We got rid of another character guy - first Tad and now Luc. For Dallas Baker - he has 29 yards in receptions this year guys.
WOOO HOO. I think Luc was questioning our defensive strategy and had to go - just a theory. Bad move IMHO>
I am a little suprised because he is a NI, but honestly, something had to give on the line. I kinda figure somebody would be getting moved…Montez has no trade equaty at the moment, George and Williams are doing okay, and Williams is a NI aswell. This may be a sign Hawkins is nearing ready to return, or they have something lined up from an NFL cut. The DE spot is hurting, so honestly, I am not too shocked.
Before anyone goes nuts, think it through…hate to see him go, but one of the deffensive linemen had to be moved.
Looks to me like a good trade for both teams.
Due to injuries, Riders need help in the receiving corps, and Montreal needs help on the defensive line; looks like a win/win to me.
I don’t know about that - Mr. Popp usually comes out on the top of any deal - I think we will probably see the same in this case. An unproven receiver for a proven character guy with bona fide CFL credentials. Maybe we will luck out with Barker and I hope that is the case, but losing the character of Mullinder in the dressing room is one of the intangibles that stats do not give credit for and our team will sorely miss.
I think that earlier, Taman called Popp's bluff. Although the Alouettes took Ryan Lucas off the practice roster, the person they really wanted was probably Luc Mullinder, and Taman knew that. Taman would not demote Mullinder to protect Lucas, thinking that he could work out some kind of a deal for Mullinder, which he has.
The Riders need help at receiver. The injury bug has hit them hard. I am sure that the thought at the start of the season was that Koch and Wheelwright would be starters. Nor could they envision Getzlaf falling into a horrendous slump. The NFL lockout prevented the team from signing anyone else who had any dream whatsoever of an NFL career (until now).
Mullinder was not working out as starter. Although a nice person with an appealing passport in this league, he is most certainly on the downside of his career. Even ET would ship those types out. It is now Shomari William's time to see what he can do as a starter (and he has improved), with Mathieu Boulay as his backup.
Do not worry Rider fans. Unless Fantuz shines on special teams, which he has never played in his career, he will be back. John Chick will be back. I cannot see him sitting yet another year on someone's practice roster, ambulance chasing unless he is in it only for the money and could care less about playing. Brent Hawkins is healing. Dallas Baker was backing up the best set of import receivers in the game in Montreal and has solid NFL experience. I think he will be a dandy. Getzlaf will learn how to hang onto the ball. I am certain that the Riders will pull out of this slump once their receiver situation straightens out. :rockin:
Rob Vanstone in today's Leader Post suggests that the Kornegay and Mullinder moves are soley to create cap room for the return of Chick and Fantuz. Fantuz - we know what we will be paying him if he comes back but Chick is free to go to the highest bidder. Let's hope for our sakes that this gamble pays off.
wow, they're pretty confident that Fantuz is going to get cut!...
I would say they are also pretty confident Chick is not going to get on somewhere as well...I don't see either player coming back...but if Andy does, at least he is still under option with the Riders.
Hey Dusty, you don't by chance have a link to that article do you? Sounds interesting.
[url=http://www.leaderpost.com/sports/Trade+about/5225152/story.html]http://www.leaderpost.com/sports/Trade+ ... story.html[/url]
Hope that works.
I don't mind this deal. We are in desperate need of receiving help and losing Mullinder really won't have a huge impact on the success of this team. Remember they are 1-5 with him so can it really be any worse? He is a good character guy but you can't hang onto him for only that reason.
Maybe Baker doesn't have great stats but look who he is playing behind, it would be tough for any receiver to get many balls thrown their way.
If there is a possibility Fantuz and/or Chick could come back it is worth having cap space.
I did find a few interesting articles though:
New RB coming?
[url=http://communities.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/blogs/roughriders/archive/2011/08/09/yvenson-bernard-to-join-roughriders.aspx]http://communities.canada.com/reginalea ... iders.aspx[/url]On Andy:
[url=http://communities.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/blogs/wagner/archive/2011/08/09/andy-fantuz-not-a-standout-with-chicago-bears.aspx]http://communities.canada.com/reginalea ... bears.aspx[/url]here is the text from the DD interview mentioned on another thread earlier when asked about his relationship with Berry:
[url=http://www.thestarphoenix.com/story_print.html?id=5225234&sponsor=]http://www.thestarphoenix.com/story_pri ... 4&sponsor=[/url]Chick/Andy / some cap talk...basically removing Tad and Luc cleared up about 200K
[url=http://www.leaderpost.com/sports/Trade+about/5225152/story.html]http://www.leaderpost.com/sports/Trade+ ... story.html[/url] [url=http://www.leaderpost.com/sports/Riders+ship+Mullinder/5225167/story.html]http://www.leaderpost.com/sports/Riders ... story.html[/url]I did find a few interesting articles though:
New RB coming?
