Pieces falling into place for 2024 Riders

The problem was Dolegala was limited in his mobility and while he could hit a deep pass, do not ask him to throw a short pass following that. Consistency was not his strong suit and his tendency to throw interceptions or fumble was not all that promising for someone who looked like a starting quarterback, but could not deliver except in garbage time. Fine is shorter than Dolegala and went down with injury a few games after taking over. Dolegala supporters said Fine was not as capable of leading the Riders to wins like Dolegala did against BC and Winnipeg before not winning for the rest of the season.

Dolegala is being mentioned as a possible back-up in Calgary, which is Fine (a nice bit of wordplay) and the question is why Fine was retained and with a two-year contract. Offensive coordinator Marc Mueller reviewed the tape on Fine and Dolegala and has apparently concluded that even with Fine’s shortness of stature, he seems better able to grasp the offense and roll out, something that Dolegala did not do on a consistent basis behind the Riders Swiss Cheese offensive line.

The Riders will be bringing back Shea Patterson, along with Antonio Pipkin to provide at least a modicum of familiarity with the Rider personnel at the quarterback position. Patterson had been the third down quarterback until he either got injured or displaced by Pipkin who seemed to have mastered the Fine (notice that wordplay) art of diving behind the offensive line.

There will probably be a US college quarterback who will join the quarterbacks for training camp, likely a Canadian University quarterback who will be part of the CFL Canadian quarterback program where U Sport quarterbacks can get professional experience to help them in their development. Whether any of those sticks is another question best left until training camp. Brent Lauther re-upped for another three years as the Rider kicker, although one wonders about the occasional injuries that have taken Lauther out of the lineup at times.

Philip Blake re-signed on the Riders offensive line, giving them a Canadian look on the interior with Blake, center Peter Godber and Logan Ferland. It seems likely the Riders will look at Americans at the tackle position and it is hoped that with the amalgamation of the XFL and USFL into the UFL, which has resulted in fewer teams and more players available for CFL teams, there may be some offensive line players who will come north.

Anthony Lanier II re-signed a one-year contract to stick with the Riders. Lanier is probably a better interior defensive lineman but was playing defensive end last season, in a move that not many could see the point of unless you considered the injuries suffered by defensive linemen and perhaps how out of shape they were. Lanier was thought to be going to Edmonton, but perhaps Rider Head Coach Corey Mace, a former defensive lineman, has plans to get Lanier back inside and either recruit or nab in free agency players to fill the edge rushing positions on the defensive line.

The Riders still have defensive lineman Micah Johnson who has moved his family to the city and has made a number of appearances for the team this offseason. Johnson plays a physically gruelling position in the interior of the defensive line and to borrow a phrase from the NBA, if he comes back to the Riders will be subject to load management, or if you want to borrow a phrase from Major League Baseball, will be on a pitch count to limit the amount he plays in order to keep him fresh and effective. The Riders made an interesting move in re-signing running back Frankie Hickson ahead of Jamal Morrow. It is interesting in that Morrow was the starter, more or less for most of the season, and seemed to be one of the few players to show any fight at the end of the season.

However, the signing may make sense if you consider one of the free agents that may come available is running back AJ Ouellette of the Toronto Argonauts, the team that Corey Mace, Riders Head Coach, was defensive coordinator of last season. The Riders bringing in a versatile and powerful running back like Ouellette, who was a 1,000-yard rusher with Toronto, would take a lot of pressure off the quarterbacks to move the offense. Assuming the Riders offensive line shows signs of being able to run block and pass block, hopefully both in the same game, that will provide some much-needed balance to the offense and Ouellette is such a character, he should be able to get fans forgetting about who lined up there last year. The Riders re-signed former first round draft pick Nelson Lokombo, who after he injured his Achilles in his first year, has not really found his stride in the Riders defense

