Is this season a fluke/lucky break or actually an outcome of what Kavis Reed was promising? A team that the fans would be proud of and be great in the room and field.
He was a very unlikeable slippery dude for sure but one can argue that he delivered. I for one am happy he’s gone but have to give him his due. I wonder if we will ever know of his alleged wrongdoings.
I want to give Reed a certain amount of credit, particularly for signing free agents such as Muamba, Posey, Campbell, Evans. But then I can`t help thinking of the following:
Am I missing anything?
For sure. And again I’m no Reed apologist.
But every rebuilding job involves multiple players coming and going.
I remember Pete Carroll rebuilding Seattle and he used over 110 players in year one. Same with Chris Jones in Sask.
At any rate after 2 years he largely fielded this current crew. And importantly the fans are coming back.
I’ve said a few times this season that Reed deserves his share of credit for this team. He built a solid foundation of players. His problems were ego, untrustworthiness, and overreach. It felt like he could never resist that last “deal” and leave well enough alone (Manziel, etc.). If he’d been able to get out of his own way, he could have had success in this league. But for every good thing he did, there was something bad or catastrophic. To me his biggest failings, specifically, were Manziel, gutting the O-line, and Sherman.
I think we all share the same viewpoint.
Yes he made some very good moves, and some very bad moves.
To me, though, the worst thing wasn’t his fault at all. . . it was management’s fault for hiring him in the first place.
He’d been a coordinator and a head coach; and failed in each of those positions. What in the world made management think he was qualified to move up to GM ?
I don’t blame him for player acquisition on his way to landing with this crew after 2 years. I don’t think you can do a rebuild without the revolving door of players. I don’t think a rebuilding GM can be right about players that quickly.
My problem with him was being too loud, over promising, too much word-smithing. Just was never trustworthy in my mind. Very self serving everywhere he’s been. And that’s too bad. He could be really celebratory now instead of in purgatory.
Agree with you MadJack.
Yes management was indeed a large issue.
However had a another more experienced guy been here and accomplished this rebuild after 2years I suspect he’d be a hero now. If, say it was Chris Jones, and his 120 moves a year with wild hits and misses, I bet he’d be celebrated.
I think Reed just had an air of self-serving grifter about him.
He gave away our high draft picks for the following few years, and got nothing in return. That will eventually hurt the team.
He signed a few good players, but made many bad moves. The biggest factor this season has been Adams. Reed cannot take credit for him.
Good riddance.
Yep Adams and coach Jones were pushed into the fray where many thought they would flop .
Inspiration and intangibles from a few key leaders on the team changed this teams chemistry to believe they have a chance with anyone and fight back .
The feel good story continues .
A ownerless team playing like this is extremely entertaining to watch .
I think all Alouette fans and Kavis deserve the other side of the story. This being the CFL, it will never be told.
You can say he did some good things…
But even a broken clock is right twice a day…but its still useless
If we think about this year, and we’re being honest, we have to give Reed credit for the receiving corps, the secondary, the linebackers. The man went out and got some solid talent. Equally for signing Khari Jones to be OC last year.
When it comes to QB, though … Adams wasn’t Reed’s guy. He was a Popp find, if memory serves. And Khari Jones becoming HC and Adams becoming the starter wouldn’t have happened if the league hadn’t insisted on firing Sherman and releasing Manziel, over and above Reed’s wishes. I would argue that Jones and Adams are the two most valuable pieces of our team at the moment. Would we be 9-7 and playoff-bound if Sherman were still head coach and Manziel still the starting QB? Jones gave Pipkin a short leash, then brought Adams in and started devising an attack to suit his skills, and the rest is history.
Was Pipkin not Reed’s choice as starting QB in training camp?
For accuracy purposes, Buono in BC “found” VA. Traded him to Popp and Montreal for a first round.
Then Montreal (Reed) traded him to Sask for Trevaughn Campbell in 2017. Then Sask traded him to Hamilton for Charleston Hughes. Hamilton cut him and Montreal (Reed) resigned him.
So Hamilton is the loser so far in all of this VA movement perhaps…losing Hughes for a guy they ultimately cut.
Anyway I think it is important to note that this is what a rebuild looks like. It’s not a one move and done deal. It’s constant player movement for several years.
Really stable franchises can avoid the rebuild often through strategic yearly moves a la Calgary… But that was impossible in Montreal given the constant coaches massacres.
as HC one could say it was KJ’s. Mind you he inherited that no doubt from Sherman.
I doubt that Reed would dictate that.
In a very narrow focus Reed added some good talent this season, and last … but he also made some horrendous signings and some debatable trades in terms of players AND thanks to his trades the Als do not have first round picks for the 2020 and 2021 drafts … those picks may not offer the same immediate impact that NFL/NHL/NBA first rounders can provide but they are an important tool to building quality Canadian depth … those were classic “I need to win now, and who knows if I’ll be GM by then” trades … except he mortgaged the future for on-field failure.
Since neg lists change constantly, we will never know which team had Vernon Adams first. However, there was an article written this year stating that Jim Popp at one time had Adams on the Montreal’s list. Popp must have dropped Adams butlater re-acquired his rights as you mentioned. Popp felt the Als needed another option at QB since the team had no contact with Rakeem Cato that offseason and was unsure if Cato would be returning for a 2nd year in the CFL.
Yeah you could be right.
Except the Als have not had on field failures this year, year 3 in a total rebuild.
There are always two or more sides to “losing” draft picks. For instance: Montreal ultimately got VA and Trevaughn Campbell (now in NFL) and a 2nd rounder for their 1st rounder. -good result after two years.
I cannot verify who they got for “losing” first rounders in 20-21. Do you know? Certainly one was for Manziel and that turned out to be a disaster. That said, I do believe that Als ownership pushed hard for Manziel too.
At any rate, I’m glad he’s gone AND how the season and Adams have progressed so far. And to see fans back. I sure hope the sale is completed soon.
And to be fair to Reed I hope he’s not black-listed in the CFL without knowing what his transgressions were. We forgave Chris Jones in his SMS sidestepping while stashing of players in Regina in his obsession with his rebuild.