Couldn't agree more...
http://www.tsn.ca/story/?id=409417#YourCallTop....It represents too much of a commitment....2 years :lol: ....give me a bloody break...How about considering the commitment made by the fans, who want continuity and a winner by buying season tickets every year...Going backwards is always a stupid move. :thdn:
I don't get why two years is considered such a long time. The choice is essentially between playing two years in Canada or not playing. What gives a player a better chance to get noticed by the NFL: sitting on their couch or playing in Canada for two years? Did a multi-year commitment hurt Cam Wake? is it hurting Chris Williams? Did it hurt Marcus Thigpen, Justin Hickman, John Chick or Garrett McIntyre? (Some of those guys stayed multiple years even with the option-year option.)
Also, notice that one of the people quoted was an agent. They have a vested interest in seeing the option year reinstated so their clients can sign more contracts (and more lucrative contracts in the NFL) which means more money in their pocket. Not exactly an impartial observer.
Except that several GMs have been saying the same thing.
Fundamentally, it doesn't matter if two years really is too long a committment or not. It only matters that American players THINK it is. They don't want to sign and then not have the option to go to the NFL if it comes calling, which in a two year deal they don't.
In reality this rarely happens, but perception is reality to those guys. And it's their opinion that matters.
Of course, in reality the option is rarely used, and so people complaining about it are complaining about a problem that just doesn't happen a whole lot. Most of the guys who want to be able to use the option never do, but if not having it causes some of them to never bother coming to the CFL we're not really better off because those would have been long term players that were scared off for no reason.
The rule was fine. They changed it, and the change is a failure. Time to fix it.
How was the change a failure? What great player passed up playing in the CFL because he had to sign for a minimum to two years? And, quite frankly, what other options do these guys that don’t make the NFL have? The UFL is on life support, the AFL hasn’t been the same since it took a year off; so if these guys don’t come to the CFL after not making the NFL, where will they go? The players don’t have any other options, so the power is in the league’s hands.
I believe that rule was put into place as part of an agreement with the NFL in exchange for a loan that the NFL extended to the CFL. Once the loan was paid off agreement was no longer in affect. With top Canadian draft picks returning to the CIS without even attending training camp is what has brought this back into the spot light two players in particular Frederick Plesius and Kirby Fabian were two draft picks in which would have otherwise been playing for their respective teams but think that they will have a chance of getting an NFL camp invite next year when they did not get one this year.
I think they will find that someone gave them some bad advice. Ultimately the players who did move onto the NFL did so because of their consistant play in the CFL for more than one season. For Plesius however the fact that he will be 26 next season i guess he figures that every year counts at his age.
The fact that they pulled out after the draft is something that should be addressed. The CFL and the NFL work very nicely together but the CFL is not a feeder league for the NFL is what the misconception may be hear.
Either way they go with it it will only affect a few players so either way the CFL will still continue to thrive.
I posted my feelings about this in the other thread (the one Tridus linked). But to reiterate, if you can't commit to the CFL for two seasons, we don't need you. These players need the CFL a lot more than the other way around. I simply don't buy the argument it's too hard to find talent nowadays. Harder? Maybe, but do your fricking job!
How would we ever know what great players didn’t come up here due to it, since they didn’t come up here? What we do know is that a bunch of CIS guys didn’t come to the CFL this year because they’re hoping for an NFL shot next year, and without this rule change they would be in the CFL this year. Go tell the teams that drafted them what an improvement this was.
We also know that the GMs who wanted this changed in the first place (because they hated losing guys after one year) now want it changed back after a very short period of time. Doesn’t that tell you something?
Partially. It was created as part of the loan agreement, but after the loan was paid off the option year transfer agreement was renewed by the CFL specifically because they wanted to make it easier to recruit. The CFL then changed its mind, and is now talking about changing it back.
With top Canadian draft picks returning to the CIS without even attending training camp is what has brought this back into the spot light two players in particular Frederick Plesius and Kirby Fabian were two draft picks in which would have otherwise been playing for their respective teams but think that they will have a chance of getting an NFL camp invite next year when they did not get one this year. I think they will find that someone gave them some bad advice. Ultimately the players who did move onto the NFL did so because of their consistant play in the CFL for more than one season. For Plesius however the fact that he will be 26 next season i guess he figures that every year counts at his age.Maybe (we'll find out in the future just how good that advice is), but the CFL (and especially the teams that drafted those guys) are not better off by having them playing in the CIS instead.
The fact that they pulled out after the draft is something that should be addressed. The CFL and the NFL work very nicely together but the CFL is not a feeder league for the NFL is what the misconception may be hear. Either way they go with it it will only affect a few players so either way the CFL will still continue to thrive.The lure of the NFL is not going to go away just because the CFL is not an official feeder league. When the salaries are an order of magnitude different, guys are naturally going to want to try and get there. Anything that's seen as making it harder for them is thus going to be a barrier to recruitment, and in this case considering how few guys ever used it we're not really gaining anything.
I'm not sure how it works but I wouldn't want to see any barriers to recruiting. Players should have the right to play anywhere they want. Putting a restriction on a guy returning to the NFL would deprive us of seeing some great players that might decide not to come up to Canada because they would be stuck here for a few years.
If someone like a Chris Williams or Cornish decide to return to the US, that's alright at least we got to see them entertain us for a couple of years.
