Riders seem confident heading into trading camp

I would say Hergel will show up in Riderville, likely as an interior lineman because his size is a bit lacking to be an NFL starting offensive lineman. With the Riders, he could go inside, but the big question for the Riders is whether he can go to left tackle, protecting the blind spot of Trevor Harris or whoever lines up at quarterback. The Riders went with LB Nick Wiebe from the University of Saskatchewan who injured his ACL during the Huskies push for the Vanier Cup.

Wiebe said he will be back this season and if it wasn’t for the ACL injury, there is a good chance he would have gone in the first round. If he has fully recovered, Wiebe is the Riders Canadian linebacker of the future. Dhel Duncan-Busby, a receiver from Bemidji State, was picked in the third round. The Riders have a nice Canadian receiving corps, but the problem is they are as breakable as glass. Throw in the receivers who keep trying the NFL and the Riders are well advised to start grooming some future receivers for possible replacements.

Melique Straker, a linebacker from Arkansas |State was drafted fourth. Straker may have gone higher, but his testing numbers were not that good. Maybe that was performance anxiety, maybe that is an opportunity for the Riders to start planning for a Canadian linebacker and back up to help their ratio planning. Straker may back up and will likely see special teams action this year. Daniel Johnson, an offensive lineman from Purdue was picked up in the fifth round.

The Riders have amassed a number of offensive linemen and Rider Head |Coach Cory Mace is looking for brawlers on the offensive and defensive line and Johnson fits the bill if he can develop. The Riders went local in the sixth round with the selection of D’Sean Mimbs, son of former Rider/Bomber running back Robert Mimbs. D’Sean comes from the University of Regina Rams where he has the speed but needs more consistently in catching the ball.

If he can match catching ability with his speed, the Riders may have a home run receiver to help stretch the defense. The Riders picked up receiver Ajou Ajou from Garden City. Not exactly a top 10 school, the Riders liked what they saw from this prospect and if he makes the team, the Riders will likely use him on special teams until he figures out the Riders offense.

The Riders final selection was defensive back Richard Aduboffleur of Western. Perhaps a bit small was with good speed and tackling, the Riders hope he can contribute on special teams and maybe rotate in here and there on the defensive backfield.

The Riders didn’t stop signing players with the draft by signing offensive lineman Ryan Berda of Queen’s and American offensive lineman D ‘Mitri Emmanuel. Both are described as physical offensive lineman, which is something the Riders need to compete with the Bombers defensive line. The type of players the Riders signed is an interesting look at what kind of team Mace wants to field their year. Big offensive linemen who play physical will be a boon to not just springing running back AJ Ouellette, but also keeping Harris upright.

At the end of the regular season and into the playoffs, a physical running team takes a greater toll on opposing defenses than a team that passes constantly. Ball control by the Riders will not only help keep their offence on the field longer, but also give the Rider defense more a breather than what they enjoyed last year.

The big question is whether the Rider new signings and draft picks come into camp in decent shape ready to make a contribution. With the current signings, the Riders are now at 101 players on their roster with Rookie camp starting this week and the regular camp on the weekend. The Riders will have to be at 85 players after rookie camp, not including draft picks and territorial invitational players., then 75 players shortly after.

The Riders first pre-season game is May 20th against the Stony Mountain Blue Bombers who bring a two-year Grey Cup losing streak into Riderville. You may wonder how the Riders will make those cuts without seeing much of their players.

The cuts that will be announced in the next few days will be easy.

The easiest thing is suspending players from the States who have no passport yet, or who miss their flights to Regina. There is no secret Regina is not an easy city to travel to so missing connections is not a first-time occurrence. Even after players arrive, some may realize they may be in over their heads and announce their retirements shortly after arriving.

There should be no guaranteed roster spots so if the players showing up don’t have their acts together, they will be gone in short order.

Teams can also stash players on the injury list, which gives then a chance to check out the playbook and understand it better while recovering from whatever ailments they may or may not have.

The Riders will be looking around at what other teams are doing as there are still some free agents out there and other players getting cut for likely salary management system reasons like the Stampeders releasing defensive backs Jonathan Moxey and Julian Charles. This move by Calgary was interesting because it seems to have been done for salary cap reasons and Mace was a defensive coach in Calgary when Moxey was there.

Whether Moxey finds his way to Riderville depends on how well the Riders recruited in their defensive backfield and probably how their salary cap situation is looking. The BC Lions made some interesting moves, releasing defensive lineman David Menard and placing defensive lineman Steven Richardson on the retired list. This move was made after BC pulled off the signing of draft pick from nine years ago Christian Covington who was released from the Los Angelas Chargers but comes from BC and is the son of former CFL defensive lineman Grover Covington.

Montreal released kick returner Chandler Murphy was due a bonus payment as the defending champs attempt to rebuild for this season.

The Edmonton Elk released former first round draft pick Enock Makonzo in a bit of a surprise move. The Elk are looking a private ownership group taking over and with Chris Jones pretty well exhausting people’s patience with season long training camps but only four to five win seasons, this is the season Jones needs to produce and nothing really focuses attention like an upcoming firing. Mace’s old team, the Toronto Argonauts finally named mace’s replacements for defensive coordinator. Kevin Eiben and William Fields will both hold the position but will split up duties with one looking after run defense, the other looking at pass defense.

Mace did a similar thing with the Riders as CFL teams seem to be pivoting towards regarding the head coach as someone who sets the team culture and managing the game as opposed to disappearing into the offensive or defensive huddles. The arrival of training camp also saw the celebration of life for former Rider CEO Jim Hopson, who helmed the Riders through the most successful period of their history.

Hopson passed away after a battle with cancer and a lot of fans used the opportunity to comment on how Hopson seemed to get the importance of average fans to the franchise bottom line. The CFL announced their latest Hall of Fame class with Weston Dressler, SJ Green, Chad Owens, Vince Goldsmith in the player category and former Rider/Edmonton head coach Ray Jauch in the builder category. It was a nice to see from a Rider fan perspective but the glaring omission of former Rider Wayne Shaw at linebacker is another sad example of the CFL cashing in on Riders while not acknowledging them for their accomplishments.

Another former Rider Andy Fantuz is moving from the Hamilton Tiger-Cats broadcast booth to the CFL Command Centre where he will assist in reviewing calls on the field. Fantuz cannot be worse than those already there, so keep your fingers crossed.

There are a lot of moving parts on the Riders and other teams as they look to see whether their scouting departments were on their game, whether the players take the CFL seriously and show up in shape, and how this all fits under the salary cap and developing players.

After a long off-season that the CFL has again squandered by not being more proactive like the NFL, it will be nice to pick a seat in Mosaic Stadium and watch practice unfold.

by Greg Urbanoski

Riders seem confident heading into trading camp

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