Who are our starting 7 Non-Imports?

Hamilton Tiger-Cats
1

Lets start doing some math...never was good at it in school, so lets try it now!
We need 7 starting Non-Imports, who should it be?

If 3 interior O-lineman are non-Imports
I would think some combination of
Hage, Hudson, Filice, Cheron.

1 Receiver in Brock Ralph

1-FB in Radlein
1-RB in Lumsden
2-interior D-Lineman in McKay-Loescher and Patrick Wayne

Well there is 8 positions.
That would give us a starting Import free safety finally (Yahoo) in our all import defensive backfield

3 starting Import linebackers

And a ton of Non-Import guys fighting for playing time in:
Mike Morreale, and the bevy of Non-Import receivers signed

The 2 O-Lineman drafted last year from American Colleges

Barrenecha, Mariutz, Gauthier, Shaw, Beveridge, Dunbrack

plus

3 picks in the top 12 of the draft.

Gm said he wanted competition, looks like he is delivering!!!

What 7 would you start?

2

My guesses:

-Ralph (WR)
-Radelein (FB)
-Hudson, Hage and Gagne-Marcoux (OL)
-Wayne and McKay-Loescher (DL)

Other Canadians who I think will not start, but who will get serious playing time, are:

-Lumsden (RB)
-Gourges and Cheron (OL)
-Gauthier (S)
-Shaw (CB)
-Mariuz (LB)

As far as "name" Canadians go, these are the players who I strongly suspect will get cut in 2007:

-Aidoo (FB)
-Felice (OL)
-Morreale and Fleming (SB)
-Hitchcock (LB)
-Barrenechea (LB)
-Beveridge (S)
-Dunbrack (DL)

3

It is amazing that other teams will be picking through our cast-offs this year.
You are right, we must cut some quality guys.
I could see Beveridge, Gauthier, MM, Fleming, Filice.
I still think Auggie is a super special teamer, and Roger is needed depth for the 2 starting non-import D-Lineman.

4

i think our interior starting linemen will be Hudson at LG, Hage at C and Felice at RG. He played pretty well last year when Smith & Hudson went down. I have my suspicians that Gagne-Marcoux will sign on with an NFL team as a later draft pick or free agent. Dont count on him bringing his game to camp this year

5

Gagne-Marcoux is too small for the NFL. He will be in Hamilton.

Dyakowski, on the other hand, is a giant. Expect him to be given a chance down south based on his size.

Our D-Line may have a few more potential Canadian starters that haven’t been mentioned. Jermaine Reid, a draft pick from 2006 who spent another year in school, and J.P. Bekasiak, a strong young gun who the Ticats could very well take with the #1 overall pick in the 2007 draft.

6

Gagne-Marcoux is listed at 6-2, 297 on an NFL draft info site I looked at - maybe they are wrong with that info; but FYI - here's 3 of the 4 NFL Pro Bowl centers this past season: Olin Kreutz, Bears, 6-2, 292; Nick Hardwick, Chargers, 6-4, 295; Jeff Saturday, Colts, 6-2, 295. So - hard to see how Gagne-Marcoux is "too small for the NFL"?

And even if Gagne-Marcoux is more like 280-something, I bet he could add a few pounds to compete in an NFL camp; C is one position on NFL O-lines where you still find plenty of guys under 300 - they're not all huge there.

Gagne-Marcoux's NFL chances will probably be, IMO, more affected by him playing at not a big name program and wether he put up good testing numbers; I tend to agree though he may not get a real serious NFL look and could quite well end up with the Ticats for TC.

7

I would agree with ticatsackattack. Gagne-Marcoux will be in camp, Dyakowski will get a NFL free agent try-out.

8

So are you saying that you think our backfield will work on a platoon system? Presumably you’re picking Holmes & Radlein to be the starters? Then sometimes you’ll have Holmes & Lumsden and occasionally Lumsden & Radlein?

In 2nd & long passing situations, do you put Holmes out there alone to block? This is not his strong suit. Lumsden is much better in this role.

I don’t know if Holmes is durable enough to carry the load of a typical starting running back. He is explosive, obviously, but I don’t see him being able to play big minutes game in and game out.

I don’t know how they’ll use the talent they have in the backfield, but it will be interesting.

And to answer the original question, if Lumsden is the starting RB, then you’re going to have to start 8 non-imports. He can’t be one of the 7 in case there is an injury - we don’t have any backup NI RBs.

red24