Riders send LLoyd an offer

http://www.leaderpost.com/sports/index.html

Hopfully he takes it!

Any guesses out there as to what amount was actually offered?
Six figures is anything over 99,999. My guess is that it was around 130,000 per year which is a fair offer IMO, but no doubt, someone could offer more.

How high are they on Sam Olajubutu? He has an impressive college resume. For 5 ft 9 and yet 220 pounds I would imagine the guy is fast and strong and probably hits hard. With most RBs in the league being less that 6 ft his size may not be that much of a factor as long as he is quick and can tackle.

Big deal, ET did his job and threw MO an offer, i still think he will sign else where.

All this hype surrounding his F/A. over inflates MO's worth. Yes MO is amazing on the field, and losing him will make us weaker at ML in the short term, but linebackers are an abundance and one of the easier positions to fill.

Linebackers generally, maybe.................

But not quality middle linebackers.............a different skill set is required, and they aren't so easy to find.

Just because you are a good Sam or Will doesn't mean you will necessarily be a good Mike. Reggie Hunt and JoJuan Armour, both stellar outside linebackers, both tried to make the move into the middle in 2008, and neither was as effective in that spot, in my opinion; sort of a case of trying to force square pegs into round holes.

Lloyd is arguably the best MLB in the CFL. I don't think Glatt in BC, Armour in Calgary, Barrenechea in Edmonton, Hunt in Montreal, O'Shea in Toronto, or Anthony in Hamilton even come close. Simpson and Moreno, both in Winnipeg, would be the closest competition.

Here’s hoping!!

I agree with you except for one point, I think Hunt did a great job in Montreal this year.

If you look at the Riders for the past 15 years or so, we have not had a very good MLB, untill Mo. So to say it is easy to pick one up is historically wrong.

I agree that Reggie was pretty good in the middle. For a guy who started life as a “tweener” and who has never played the position before, he was very good. MLB is the most important position on defence and when you have an outstanding player like Mo it all gets easier for everyone else. This ho hum attitude that parts are parts and we can just let key players walk away every year is odd to say the least. Mo needs to be a priority for this team, not a so what if he goes. His best years are coming up and you build around a guy like that. If I could only keep one player on the entire team and everyone else had to go, Mo would be that guy.
The SMS was supposed to help teams like the Riders hang onto players, not cause us to lose them. We have 200 to 300 thousand less tied up in QBs than any other team in the league, so if we can’t sign important cogs like Mo, somebody will need to explain to me where that money has gone. The loophole ripple effect will all but have expired this year, and finally the playing field is even. I expect Et to get the job done. Plain and simple. Can he sign all the FAs? Maybe not. But the key ones, yes. You don’t let Mo get to free agent status. You make him an offer now that he cannot refuse. I doubt 130 is enough (I have heard rumours it is considerably less than that by the way)

Newstalk650 is reporting BC is putting an offer out to Mo that would make him the highest paid ML in the league. I seeking a source besides this now.

Congrats to BC if this is the case.

BC dumped a whole lotta salary to join in on the MO frenzy......

Yup, it's a real shame if BC is offering 50-70g more than us, such is life.....Maybe, just Maybe Renauld Williams will turn out to be another Gem for the Riders..................I'm guessing RW will be a fine fit........

                                 HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL~

Well hopefully BC has made Mo an offer. That way, it is tampering and the league can likely void any contract they offer him plus give us compensation to boot. Mo should be the highest paid MLB in the league. And the Riders need to make that offer. I think he could be the highest paid defensive player in the league. If BC or anyone outbids the riders by an extravagant amount like Deflated suggests, I'd be surprised. Unless ET has not made a fair offer. Renauld Williams was 4th on our depth chart last year. Mo number one. And while Renauld played well when he was in there, he proved he was a notch below both Anton and Mo. Fact is, we need to sign all our LBs if we can. without those guys last year we go from 12-6 to 6-12 in a heartbeat.
And I repeat, there simply is no legitimate reason not to make Mo an outstanding offer. If he decides to go elsewhere for reasons other than money, that can't be helped. But if we lose him just because of coin, that is a mistake. See the QB situation from last year. "oh we won't miss KJ. That back-up guy is just as good. What was his name again?"

Something to consider. Mo is actually 2 years younger than Williams. And if you did start williams, and he did play as well, what do you you do when he wants a new contract next year? Let's keep shuffling players in their prime out the door.

Meh, two years older and half the price.....sounds good too me.

granted the 50g diff. is whacked , but some gossips like myself hear he may fetch 200g....WAY too much bling , but give MO credit, HE really knows how to market himself......and I hope he gets 200g per season.

However it is Interesting to know that MO being in talks with another team warrents a pile of backlash, so i will give you credit on putting forth someything of intrest...............................

I doubt he’ll get 200, but if that is market value, so be it. The question is, who would you rather pay the money to? Again, the SMS was supposed to level the playing field. We save 100s of thousands on QBs compared to other teams. Yet we can’t afford to pay our stars market value to keep them? Compare to Edmonton, a likely landing spot for Mo. They pay RR 500,000 a year. Plus Maas and Lefors get decent coin. Likely 750,000 a year on QBs. We might spend 400,000, tops, this year. So a gap of 350 thou. Where does that money go if it isn’t to guys like Mo? BC isn’t spending as much as EDm. on QBS. But still more than us. And they have two olinemen that will command 300,000 to keep them. Sure they dumped some salaries. But none of the really high priced guys. And they have Glatt, a ratio breaker and pretty decent LB in his own right. Why break the bank on a MLB they don’t really need? I see Hamilton or TO as more likely places to be interested. But the question remains? Who do you want to pay the money to? Lucas? Dominguez? Flick? Is Mo worth as much as Eddie Davis? who is receiving, I believe, in excess of 150? If that is the choice–as you say, play a younger guy at half the price, Davis is gone. DBs are a dime a dozen. And pay Mo. That one is a no brainer.

