Ti-Cat Players up for CFL rookie award.

Hamilton Tiger-Cats
#1

The Canadian Football League revealed on Tuesday the list of players who are eligible to win the 2017 Most Outstanding Rookie award.

In order to be eligible as a candidate for the League award for the “Most Outstanding First Year Player? (Rookie Award), a player must meet the following criteria:

I would say from this list by far is DB Richard Leonard, he would be my pick for rookie of the Year and candidate from the Tiger-Cats.

http://ticats.ca/cfl-unveils-list-of-eligible-players-for-most-outstanding-rookie-award/

HAMILTON TIGER-CATS
[tr][td]REC[/td]
[td]Damarr[/td]
[td]Aultman[/td]
[/tr]

[tr][td]DB[/td]
[td]Mariel[/td]
[td]Cooper[/td]
[/tr]

[tr][td]REC[/td]
[td]Felix[/td]
[td]Faubert-Lussier[/td]
[/tr]

[tr][td]OL[/td]
[td]Brett[/td]
[td]Golding[/td]
[/tr]

[tr][td]DB[/td]
[td]Richard[/td]
[td]Leonard[/td]
[/tr]

[tr][td]DB[/td]
[td]Keondrick[/td]
[td]Lyn[/td]
[/tr]

[tr][td]OL[/td]
[td]Ryker[/td]
[td]Mathews[/td]
[/tr]

[tr][td]DE[/td]
[td]Connor[/td]
[td]McGough[/td]
[/tr]

[tr][td]DE[/td]
[td]Ryan[/td]
[td]Mueller[/td]
[/tr]

[tr][td]DT[/td]
[td]Jason[/td]
[td]Neill[/td]
[/tr]

[tr][td]REC[/td]
[td]Willie[/td]
[td]Quinn[/td]
[/tr]

[tr][td]OL[/td]
[td]Braden[/td]
[td]Schram[/td]
[/tr]

[tr][td]RB[/td]
[td]Sean[/td]
[td]Thomas-Erlington[/td]
[/tr]

[tr][td]DT[/td]
[td]Justin[/td]
[td]Vaughn[/td]
[/tr]

[tr][td]OL[/td]
[td]Everton[/td]
[td]Williams[/td]
[/tr]

#2

I like Richard Leonard for that award too.

#3

Mathews has been good too in a smaller sample size but Leonard has a chance to win the CFL award IMO. He has been excellent.

#4

Richard Leonard hands down.

#5

Could not agree more...R/L would get my vote as well.

#6

Yup , it's Leonard in a walk . The only other first year Cats that might've garnered some votes would've been probably Coleman or Saunders but they don't appear on the list and are disqualified from consideration due to the fact that both played a handful of games in that other league down south of the border . I'm hoping that Leonard goes through as the East nominee , and he deserves to and should as his only real competition I feel will come from Wilder from Toronto who will no doubt garner some votes strictly because of who he plays for .

For what it's worth here is my prediction for who will be nominated by each team in the East this season in this category:

East nominations Rookie of the Year Award

Hamilton............Richard Leonard - db * winner and Eastern finalist
Ottawa...............Corey Tindal - db
Toronto..............James Wilder - rb
Montreal............Branden Dozier - db

#7

Wilder's stats so far are good for a rookie, especially since he shares duties with Whittaker

86 carries
624 yards
2 touchdowns
7.26 yards per carry

#8

No doubt that Wilder has been quite a find for Toronto and does deserve to garner some votes .

BUT..............Stats can be deceiving..........

It's interesting to note that more than half of Wilder's 624 yds came in back to back games this season against the Eskimos and Alouettes when he ripped off games of 190 yds and 141 yds . So doing the math 331 of the 624 yards that Wilder has gotten so far this year was accomplished in 2 gms played . In the other 13 games he has played in this season his rushing total has only been 293 yds which works out to a rather pedestrian average of 22.5 yds rushing per game .

#9

Jalen Saunders 977 yards I believe this is his rookie year. Young man has 3 games left to break
a 1000 yards. Why was he missed from the selection?

#10

Yes, as I see from your replay,the stats can be misleading.

Good points.

Thank you, Bobo

#11

Richard Leonard is my man! Don't know if he can carry the East, but he has been the bright spot on our defence all year. Sergio Castillo would have been my second choice, but I think he had some prior time somewhere, and unfortunately is now out of the running anyway.

Good luck and best wishes to 37, Black and Gold!

#12

This is Castillo's third year in the league. He played four games for the Bombers in 2015 and two for the Redblacks last year.

Saunders played in nine games in the NFL in 2014, three with the Jets and six with the Saints. He bounced around on practice rosters in 2015, but was suspended for 4 games starting on Nov. 11 and another 10 on Dec. 11 for substance abuse. Not sure what the scoop there was. He didn't play at all in 2016, probably because his suspension extended six games into the season, as well as no one wanting to take a chance on him.

#13

Saunders dressed for some regular season NFL games prior to arriving in the CFL, so based on the link below (same as the OP's link), he wouldn't be eligible for the CFL's Outstanding Rookie award:

#14

I agree Leonard has had a great year, and I expect he'll be our nominee. I also agree he'll be in tough against Wilder to represent the East Division.

#15

Darn, I guess that means Johnny Manziel won't be eligible to win ROY next season then.

#16

Richard Leonard:Has had an all-star calibre season and is second in the CFL in total Takeaways with 7. He has a CFL-leading 3 fumble recoveries for 84 yards and has added 4 interceptions - among his returns are two of 70+ yards. Leonard also leads the CFL with 12 pass knockdowns.

#17

I am being the pessimist, but I wonder if a player from the two bottom teams really has a chance to be selected as a CFL award winner? I'd love to see Leonard make the grade, and it would be finding the diamond in the mud of this season, but my gut reaction is that he is on an uphill treadmill. Let's hope he has an outstanding finish to 2017!

#18

Especially from a Defense that regularly got Torched for 350 Yds. plus a game.

#19

There is an old saying in sports that for every rookie in your lineup, you can count on one loss in the season . Considering how many rookies the Cats have had to play this year, through injury and cap space, we may have weathered that storm rather well .

I really don't understand those who criticize our recruiting of talent . Tillman, Burke , Alemang, and Austin have brought in a boatload of good, young players . Richard Leonard is an outstanding rookie who deserves to be the eastern rep. for rookie of the year .

Pat Lynch (the old guy)