Mike Edem Trade

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VICIOUSCIRCLE
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Thoughts?
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QB Club 63
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I will admit my expectations about Edem were probably a little too high, but he was spectacularly bland at safety. If we need a Canadian starter in the secondary, I'm not against the idea of using Keynan Parker on the corner. IMHO he was not a liability at any time.

As a former kicker myself, I'm more than a little disappointed Wally didn't pick up Quinn Van Gylswyk in the trade. Shirley it's obvious the Greenies and Jones favour Crapigna over QVG so why wouldn't they swap a CDN practice roster player for a potential CDN starter? And from the Lions side, it makes sense because Swayze Waters was signed to just a one-year deal. I'd rather have a spare kicker available for insurance, specifically a Canadian kicker, and Paul McCallum's in the real estate biz, not the insurance biz. :wink:
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QB Club 63 wrote:I will admit my expectations about Edem were probably a little too high, but he was spectacularly bland at safety. If we need a Canadian starter in the secondary, I'm not against the idea of using Keynan Parker on the corner. IMHO he was not a liability at any time.

As a former kicker myself, I'm more than a little disappointed Wally didn't pick up Quinn Van Gylswyk in the trade. Shirley it's obvious the Greenies and Jones favour Crapigna over QVG so why wouldn't they swap a CDN practice roster player for a potential CDN starter? And from the Lions side, it makes sense because Swayze Waters was signed to just a one-year deal. I'd rather have a spare kicker available for insurance, specifically a Canadian kicker, and Paul McCallum's in the real estate biz, not the insurance biz. :wink:
When the trade was a rumour I suggested over on RF that it wouldn't cost the Riders much for Edem, likely a later round pick or possibly someone like QVG who is likely to strain his baby toe and spend another year on the IR. And who's to say Wally didn't try to get QVG and was turned down. Jones is in the same situation as Wally was when BC had the likes of Sean Whyte and Hugh O'Neill stuffed on the IR or PR as insurance for McCallum. The Riders have Crapigna placekicking and Bartell punting. Not sure what would happen if Bartell was injured as Crapigna could take over there. If Crapigna went down or suddenly became eratic on FGs QVG is the guy who would take over. Regardless I expect a kicker to be signed before camp. Wally always has 2 kickers in camp even if barring injury there's little to no chance of the second one being activated.
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VICIOUSCIRCLE wrote:Thoughts?
I thought Edem was a good pickup when he first joined the team and had potential to play an impactful role in the secondary. But there were some noticeable gaps back there last year; too many big plays surrendered and not enough turnovers.

Probably what the Leos got back can be considered typical but part of me thinks he went cheap. That would be the part of me that dislikes Chris Jones and his regime; his Canadian talent is lacking, hold the guy hostage. Wishful thinking not based in reality but entirely in emotion. Oh well..................
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B.C.FAN
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Edem has had a remarkable fall from grace as a former third overall draft pick. He was a liability on the field last year, along with Ryan Phillips and Brandon Stewart. None of them could get to the ball. Mark Washington deserves a lot of credit for putting together the league's top-ranked defence despite having the fewest interceptions and giving up a lot of big pass plays.
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B.C.FAN wrote:Edem has had a remarkable fall from grace as a former third overall draft pick. He was a liability on the field last year, along with Ryan Phillips and Brandon Stewart. None of them could get to the ball. Mark Washington deserves a lot of credit for putting together the league's top-ranked defence despite having the fewest interceptions and giving up a lot of big pass plays.
I agree that Edem and Steward were both liabilities on our defense last season. I didn't see Phillips as being as much of a liability as the previous two defenders. Wally wanted Phillips to take a reduced role this season but still be wearing a Leos uniform so he saw positives.

I don't give Washington a pass nor did he have the league's top defense. Calgary and Montreal's defense gave up fewer points and fewer touchdowns. Our defense was very ill prepared for the playoffs and torched for 25 points in the first half against the Bombers and 30 points to the Stamps in the first half of the West Final. Those poor performances were not just a secondary problem but a coaching problem.

Washington wanted Mike Edem signed as a free agent to play safety for us last season.
Washington never thought he’d escape Montreal.“I was very surprised,” Washington said Thursday at BC Place. “After his rookie year, I’m like, ‘Well, the cat got away.’ But I guess he didn’t. “He became a priority. When he went to Hamilton and they didn’t re-sign him, I had my eye on him.”

B.C. and Edem inked a two-year deal, connecting the fourth-year player with Leos’ defensive coordinator Mark Washington after the two apparently built a rapport during that year’s draft process.
Buono also signed free agent Brandon Steward to play corner for us last season. Buono believed that the signings of both Edem and Steward would make our defense "a little bit more physical, a little bit more intense" were his words at the time.

The reality was that Edem, after his rookie season had fallen from grace in Montreal and traded for a sixth round draft choice. Hamiltion was not interested in signing him. But Washington, for some reason was thrilled to get Edem signed last season. Brandon Steward has also fallen out of favor in Hamilton. Yet we signed both to expensive contracts.

Last year, after Jonathan Jennings and Travis Lulay spent time with Edem, following a practice to help Edem with his angles, he had two interceptions. It shouldn't take our quarterbacks to coach up our free safety after a practice to get results. Washington was both our defensive coordinator. He was also our defensive backs coach last season as he has been every season since he retired as a player.

Wally Buono doesn't change easily but he will under certain circumstances, as in 2011, when after opening the season with five straight losses Buono took the reins off our offence and defense, brought in Arland Bruce, and went with Harris as our tailback.

Buono has stuck with trying to go with a National free safety since Barrin Miles retired, no matter what the results and they have not been good. But Buono's time is short as our HC and he wants to win it all this season badly. So this season he is going to try to do "things differently' on defense are his words. That has meant trading Edem. More importantly Buono has hired an extra coach so that Washington will not be our defensive backfield coach this season. That is an even more important move for our defensive backfield.

Hopefully our new defensive backfield coach will coach our defensive backs to play more aggressively than the passive style that Washington encouraged during his tenure as our defensive backfield coach.

I really like Stephen Clarke as a defensive halfback and hope he can adapt to safety. He is a talented defensive back and a ball hawk. Free safety is too important a position to have been a weak spot for our Leos for too many seasons. I'm excited about the potential of our defensive backfiled for 2017.
"When I went to Catholic high school in Philadelphia, we just had one coach for football and basketball. He took all of us who turned out and had us run through a forest. The ones who ran into the trees were on the football team". (George Raveling)
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