As a football move though, Tillman just moved Ray with no replacement who is near his level, that is what is probably the most surprising about the trade.Hambone wrote:I see the deal as being nothing more than a football move. As solid as Ray has been the Eskimos have been mired in mediocre to OK football for several years now. Edmonton won 2 Cups in Ray's first 3 CFL seasons. 6 seasons and a lot of change has happened since Edmonton's last trip to the big game. In that time each one of Edmonton's divisional rivals have sipped champagne from Earl Grey's goblet. Everybody respects Ray and knows on any given game day he can be as good as any QB. I find there to be a cerebral aspect to his personality that gives me the impression he doesn't quite elevate his teammates' game to that next level like Calvillo does and I think Lulay is doing. I think Tillman and Reed have simply decided it was time to go in another direction at QB. I think likely they will be looking for somebody who brings more to the table in terms of a multi-dimensional game. Sometimes you have to take a step backwards to make a leap forward. If you've decided you want to go in a different direction at QB then keeping an incumbent like Ray around will serve more as a roadblock to making that inevitable change. He's in his prime and he never plays poorly enough to warrant a benching like the one Burris earned this year. Tillman has shown he is not afraid to make big moves like this. After Kerry Joseph won the MOP in 2007 and the Riders won the Grey Cup he traded Joseph. In getting Jyles I think they are looking at a stop gap measure while they find their real long term solution which could well be Eric Ward or Matt Nicholls or somebody else they sign or acquire in the offseason.
I'm all for the Argos getting better, and hope this jump start them unto the road to success.