Lions' receivers

[Hambone]

McInnis didn't crack the top 20 receiver salaries list in 2023, nor did Cottoy. Behar came in at #20 with $137K hard money, $157K max. Of the 20 who were listed #17 Dillon Mitchell had the lowest max value at $150K with $143K hard money.

The 5 Canadians on the list were:
#4 Gittens - $200K hard, $200K max
#9 Demski - $175K hard, $175K max
#11 Julien-Grant - $165K hard, $171K max
#13 Lenius - $152K hard, $152K max
#20 Behar - $137K hard, $157K max

[don corleone]

I was only joking with the "Stanback can't catch" comment. I saw a few comments to that effect coming from Montreal but never noticed it myself.

[don corleone]

One thing I've learned in the past two years is that the rumoured salaries usually turn out to be exaggerated once things are clarified with the salary disclosure reports that start being released by 3D in mid-April. I'll wait for those to come out next month because they are far more reliable than February hearsay. One evident tendency is for rumoured "salaries" to turn out to be the max value. For some hard money and max are one and the same. For most though the rumoured "salary" relies on the player hitting on each and every performance incentive included in the contracts.

Dru Brown reported as $286,000 with $137,500 up front is another contract that seems a little too good to be true. Sounds like they expect Nathan Rourke performance levels. Also interesting that Ottawa continues to bring in QB's like Matt McKay.

[cromartie]

The design of the offense is keyed around Cottoy and he is extremely valuable, regardless of the yardage numbers.

This offense needs to replace Lucky in order to be effective. If you don't have a guy who can burn down the field running a nine route that defenses have to respect you're in trouble. Accordingly, when Lucky lost a step, the offense as designed was largely ineffective against teams that played zone effectively, like Toronto.

Is that guy on the roster currently? I don't think so. And that's a problem this front office needs to solve. We have size. We need speed.

[Hambone]

Dru Brown reported as $286,000 with $137,500 up front is another contract that seems a little too good to be true. Sounds like they expect Nathan Rourke performance levels. Also interesting that Ottawa continues to bring in QB's like Matt McKay.

Just because a team has a certain number of QBs on their roster in February doesn't mean they should declare themselves set. Most teams haven't even started running their FA tryout camps yet. That's where BC found Buck Pierce back in the day. There's still lots of additions and deletions to happen before camp as teams identify new prospects they consider to be upgrades on existing rostered players.

3Down posted an article yesterday indicating Ottawa signed McKay. According to CFL.ca transactions he was actually signed back on March 1st, the same day they released Tyrrell Pigrome. So it was a case of 1 QB in, 1 QB out. I'm not sure why Ottawa's roster hasn't been updated as they still list Pigrome but not McKay. Regardless while Ottawa currently has 6 QBs listed only 4 of them are expected to be available at the start of camp.

[don corleone]

The design of the offense is keyed around Cottoy and he is extremely valuable, regardless of the yardage numbers.

This offense needs to replace Lucky in order to be effective. If you don't have a guy who can burn down the field running a nine route that defenses have to respect you're in trouble. Accordingly, when Lucky lost a step, the offense as designed was largely ineffective against teams that played zone effectively, like Toronto.

Is that guy on the roster currently? I don't think so. And that's a problem this front office needs to solve. We have size. We need speed.

I hate to keep saying it but one good guy to replace Lucky would be Lucky. He is still going to be fast but he needs to be used. I don't get where Terry Williams is a better roster option especially with Lawrence Woods signed. Jake Harty is 33 as far as being too old goes. Lucky at $145,000 ish seems reasonable.

There are others and it's still early. Not sure where the Lions go with their draft pick but Kevin Mital has been highly touted as a future player.

Anyone seen Lamar Durant lately?

[Hambone]

I hate to keep saying it but one good guy to replace Lucky would be Lucky. He is still going to be fast but he needs to be used. I don't get where Terry Williams is a better roster option especially with Lawrence Woods signed. Jake Harty is 33 as far as being too old goes. Lucky at $145,000 ish seems reasonable.

There are others and it's still early. Not sure where the Lions go with their draft pick but Kevin Mital has been highly touted as a future player.

Anyone seen Lamar Durant lately?

Harty is there as a depth NAT receiver which is a high priority if they are as expected starting both Cottoy and McInnis. He is certainly an upgrade on Petermann last year and Scarfone prior to him. Lucky might still be fairly fast but he's noticeably no longer the burner he used to be. Turning 32 at the end of training camp he's not going to recapture his former speed. I'm not against him resurfacing and wouldn't be surprised to see it happen but it won't happen at $145K unless you have a good suggestion who they can dump to make SMS room.

As for Williams and Woods I think it gets down to roster deployment and the roles they are expected to play. As a rule all teams want their KR to first and foremost be their KR who can provide some depth elsewhere if necessary. In most cases that depth need is usually in case of a mid-game injury with the roster getting adjusted back for the next game. With that I think they look at Williams as their KR who can pinch hit as a receiver if something during the game creates the need. And I think they are looking at Woods as their field CB who can pinch hit at KR.

[maxlion]

This offense needs to replace Lucky in order to be effective. If you don't have a guy who can burn down the field running a nine route that defenses have to respect you're in trouble. Accordingly, when Lucky lost a step, the offense as designed was largely ineffective against teams that played zone effectively, like Toronto.

Is that guy on the roster currently? I don't think so. And that's a problem this front office needs to solve. We have size. We need speed.

Hollins is pretty fast. Maybe not as quick as Lucky but not many are. In my view, Hollins is what made Lucky expendable. That said, I wonder if one of the new guys will be a burner. Or will Terry Williams get a chance to get some offensive touches now that we have another speedy returner?

