Lions free agents

The Place for BC Lion Discussion. A forum for Lions fans to talk and chat about our team.
Discussion, News, Information and Speculation regarding the BC Lions and the CFL.
Prowl, Growl and Roar!

Moderator: Team Captains

User avatar
B.C.FAN
Team Captain
Posts: 12579
Joined: Mon Nov 15, 2004 10:28 pm

With more than two dozen pending free agents, work on next year’s roster has to begin now. Wally needs to make his intentions known so that he or someone else can begin setting priorities and re-signing key players before they get to the open market.
JohnnyMusso
Champion
Posts: 963
Joined: Mon Nov 23, 2015 6:03 pm

Buono has had over a week now to decide his future? A decision needs to happen this week. If it drags on for another week or more it is not good for the franchise. Also during Grey Cup week, the CFL always want no announcements to distract from the big game.
TheLionKing
Hall of Famer
Posts: 25103
Joined: Sat Feb 19, 2005 10:13 pm
Location: Vancouver

I don't anticipate any major announcements til after the Grey Cup
JohnnyMusso
Champion
Posts: 963
Joined: Mon Nov 23, 2015 6:03 pm

I sense Lion King is right, but personally feel Buono should say so now. If he knows, why wait? If I was a season ticket holder, I would wait till I know who the coach and GM will be. I would not be surprised, if season renewals are down right now after a bad season and so much uncertainty around the team.

Gut feeling Wally will be back as GM and coach and bring back all the coaches again and blame it on the players. I hope I am wrong. Cannot sell the same old crew again.
TheLionKing
Hall of Famer
Posts: 25103
Joined: Sat Feb 19, 2005 10:13 pm
Location: Vancouver

JohnnyMusso wrote:
Tue Nov 14, 2017 12:51 pm
Gut feeling Wally will be back as GM and coach and bring back all the coaches again and blame it on the players. I hope I am wrong. Cannot sell the same old crew again.
X2 I expect to see some cosmetic changes such as Marcello Simmons, and Marcel Bellefeuille not been renewed. Aside from that it's the same old same old.
JohnnyMusso
Champion
Posts: 963
Joined: Mon Nov 23, 2015 6:03 pm

The other change that may happen is the defensive line coach, Robin Ross, not being back. He may take the fall for the defence not being good this year, since the defensive line was not good this year, but I see that more about the talent on there, being lacking.

Rumour is Marcel B is a candidate for Montreal's head coach vacancy, so he may leave anyway if he gets the job.
User avatar
B.C.FAN
Team Captain
Posts: 12579
Joined: Mon Nov 15, 2004 10:28 pm

Justin Dunk has posted a list of 25 potential Lions' free agents which differs slightly from the 25 names listed previously by Lowell Ullrich. Dunk's list includes QB Mitchell Gale, OL Andrew Jones, DE Ricky Foley and DB Buddy Jackson. It doesn't include FB/ST Alex Ogbongbemiga or LB Dyshawn Davis, both of whom Dunk lists his as being under contract through 2018, or two players who were recently released, Andrew Hudson and Kelvin Palmer.
Quarterback
Travis Lulay – international
Mitchell Gale – international

Receiver
Emmanuel Arceneaux – international
Nick Moore – international
Shaquille Johnson – national

Offensive line
Andrew Jones – national
Antonio Johnson – international
Hunter Steward – national
Jas Dhillon – national
Cody Husband – national
Kirby Fabien – national

Defensive line
David Menard – national
Maxx Forde – national
Alex Bazzie – international
Ricky Foley – national
Craig Roh – international
Bryant Turner Jr. – international
Louie Richardson – national

Linebacker
Mike Benson – national
Adrian Clarke – national

Defensive back
Chandler Fenner – international
Buddy Jackson – international
T.J. Lee – international
Ronnie Yell – international
Loucheiz Purifoy – international

Notable players under contract:
QB, Jonathon Jennings, signed through 2018 – international
RB, Jeremiah Johnson, signed through 2018 – international
RB/RET, Chris Rainey, signed through 2018 – international
FB, Rolly Lumbala, signed through 2018 – national
FB, Alex Ogbongbemiga, signed through 2018 – national
REC, Chris Williams, signed through 2018 – international
REC, Bryan Burnham, signed through 2018 – international
OL, David Foucault, signed through 2019 – national
DL, Mic’hael Brooks, signed through 2018 – international
DL, DeQuin Evans, signed through 2018 – international
LB, Dyshawn Davis, signed through 2018 – international
LB, Solomon Elimimian, signed through 2018 – international
DB, Keynan Parker, signed through 2018 – national
DB, Matt Bucknor, signed through 2018 – national
DB, Anthony Thompson, signed through 2018 – national
The B.C. Lions free agent list: lots of vets could be gone
User avatar
WestCoastJoe
Hall of Famer
Posts: 17721
Joined: Mon May 22, 2006 8:55 pm

