So in the off season we made it quite clear in Hammertown that we were going to build an offensive juggernaut. We threw money at Fantuz and Giguere even though we had some very talented receivers on the roster already. I am an offensive guy so my eyes lit up when I saw the signings but now 6 games into the season and seeing how our defence played last week against the Stumps (hopefully that’s the worst we ever see that defence play…or was the first Rider game worst? I didn’t get to watch it…thank god) you’ve got to question whether signing Fantuz and Giguere were really worth our money.
Before Giguere and Fantuz our starting lineup would likely have looked like this.
WR Kelly
SB Williams
SB Stala
SB Grant
WR SImon C.C or Glenn McKay
Also don’t forget we had TJ Harris at the time too who in my books is a proven 4 or 5 receiver.
Would it have been more advisable to try and sign Don Oramasionwu or Aaron Hunt? It was quite clear heading into this season that our D-Line was a major question mark and I think Obie and Cortez were banking on one of our young guys stepping up and becoming a difference maker (Broudreaux has been impressive but not dominant in any sense). Peach may still pan out but he was good his first game, terrible his second so the jury is still out on Mr. Peach.
Then obviously we have the whole Cobourne debacle where we have $150,000 scratched every game and a guy like Claude Wrotten (who IMO is an improvement over any d-tackle we have now) is on the open market but Obie’s hands are tied because he has no money left to spend as he watched a depleted Stamps O-Line open holes that a coach bus could fit through.
The whole Cobourne thing I think most people can agree in hindsight was just a horrible signing.
So basically my question is, would you rather have Fantuz and Giguere or would you have rathered Obie spent his money at a position of need instead of a position of want?
I like Obie's signings but I also think the front office may be biding time until some cuts come out of the NFL. Also, as far as the Stumps game goes, there were a lot of issues with injuries and the linebackers so I think that game was a bit of an anomaly. It seems that most of the Cornish Game Hen's yards came after Thomas went down. I'm no head coach, but I know I would have run right at the new guy back there. Also, rookies and Peach missing a good portion of camp may be catching up with the D line. I'm not as worried as some posters are about them and think that all that is needed is a little tweaking or some time to learn and adapt.
Side note, I keep reading that the team is paying AC $150,000.00 to sit on the bench. Can anyone confirm this with a link or other substantial proof? it seems too far fetched to me to be realistic.
“When an offer came from Hamilton came late last week — after running back Martell Mallett, the man who replaced him, tore his Achilles — it just felt right to come back. A reported salary of $150,000, was probably persuasive, too.”
My point was we signed a couple of big name receivers in FA even though WR was arguably our greatest strength while our D-Line was our greatest weakness. I think if WR is your greatest strength, that’s when you bring in rookie FAs and hope they impress you, because if they don’t, well who cares we still have a solid receiving corp. You do that with a position of weakness and it’s a crap shoot and risky as hell.
First of all, Giguere was a draft pick, so it's not really a signing we can question at all. Also, Stala hasn't looked very good at all this season, while Fantuz has been our most reliable receiver.
Fantuz is definitely an upgrade over Mackay, the player he pushed off the depth chart, and well worth the money. Giguere over Kelly? I think so, if only because of his NI status. Not much impressed with him as a returner, though. He seems to have forgotten how wide the Canadian field is, running straight at the coverage team instead of using his speed to try to get around the first wave.
Agreed that signing Cobourne was probably a mistake in retrospect, tying up a lot of salary. But there was no way the team could have known just how good Walker would be. Give him a small hole and he could be gone. Unfortunately, the o-line doesn't seem to be able to do that, so he struggles inside. (So did Cobourne to some extent last year, if I recall. And, of course, so did Cobb the two years before that.) Walker's blocking seems decent, from what I've seen. And get him the ball in open field, and count the number of players he makes miss him on the way to the end zone.
Here's hoping that the team finds a suitable (and cheaper) backup RB (maybe T Grant comes off the IR?) before they're on the hook for Cobourne's entire year's salary. Sorry, Deuces, but you're just too expensive to be an insurance policy. (Well, he was selling insurance when Obie called him. :lol: )
However I do agree that it would have been nice to get Don Oramasionwu. But you can only do so much, and obviously Fantuz is much more valuable, even at the higher price.
Only reason I kept using Sammy was because there was all that talk about trading his rights and also you have to know Sammy isn’t playing here for cheap. Just to clear the air, this isn’t a thread attacking Sammy or Fantuz, no doubt Fantuz has been our most reliable guy this season.
Actually I think Obie jumped the gun way to fast on Cobourne and I even said it while the whole ordeal was happening. Personally I would have waited to see how Chevy performed in the pre-season before I went out and handed $150,000 to Cobourne. We knew what Cobourne could do, we had no idea what Chevy could do. Cobourne wasn’t prepared to sign anywhere else at that time but I guess Obie didn’t want to run the risk that another injury riddled team would seek his services before the Cats could call upon him. Either way this Cobourne signing just really bugs me because all Obie had to do was be patient and now we have painted ourselves into a corner regarding salary room.
Regardless all of this is just to generate some discussion on the boards. It is what it is and there is nothing we can do to change it.
So who are the elite D-Linemen from this year’s free agent pool that the Cats passed up? The FA pool is like a draft class: sometimes there aren’t high value players available in your position of need. Speaking of the draft, we had a highly touted draft pick (Maurice Forbes) coming into camp, who was compelled to retire during camp due to injury problems.
Aaron Hunt and Don Oramasionwu were the two biggest FA. Of course we signed Peach and McElveen who I’d put just a notch below Oramasionwu in value because of his passport and upside.
Forbes retirement definitely hurt us and I suspect if it would have happened in the off-season Oramasionwu might be a Tiger-Cat because we desperately need talented Canadian D-Linemen.
The big fish in FA this off-season IMO were Hunt, Rod Davis, Rottier, Fantuz, Parker, and LaBatte. So there was one D-Linemen who was of elite caliber in FA and he is now jobless but the Cats have no spending room even if they were interested.
Well he didn’t max out the cap on receivers, I think the cap got maxed out when we signed Cobourne. But yes basically my point is instead of throwing big money at a guy like Hunt who would (well maybe…) have been an instant upgrade to a weak unit we signed Fantuz who obviously upgraded our receiving corp but I think our D-Line was in more need of an elite level talent than the receiving corps, that is all.
Are you sure about that? About being painted into a corner?
I don’t where the Cats are in regards to the cap, but isn’t Obie known for leaving space?
Furthermore, if Cobourne’s contract ever becomes a cap issue, they can release him easily enough. Right now, i think it was a good insurance policy to go with a proven vet, in case an unknown rookie did not pan out. And again, as I’ve said before, once Mallet and Grant come off the 9 game injured list, I expect Cobourne to be released.
Ok, I see your point now. It’s based on the assumption that there was no money to go after solid D-lineman. It surely is possible, but I don’t believe that a guy like Obie, who’s been around for so long, doing something like that. My assumption would be that he would NOT do that.
And there could be other reasons that they would choose to play elsewhere. I can’t assume that Obie did not go after these guys or other D-lineman. It’s way too obvious that the Cats needed improvement there.