According to this website, our potential free agents are:
John Bowman
Kerry Carter
Bryan Chiu
Eric Deslauriers
Dahrran Diedrick
Diamond Ferri
Riall Johnson
Paul Lambert
Jermaine McElveen
Jeff Robertshaw
Kerry Watkins
Keron Williams
From that list, who would be your priority signings?
Carter and Watkins
Bowman
Ferri
And of course Brian Chiu but he will either sign or retire, I cant see him going to another team
My priority signings would be:John Bowman,Kerry Carter,Bryan Chiu,Diamond Ferri.Kerry Watkins,Keron Williams and eric Deslauriers.
I surely hope that the maximum cap amount,for 2010, is increased by no less than $100,000. and as much as $150,000. to $4,300,000. or $4,350,000.
Richard
Richard I like your list. . . but I’m sure there’ll be more than one poster who reacts “why Deslauriers??” so perhaps you could enlighten us as to why you’d be eager to re-sign him ?
Must sign: Bowman, Carter, McElveen, Watkins, Williams
Nice to have: Ferri, Chiu
Indifferent to: Diedrick, Lambert, Johnson, Robertshaw
Get rid of: Deslauriers
Let's face it, unless there is a substantial increase in the salary cap 150k or more, there won't be enough money to give all these guys raises. Focus has to be on your starters that is your egg yoke
I break it down i three groups, first the Als have SEVEN starters up for FA, that is enormous of these guys 5 are probably somewhere on the scale where they need a raise, the two NI starting linesman are already making big bucks. So you probably need 100k to fit raises for these five guys. Special team and depth guys I'm affraid there is no extra money laying around. The third group is other teams free agents something Jim seldom does.
Watkins, raise
Williams raise
Chiu even
Ferri raise
Bowman raise
Lambert even
Carter raise
Why bother bringing Lambert back? Brodeur-Jourdain looks to be ready to step into the spot for a cheaper cap hit.
As for Ferri, he's good, but Guzman makes him expendable IMO.
Lambert will go centre, brodeur jourdain guard, that works, i have no issue with Lambert at centre, as a guard i think he is the weak link on that line.
What do you do with Woodruff ? You sit him another year at close to a 100k a year? This kid is a player, he won’t want to sit another year. I haven’t seen him practice but I don’t like seeing guys like that sit around for years.
Then there is Jeff Perrett who is trying out for NFL teams. That could come in to play. Steenbergen is still very young and I’m not sure Woodruff has the wheels to play the position.
Personaly I would like to see Woodruff get in the line up this year in Lambert’s guard position and Brodeur Jourdain backup at centre for another season behind Brian or if Brian retires Lambert.
Regarding Ferri, he’s grown a lot as a player this year and I think he will have a breakout season. I like Guzman’s play but it was uneven (rookie season).
I fully agree that we cannot sign all our free agents, unless the Cap is increased by at least $100,000-preferably $150,000- or that Cahoon does not come back.
Should Cahoon come back and should the maximum Cap remain basically the same, I say that the “odd’” player will be Kerry Watkins; hence, I think that to the Als John Bowman and Keron Williams are priorities; furthermore, I don’t think that these players are making more than $70,000 each and they will ask for good/high raises,raises fully justified. With regards to Watkins he is probably making at least $100,000; the Als will offer him a minimal/low raise; easier to replace Watkins than Bowman and Williams. Watkins could be replaced by a player making at least $30,000 less and these savings will/would help to give raises to Bowman and Williams.
I am positive that the good teams-MTL,SASK,BC would like the Cap to be increased by no less than $100,000 but the mediocre teams-HAM,WIN,TOR- are opposed; they want the good teams down to their levels. Unfortunate!
Let’s hope that “mediocrité” does not become the objective of the CFL. Increase the Cap! Sooner than later!
Richard
Was it Woodruff the one at 100k ? i forgot, the cost is built in to what you are paying now.
He will be on the bench if Chiu and Lambert come back, he is a guard and it looks like jourdain beat him for Lambert spot, possibly Popp expect Jeff Perrett will be moving west in the future, he comes from there and his wife had difficulty finding work in Mtl. Woodruff may stay on the bench longer, i assume they think he will start in the near future. But you can allways release a player outright, or retire him to avoid the cap, Popp used it before. He knows how to get the most out of it.
And what do you do with Davis Sanchez...do you bring him back at over $100,000? I dont think Woldu is ready, Dix might be, but then you mess up the ratio. On CJADs website Cahoon says hed like to be back and that he and the Als are working on finding an equitable financial solution. And hes not even a free agent.
To keep the team together is a large financial puzzle and Messrs. Popp and Desjardins are certainly going to earn their money this off-season. Im sure theyre telling vets like Cahoon, Chiu, Lambert, Sanchez, etc. that to keep the team together and make another run, they are going to have make financial sacrifices. The carrot is the playoff bonus money they can earn.
It's possible that Cahoon's contract was front loaded, to avoid SMS issue, if i remember he signed before the stricter sms enforcement came to be, he may be trying to negociate for the same as he averaged. Just a thought, but yeah the SMS will be tough this year.
Do the GM's even know what they have to work with yet ? Cohon hasn't announced any numbers. I guess with the CBA expired everything is up in the air...
I say they play Woody or trade him. I expect room to be made on the o-line but if not I would think they couold make some money on him.
Money ? Als don’t need money. They invested a year and decent coins for him to plant his feet and learn the CFL game after spenind 5 years in the NCAA. I agree, I expect him to get a spot on the line or at least start rotating. Sort of how they did with Perrett, Bourke and Jourdain.
I think they did last year, since they expected the recession to impact the revenue on the corporate side they announced no increase to the cap. I hope I am not mixing it up with the previous season.
Ooops I checked no official announcement but leaks say it will not increase.
[url=http://www.cbc.ca/sports/football/story/2009/11/11/sp-cfl-salarycap.html]http://www.cbc.ca/sports/football/story ... rycap.html[/url]Thanks for that. Amercan players got a raise this year again with the dollar coming up to par or close… So half the players got a 10 percent raise to begin with but Canadian players didn’t see that.
Good point on the increase due to the exchange rate, look i am not surprised by this, even the NFL has frozen spending this year again, they still expect corporate revenue to be sparser again. The ad cost for the super bowl is down 10 or 15 % so caution is the word of the day.
The cap is set according to projected or revenue from previous year, so having it frozen is not surprising i think.
The good news for the medium term is the audience ratings, that could bring more $$$ advertising wise for the TV rights.