Kevin Elliott signs with TiCats and Sinkfield news

Receiver Kevin Elliott to return to Ticats

[i]The Hamilton Tiger-Cats have agreed to terms with receiver Kevin Elliott, per sources.

The 28-year-old Elliott originally signed with the Ticats last October after being unexpectedly released from the Toronto Argonauts along with three other receivers.

In 11 games played (three with Hamilton, eight with Toronto) Elliott had 38 catches for 514 yards and three touchdowns. He posted 50 catches, 642 yards and eight touchdowns for Toronto in 2015.

Elliott hit the free agent market in February but returns to Hamilton where he’ll join an increasingly deep American receiving corps that includes Luke Tasker, the recently re-signed Terrence Toliver, Brian Tyms as well as veteran Junior Collins and frequent contributor Brandon Banks. Receiver Terrell Sinkfield has reportedly agreed to a contract in principle to return to the Ticats but has until April to take advantage an NFL opportunity, should one materialize.[/i]

[url=http://3downnation.com/2017/02/26/receiver-kevin-elliott-return-ticats/]http://3downnation.com/2017/02/26/recei ... rn-ticats/[/url]

I'm very happy to hear this. Elliott impressed me last year. He is a very reliable, dangerous weapon.

Hopefully we sign Chiles, too, for added depth in case of injury.

With Elliott re-signed, I hope they add T. Gurley as well.

With Elliot and Sinkfield added to Tasker, Tolliver, Tyms, Watt, and Banks, plus young NAT players Uren and Mike Jones Hopefully Fantuz gets signed, I would think our REC are set

QB - set
Oline - set
REC -set
DB's set
Dline - 3 of 4
LB's - 2 of 3
RB - set
K - ???

Love this signing. Our receivers are really starting to look good. When Sink signs if he stays up here we will have the best unit in the CFL.

There you go. Our castoffs are going to Toronto and in return we're signing theirs. With all of the ex- Argos maybe the Cats will go 5-13 then this season like last year's Argos. :stuck_out_tongue:

Seriously though, great receivers are nice but Austin needs to build a solid O-line otherwise those guys will just be watching Zach scramble for his life.

I think it's a good bet that the Cats will plan to have only one receiver spot allocated to a Canadian this year. So where do they allocate another Canadian to keep the ratio happy, right tackle?

Right O tackle is a possibility for a Canadian. Perhaps the D goes with Canadians at safety (Daly, Langa), linebacker (Butler,Shortill), corner (Stephen, a guy named who), D tackles (Laurent, Atkinson, Gill, Cleyon Laing, or a guy named who).

I’d love to see 9 starting Canadians and the added flexibility that would give to the ratio. :smiley: The draft may yield another gem like Revenberg. Here’s hoping!

Pat Lynch (the old guy)

Probably the one Canadian receiver spot will be Watt backed up by Aprile, Uren & Jones.
The priority for most teams again this year at the draft will be the Canadian O lineman, then the special teams and back up receivers. Looking at the draft from last year, most of the players selected were not starters so the chance of getting another starting O lineman is pretty small.

I wouldn’t say it’s a good bet at all . I can see the Cats easily going with a 5 american set at receiver this season , especially if Sinkfield comes back. To be honest our Canadian contingent of receivers as it stands right now is sorely lacking and leaves a lot to be desired in depth, experience and production with Fantuz unsigned at the moment. Spencer Watt has the most experience and had the most production out of our nationals but while he played in all 18 games last year he had only 21 receptions for only 211 yds last season. As for the rest last year , not very much , if any production at all from the likes of Aprile (8 gp , 0 rec / 0 yds ) Jones ( 8 gp , 2 rec / 27 yds )and Uren (1gp / 0 rec / 0 yds).

Aprile as it stands right now is going into his 4th season with the team and IF and it’s a big IF he can actually catch a pass this season it will be the first catch of his career. Jones and Uren are both only heading into their 2nd seasons and clearly aren’t ready or developed at this stage of their careers to step in if you start Watt and he goes down to an injury. Basically what I’m saying in a nutshell is there is just too much of a liability in starting Watt this season with no viable back-up Cdn replacements available in case of injury with the 3 other Cdns currently on the roster.

