End of the Road for Jennings & Carter?

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JohnnyMusso
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Jon Jennings just never was able to regain the form we saw when he threw for over 5,000 yards. Injuries and a lack of confidence may have derailed his career. He was released by Ottawa today and that may be the end of the road for him. I just can't see anyone signing him. He may go down as another Casey Printers, a one year wonder.

As for Carter, he has been a free agent for awhile and no one has signed him.

Is this the end of the road for Jennings and Carter? What do you guys think?
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Sir Purrcival
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Jennings, depending on what he is willing to do, could be a good backup. I don't know how messed up he is mentally but there is always a chance that a QB guru could put him into a good head space again. I hope we haven't seen the last of him but injuries and a lack of confidence may spell the end of the road for him.

Carter I am conflicted on (well not a lot). When you see a physically gifted player bounce the way he has, with as many teams as he has, you know there is some kind of issue with that player. Especially when they get bounced from teams mid season. I didn't see as much of the mental midget stuff from him in his season with the Lions as I expected. There were moments but not enough to really warrant drastic action. On the other hand, he didn't provide a lot either. Not enough in this writer's opinion to warrant him being on the payroll. I'm sure there will be some issues raised about how he was used but good players will often find ways to make things work even if the playbook isn't geared to their strengths. He was pedestrian at best and I think that with his shrinking production (a multi year trend), colorful past history, a team would really need to be desperate to want to take the chance. Nothing is a sure thing but if he is never seen on the field again, I wouldn't be at all surprised.
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DanoT
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I think Jennings and Carter could both end up in the XFL.
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squishy35
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Under the right structure, Jennings would be very effective. Let's say, Hufnagel gets his mitts on Jennings and provides an environment with a proven OC and offensive system (something dearly lacked in Ottawa last year when their OC bailed); Calgary would have a very experienced backup with all the right tools to succeed in a big way.
TheLionKing
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Sad to see his career go downhill. He showed so much promise
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Bosco
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As the old expression goes...."Million dollar body - ten cent head!" Carter was a waste of space in the Lions lineup. Seemed to be more interested in trash talking with opponents, as well as jawing with opposition coaches and referees than he was at running routes and catching passes.

Just the fact that he was known more for THROWING passes than he was at CATCHING passes tells you everything you need to know about his production and worth to the 2019 Lions.

IMO, Carter has (finally) run out of CFL chances.
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Toppy Vann
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Bosco wrote:
Thu Jan 30, 2020 2:30 pm
As the old expression goes...."Million dollar body - ten cent head!" Carter was a waste of space in the Lions lineup. Seemed to be more interested in trash talking with opponents, as well as jawing with opposition coaches and referees than he was at running routes and catching passes.

Just the fact that he was known more for THROWING passes than he was at CATCHING passes tells you everything you need to know about his production and worth to the 2019 Lions.

IMO, Carter has (finally) run out of CFL chances.
Carter may have run out of chances as you rightly suggest but he was a good team mate and ran his routes the same in games as practice and that was the problem to fans at practices. Same old.

One day some older fan like me walked over and asked if there was anything new being run today as he had just arrived. No I said. He then decided he was heading for the golf course. lol

Routes were layered and REC didn't always turn early enough and nothing ever was said to him as he ran the routes they wanted in the way they wanted!

Carter would be one of the guys like Burnham teaching younger guys where to go.

Never saw a QB or coach tell Carter to do anything.
"Ability without character will lose." - Marv Levy
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Belize City Lion
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Calgary would be a good place for Jennings to try to get his mojo back. If he did see any action he'd certainly have a lot more talent around him than he had in Ottawa. Winnipeg is going to need a capable back up because the odds of Zach playing all 18 games are slim to none. If I were either of those two teams I would bring Jennings to camp and give him a legit shot to prove he can still play. Despite his confidence issues, he's a nice young man and from all reports a great teammate.

I think Carter's CFL career is over. The only way I imagine him in the league again is if Pinball sees something in him and believes he can mentor the guy.
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cromartie
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Jennings is done. His confidence was shot his last year here and last year's debacle did him no favors.

Carter may be done also. I saw a guy who did exactly what he was asked to do last year in a very poorly designed offense, relative to personnel. I think whether or not he's done in the CFL sense is based on the price tag. He remains a terrific downfield blocker and someone who can get open if schemed properly. Plenty of teams could use that. But at some point you take a look at how much of your cap you want to spend on that and he may decide other options, including non football ones, are more palatable.
cms22
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i think jennings would be fine in the right situation as cheap, backup qb
Murdoch
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I'll come out as a DC89 fan. Hoping to see him somewhere in 2020.

