Yikes! Lions 2024 potential free agents

[B.C.FAN]

Justin Dunk of 3downnation.com, citing sources, said White signed a 2-year deal worth $265,00 this year, so he still got about $30,000 more than other top receivers in this year’s market.

EDIT: According to TSN’s Dave Naylor, White will make less than $200,000 in hard money this year, maxing out around $230,000 with incentives.

[Toppy Vann]

Farhan brought up an interesting point on a Regina based podcast last week on how team's scouting/player personnel department is not doing its job if it can't find solid entry level players at three positions — field side corner, 5th receiver and a edge rusher.

Entry level Receivers are easier to spot than these other spots. Corner and edge rusher are tougher to predict as the CFL is a different game than what most college players are used to.

Tim White didn't get his $300K but reading Dave Naylor's tweet raises the question. Did he benefit from waiting? I suppose so. My point on White was he was unlike others who might not get picked up at all.

VA extended got some negatives on X likely from NFL wannabe fans.
The only thing, I think the Lions have to do this year is to be able to run effectively and their existing plays won't win a WDF let alone win a GC.

[don corleone]

Bit of a surprise to see Vernon Adams extended and I wondered if they were taking money away or topping up the $340,000 he was said to have been paid for 2023. Either way, a substantial long term agreement with a heckuva player.

The WSF against Calgary was one of the best games I have seen him play. That said at the time I would have liked to see them go to Dane Evans after V.A. got hurt.

Hopefully Nathan Rourke doesn't return to the CFL anytime soon and end up having to play for Calgary.

[don corleone]

The only thing, I think the Lions have to do this year is to be able to run effectively

Get your Stanback jersey now. He's coming in with a chip on his shoulder imo.

[Hambone]

I was pretty much expecting a new extension and raise for VA. He should be considered in the top third of CFL starters but was on a pay scale that put him in the bottom third. Now is the time to bump him up and nice work to lock him up for two additional years after this coming season.

[Hambone]

The only thing, I think the Lions have to do this year is to be able to run effectively

Get your Stanback jersey now. He's coming in with a chip on his shoulder imo.

Lol. I'm a bit jaded on buying those jerseys. The only one I have aside from 3 game jerseys is my classic Merv jersey as seen in my avatar. I bought that nearly 40 years ago and only wear it while at Grey Cup. I think it partly comes from spending too much time in RF where fans are always lamenting owning a <insert player's name here> jersey they just bought a few months before the player departed. There are a few wondering what to do with their Jake Dolegala jerseys.

Your question though does have me wondering which jersey Bosco will be ordering this year.

[DanoT]

I was pretty much expecting a new extension and raise for VA. He should be considered in the top third of CFL starters but was on a pay scale that put him in the bottom third. Now is the time to bump him up and nice work to lock him up for two additional years after this coming season.

While I have never been a huge all out fan of VA, I agree that he is one of the top 3 QBs in the CFL, especially after the career year he had in 2023, so yeah he deserves a raise.

[don corleone]

Disappointing to hear of a new "marketing" category that falls outside of the SMS allowing Winnipeg to register Dalton Schoen's reported $230,000 contract as $190,000. Why bother to have a salary cap at all?

The easiest thing to do is to play by the rules at least at the management level. What is up with the silly little games? Winnipeg is the worst offender imo.

[Hambone]

Disappointing to hear of a new "marketing" category that falls outside of the SMS allowing Winnipeg to register Dalton Schoen's reported $230,000 contract as $190,000. Why bother to have a salary cap at all?

The easiest thing to do is to play by the rules at least at the management level. What is up with the silly little games? Winnipeg is the worst offender imo.

It's safe to say if Winnipeg is leveraging this the other 8 teams are doing the same. It must be something that was negotiated into the CBA last May.

[B.C.FAN]

Disappointing to hear of a new "marketing" category that falls outside of the SMS allowing Winnipeg to register Dalton Schoen's reported $230,000 contract as $190,000. Why bother to have a salary cap at all?

The easiest thing to do is to play by the rules at least at the management level. What is up with the silly little games? Winnipeg is the worst offender imo.

It's safe to say if Winnipeg is leveraging this the other 8 teams are doing the same. It must be something that was negotiated into the CBA last May.