As for all these rumours about contract offers from other teams, if Wally even picks up a phone and calls Mo, just to say hello, he is in breach of league rules. Does that mean that it doesn’t happen? Sure it does. But if there are news stories about it, it is most likely not true. Other teams simply are not allowed to talk to other teams free agents until Feb. 15.
One thing to consider, is Mo might want to look at an NFL opportunity. He is too small to be a LB in the states, but he could be an awesome special teams player.

I agree completely with Arius.
When I asked Tillman at the Grey Cup when he was gonna sign MO (it should have been done mid season), He snidely retorted who do you want me to give up. Now I never got the chance to answer him as my brother started talking. But the answer is pretty much anyone. There is not a single player, with the possible exception of Cates, who is as high a calibre player. He is a game changer. A game changer on Defence is worth 2 game changers on Offence.

Pay him the Money he wants. Sure try to get him for as cheap as you can, but don't be so cheap that makes him mad enough to wait to Free Agency starts.

Its a dumb move to not pay him.

He needs slightly better than Barrin Simpson money.

I can't believe some of you are willing to throw highest paid defensive player in the league money at Mo. Sure he's good but at what cost? I'd rather sign Mckenzie and Lucas and have to find a new middle linebacker than sign Mo for a stupidly retarded amount of money and have to give up on other FA's ontop of finding two other new linebacks to play with Mo. Plus doesn't he only have one maybe two seasons as a starter? plus if you look at his stats compared to Mckenzie and Lucas they're really not that much better...plus Mac only played 3/4 of the season.

Don't get me wrong i'd love to see MO back in Rider green but not if we have to give up the other 2 linebackers plus lose the ability to sign other players as well.

Strange that guru ET never threw a contract offer MO's way last mid-season. IT would makes sense that when the Rider coaching staff is intact and the team is playing well you'd take advantage of the positive atmosphere to lure a key player.

ET,our very own Teflon Don tries to appease all sides when the media's near, but when players are discarded he will drone out one of his trump card schpeals to deflect accountability for failure away from him or his head coach ..... The sms, players age or " it's a performance based business " are my favorite ET redundancys.

ET has intentially tied his hands with MO Lloyd......Calgary signed Labingo before he became a F/A, prior it was BC with Murphy.Instead of taking care of our #1 priority,ET has snoozed, clearing way for another Rider departure.......damn SMS anyways

He didn't sign Mo half way through the season because it would have counted to that years cap and with all our injuries and players being brought in we simply didn't have the room to sign him then. Unless you want to give up a couple of canadian draft picks and a whole crap load of money.

I believe we can sign MO AND sign the other two. example. RR makes 500,000. Durant likely will sign for around 150. A difference of 350k. So if we offer each of Anton and Mo 175,000, a team like Edmonton has 0 dollars to offer. Assuming on average, all other players make similar salaries, which of course they must because of league minimums and the SMS. And that example works to some extent with every team in the league as we spend far less on QBs at this time than anyone else. You simply can’t have it both ways. If the reason we can’t pay for an elite QB is because we pay the rest of the team, then do it. But then I don’t care to hear we can’t afford the rest of the team either. I’ll repeat the question? If we don’t spend money on a qB, and we don’t spend it on elite players, who do we spend it on? I don’t believe we will need to offer either player that much. But there is no reason to believe we can’t afford both Mo and Anton. Lucas isn’t as good, so we make him a fair offer, but if he walks, we replace him. But ET can’t pass the buck anymore, claiming it was old contracts with Roy’s name on them. Every contract the Riders are now under has ET’s signature on it. All year ET tells us our team isn’t as talented as Calgary or BC, but we work hard. Then when contracts come up, suddenly we can’t afford all the talent we do have… I realize it is a ploy on ET’s part, but it gets a little tiresome after awhile, especially when people don’t get that it is in fact a ploy…

Wow do you ever drink the kool aid.

You are damn right I complain about things. As a season ticket holder, and Owner I have every right to complain. I am not on here calling for Tillman's head. I just think he could do a better job. I like how you give Tillman ALL the credit for the last two years. That is like the Sask Party taking ALL the Credit for the favourable situation Saskatchewan is in right now. Tillman inherited a very good team, and he made it better. And now because he has an ego the size of the Rocky Mountains, he thinks he can replace a person of Mo Lloyd's Calibre with someone he will pick up. Sorry. Not going to happen. Am I saying the Riders will suck if they don't sign him? Nope, I am just saying it would be more favourable for the Riders to spend money on people like Mo Lloyd and Anton Mackenzie, who are two of the most dynamic and dominating LB's in the league, instead of an aging injured receiver.

Its like Arius asked "If we don't spend money on a qB, and we don't spend it on elite players, who do we spend it on?"
And if that answer is Jason Clermont then Tillman needs to shake his head.