The recent interview with 3downnation where DC implies that the chemistry with Mike Reilly didn't happen early on pretty well says it all.

There is no question Duron has been exposed to lots of coaching and knows the game. He is good with fans. I think he was not a big cap hit and it seems to me he places more emphasis on the game rather than the paycheck. I believe he earned $135,000 in Sask.

Ottawa may be the only option. Not sure Desjardins is open minded enough though.
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Toppy Vann
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cromartie wrote:
Fri Jan 31, 2020 1:18 pm
Jennings is done. His confidence was shot his last year here and last year's debacle did him no favors.

Carter may be done also. I saw a guy who did exactly what he was asked to do last year in a very poorly designed offense, relative to personnel. I think whether or not he's done in the CFL sense is based on the price tag. He remains a terrific downfield blocker and someone who can get open if schemed properly. Plenty of teams could use that. But at some point you take a look at how much of your cap you want to spend on that and he may decide other options, including non football ones, are more palatable.

This comment is more what I think that all this stuff about Carter getting good coaching and the chemistry comment from Carter. That comment was not from a disgruntled player as Carter was not. He did his job and was involved in kick cover drills where after beating a rookie trying to stop hm from getting downfield was asking him for tips. When Carter showed him how all he did to him was turn his shoulders the player grasped it. A teaching moment that was done quietly.

When kids or disabled people were there Carter was the first to go over to them and shake every hand and like many of the stars - Reilly, Burnham to name two - one of the last to head to the locker room.

What blew my mind was how they'd practice those layered pass routes over and over and players where Carter gets the ball at or near the LOS - all poorly designed - unless you wanted them to fail. Jarius has elements of Jacque Chapdelaine in his coaching DNA. Aversion to run packages that aren't based purely on the ability of the blockers but add some unique elements of deception and motion like done by teams like the Bombers.

The Streveler - Nichols/Collaros combo was brilliant for the CFL. Jackson would never adopt that kind of thinking and no backup was able to do it unless it was #18 Kraemer who didn't get to dress for most games as the Lions had just two QBs - one of them Coach O'Brien. That didn't work when the team couldn't pass protect.
"Ability without character will lose." - Marv Levy
maxlion
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In this article, Carter says he wants to play until he is 40, and maybe switch to defense:

https://3downnation.com/2020/01/18/duro ... rs-return/
“My approach to the season and just having to get on a better page with Mike Reilly early and understanding where needs me and the type of quarterback that he is because he’s a real visual quarterback, he needs to see it done all the time,” Carter said.

“Most of my career everybody’s been, ‘well he’s going to do it, you just gotta trust him.’ It’s that trust issue right there that hindered our football relationship. ....”

“The times when I do go all out and play to where I want to play at, people don’t accept it. It brings me a lot more hardships. When I am allowed to be the emotional player I am, ride the wave of the game, that’s where I thrive most of the time,” Carter said.

“But that hasn’t gotten me the longevity I need in a career. For me I think I have to find a happy medium of pleasing myself and pleasing everybody else. It’s a business deal at first before it’s a relationship.”

“Honestly, I would like to play cornerback because it allows me to be free and be the player that I need to be and that I know I can be. Offence as I’m getting older and seeing all these different offences, there’s so many people you have to please just to get you the ball four times in a game,” Carter said.
johnchow604
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maxlion wrote:
Sat Feb 01, 2020 8:55 pm
In this article, Carter says he wants to play until he is 40, and maybe switch to defense:

https://3downnation.com/2020/01/18/duro ... rs-return/
“...
“Honestly, I would like to play cornerback because it allows me to be free and be the player that I need to be and that I know I can be. Offence as I’m getting older and seeing all these different offences, there’s so many people you have to please just to get you the ball four times in a game,” Carter said.
Sounds like he's blaming his lack of catches on not pleasing the right people as opposed to not being open.
Dusty
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I think Carter was wasted last year..... "wasted" in the sense that the offensive schemes did not use his skills. There were many times that he was open and the play went to the other side of the field. If the word "misdirection" had been in the repertoire of our last OC, he would have had a better year, because he was usually yards off coverage.....
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