Lokombo is in danger of being the next Elie Bouka, a former Rider draft pick who alternated between NFL tryouts, the injury list and eventually drifted off to Calgary where he fell off the face of the football world. This is likely the make or break year for Lokombo, who signed a one-year deal that reflects the lack of an impact he has made when in the starting lineup. If Josh Bell, the new Rider defensive secondary coach, can’t get Lokombo to play at the level commensurate with his high draft status (second overall), then Lokombo will drift away from the Riders after this season. The Riders seem determined to rebuild their linebacking corps through recruiting, with the signings of players like Mark McLaurin, a former Edmonton Elk who has good speed and size for a linebacker, along with Zakoby McClain, a 6-foot 230 defender who had a great career at Auburn University and although undrafted, did sign with Baltimore Ravens and was a member of the USFL New Orleans Breakers.

I would not necessarily rule out a return by linebacker Larry Dean who through his experience as a linebacker, could qualify as a naturalized American (a player who has been in the CFL for a number of years), but the Riders need to do some adjustments at linebacker to provide a better run defense and containment of opposing quarterbacks. An interesting question mark is the future of receiver Shawn Bane Jr. who signed with the Riders last year from the Stampeders and had a great season.

The Riders may be looking at Argonaut receiver Damonte Coxie to come in, or may try to swing for the fences for Bomber receiver Dalton Schoen, but I think the Riders will work on defense for their defensive free agent hopefuls. Players from the Argonauts to watch in case they decide to follow their former boss Mace to the Riders, include defensive back Jamal Peters of the Argos, defensive lineman Derek Wiggan of the Stampeders, defensive lineman Shawn Oakman of the Argos and defensive back Adarius Pickett of the Argos. In case you were wondering why I listed Wiggan, he was in Calgary when Mace was there.

Linebacker, defensive line and offensive line, maybe receiver, may be the areas the Riders look to improve through free agency. Another area where the Riders will need to fill a hole will be their play by play announcer. Harvard Media and the Riders announced a search for a new voice of the Riders to replace Ball, who will continue to be the host of The Sportscage on 620 CKRM, the station carrying the Riders. Ball replaced Derek Taylor, who went on to become the voice of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, but how Ball got that position maybe the subject of considerable debate, especially when you take into consideration the tweets of Taylor’s wife, who alluded to bullying. Ball had the tendency to throw as much feces as he could grapple against a wall, any wall, and seeing how much could stick.

His speculation about who would be the next offensive coordinator for the Riders was all over the map as he seemed to take the professional development path of Rod Pedersen, former Rider play by play guy and tried to make himself sound like he knew what he was talking about. The removal of Ball probably means the Riders will take a greater involvement in who will do their play by play, especially since that position is seen as representative of the club.

If you have a clown at the microphone, it should not come as a surprise when your product is then seen as clownish. There are those who blame Rider CEO Craig Reynolds for playing a role in getting rid of another Rider announcer, following Pedersen moving on after making a comment about Reynolds on air on his Access Communications show. While Reynolds is guilty of many things, like alienating the Rider fan base, and seemingly more concerned with getting as much out of fans without providing return on their investment, the Riders needed to address the perception that Ball was hurting the Riders image. The narrative seems to be emerging that anything good happening to the Riders this year will be due solely to Corey Mace and anything bad is going to be pinned on Reynolds and Rider GM Jeremy O’Day.

That narrative is not as interesting as to how the Riders go about changing the culture of the team and the perception surrounding them of resting on their laurels and allowing other teams to either catch up or lap them in either off field or on field success.

This is why I suspect while this will be an interesting year as the Riders figure out who they want to be, the big year will be next year when the Riders hopefully getting the growing pains out of the way and contend for a Grey Cup. So after predicting a Montreal Grey Cup win this past season, I am somewhat confident in saying that it would not be a surprise to see the Riders contend and win the 2025 Grey Cup to be held in, get ready for this, Winnipeg.

If seeing that does not drive Bomber fans into the Red River, nothing will.

by Greg Urbanoski

Pieces falling into place for 2024 Riders

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