B.C.FAN wrote:
Tue Nov 14, 2017 7:58 pm
Justin Dunk has posted a list of 25 potential Lions' free agents which differs slightly from the 25 names listed previously by Lowell Ullrich. Dunk's list includes QB Mitchell Gale, OL Andrew Jones, DE Ricky Foley and DB Buddy Jackson. It doesn't include FB/ST Alex Ogbongbemiga or LB Dyshawn Davis, both of whom Dunk lists his as being under contract through 2018, or two players who were recently released, Andrew Hudson and Kelvin Palmer.
Quarterback
Travis Lulay – international
Mitchell Gale – international

Receiver
Emmanuel Arceneaux – international If the budget allows, a keeper.
Nick Moore – international
Shaquille Johnson – national

Offensive line
Andrew Jones – national Depth player only.
Antonio Johnson – international
Hunter Steward – national
Jas Dhillon – national Depth player only.
Cody Husband – national
Kirby Fabien – national

Defensive line
David Menard – national
Maxx Forde – national
Alex Bazzie – international
Ricky Foley – national
Craig Roh – international
Bryant Turner Jr. – international

Louie Richardson – national

Linebacker
Mike Benson – national
Adrian Clarke – national

Defensive back
Chandler Fenner – international
Buddy Jackson – international
T.J. Lee – international
Ronnie Yell – international
Loucheiz Purifoy – international

Notable players under contract:
QB, Jonathon Jennings, signed through 2018 – international
RB, Jeremiah Johnson, signed through 2018 – international
RB/RET, Chris Rainey, signed through 2018 – international
FB, Rolly Lumbala, signed through 2018 – national
FB, Alex Ogbongbemiga, signed through 2018 – national
REC, Chris Williams, signed through 2018 – international
REC, Bryan Burnham, signed through 2018 – international
OL, David Foucault, signed through 2019 – national
DL, Mic’hael Brooks, signed through 2018 – international We must be able do better.
DL, DeQuin Evans, signed through 2018 – international
LB, Dyshawn Davis, signed through 2018 – international
LB, Solomon Elimimian, signed through 2018 – international
DB, Keynan Parker, signed through 2018 – national
DB, Matt Bucknor, signed through 2018 – national
DB, Anthony Thompson, signed through 2018 – national
The B.C. Lions free agent list: lots of vets could be gone
Some hunches only, in red for bye bye. Orange for on the bubble, as Mike Ditka said many years ago.

I think Foley is gone. He missed a lot of assignments it seems to me.

Chris Williams. We hardly knew ye.

Purifoy. Talented player. Seems moody and does not seem team oriented. A new coach might see him gone. Dunno ...

Bazzie. Bubble. Can get to the QB at times.

Brooks might be gone as well.
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.
User avatar
B.C.FAN
Team Captain
Posts: 12579
Joined: Mon Nov 15, 2004 10:28 pm

I would pay top dollar to keep Manny Arceneaux. Despite being hobbled by injuries this year, he was the Lions’ most consistent receiver. He could still get open deep, catch the ball in traffic and fight through tackles. He is a leader on the field and seemed to be the only offensive player who treated the season-ending game against the Argos as if it were the Grey Cup.

I’m not ready to give up on Loucheiz Purifoy. He is a talented defender who was misused at safety but seemed to settle into the halfback position, especially after Anthony Gaitor was released. I watched Purifoy’s reaction after every busted coverage this year. Rightly or wrongly, he would always point a finger at either Gaitor or Anthony Thompson. I suspect he was right most of the time.

Buddy Jackson lost his job when Gaitor returned from the NFL in training camp. That turned out to be a mistake. Jackson is big and physical and played well when he got a chance late in the season.

I also want to take another look at DeQuin Evans if he is healthy. He was impressive at rush end before his back injury ended his season. That was when the Lions’ pass rush dried up.
User avatar
Hambone
Hall of Famer
Posts: 8173
Joined: Mon Nov 01, 2004 10:25 pm
Location: Living in PG when not at BC Place, Grey Cup or Mazatlan.

