Hello, Gregor MacKellar. Welcome to the CFL. Apparently, Argos’ coach Ryan Dinwiddie is serious about wanting to go lobster fishing with you sometime.
Pretty good compliment on Tre Ford by Jones saying he was the best athlete in the draft .
Exactly. Hamilton's retooling things a bit to make a run for all the marbles this year while Ottawa's almost starting from scratch just to be in the conversation by the end of the season. Hence the reason why Orlondo Steinauer went after the best 'game ready' players to make his team better NOW while Shawn Burke went after the best 'draft choices' available to make his team better in the LONG RUN.
IMHO both GM's hit the mark.
Absolutely agree. Saxelid is a real catch. When the Elks led the league by a country mile in 2019 in sacks allowed, what's forgotten is LT Rogers was lost for the season before it began, Draheim took over who was injured, then O'Donnell before Saxelid started 6 games, mostly @ LT & played well. Last year, after Rogers, Dennis, Draheim, Kelly, Renfrow & Richards, all tackles, departed for 1 reason or another he started 10 games @ G & both tackle spots. Very underrated player who will most likely be the starting LT there for years. With Washington @ 36, Jones better hope Carter O is coming over by next year.
Hamilton is looking pretty good this year. Top notch D with a scary front 7, excellent DB's. I do think they have some issues on D but 1 seems to be addressed. And Kicker.
The supplemental draft & then training camp. Getting excited. Very hard to handicap a bunch of the teams this year. 
That makes things more interesting. Let's get to it! 
pantsonfire – With Carter O’Donnell still with the Colts this year, he probably hopes to stick on the 53-man roster – otherwise this is the last year he can stay on the Colts practice roster (only 3 years allowed – and this would be his third year). If he doesn’t play this year with the Colts, another NFL team could sign him, however, I would imagine Jones hopes that O’Donnell would rather play full time in the CFL than continue to sit on another team’s practice roster. We’ll likely know by next off-season.
Any thoughts overall on Edmonton’s draft? The Elks have the first pick in the supplemental draft as well, is that right? The way things look this season – I’m hard-pressed to single out any weak team – it’s going to be a competitive year!
Edmonton's roster wasn't all that weak to begin with. The only reason that they sucked last year really was Elizondo, who lost the room in training camp, had a feud with and ran his star QB out of town and made a dog's breakfast of the special teams.
If Edmonton had sent Elizondo packing instead of Harris, and left the roster alone to hand to a half-decent coach they'd be just fine without any real overhaul.
Well it's a pile of bodies now. There's lots of talent for Chris Jones to sort through and build a winner for you guys I'm sure.
Another CFL story that can't be bothered to dig into the motivations of every team equally. You think the Alouettes traded up just to feel the "power" of the move, Landry? Really? If you had paid attention, you would know that linebacker is a significant position of need for the Alouettes, who struggled to replace Henoc Muamba last season with a few nondescript American linebackers. The Als gave up a player who isn't currently with the team and who plays a position of strength for them (OL) to be assured of drafting the best available player in the draft, who also happens to fit their needs to a tee.
Completely agree - prairiedog72 - last season had an ominous start when they hired Elizondo to replace the departed Scott Milanovich. Elizondo stumbled and bumbled his way thru off-season producing IMO a mediocre roster based more on financial decisions rather than football decisions. Loosing the locker room and the trust of his players was the nail in the coffin! RIP 2021 season!
I thought they did well. Lalji commented on the O'Donnell deal & said if a player doesn't make the team off a PR after 3 years, generally he is unlikely to be picked up by another club. So Jones is taking a pretty good gamble. Would he have traded Saxelid if he was unsure? I don't know but guys like Derek Taylor are already scribbling him in @ LT in Hamilton & Ferguson called Hamilton the winner in the draft, solely upon the trade, not because of the few Hamilton draft picks.
Makonzo is IMO a mini-Richards - a DB who can play LB. Jones stated by moving the hashmarks in essence you have 2 SAM's & he looks to be playing Makonzo there. With Morgan on the other side, they'd probably have 2 very active LB's. I like the Ford signing & Jones seems to have some big plans to use him in multiple roles.
Nate Edwards may be the biggest steal in the draft in round 8. He was ranked as high as 18 in the Winter CFL rankings. He was a 1st team OUA ST's All-Star & 2nd team OUA LB All-Star in 2021. Gavin Cobb was ranked 22 on Ferguson's Mock Draft & is a very talented receiver but undersized. The rest are projects although Dominique, a DB, was ranked 31 on Marshall Ferguson's Mock Draft.
IMO the Elks did pretty well. If they land O'Donnell they would have had an excellent draft. If they take Pelley in the Supplemental Draft tomorrow they are getting a player many believe would have been top 3 if he was in the regular draft. That would give them 3 calibre top 10 players this year. That would be a really good haul.
Has Jones bailed on his contract with the Elk yet?
I don't think that restriction is in effect. Teams are now allowed to have up to six players with more than two years' NFL service, which is defined as at least six games (per season) on an active roster. Otherwise, I believe there are no limitations on how many years a player can be on a practice roster.
Hamilton did very well on getting Saxelid & McDonald for a couple of draft picks. It is unlikely any draft picks would be better than getting these 2. But in lauding the TiCats overwhelmingly getting the best deal on this in some quarters, it can't just be based on "2 draft picks" vs 2 ready to play veterans. Those 2 draft picks were, in fact, cashed in for Tre Ford & a LS Adjey, a likely replacement for Rempel. And in moving down to #4, the Elks got the rights to Carter O'Donnell, with an eye probably as a replacement for Saxelid, should he come north. On balance this trade was not as unbalanced as some experts have made it out to be.
Well, Dog, what are your thoughts on Mattland Riley leaning towards retirement? 
OOPS. Mail malfunction.
What happened? I’ve been getting replies timing out and moving to other threads on their own before I post them. Did that happen to you too?
That's okay. At least it wasn't a 'wardrobe' malfunction.
I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that Mattland Riley hates training camp.
If I got a nickel everytime a player in ANY league went into retirement to avoid training camp I'd still be poor but I'd need stronger pockets (nickels aren't worth very much).
Maybe. Its happened twice to me. Thought it was only me.
Thanks. That’s why I asked. Wasn’t sure if it was my phone or a systemic issue. Better for me that it’s systemic and if it’s happening to others presumably they will work on correcting it.