[David]

A few of the new recruits, Stanley Berryhill III, Devon Ravenel, and Ed Lee have all been timed at 4.45 in the 40. For what it's worth.


DH

[don corleone]

Fast is good but route running and timing are equally important.

Lions have a great opportunity that can quickly transition into game film for a top prospect. I would think agents would be looking at that. The ELC is the compromise that works in the teams favour and even that is not carved in stone as Austin Mack found out.

Even though we are talking about it I don't think football ops is too worried. My concern would be next man up in the event of an injury which may not happen. Still think Wieneke is a possibility.

[Hambone]

Interesting perspective on Wieneke from the typically fickle Rider Nation. He went from great free agent signing in Feb to why is he always a healthy scratch in October to bad signing and waste when released after the season. Consensus from one of the most knowledgeable denizens at RF was that he had lost whatever foot speed he once had. Hands were good but what good is a sure-handed receiver who can't gain separation on any coverage.

https://www.riderfans.com/forum/forum/m ... ke-wieneke

https://www.riderfans.com/forum/forum/m ... -few-games

https://www.riderfans.com/forum/forum/m ... ke-wieneke

[don corleone]

Interesting perspective on Wieneke from the typically fickle Rider Nation. He went from great free agent signing in Feb to why is he always a healthy scratch in October to bad signing and waste when released after the season. Consensus from one of the most knowledgeable denizens at RF was that he had lost whatever foot speed he once had. Hands were good but what good is a sure-handed receiver who can't gain separation on any coverage.

Appreciate the laugh. Meanwhile gloss over the genius that orchestrated the deal was extended for 3 more years. It won't be long before Pete Robertson will be asked if he misses Sask and my guess the answer will be the same as for Cody Fajardo, Jason Maas, Jake Dolegala, Justin McInnis and many others. Riders are a community owned clown show IMO.

For starters they had a very solid National receiving corp with Shaeffer-Baker, Emilus, Lenius, McInnis, and Picton and could easily have played 3 Nationals at the position with depth. They prioritized Lenius over McInnis who was slagged as being lazy on Riderfans, signed Wieneke because Trevor Harris told them so and then played Shawn Bane and Jarrod Stearns both who are 5'8" ahead of him. Goofier yet was giving Wieneke the #1. The only recourse was to not play him on a team that lost it's last 7 games and make him a fall guy for being slow and out of shape. I know I am forgetting things.

Wieneke's success in Montreal appears to have largely been tied to Vernon Adams with 2022 not a big year and yet the Riders paid up big to get him. His earlier success IMO was similar to Dalton Schoen benefiting form broken plays and getting open. Suitor calls it the Scramble Drill. He would have to come cheap but may also help with depth in the event of an injury. V.A. being a believer would be the difference.

More about Sask is a curiosity if Trevor Harris stays healthy and has a decent year whether they re-sign him for 2025. If not there is no point on having him on the team in 2024 because they will be lucky to make the playoffs imo. Sure they make it sound like he is their man but bottom line it was a bad contract for everyone not named Trevor Harris.

When I hear of Craig Reynolds being involved in contract negotiations and see him sitting at the games next to O'Day I can not help but think he has influence beyond his area of expertise and positional role within the club. I get that he wants to do well.

As for Riderfans; I like Ike

[Hambone]

I think Wieneke might be a lot like me playing hockey. I always said I'd never lose a step because I never had a step to begin with to lose. When I left the island to go to PG I told my buddies they'd have to pick up the pace because with me gone our league just got faster.

Jake never was fast to begin with and no doubt isn't any faster today. He registered a 4.67 at the 2018 NFL Combine which ranked him 35th out of the 37 WRs who participated in the 40. He was even slower on his Pro Day with his times ranging from 4.78 to 4.80. Most all of his Combine numbers were near the bottom for WRs.

What he did seem to have a knack for was finding an open spot in the end zone. 20% of his catches in his first 2 seasons were for TDs which frankly isn't a sustainable pace. He reminds me a lot of Wolitarsky in that he'll be mostly invisible then will suddenly pop up at the worst time for his opponents.

Agreed that it will be interesting to what the Riders do after this season re: Harris. There's not a lot of options out there. Fajardo, Collaros, Kelly, Mitchell, Brown and Adams are all locked up through 2025. Harris, MBT and Maier are the only projected 2024 starters who are on expiring deals. If Maier gets things back on track this year Calgary will extend him. Streveler and Tre Ford are backups of note on expiring deals.

[don corleone]

Sask is also a receiver down with Tevin Jones signing in Montreal and no replacement yet that I am aware of unless they are thinking Mario Alford who might be very good.

[SammyGreene]

No official announcement yet but it appears the Lions have signed another intriguing receiver prospect in Dezmon Patmon.

The 6-foot-4 25-year-old was a 6th round pick by Indianapolis in the 2000 NFL Draft after a couple of productive seasons at Washington State. Was Gardner Minshew's favourite target in his junior year as the WSU finished 10th in the final AP rankings. Added 800 more yards and 8 TDs in his senior year.

Spent much of the next 3 seasons on the Colts practice squad with a couple of regular season appearances. A late cut of the Bills last season and a brief time with Carolina before being released.

Had signed with Michigan of the UFL but asked for his release last week and his apparently destined for here instead.

The training camp battle for those 2 American receiver spots for at least the first half of the season will be intriguing.

Interesting to see the Stamps give an update on Malik Henry last week who like Hatcher tore his Achilles back on June 24. He is now back in Calgary working out at the Stamps indoor training facility.
Dickenson says they are hopeful he will be ready for training camp but plan on limiting his workload. That will be just shy of 11 months since his injury. Hatcher targeting a return after 9 months but we shall see.