By Greg Urbanoski

Riderville

Free Agent Frenzy

Feb 11, 2022 | 9:14 AM

Compared to the eight-hour anti-climatic snooze fest that is the NHL Free Agent Frenzy, you really cannot quibble with the CFL version except for the lack of coverage from TSN.

The nature of the one year contracts in the CFL means more player movement, less player stability, but perhaps more interestingly, a change to flip the script on three-year rebuilding programs to perhaps manage the feat in one year.

There is one new owner in BC, but a new President, GM and Head Coach with the Edmonton Elk, all of whom are looking to try some interesting scenarios to field competitive teams in 2022.

The BC Lions said goodbye to Mike Reilly which freed up a lot of cap space. The Lions already have Canadian QB Nathan Rourke who did not bad in backing up Reilly and they then sign Canadian QB Michael O’ Connor. Both should be on relative rookie contracts which means the Lions can spend money on providing targets and protection for their two Canadian QBs.

The Lions also signed former Saskatchewan QB Isaac Harker who has backed up Cody Fajardo but while his knowledge of the system is unquestioned, Harker seemed pretty slight on the field and his arm strength and his higher value to the Lions will be as a potential quarterback coach.

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The Lions just signed one offensive lineman in Jamar McGloster, formerly from Ottawa, which seems a bit slight in light of BC’s inability to protect Reilly last year. The Lions did sign Daniel Petermann, formerly of Ottawa to catch passes, but the Lions also have Lucky Whitehead, who signed for $200 K and Bryan Burnham who should have been more.

The Lions went heavily into defense with defensive linemen Daniel Menard (formerly of Montreal), Mathieu Betts (formerly of Edmonton), Steven Richardson (formerly of Winnipeg); linebacker Kevin Francis (formerly of the Riders); DBs Delvin Breaux (formerly of Hamilton) and Loucheiz Purifoy (formerly of the Riders). The Lions also brought back kicker Sean Whyte, formerly of Edmonton, which will definitely help stabilize their ridiculous kicking situation from last year.

The Lions lost linebacker Adam Konar who signed with Edmonton, offensive lineman Hunter Steward who signed with Ottawa, wide receiver Shaq Johnson who signed with Ottawa and defensive lineman J.R. Tavai who signed with Hamilton.

On paper the Lions should be pretty tough on defense and their offense seems predicated on their Canadian QBs being mobile, moving the pocket around and using that to buy time for their receivers to bust coverage.

Calgary focused on signing as many of their free agents as they could with Shawn Lemon coming back on the defensive line and linebacker D. J. Lalama coming over from Montreal.

Calgary lost QB Michael O’Connor to BC; WR Hergy Mayala to Montreal: offensive linemen Ucambre Williams (Ottawa), Justin Lawrence (Toronto); LB Darnell Sankey (Calgary); DBs DaShaun Amos (Toronto) and Richard Leonard (Hamilton).

Calgary will be interesting to watch because for the most part they rely on filling vacancies internally with a great deal of confidence in their scouting system. Considering the general level of excellence, the Stampeders have operated at, you bet against Calgary at your peril.

Edmonton made a splash with Chris Jones, including signing Manny Arceneaux and Adarious Bowman prior to free agency to provide not just veteran receiving help, but also a way to subvert the football administration cap on paying coaches.

On a Chris Jones coached team, the big thing is the defense since he leaves the offense in others hands. Kenny Lawler with his $300 K contract is obviously the show stopper here along with Receivers Jalin Marshall and Michael Walker. Let’s not forget Mark Korte, formerly of Ottawa, on the offensive line.

On defense the Elks signed defensive lineman Makana Henry from the Riders (who is worth a few offside penalties and the occasional rough play although I doubt Jones is bothered by that), Stefan Charles (formerly of Ottawa and the U of R Rams); LB Deon Lacey (of the Riders), Tobi Antigha (formerly of Winnipeg and the Riders), Adam Konar (formerly of BC); DB Ed Gainey (signed from the Riders), Trey Hoskins.

Edmonton said goodbye to WR Greg Ellingson who signed with Winnipeg; DL Kwaku Boateng (who signed with Ottawa) Mathieu Betts who signed with BC and LB Derrick Moncrief who signed with the Riders.

Jones did a similar process in Riderville, ridding himself of what he considered to be over priced veterans and starting at ground zero. In Edmonton Jones said he wanted to create a legacy and with the talk around the league of the Edmonton locker room not being a healthy place, Jones wants to ensure people who know his system are in place to show the way and if they don’t necessarily work out, they can always be replaced.

The Bombers worked on getting their own free agents onside as they go for a three-peat, but a large contract to Zach Collaros meant the Bombers could not make everyone happy.

Collaros has a prior connection with WR Greg Ellingson (from their time together in Hamilton) and Ellingson is a reliable target for the run happy Bombers.

Ellingson is supposed to be somewhat of a replacement for Kenny Lawler whose agent scored a $300 K payday from the Elk.

Other offensive players moving on is receiver Darvin Adams who signed with Ottawa (has worked with head coach Paul LaPolice in Winnipeg), RB Andrew Harris takes his chemistry sets to Toronto, LB Tobi Antigha goes to Edmonton and Defensive lineman Steven Richardson goes to BC.

If anything brings Winnipeg down this year, it will be a lack of depth. With back up QB Sean McGuire looking at retirement, the Bombers have to look at the possibility that if the wind blows hard enough, it will knock Collaros out with a concussion and the Bombers are left doing draws from their fan base for who wants to be a QB!

