Essentially from this point until approximatley November, short of my job and my family, I will be consumed by the Saskatchewan Roughriders. This will be the first of what you can expect to be dozens of blogs, discussions, rants and so on dealing with this great organization.
Unless you live under a rock you know CFL Free Agency started on Wednesday. At the same time, if you follow the Riders you know that many have been publicily calling out Brendan Taman as being a poor GM who has 'never signed anyone'. Well I would say after the first two days, Brendan Taman has been the most succesful GM in the league thus far. A glaring problem with the Riders in last years debacle was the O - Line. Marc Parenteau struggled with the simple things like snapping the ball, Makowsky and Goodspeed looked every bit like late 30 something's and the list goes on. By yesterday at noon, enter Dominic Picard from Toronto to replace Parenteau and Brendon Labatte from the Bombers, a guy who was as much coveted as Andy Fantuz was and continues to be. What makes the Labatte signing that much sweeter is ET and the Evil Empire was hot on his trail and never got it done. They also reportedly wanted Fantuz desperately but does not look like they will get him. As the magic run out for Eric Tillman.
The hot debate continues to be where Andy Fantuz will land. Rumor has it that it comes down to Hamilton and the Riders with Hamilton offering more money. At the end of the day, I would love to keep Fantuz as much as the next. However, at the same time the additions to the O - Line were far more important. I mean we can have the best receivers in the world but without any quality protection, how can Darian find them? Seriously, it is not like our receiving corps is weak without Fantuz. Time will tell; I am hearing early next week we will know as Fantuz is presently wrapping up a three week holiday in Africa.
On a side note, but no less important the Riders also brought in local product Paul Woldu from the Als. Woldu will provide some insurance on the corner and is an absolute beast on the teams. He will bring a lot of energy to an already much improved group led by Craig Dickenson.
What have we lost...Stu Foord. Sad to see him go but wasn't really utilized all that much with the exception of Special Teams, and with three new backs being brought in to go with Brandon West, the writing was on the wall for STUUUUUUUUUU!.
Lastly, a Roughrider Press Conference at 10:30 this morning will prsumably announce the retirement of Gene Makowsky. A great Rider two years ago, it's his time to walk away. Let's face it, the O - Line needs to get younger and faster and with the two additions to go with the kids already around from last year, Geno would struggle to make this team anyways.
Have a great weekend.
Great to heard that you'll be bloggin more about Rider news!
ReplyDeleteLots of Rider action today. I'm not surprised about Geno's decision. While a tough decision it was the right one. There was no way he could balance being a father/husband, MLA, AND Rider player plus give each one it's required attention and dedication.
Andy's Hamilton signing sucks. I was hoping he would have stayed and thought the magic between Andy and Durant would have made the difference. Even the community rallied around Andy with additional business opportunities and the famous Fantuz Flakes. Andy indicates that family was the tipping point. I can't really judge him on that however I do think he had a very good thing going on here.
I can't remember, does Tristan Jackson play CB? Could Woldu be insurance for the high priced Jackson?
According to Twitter Jackson and the Riders have reached a deal.
DeleteAwesome! I hadn't that yet!
ReplyDelete