By Greg Urbanoski

Riderville

All bets are off as CFL Free Agency about to begin

Jan 23, 2020 | 9:10 AM

As Saskatchewan emerges from a deep freeze and Newfoundland digs out from an unbelievable dump of snow, CFL teams are rousing themselves to deal with the new world of free agency.

The rules have changed and players can take offers from teams prior to free agency, and then decide what to do. So players are looking at who will pay, but also where the best place to play will be.

For teams they have to figure out how to fit players under the salary cap, who might be the best fit for their respective teams, and where they will need to rebuild or reload if there are players who cost more than what they are worth.

Throw into this the changes where American players who have three years with one team or four years in the CFL can qualify as a national, and well, constructing a CFL roster now moves to Jenga-like complexity – pull the wrong piece out and the whole season comes tumbling down.

So as we approach the Feb. 11 free agent deadline, the Riders have moved at their own speed, announcing defensive end AC Leonard has signed for two years. The Leonard signing was important because in the second half of last season, it seems like a light went on and Leonard went on to make his presence felt on the defensive line.

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The Riders have not yet announced if Charleston Hughes has been re-signed, but that appears to be a done deal just waiting for the right time to be announced. Micah Johnson, the top paid defensive player who was in the middle of the Rider defensive line has not been re-signed and depending on which pundit you listen to and how they interpret a radio interview, may or may not return to the Riders.

Of course the rumour mills are in full swing and a couple of rumours this week caused a bit of consternation in Rider Nation. One was the Winnipeg Blue Bombers were looking to sign Solomon Elimimian who filled in at middle linebacker for the Riders last year and did a pretty good job after being cut by the BC Lions.

The Bombers would like to reunite Elimimian with Adam Bighill, when both of them patrolled the middle of the BC Lions defense and that would seem to indicate the Bombers are anticipating losing Willie Jefferson to the NFL or free agency and the Bombers by going with essentially two middle linebackers may be looking at a 3-4 defense with three down linemen and four linebackers.

The other potential wild card is Cameron Judge. The one-time first round draft pick has emerged from a bit of a head case to an outstanding linebacker who was named the west outstanding Canadian last year. You can’t begrudge Judge looking to perhaps head to the NFL, but if the Riders lose Judge and Elimimian that means the Riders linebackers from last year are all gone with Derek Moncrief signing with the Las Vegas Raiders of the NFL.

The Riders also extended Jurgen Hus’ contract for another season. Hus is the long snapper for the Riders and if you are a short Canadian, learn to long-snap a football and you can make a good living as a football player.

The Riders have a few players waiting to hear if any offers will come from the team, among them offensive lineman Dariusz Bladek who is entering his first free agency after being drafted. Quarterback Cody Fajardo seems to be striking a balance between living in the province and promoting the team by flying in to take in events like the Saskatchewan Rush game where he announced he was cleared for physical activity after suffering torn oblique muscles.

So while the Riders mull their options and haven’t as yet announced their finalized coaching staff, it appears Jason Maas will also serve as quarterback coach and offensive coordinator. A number of CFL teams are doubling up on the responsibilities of their assistant coaches, mostly in a way to pay them more money under the football administration cap.

In Montreal Danny Macocia was named as the new General Manager of the Alouettes while Mario Cecchini was named as president. The Anglophone owners of the Alouettes, Gary Stern and Sid Spiegel, had said when they bought the club they wanted a francophone president and general manager who would be able to speak to the fans in their own language.

Cecchini was president of Corus Radio in Quebec so marketing should come easy to him. Macocia said he was happy to get involved with the Alouettes after being the head coach of the University of Montreal Carabins and after serving as head coach and GM of the Edmonton Eskimos.

Macocia said one of the big challenges was dealing with the mess that former GM Kavis Reed left with the salary cap. While the new structure in Montreal may have been a bit late in being announced, it seems that the new structure in Montreal has provided some stability for the team to move forward – notwithstanding the salary cap mess.

