Harris extended through 2015

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squishy35
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WestCoastJoe
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Good news.

One of my faves. :thup:
BCLions.com Staff

The BC Lions Football Club announced this morning that running back Andrew Harris has signed a contract extension keeping him in orange through the 2015 season.

Harris enters his fifth year with the Lions and has never missed an appearance in his 72-game career. The Winnipeg native who became the club’s premier ball carrier midway through the 2011 season has 2,568 rushing yards on 251 career carries with 15 touchdowns.

“Andrew is a very talented running back who along with Stefan Logan, gives our offence a lot of options,” said VP of football operations and GM Wally Buono. “This is a big step in the continuing effort to build a championship team and I’m very pleased to have Andrew as a Lion for years to come.”

Last season was another solid campaign for the club’s starting tailback who fell just two yards short of the 1,000-yard mark on the ground while leading all CFL backs with 61 receptions for 513 yards. His 1,511 yards from scrimmage last year not only led the Leos, it was more than 400 yards ahead of the next player.

“British Columbia has become my home and knowing that I will continue to wear these colours and play the game I love for this organization and Lions fans across the province is an amazing feeling,” said Harris.

Lofty numbers in 2013 including top-three rankings in touchdowns, rushing yards and yards from scrimmage garnered Harris a team nomination as Most Outstanding Canadian Player for a second consecutive year.

“Andrew is an elite football player in our league and I believe his best football is still to come,” said head coach Mike Benevides. “He works extremely hard as both a ball carrier and a receiver which not only makes him a challenge for defensive players, but also adds a dimension to our offensive attack.”
Agree totally with the assessment by Buono and Benevides.
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Rammer
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Wasn't completely sure on this one happening, but it is great news alright. Thankfully Winnipeg doesn't look like an appealing destination for a CFL player right now, so BC is his new found home.
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With Harris and Logan and a promising offensive line, the Lions can have a formidable attack. Now they need to shore up their passing game. Hopefully Travis Lulay's shoulder will be close to 100% by the start of the regular season and Emmanuel Arceneaux will be able to recover sufficiently from his knee surgery to reclaim his starting position. I gather from a tweet today that he's just starting to run.
Emmanuel Arceneaux ‏@E_Arceneaux16 ·2 hrs
Getting the Dust off My Cleats, it's been a long 4 months
I still haven't heard how the Lions plan to replace Nick Moore at the featured ranger position. Korey Williams would be the most likely candidate but I would like to see the Lions give Shawn Gore a bigger role in the offence. I liked how he got open regularly and turned upfield after the catch in 2011 before losing his inside spot to Arland Bruce, and later Courtney Taylor.
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Good news :thup: :thup:
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B.C.FAN wrote:I still haven't heard how the Lions plan to replace Nick Moore at the featured ranger position. Korey Williams would be the most likely candidate but I would like to see the Lions give Shawn Gore a bigger role in the offence. I liked how he got open regularly and turned upfield after the catch in 2011 before losing his inside spot to Arland Bruce, and later Courtney Taylor.
I hadn't realized that Arceneaux's knee situation was as bad as it evidently was. I was thinking Courtney Taylor would be the obvious guy for the ranger position at 6-1, 205, 4.5 40-speed, and 61 catches last season. In my view, Korey Williams, with only 7 catches last season, has yet to prove himself.
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notahomer
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Great! Always great to see an email from the Lions announcing good news during the offseason.......
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Shi Zi Mi
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Not sure why some are calling it a 2 year extension.....he was already under contract for 2014......and now, until the end of the 2015 season.....seems like only a 1 year extension to me.

Could be the annual "1 year extension" route that was common with Banks and Simon......or maybe they want to see the new CBA before committing longer.
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It's 1 year plus an option.
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Shi Zi Mi
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TheLionKing wrote:It's 1 year plus an option.
That sounds like a 2 year extension and some media have been calling it that.....but his contract has only been extended 1 year.

Methinks this is a little mis-direction from the club to make this a more significant event than it actually is.

Also, they're really pumping up the "move to Vancouver" "this is now my home" aspect.
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SammyGreene
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Shi Zi Mi wrote: That sounds like a 2 year extension and some media have been calling it that.....but his contract has only been extended 1 year.

Methinks this is a little mis-direction from the club to make this a more significant event than it actually is.

Also, they're really pumping up the "move to Vancouver" "this is now my home" aspect.
It was the 1st thing that came to my mind as well. That said it will at least end (for now) speculation Harris wants to play in Winnipeg or elsewhere in 2015. Also, LU mentioned his new deal is north of of what Cornish is making which I find is remarkable. That's somewhere at or above $200,000 which makes Harris 2nd to only Lulay in size of contracts.
LU wasn't kidding when he said Wally doesn't pinch his pennies when it comes to compensating his key core players.

Given it's been a rather uneventful off-season. This was a very important signing for the franchise.
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Rammer
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SammyGreene wrote:
Shi Zi Mi wrote: That sounds like a 2 year extension and some media have been calling it that.....but his contract has only been extended 1 year.

