Veterans "in danger"

Alouettes de Montréal
#1

So far,in this 2008-2009 off-season, Mr.Popp/the Als has signed 29 new players,including CFL veterans; there are quality signings and I expect a few more signings,notably at WR,DL and DB.

Because of their age and/or high salary and/or inconsistency and /or being injury prone some veterans will definitely not be part of the Als in 2009.

Brad Banks- Has had his chances in Ottawa,Winnipeg and Montreal and failed; surprised that he is still on the roster. Will be released before the beginning of season. Competition from Chris Leak and Brad Roach.

Chip Cox- High salary and inconsistency; get beats often and takes many int.penalties. Needs an exceptional camp. Main competition from Blue Adams,Jonathan Ordway, Stanford Samuels and Brandon Williams.

Diamond Ferri- Injuries, stupid penalties, inconsistency. Competition from Cam Hall and John Ordway.

Reggie Hunt- High salary and age. Not a MLB. Plenty of competition from Jon Abbatte, KaMichael Hall and Ramon Guzman. Will not be with the Als at the beginning of season.

Paul Lambert-Age and salary. If Andrew Woodruff is the starter Paul will have to take a pay reduction; the fact that he can play center helps him.Should be with the Als.

Anwar Stewart-Age and high salary. Competition from Rodney Hardeway and Johnny Jackson whose signing has not been made official,yet.

Kerry Watkins-Age, high salary and inconsistency. Drops too many passes. Competition from S.J. Green and at least one more receiver from the AFL to be signed. 1 amongst Derek Lee, Jason Willis and Aaron Boone.

Eric Wilson-Age and high salary. Competition from Tim McGill, Martavius Prince and most notably Josh Thompson. The fact that he can play OL helps him but he will have to be much better that his competitors to stay,unless he takes a pay reduction.

Richard

#2

Pretty good analysis there Richard, can't find fault with any of it. I do think Samuels puts real pressure on Cox and Hall puts real pressure on Ferri.

I also don't know why Brad Banks is still collecting a paycheque, he's been pretty much of a bust in the CFL with Ottawa and Winnipeg; he's too old to be our 'future' so let him go.

#3

Nice assessment, Richard. The only players I'd be sorry to see go are Lambert and Stewart, both of whom have given many years of loyal, high-quality service. And I still think both men have something to offer at least for the upcoming season.

Everyone else, well, if we have younger, cheaper, better replacements, I say cut 'em. Watkins gives me a twinge -- I'd say he's our best YAC receiver after Richardson -- but he does drop too many passes, which tends to nullify his deep-threat capability. Ferri and Hunt IMO won't be both cut; it'll be either one or the other, but with the talent we've assembled at linebacker, I'm not worried. I'm sick of Cox, very overrated, and Wilson and Banks are just high-priced filler at this point.

#4

On a healthy winning ball team, players should be competing every spring. I think if the Als don't trade any vets before camp that they still all figure in teams plans. I have never seen a CFL team this deep ever. The only area I'm surprised the Als haven't brought in anyone is at Running back position. I like Avon but he did get injured and Imoh's been repaired as well. I don't know much about the two guys that were on the squad last year.

#5

I too wonder if Cobourne and Imoh can stay healthy the whole year. Both are smallish types who seem vulnerable to lower-body injuries from having to make sharp cuts and changes of direction. We are stacked everywhere else, though. I'm very curious to see how the LB situation shakes out. We have about 100 quality guys but only three starting spots. I would really like to see a legit MLB body type at the position. Hunt was adequate but I want a side of beef stopping the run.

#6

I think we are going to have 4 starting LB...

#7

Do you think that means we're going to a 3-4 set, or will that fourth LB be a tweener / dimeback type used mostly on passing downs?

#8

If you look at the Linebackers Mr. Popp signed:

35 Abbate, Jon LB Import 5.09 245 1985-06-18 Wake Forest
52 Guzman, Ramon LB Import 6'2 232 1982-09-29 Buffalo

40 Ferri, Diamond LB Import 5'10 223 1981-08-06 Syracuse
49 Hall, Cam LB Import 6.00 222 1982-11-01 Boise State
33 Hall, KaMichael LB Import 6'0 225 1985-01-22 Georgia Tech
12 Hill, T.J. LB Import 5.09 192 1980-07-02 Northeastern
51 Huclack, Cory LB Non-Import 6.00 215 1984-02-29 Manitoba
1 Hunt, Reggie LB Import 6.00 220 1977-10-14 Texas Christian
47 Mohring, John LB Import 6.01 217 1984-08-31 Georgia Southern
20 Proulx, Matthieu LB Non-Import 6.01 205 1981-04-16 Laval
46 Spencer, Walter LB Non-Import 5.10 217 1978-11-11 Indianapolis
41 Emry, Shea LB Non-Import 6.00 220 1986-04-23 UBC

#9

If you look at the Linebackers Mr. Popp signed: Average Weight 231 pounds vs 208 pounds last season and 208 is generous IMO, so this could mean one or many things

1-Als want to add weight at the MLB position,
2-The shear number of LB vs DE suggests a 3-4
3- Possible trade
4- They want to make drastic personel changes on defense

Personaly I can't see how Abbate or Guzman could handle cover assignments in a 4-3 but that's just me. Now if you have something like this

Hunt-----Abbatte or Guzman------Emry,Proux------Hall

Ferri Hall: Backup

TJ Hill: Moved to Safety. I think TJ would make an outstanding safety, he is fast enough, has good hands and a great open field tackler

I think If you can put an athletic 270-275 pounder with a motor on one end of the line and Anwar shows up in shape you've got some serious possibilities. Fact is the Als have to strike more fear in opponents and need more flexibility in their blitz packages. Also I'm a big fan of Reggie Hunt, he's not done and last year was a real tough adaptation for him, he is not a MLB but did better then could have been expected, his strenght is finding the ball and his leadership skills are stellar. As far as guys like Hunt, Lambert, Chiu and Stewart being cut I don't see it. They all played at a high level last season but they will need to win their starting spots.