It's complicated but the basic team salary cap for 2024 is $5.525 million, plus $110,000 for non-football-related services such as player marketing, travel and housing, for a total of $5.635 million, plus a player share of any league revenue growth, if applicable.

[Hambone]

Disappointing to hear of a new "marketing" category that falls outside of the SMS allowing Winnipeg to register Dalton Schoen's reported $230,000 contract as $190,000. Why bother to have a salary cap at all?

The easiest thing to do is to play by the rules at least at the management level. What is up with the silly little games? Winnipeg is the worst offender imo.

It's safe to say if Winnipeg is leveraging this the other 8 teams are doing the same. It must be something that was negotiated into the CBA last May.

It's complicated but the basic team salary cap for 2024 is $5.525 million, plus $110,000 for non-football-related services such as player marketing, travel and housing, for a total of $5.635 million, plus a player share of any league revenue growth, if applicable.

In all of the recent salary disclosures over the past couple of years those non-football-related services have still been counted as "hard money" presumably counted against the SMS. Maybe they are identifying it as a separate pool to the salary part but still part of the overall cap?

[B.C.FAN]

It's complicated but the basic team salary cap for 2024 is $5.525 million, plus $110,000 for non-football-related services such as player marketing, travel and housing, for a total of $5.635 million, plus a player share of any league revenue growth, if applicable.

In all of the recent salary disclosures over the past couple of years those non-football-related services have still been counted as "hard money" presumably counted against the SMS. Maybe they are identifying it as a separate pool to the salary part but still part of the overall cap?

Yes, community appearance and promotion fees are now included in standard player contracts, according to the CBA. They count toward the $110,000 added to each club's cap for non-football-related services beginning this year. Only some players will have such clauses.

In 2023, each Club will include in the Salary Expenditure Cap an additional $60,000 in respect of Non-Football Related Services, such as community appearances, outreach, and promotion. Starting in 2024 and continuing for every year of the collective agreement, each Club will include in the Salary Expenditure Cap an additional $110,000 in respect of those Non-Football Related Services. These special amounts will be the mandatory minimum amount for each Club and will be subject to strict audit rules. The Clubs will have sole discretion on which players shall received these payments and the amounts to each player, but in no case should these amounts be less than $60,000 per Club in 2023 or less than $110,000 per Club, per year thereafter. These amounts will be included in a player’s SPC and noted accordingly.

[don corleone]

Good digging B.C.Fan. Kind of an odd clause but at least it's in the CBA. Looking at the numbers and reading between the lines it seems unlikely everyone gets a housing allowance.

I wonder if the level of play would be that much worse if at all if there were fixed salary levels similar to the spring leagues. Players might not play as long but I think they would play just as hard.

[Hambone]

Good digging B.C.Fan. Kind of an odd clause but at least it's in the CBA. Looking at the numbers and reading between the lines it seems unlikely everyone gets a housing allowance.

I wonder if the level of play would be that much worse if at all if there were fixed salary levels similar to the spring leagues. Players might not play as long but I think they would play just as hard.

Good question on the housing allowance and that matter travel allowance. Obviously not every player gets that and maybe none get it on ELCs. Rookies drafted into the CFL since 2019 were allowed to get max $7500 in signing bonus or housing for each of their first 2 years if selected in rds 1 or 2. That dropped to $5000 if taken in rds 3 or 4 and $2500 for rd 5 and later. was thinking about that when Oliviera re-signed. Born, raised and living in Winnipeg is there reason for him to get a housing or travel allowance? Different story for Schoen. Maybe travel and housing get taxed differently?

As for the flat salary rate I always wondered if that impacts a player's motivation? A player striving to be the best at his position stands to be rewarded at contract time. However would he lose some of that motivation if he won't make any more than the worst player at his position?

[don corleone]

As for the flat salary rate I always wondered if that impacts a player's motivation? A player striving to be the best at his position stands to be rewarded at contract time. However would he lose some of that motivation if he won't make any more than the worst player at his position?

Some of that spring league motivation came in the form of winning the game to receive a bonus so they did have that angle covered. League champions got another financial reward iirc. Guys playing for a winning team might earn 20% more but they would have had to work for that money.

Also noticed in the Tim White contract details $12,000 for promo so no doubt the same category using a different descriptive term. $40,000 seems like a lot to give up to one guy though.