I can see the team re-figuring their ratio this season without Fantuz available to enable them to utilize 5 imports starting at receiver (Toliver / Elliott / Tasker / Tyms / Sinkfield ? fingers crossed )

The team has enough Cdn depth elsewhere on the roster at key positions that we really don’t have to waste one of our 7 Cdn starting spots at receiver this year. Without Fantuz with what we’ve got personnel wise , It’s just too risky , especially with this team’s recent history of injuries . Watt will still be on the active but in a backup reserve capacity only I hope this year.

Starting Canadian position possibilities this season ( * = locks as starters )( p = possible starters )

Offence

C…M. Filer *
LG…B. Revenberg *
RG…R. Bomben*

Defence

DT…T. Laurent *
DT…M. Atkinson (p)
CB… C. Stephan *
S/WLB…C. Butler *
WLB…T.Davis (p)
WLB…N.Shortill (p)
S…M. Daly (p)

dont forget CO Prime at FB, and hopefully we sign Grant Shaw or some other National so we can save a NAT spot in the kicker position

Drafting McMaster REC Danny Vandervoort at #4 or at #13 would address our NAT REC in the long run.
Losing Matt Coates to Free Agency hurt, I still believe Fantuz will be signed by us.
No matter what happens we need to address our NAT Receiver shortage in this years draft

[url=http://www.cfl.ca/2017/01/31/present-meets-past-no-lack-similarities-vandervoort-fantuz/]http://www.cfl.ca/2017/01/31/present-me ... rt-fantuz/[/url]

A Canadian FB and Kicker can be helpful in freeing up roster spots for imports to play other positions, but a Canadian kicker doesn’t change the fact that your offense and defense must combine to have 7 Canadian starters (minimum). And the way the rule works is such that Prime would only help the ratio if we had an offensive system that frequently employed a fullback in the formation. Any time you took Prime off the field, you would be required to put another Canadian in to take his place.

http://www.cfl.ca/game-rule-ratio/

I believe the uncomfortably correct way to phrase this is: “we really don’t have to waste one of our 5 receiver spots on a Canadian”.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

I laughed…but just wanted to say to bobo that Watt was barely thrown to last year, I will defend that man’s season till the cows come home…they never threw it his way, but when they did, he always caught it. That wide side receiver spot can be a death sentence with a bad offensive line who isn’t able to give the quarterback any time.

Justin Dunk?@JDunk12 7m7 minutes ago

One year deal for international receiver Kevin Elliott with Hamilton. #Ticats #CFL

That was quite an interesting article on Vandervoort and Fantuz. Vandervoort must’ve taken being compared to Fantuz as quite a compliment.

And I can see this team drafting Vandervoort, as Ptaszek, who coached Vandervoort at Mac, may want him here.

Anyway, that was some good news regarding two receivers who the neighbours down the QEW were generous enough to let us have. It’s good to have Elliott here if we’ll have four starting American receivers. And I think it would be even better to have Sinkfield back.

Vandervoort has Fantuzian like abilities

Looks like he has speed too in order to get behind coverage like that.
Could be a good pick.

I remember we had this discussion during the season, and the argument that the Cats like to put their Canadian WR at the “Z” position, out in the flat, and then rarely use him. Then, you have other teams, for example, Ottawa, that have four receivers all around or over 1000 yards. To do that, you have throw the ball to all of them, either deep enough to eat up big yards, or open enough to gain them as YAC yards.

It looks like the receiving corp is shaping up with size and speed, now, I suppose, we either need an offensive system to use all receivers and to get the ball out quickly, or strengthen the O-line to create more time so as to target a single receiver. As someone noted, speed in the receivers is not of any use if they are just going to be standing around watching the QB run for his life.

Going to be an interesting first few games!