Methinks this is a little mis-direction from the club to make this a more significant event than it actually is.

Also, they're really pumping up the "move to Vancouver" "this is now my home" aspect.
It was the 1st thing that came to my mind as well. That said it will at least end (for now) speculation Harris wants to play in Winnipeg or elsewhere in 2015. Also, LU mentioned his new deal is north of of what Cornish is making which I find is remarkable. That's somewhere at or above $200,000 which makes Harris 2nd to only Lulay in size of contracts.
LU wasn't kidding when he said Wally doesn't pinch his pennies when it comes to compensating his key core players.

Given it's been a rather uneventful off-season. This was a very important signing for the franchise.
I now wonder if this was a ploy to eat at Cornish, and it could well do so. Good tactic on Wally's part if that is the intention, because at worst it would call Cornish to attempt to restructure his for more, which hurts the Stamps SMS cap limit, but best of all, Cornish will question whether he is really second best until he gets that contract restructured.
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SammyGreene
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Rammer wrote:
SammyGreene wrote:
Shi Zi Mi wrote: That sounds like a 2 year extension and some media have been calling it that.....but his contract has only been extended 1 year.

Methinks this is a little mis-direction from the club to make this a more significant event than it actually is.

Also, they're really pumping up the "move to Vancouver" "this is now my home" aspect.
It was the 1st thing that came to my mind as well. That said it will at least end (for now) speculation Harris wants to play in Winnipeg or elsewhere in 2015. Also, LU mentioned his new deal is north of of what Cornish is making which I find is remarkable. That's somewhere at or above $200,000 which makes Harris 2nd to only Lulay in size of contracts.
LU wasn't kidding when he said Wally doesn't pinch his pennies when it comes to compensating his key core players.

Given it's been a rather uneventful off-season. This was a very important signing for the franchise.
I now wonder if this was a ploy to eat at Cornish, and it could well do so. Good tactic on Wally's part if that is the intention, because at worst it would call Cornish to attempt to restructure his for more, which hurts the Stamps SMS cap limit, but best of all, Cornish will question whether he is really second best until he gets that contract restructured.
A savvy Wally at his best. Likely dropped a huge hint to LU it is more than Cornish is making.
Though general manager Wally Buono wouldn’t confirm nor deny terms of the extension, it is believed Harris has for now overtaken Cornish, the CFL’s most outstanding player and Lou Marsh Award winner, with his new deal.

“[Harris] is in the upper echelon of offensive players,” said Buono, who still has enough extension funds to soon wrap up deals for import veterans Ryan Phillips and Chris Wilson.
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WestCoastJoe
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SammyGreene wrote:
Though general manager Wally Buono wouldn’t confirm nor deny terms of the extension, it is believed Harris has for now overtaken Cornish, the CFL’s most outstanding player and Lou Marsh Award winner, with his new deal.

“[Harris] is in the upper echelon of offensive players,” said Buono, who still has enough extension funds to soon wrap up deals for import veterans Ryan Phillips and Chris Wilson.
I absolutely agree with Wally that "Harris is in the upper echelon of offensive players."

And Wally is saying the same thing with the size of the contract.

It's almost like they have done a reassessment, with outside consultants, and now view Harris in this light. Or maybe it's the new OC who has brought the revised view.

When a top athlete feels under-appreciated, is that wrong? There have been countless examples in various sports of this. I don't think it necessarily indicates a bad atttitude, although it does put the player on dual planes: the team and himself, not quite subjugating himself to the team. It seems to me a team has to make the truly star athlete feel special. The Lions have done that now with Harris. Our running game was really in the doldrums for much of last year, with Harris virtually an afterthought. We cranked it up in our stretch drive.

There was the saying about Vince Lombardi: "He treats us all the same. He treats us like dogs." -- Attributed I believe to Henry Jordan (from memory). And yet that was not true. Paul Hornung got treated differently than Jim Taylor. Bart Starr got treated with kid gloves. Jerry Kramer was screamed at constantly.

I think Andrew Harris at times last year did not feel properly appreciated as an offensive weapon. This new contract, and the words of Benevides and Buono, speak volumes about appreciation.

Andrew Harris has to be a happy camper, or your team will suffer. Does this special treatment bring about the potential of prima donna behaviour in athletes? Absolutely. But that is a separate problem to solve.
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
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B.C.FAN
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I like Wally's admission that he was wrong about Harris.
"Smart as I was, I wanted to make a safety out of him," said Buono, now the Lions' GM and vice-president of operations. "I think it just shows you the kind of athlete Andrew is. Football has never been too big for him. It's just finding a place for him."
Andrew Harris gets extension from B.C. Lions

Wally clings to the traditional notion that non-import skill players should be deployed either at the safety or receiver positions. It took several years of practice (and the addition of about 20 pounds of muscle) for Harris to convice Wally that he could be a ratio-breaking featured running back. Now it's not that uncommon. Jesse Lumsden tried to break the mould but couldn't overcome injuries. Cornish emerged about the same time as Harris. Jerome Messam followed after being traded to Edmonton by the Lions.
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