Montreal announced it signed Canadian receiver Chris Osei-Kusi to a two-year contract while releasing offensive lineman Spencer Wilson. Osei-Kusi was drafted in 2019 and went back to university before signing now with Montreal.

In Edmonton the rest of new head coach Scott Milanovich’s staff were announced. Noel Thorpe comes over from Ottawa to lead the defense, while AJ Gass will be the special teams’ coordinator. Milanovich will be the offensive coordinator, but he will be assisted by Winston October who will be the wide receiver coach and passing game coordinator; John McDonnell will be the offensive line coach. On the defensive side, Demetrious Maxie will be the defensive line coordinator and Derek Oswalt is the defensive assistant.

Edmonton is not immune from players wanting to exercise their NFL options and released defensive lineman Kendal Vickers to try some potential opportunities.

The CFL is continuing with their CFL 2.0 program by holding player combines in Europe. The CFL signed former Rider defensive coordinator Greg Quick to go to Europe and evaluate players prior to inviting a few to take part in the CFL combine. The new collective bargaining agreement opens up another spot for Global players so the CFL is holding tryout camps in various European countries and then inviting the best players to take part in the regular CFL combine.

The thinking is by having more global players on CFL rosters, the greater the odds of landing European broadcast contracts and presumably more money in CFL coffers. The CFL 2.0 concept borrows a lot from the English Premier League of soccer which has a lot of international players and interest and brings in a lot of cash.

For the CFL, hopefully there is a realization that a similar result may not happen overnight, but by being consistent and getting the word out, the CFL can build audience interest in Europe and Japan. At a Global Combine held in Finland, receiver Micky Kyei and Sebastien Sagne earned invites to the main combine.

Combines have taken place already in Sweden and France and on January 25 combines will be held in Bristol England and Florence Italy. On January 26 a combine will be held in Frankfurt Germany, then on February 1 and 2 combines will be held in Osaka and Tokyo Japan. On February 29 a combine will be held in Copenhagen Denmark and wind up March 14-15 in Mexico City.

From the Paris combines wide receiver Anthony Mahoungou and defensive back Tony Anderson got invites to the CFL combine. From Sweden defensive back William James got an invite to the camp. The players getting invites have some collegiate football experience.

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats signed linebacker Curtis Newton to a contract extension, along with defensive back Tunde Adeleke.

In Ottawa Greg Knox was named as Ottawa’s defensive back coach. Ottawa re-signed defensive linemen Danny Mason, Avery Ell8is and Michael Wakefield.

In Calgary the Stampeders filled out their coaching ranks by naming former player Marquay McDaniel as receiver coach, while George Cortez returns as offensive assistant and running back coach. Dwayne Cameron who has been serving as the regional scouting consultant for the Stampeders was named as linebacker coach but will continue to work with the personnel department prior to the draft.

Marc Mueller who had been coaching the running backs for five years will now work with quarterbacks while Pat DelMonaco will take on the mantle of offensive coordinator. Coaching returning include Mark Kilam as special teams’ coordinator and assistant head coach, Brent Monson as defensive coordinator, Corey Mace as defensive line coach and Joshua Bell as defensive back coach.

Winnipeg signed offensive lineman Stanley Bryant to a contract extension and extended defensive back Nick Taylor, and signed defensive end Alex McAllister. Winnipeg will be announcing their coaching staff which suggests that Buck Pierce will move from quarterback coach to offensive coordinator.

Winnipeg also managed to dodge a bullet when taking the Grey Cup to Kenora Ontario for an event nearly resulted in the Grey Cup being lost in a fire until someone rescued it. The only major casualty was a truck full of Bomber swag that was going to be distributed, so fortunately some good came of this.

BC re-signed former Rider defensive lineman Jonathan Newsome to a one-year contract.

So in the meantime there is a lot for teams to do, like whittle down their free agent lists and re-signing players who fit into their salary cap and schemes for the upcoming season. Teams will be able to tender offers to potential free agents shortly and then the fun starts.