’t have to give up assets, you do it. We drafted Emry and he filled the spot left by Reggie Hunt very nicely for five years. But we went right back to playing an international at that position when he left and haven’t had any problems. Woods was the east division’s top defensive player last year and Elsworth is playing lights out this year. If the system is right and your scouting is up to par, you should be able to find and plug in good MLBs without too much trouble.
Preaching to the converted my friend. :thup: