...in exchange for Kris Bastien and the usual draft pick swaps and a neg list player
[url=http://www.riderville.com/article/riders-acquire-receiver-cory-watson]http://www.riderville.com/article/rider ... ory-watson[/url]
Not sure about this one. Watson has experience but has had health issues and is 30. Giving up a younger player about the same size but not sure of his potential either. Guess time will tell.
I think a lot of people had high hopes for Bastein, so in that sense it is a downer because he could turn out to be a great National. On the other side of the coin, Cory Watson is an underutilized SB (mainly because of injury) who can give a legit backup/share duties with Getz, and also allow them to run 2 Canadian SBs at the same time..something they had hoped to do last season going into camp. Also, Bastien was up against Pierzchalski, Anthony, and McHenry (we all hope makes a healthy return to football)...who played double duty there at times. This is pretty good depth, so moving someone makes a lot of sense. Trading down in the draft is unfortunate, but if they land the neg list player, then getting a vet to play SB is a pretty big win in my books. Even that said...the lost in draft is only 5 spots...so it is not like they are lost a pick entirely.
Overall...pretty good move I think. If he stays healthy it is a great move.
I like it. A Canadian. A proven commodity. A big target (Sask has a lot of small receivers) who can YAC.
As for Bastien, well they've got Anthony and Pierchalsky, how much NI receiver depth can a team carry year after year? Potential is great, heck even important but at some point you need someone who can play now. It might be different of they had no projects, no depth at all, but championship teams are full of players who can play NOW.
Good move.