35 Abbate, Jon LB Import 5.09 245 1985-06-18 Wake Forest
52 Guzman, Ramon LB Import 6'2 232 1982-09-29 Buffalo
33 Hall, KaMichael LB Import 6'0 225 1985-01-22 Georgia Tech
49 Hall, Cam LB Import 6.00 222 1982-11-01 Boise State

Now look at the 2008 Starters: Average Weight 208 pounds

1 Hunt, Reggie LB Import 6.00 220 1977-10-14 Texas Christian
12 Hill, T.J. LB Import 5.09 192 1980-07-02 Northeastern
14 Dwayne Taylor LB Import 6.00 200 1979-06-17 New Mexico State
40 Ferri, Diamond LB Import 5'10 223 1981-08-06 Syracuse

Special teams and backups

51 Huclack, Cory LB NI 6.00 215 1984-02-29 Manitoba
47 Mohring, John LB Import 6.01 217 1984-08-31 Georgia Southern
46 Spencer, Walter LB NI 5.10 217 1978-11-11 Indianapolis
20 Proulx, Matthieu LB NI 6.01 205 1981-04-16 Laval

Will anyone be able to read through this mess LOL!

#10

I really doubt that after re-signing both Proulx and Boulay, we’d start an import like Hill at safety.

#11

They also extended Sanchez. I think Boulay will play corner and Proux would fight for a LB spot. So Boulay/Sanchez and Emry/Proux would be the two NI spots in the backfield or something like it. I doubt very much we will start Sanchez,Boulay,Proux and Emry but it is a nice problem to have.

#12

Oh please say it isn't so...................

Saw Boulay try to play the corner last season; don't care to see that again. Not in a month of Sundays...................

#13

Mathieu Proulx is not a LB; yes he is listed as LB on Als site but it should be corrected; he tried LB for a part of last year training camp and came back to DB/S.

Proulx,Boulay and Wright will “fight” for starting S. Non-import position.

We need another non-import LB and I expect that Mr.Popp will draft 1 or 2 on May 2.

Richard

#14

Matthieu Proulx was the starting FS for part of last season-when not injured- and on Grey Cup game.

If he reads forum -I am sure he does- Noah should make the correction on Als site. Also correction on Cory Huclack who is Long Snapper and not LB; he never played a down at LB in 2008.

Richard

#15

Why would they try Boulay at corner? He was horrible at it last season and we have both Estelle and Sanchez back.

#16

Ok so let's say that Proux is the starting safety a real possibility as Richard says. Where do you play Boulay? Your not going to sit a 100k NI DB are you? And if you play Boulay then Proux would have to play somewhere.

Boulay played his college carreer at cornerback and was tried at the same with the Jets. I don't think it is fair to judge him on a handful of games coming in mid-stream in a defense he didn't know but that's just me.

If we take in to account that Sanchez, Proux and Boulay suffered injuries last year, going two deep at these positions is the way to go.

I think Trestman likes Proux's football smarts and Proux chose to come back instead of hanging it up so my guess is they plan to play him.

As far as Richard's view that the Als will draft one or two. I'm concerned that they will trade Kerry Watkins for a top pick. Kerry is currently to play his option :frowning: so this may come to pass. I think that would be too bad as I am a big fan of Kerry, he wants to be a Lark and play his career in Mtl and I don't think there is anyone in this draft that is worth a top 5 receiver certainly not a Linebacker but the Als scouting is exceptional so who knows. Other guys that I could see the Als may be tempted to trade are Ferri, Cox, Hill, Deslauriers.

#17

We are very deep at LB and at DHB, so trading Ferri and/or Cox, assuming we could find a taker, would not be a bad move. I wouldn't trade Hill unless someone knocked my socks with an offer..........Hill is good. Deslauriers I doubt would fetch much of a return in a trade.

#18

I agree that it is a problem, but if they cut Estelle, who was one of our best cover men last season, it would be a very bad move.

Boulay played his college carreer at cornerback and was tried at the same with the Jets. I don't think it is fair to judge him on a handful of games coming in mid-stream in a defense he didn't know but that's just me.
I'm not judging him, but he showed absolutely nothing last season to warrant consideration for corner duties.
If we take in to account that Sanchez, Proux and Boulay suffered injuries last year, going two deep at these positions is the way to go.
This I agree with, especially considering the number of injuries we had in the secondary last season.
I think Trestman likes Proux's football smarts and Proux chose to come back instead of hanging it up so my guess is they plan to play him.
The question is still whether Burke can use the personnel effectively. I have a lot of doubt on that front. On the plus side, at least Trestman recognizes that we need to get more aggressive on defense.
#19

Trestman chose to retain Burke so he must be happy with the coaching. Trestman could have made a change if he felt that coaching is what was needed to improve on last season. If you look at where the money was spent and recruiting priorities went this year it is clearly with defensive personel. My guess is the team feels they need other attributes on defense and it looks like size and agression is what they have paid special attention to. In Burke's defense this is the first year where he has a real input on personel so this is a very important year for him as it will dictate what kind of season the Als have on the field.

#20

And he showed quite a lot to warrant NOT putting him out on the corner......................Don't get me wrong, I really like Boulay, he hits like a locomotive and seems to have the smarts, but man did he look like a fish out of water out on the corner last season.