[url=http://communities.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/blogs/roughriders/archive/2011/08/09/yvenson-bernard-to-join-roughriders.aspx]http://communities.canada.com/reginalea ... iders.aspx[/url]On Andy:
[url=http://communities.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/blogs/wagner/archive/2011/08/09/andy-fantuz-not-a-standout-with-chicago-bears.aspx]http://communities.canada.com/reginalea ... bears.aspx[/url]here is the text from the DD interview mentioned on another thread earlier when asked about his relationship with Berry:
[url=http://www.thestarphoenix.com/story_print.html?id=5225234&sponsor=]http://www.thestarphoenix.com/story_pri ... 4&sponsor=[/url]Chick/Andy / some cap talk...basically removing Tad and Luc cleared up about 200K
[url=http://www.leaderpost.com/sports/Trade+about/5225152/story.html]http://www.leaderpost.com/sports/Trade+ ... story.html[/url] [url=http://www.leaderpost.com/sports/Riders+ship+Mullinder/5225167/story.html]http://www.leaderpost.com/sports/Riders ... story.html[/url]I didn’t mind either move to be honest. Was a little more surprised by the Tad move, but 200K freed up gives more room to go after either of these guys if they free up…or someone else for that matter. The Riders should be sitting with 300k or so in cap room, or better…they could make some real splashes once NFL cuts go down.
I especially like the DD interview. My interpretation is he’s basically saying it’s not my fault we suck Im just doing what I’m told! ,lol, and I don’t hate em I just don’t like em! (re: Berry).
Then why wasn't Tad cut when he came off the injured list? If they needed cap space why wasn't he cut in the off season?
Now they move an NI who was playing probably the best ball of his career at a non-natural position (end instead of tackle) at a position where they are weakest (end) and he is their best end right now, just for a stop gap because of the receiver problems. Plus the fact that Luc was an NI backup to another NI (Shologan) and the OTHER NI backup for Sholie was already picked off the PR by Montreal a couple weeks back (Lucas).
The Riders need and end worse than they need a receiver. It's another knee jerk, and the ONLY way that this turns out good is if they get a BIG IMPACT player at a position that they need with that cap space before Labour Day. If they don't this could come off as a MAJOR bungle.
And I'm almost hoping that it fails so that they don't end up fluking into keeping Taman one day longer.
The Riders need a DE who can make an impact, they need a wide receiver more than they need an average DE.
An average WR would come in handy for a few games right now, but an average WR shouldn’t cost you a player off your roster. There are tons around. If the RIders were freeing up capspace and thought they needed a WR, why didn’t they get in on Arland Bruce? Not saying that they should or shouldn’t have, but just pointing out the priorities.
A rush end, ANYONE capable of getting half decent pressure is needed short term AND long term and much more than a WR.
They didn't go after Bruce because he is known for dividing the locker room and has a big price tag. They also will have koch back soon.
They cut now because they are coming up on the time of year where you must pay out ... Reference the Dorsey incident.
The linemen they have lost were good players (and yes, he should have been at tackle, not end, but they have good tackles). These moves have cleared up cap room to get a top notch player instead of a couple good players. If they fail to pick up an NFL cut I will be upset about the move, but I will wait and see how that plays out.
Agreed. Like I said, I’m not saying that they should or shouldn’t have gone for Bruce. But the fact that they didn’t means that Rider management doesn’t think they need a receiver that badly, certainly not long term. They wanted a short term receiver, but a short term receiver shouldn’t cost you valuable NI depth like this. You should pick up an FA like Armstead went to Edmonton today, like Stala was just sitting around unemployed last spring, like Derrick Armstrong maybe (not longterm but as a stop gap sure), like Stephen Black released by BC last week, like countless unknown cuts just like this Baker dude they gave up NI depth for no reason.
Furthermore, they were prepared to pay 200k (sure, lets use that amount its probably accurate) to Tad and Luc for the whole season before the season started. The fact that they are dumping salaries “the official reason” means that they didn’t know what they were doing in the off season OR they are just dumb kneejerk moves.
Smells like when Taman signed Ritchie Khari and Blink to big money long term back in '04(?) obviously committing to a long term plan of stability only to blow it all up, fire Ritchie and trade Khari and start a cpmplete rebuild 2 months later when they were 3-6. They either screwed up their long term plan or they kneejerk panicked and wrecked everything. Either way is gross mismanagement of the highest order. Granted smaller scale here but gross mismanagement nonetheless.
Like I said, I will base that judgement based upon what he does or does not do with this cap room.
You can not wait until the players are available at cut time then trade, because others will either have the spare cap, or be trying the same thing. Also, you can not wait until cuts late, because the CFL is set up so that if you take on a late cut, and then cut a roster spot that very cut spot still goes against your cap (unless you do a shady move like the Riders did and put a guy like Dorsey on the 9 game).
IMO they kept them around because they had the cap room so long as they did not keep them the full season (basically exchanging their salaries with a new player). They kept them around incase someone else realy did not work out. Williams, for example, is doing fine, so players became expendable. Now, like I said, if they do not now sign someone I will be upset.