Hamilton is hoping the third time is the charm in winning the Grey Cup with resigning DL Ted Laurent and DB Jumal Rolle. The Cats also signed DL Micah Johnson from the Riders, J.R. Tavai from the Lions, and Richard Leonard from the Stampeders.

Hamilton said goodbye to quarterback Jeremiah Masoli who went to Ottawa, along with DL Lorenzo Mauldin IV, OL Darius Ciraco, RB Jackson Bennett and WR Jaelon Acklin – which goes to show when you hire the assistant GM of the Cats to be the GM of the RedBlacks, you could expect to lose some players. The other notable departure is DL Ja’Gared Davis who went to Toronto, but considering his old defensive coach is now in Toronto, not totally surprising.

Hamilton had to make some changes and some, like saying goodbye to Brandon Banks, will help the team especially since they are hosting the Grey Cup in 2023. But the Cats will have to address the situation that they are getting older and it may be time to start identifying some new talent.

Ottawa made out like bandits in free agency, which is not surprising since they have nowhere to go but up. However with a GM who at least can bring in talent the Redblacks seem to have addressed their QB situation with signing Jeremiah Masoli from Ottawa.

Ottawa brought back RB William Powell from the Riders (I did not know Powell lived in the Ottawa area in the off-season), RB Jackson Bennett from Hamilton.

In terms of receivers, Ottawa signed WR Darvin Adams from Winnipeg, re-signed RJ Harris, got Llevi Noel from Toronto, Shaq Johnson from BC; Jaelon Acklin from Hamilton.

Ottawa’s offensive line got help from Ucambre Williams (from Calgary), Hunter Steward from BC, Darius Ciraco from Hamilton. How well the new additions work together will determine who successful Ottawa will be this year.

On defense Ottawa re-signed DL Davon Coleman, picked up Kwaku Boateng from Edmonton, Lorenzo Mauldin IV from Hamilton.

Ottawa picked up defensive backs Ty Cranston of Montreal, Monshadrik Hunter of Montreal and Patrick Levels of Montreal – which goes to show the best way to cripple your opposition is to scoop up their players.

Ottawa did say goodbye to offensive lineman Mark Korte who signed with Edmonton, offensive lineman Jamar McGloster who went to BC, WRs Daniel Petermann who signed with BC and Wesley Lewis who signed with the Riders.

On defense Ottawa lost LB Frederic Chagnon who signed with Montreal and defensive lineman Stefan Charles who signed with Edmonton.

The Toronto Argonauts made a splash with signing running back and chemistry teacher Andrew Harris formerly of Winnipeg, offensive lineman Justin Lawrence formerly of Calgary, DL ja’Gared Davis formerly of Hamilton and re-signed Adrian Tracy. Toronto also signed DB DaShaun Amos from Calgary.

Toronto said goodbye to WR Llevi Noel who went to Ottawa.

The Argos made some moves prior to free agency and they should be an interesting team to watch this year.

Montreal re-signed Trevor Harris to back up Vernon Adams this year, and picked up WR Hergy Mayala from Calgary. Montreal re-signed DL Michael Wakefield and LB Frederic Chagnon from Ottawa.

Montreal lost DB Ty Cranston to Ottawa, DL David Menard to BC, LB D.J. Lalama, DBs Patrick Levels and Monshadrik Hunter to Ottawa

Finally, we come to the Saskatchewan Roughriders who fulfilled their free agency goal by re-signing Duke Williams to a contract prior to free agency.

When free agency hit, the Riders signed middle lineback Darnell Sankey who led the CFL in tackles last year, and LB Derrick Moncrief who left Edmonton after they dropped $250 K on former Rider LB Deion Lacey. The Riders got OL Josiah St. John to re-sign and he may be a late bloomer on the offensive line, but better late than never eh?

The Riders did add Canadian receiver Wesley Lewis from Ottawa who is of generally the same size as Brayden Lenius who left for NFL opportunities. Whether Lewis can bring some talent with the size is the question yet to be answered.

The Riders lost back up QB Isaac Harker to the BC Lions, RB William Powell to the Ottawa Redblacks, DL Makana Henry to Edmonton and Micah Johnson to Hamilton, LB Kevin Francis to BC and Deon Lacey to Edmonton and DB Loucheiz Purifoy to BC and Ed Gainey to Edmonton.

The Riders did not lose much in Henry leaving for Edmonton because while Henry could be a force, he also had a talent for lining up off side which does not help when you are on your own goal line. Losing Johnson hurt because while he did not rack up the sacks he did in Calgary, he did solidify the defensive line.

The Riders did not lose in having Gainey go to Edmonton because Gainey last year was starting to lose a step, and when he got beat, it got inside of his head and he concentrated too much on how he got beat instead of putting things behind him. Purifoy was a bit of a wild card when he initially came to the Riders, but considering he was not said to be a locker room leader, he came into his own and his ability to return kicks made him a versatile player who could contribute in a number of ways.

Losing Lacey to Edmonton hurt the Riders because even though Lacey played out of position as middle linebacker, he did make a solid contribution and putting him on the outside would make the linebacking corps even more potent. Kevin Francis going to BC would seem to be more a special teams move than anything else. If I remember correctly Francis was a supplemental draft pick by Chris Jones who did not develop into what was expected.

Losing Harker at QB was not a surprise considering that Mason Fine seemed to have supplanted Harker on top of the back up QB chart. The Riders will likely bring in a couple of QBs for training camp and the only thing the Riders may be lacking is a veteran back up.

Powell contributed a lot as a RB, but he could see the Riders were looking to get younger at RB and not knowing until now he lived in the Ottawa area in the offseason makes this move even more understandable.

Urbanoski at the grand staircase in the Rider offices