Disagree… You want the best you can get. Couldn’t care less about players coming and then leaving. Once you can pay them, they’ll stay. We need the best we can get now. Two years, is too long.
…Option year contacts… …It’s contracts…and if a 2 year contract is too much to ask then I guess these guys don’t deserve a shot at our league or anywhere…It’s called commitment and a short one at that…The fans of this league pay the bills …it’s NOT about the players and their agents…THE FANS are the priority here…The money the fans put up year in and year out to see continuity of some kind and a winner is the priority…not some player and his agent who feel they might miss out on a seasons ‘big bucks’ down south… Sorry the change back (if made) is going to pee off a lot of fans who support this league…The CFL brass better contemplate that one long and hard 
That’s my point. Any great player that didn’t decide to come up here obviously didn’t make it to the NFL, so it is the player’s loss, not the CFL’s.
CIS players have been going back to school since forever. The problem there is in the draft process, not the players returning to school. No player should be draft eligible unless they have no university eligibility left or they have renounced their eligibility. That’s a change that should be made.
The GM’s changing course? All it tells me is that GMs want an easier job. It is easier to sell a guy on just a one-year commitment, but that doesn’t mean it’s the right thing.
But one question I haven’t seen asked yet is: how many players did make the jump from the CFL to the NFL after just one year. If none have done it, what’s the problem with signing for two?
Cohon said today that he’d change it back if he was convinced but he hasn’t been convinced.
I’m not sure how the CFL is better off if guys like Cam Wake never bothered to come up here. We’re worse off, he’s worse off, nobody’s coming out ahead. Yay?
The GM's changing course? All it tells me is that GMs want an easier job. It is easier to sell a guy on just a one-year commitment, but that doesn't mean it's the right thing.It tells me that the people who actually know what they're talking about and changed this in the first place figured out that it was a bad idea. Were they just trying to have an easier job when they changed it to 2 years? If so, why was it okay for them to have an easier job then but not have one now? This argument makes no sense at all.
But one question I haven't seen asked yet is: how many players did make the jump from the CFL to the NFL after just one year. If none have done it, what's the problem with signing for two?If none have done it, what's the problem with having the option of signing for one? If none have done it, CFL fans are clearly losing exactly nothing by having the option available. And in that case, what problem are you trying to fix with two year minimums?
That’d be the same contracts that the team can terminate at will, correct? Interesting how the sanctity of the contract is only supposed to go one way here.
....and if a 2 year contract is too much to ask then I guess these guys don't deserve a shot at our league or anywhere....It's called commitment and a short one at that...Actually its called a job.
The fans of this league pay the bills ...it's NOT about the players and their agents...THE FANS are the priority here...The money the fans put up year in and year out to see continuity of some kind and a winner is the priority...Fans want to see the best players. Chasing guys off because of a phantom problem where they leave after one year really isn't accomplishing anything.
not some player and his agent who feel they might miss out on a seasons 'big bucks' down south... Sorry the change back (if made) is going to pee off a lot of fans who support this league...The CFL brass better contemplate that one long and hard :wink:No it won't. A few people on the forums will whine, and once the season starts up the only thing anybody will care about is the quality of the on-field product. (Then again, at least that'd mean people complaining about something other then the refs and the Grey Cup halftime show...)
I think that most of the players who took advantage of the option year rule actually signed 3 years deals 2 years + 1 option year so the players played two years and went to the NFL camps between there 2nd and 3rd years. Not many players will make that big of an Impression on an NFL team after one year. If the player can put together two outstanding years showing even mor improvement from year on to year two than they would be considered the real deal possibity.
EX. Chris Williams great rookie year but no one was really talking NFL then he added the return game to hs 1,000 yard seasons and now an NFL prospect for sure.
Cam Wake played two years with the BC Lions; not a proper example.
The GMs didn’t change the rule, the league did. The league didn’t change it because the GMs asked them to. The league wanted stability and less player movement, so they got rid of the player option in the last CBA. It has had no negative impact on the game. Players still come up here and play, now for minimum of two instead of one.
And again I’ll say: the league has all the power here. If players want to ply their trade and get NFL interest they HAVE TO play in the CFL. The AFL is a shadow of its former self and the UFL closed up shop and will now play in the spring. If players want to attract NFL interest, they really have no choice but to play in the CFL. Whether the GMs want it, the players want it, it doesn’t matter because the league doesn’t want it. I’m sure it will be part of the next round of CBA negotiations, but the league has no reason to change what they are doing now because they have all the power.
I could flip it back to you and say what is the point of giving them the one-year option when no player leaves after one year anyway? If guys stayed two years even with the option to leave after one, why change it and allow them to leave after one?
…I’ll reply to one of your comments/ arguments…and your quote of…‘actually it’s called a job’…What you failed to add is that a job (if you prefer that handle) is one that is funded by the fans…who are actually the employer…I have yet to see an employee dictate policy to an employer…Much like the tail wagging the dog, don’t you think…As for the rest of your replies it’s becoming mute as the commissioner doesn’t see any reason to change the current contract rules
(ALSO…it’s ‘than’ the refs…sorry but if someone wants to be taken seriously, at least get the grammar right)
Rearing its head again....
[url=http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/Hamilton/2013/03/13/20652616.html]http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/ ... 52616.html[/url]Can't bring them back fast enough.