Justin Buren retires

Shocked to see this :o

Wow. That came out of nowhere.

That’s too bad. The kid seemed to have sticky hands and I was looking forward to seeing him develop further. Maybe he got a new career opportunity that was just too good to pass on.

Too bad I thought he showed some promise after his first year in the league. Enter Mark Chapman ?

Someone talk gerbear down off the ledge ::slight_smile:

Well, at least the team has a clearer idea of its needs going into FA. Biggest beneficiary could be Mike Jones, who just became slightly less replaceable.

(Someone should start a Mike Jones thread.)

Buren showed that he could catch some balls, but so can lots of first year Canadian receivers. He’s certainly not irreplaceable.

The Ticats drafted Chapman because they really like how they saw him fit into the run and shoot. I really like Mike Jones, but if he eventually walks to another team in free agency, I bet it will be because we will be bringing in Chapman to replace Jones. I’m sure the Ticats are still in contact with Chapman, and trying to get him up here for the start of the upcoming camp.

June Jones clearly really likes what Chapman brings to the table as a receiver, and June Jones has a lot of influence over personnel decisions on this team.

Winnipeg lost their starting centre to retirement this week . Matthias Goossen is 26 years old and a free agent. Buren was not a free agent but here’s an interesting quote - " It’s much easier to retain your own free agents, particularly the Canadians, where signing your own free agents is much more cost effective than having to go out and bring in Canadian starters. That’s really tough on your salary cap if that’s the way you’re going to go" - Kyle Walters, General Manager, Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

So the Cats are wise to retain Erlington Thomas, Daly, Rice, Jones, Davis, Filer, Faubert Lussier, Mercer Timmis, Justin Vaughn, Courtney Stephen, and Lirim Hajrullahu as starters and skilled backups.

Sometimes retiring is more of a roster move by the club and the player reappears later in the season .

Pat Lynch (the old guy)

This is now Mike Jones. Bet the Cats wished Buren delayed that announcement just a bit until they could reup Jones.

Ha Ha you are correct Count Floyd. I am very disapointed as he looked like a good one smooth with good hands some speed and ran good routes and rareĺy out of sync with Masoli. Can we bring Fantuz back from retirement :slight_smile:

I assume he is likely healthy and he retired very young and he just turned 35 and he might have incentive to be a posession receiver in this fast lethal offence and Orlondo and Condelll are back along with Reimbold and June Jone. If Fantuz and Chapman don’t pan out then I. wonder if we will bite the bullet and outbid and overpay for Jones. I say no. I wonder what the chances of Chapman coming here are ? I know he just backed out of his Salt Lake City contract for personal reasons. He likely has a shot in Denver and he could end up in Hanilton and if he chooses Hamilton but is asking for too much we could always trade his rights if we can’t sigb him.

My world has mot ended.?
I see there are some decent national FA recievers;

Brescacin CGY - looked good last year and would come cheaper than Jones. Good news is that he was born in Missisauga and he was a phenom in high school there. I think he has more upside than jones and will come cheaper Seens like a logical
choice and he is not guaranteed to start in Calgary but likely would start for the cats.

Nik Demski WPG - This guy is the 2knd best national receiver in the CFL.
Will command as much money or more than Jones. He gained 248 yards on the ground last year… He is a gem but too bad he was born in Winnipeg and went to U of Manitoba so I am sure he will want stay at home with family and friends. Darn.

The next two are BC Lions and our 4 new BC coaches will have input on them and they would feel a bit more comfortable

Anthony Parker BC - A veteran receiver at age 29 has spent his entire cateer with BC and hss had multiple good years but not last year. I think our new 4 ex BC coaches will be able to provide input . He is born in Vancouver and has played there his entire CFL career so it would be hard to pry him out of BC

Corey Watson BC '-
He is a tall CFL veteran who is 34 who has had many good seasons . Last year was a good one in his first year in BC I think he was playing over Parker and he went to school and was born in Quebec.

So , I don’t think we have much of a chance lof getting Demski and Parker isn’t as big of a catch and likely would prefer to stay in BC

I think Brescacin would be my first choice because he’d cost less than Jones. He was a high draft pick and he is a local boy who was a phenom in high school

Corey Watson _ BC
would be my 2knd choice ad he is big target and a veteran who has stayed healthy and consistant.

I would try to sign Brescacin at a decent
price as he hasn"t played a full year yet just showed flashes against us in the hanner.

If Chambers is healthy I would sign him for an average contract since he missed all of last year.

So Brescacin and Chambers can battle for the starting national receiver
and we can see if Chapman gives Hamilton a shot at signing him or if Fanruz wants to work out and get in shape and maybe go to thr grey cup in Hamilton in 2020.

Once again it is looking like Allemsng didnt do enough homework and diligence by talking to buren about his hopes and plans for the next 5 years and find out what he is taking in school and make a risk assesment if they feel he could get payed more following his schooling. Also , Allemang could not hsve done his homework to find out his plans and salary expectationsand his zzNFL. aspirations We likely wasted our first round pick in chapnan and we traded national all star guard in Bomben in a trade to get Chapman. Now we lost our nstionsl starting receiver and thitd round pick in Buren

This is a trend we keep seeing. Young athletes putting their non-football life first. Never saw this 10-20 years ago really.

Is this human evolution, or football evolution from a player’s perspective? I say a bit of both.

All the best to Justin!

If you’re not a starter, with some meaningful salary potential, it is probably a prudent decision to put more of your efforts into your future, after sports, career? Unless your boss is a really understanding sort who is willing to carry you as a ‘part-timer’ for six months every year.

The CFL site has the top Free Agent Canadians ranked. Filer is # 6. Hajrullahu is # 8. Mike Jones is #10 and the top receiver ranked. Brescasin is #13 and Demski # 15.

I hope we get Filer, Lirim, and Jones back . You build your team with a strong Canadian base.

Pat Lynch (the old guy)

He was starting late last season. At the X WR spot.

Has there been any word about what he plans to do post-football? Does he have a job lined up or something?

No idea, but he obviously has something lined up that he feels is a better opportunity.

I hear that it’s free! ;D

The way I understand AAF contracts is that they are 3-year deals with a clause that allows players out if they get an NFL opportunity, but not to play in any other league. Chapman signed, last fall, to play for the Salt Lake City team and, later, we learned in January that “he would not be playing for the team, due to personal reasons.” So, I’d say he can’t play here, prior to, at the earliest, the 2021 CFL season, unless he has been, or is at some time, released from his AAF contract.

Looks like Mr. Chapman has painted himself in to a corner?

I like to track “reasons for early retirement” as a kind of barometer for the health of the CFL.

I think CAL lost their backup QB to medical school last year. That sounds like a great choice.

We lost a guy to a firefighter job. Alright, probably a good career. Then CJ Gable had a firefighter opportunity in LA but decided to keep playing. (No idea if FF is as good a career down there.)

If guys start to retire early to work in their dad’s variety store or something, I’d call that a worrying sign.

Or shot himself in the foot?