JohnnyMusso wrote:
Mon Nov 13, 2017 2:38 pm
Buono has had over a week now to decide his future? A decision needs to happen this week. If it drags on for another week or more it is not good for the franchise. Also during Grey Cup week, the CFL always want no announcements to distract from the big game.
To look at it another way Wally has several decisions to make. He wears 3 hats. He has to decide if he will continue to wear all 3, 2, 1 or none. Depending on what he opts to do each of those scenarios begets more decisions, very important decisions for the club moving forward. While the net result may be that he retires I don't think he wants to leave without at least some of his former hats being filled. Worst case IMO would be for him to simply retire and say "not my problem" and let Braley deal with it. He may very well have made his own personal decision(s). The announcement of that would be best communicated in conjunction with the announcement of the new football ops structure.

Even if Wally is retiring much thought and work is to be done before an announcement can be made. An announcement could come before Grey Cup, but likely after, if it only involves internal candidates. If Braley wishes to look beyond existing personnel then they may have to wait until after Grey Cup to start reaching out to potential candidates. I don't think we'll know what Wally's decisions are until they are able to announce it in the same press conference as they announce his replacement(s), if there are any.
You're as old as you've ever been and as young as you're ever going to be.
VictoriaFan
Starter
Posts: 170
Joined: Sun Jun 14, 2015 6:10 pm

Wally likes to get rid of vets that are getting older looking for more money, I see Manny looking elsewhere and I'm sure if Rainey could get out of his contract he would go also
User avatar
David
Team Captain
Posts: 9364
Joined: Thu Oct 03, 2002 10:23 am
Location: Vancouver (Kitsilano)

This is my priority order of FAs. It is subjective so I am sure there would be considerable disagreement (which is fine, it's the off-season :wink: ). Some would likely disagree with Travis being on top, but I view him as an indispensable part of the organization. He's a leader, a winner, a sharp mind, a good ambassador for the club, and we can't afford to lose him like we did Dickie.

Notice that I tend to put a higher premium on locking up National O-linemen, even though Chandler Fenner is the best player on the list.

Travis Lulay – international
Shaquille Johnson – national
Hunter Steward – national
Cody Husband – national
David Menard – national
Chandler Fenner – international
Emmanuel Arceneaux – international
Loucheiz Purifoy – international
Maxx Forde – national
T.J. Lee – international
Ronnie Yell – international
Craig Roh – international
Mike Benson – national
Nick Moore - international
Alex Bazzie – international
Kirby Fabien – national
Buddy Jackson – international
Antonio Johnson – international
Bryant Turner Jr. – international
Jas Dhillon – national
Adrian Clarke – national
Mitchell Gale – international
Andrew Jones – national
Ricky Foley – national
Louie Richardson – national


DH :cool:
Roar, You Lions, Roar
User avatar
CardiacKid
Legend
Posts: 1949
Joined: Sat Jul 14, 2012 9:46 am
Location: Under Christmas Hill, Saanich

B.C.FAN wrote:
Tue Nov 14, 2017 9:12 pm
I would pay top dollar to keep Manny Arceneaux. Despite being hobbled by injuries this year, he was the Lions’ most consistent receiver. He could still get open deep, catch the ball in traffic and fight through tackles. He is a leader on the field and seemed to be the only offensive player who treated the season-ending game against the Argos as if it were the Grey Cup.

I’m not ready to give up on Loucheiz Purifoy. He is a talented defender who was misused at safety but seemed to settle into the halfback position, especially after Anthony Gaitor was released. I watched Purifoy’s reaction after every busted coverage this year. Rightly or wrongly, he would always point a finger at either Gaitor or Anthony Thompson. I suspect he was right most of the time.

Buddy Jackson lost his job when Gaitor returned from the NFL in training camp. That turned out to be a mistake. Jackson is big and physical and played well when he got a chance late in the season.

I also want to take another look at DeQuin Evans if he is healthy. He was impressive at rush end before his back injury ended his season. That was when the Lions’ pass rush dried up.
Totally agree re. getting Manny back. The offence needed more sand-paper and Manny seemed to be the only one with some grit.
Blitz
Team Captain
Posts: 9094
Joined: Fri Jul 22, 2005 8:44 am

One player that I would like to see signed again is linebacker Dyshawn Davis. I thought he looked very good when given reps towards the end of the season. He can hit, he can tackle, and he is quick. We always have an extra International tackle on the roster and with Sol E. Awe, and Fenner, with Davis as a rotational linebacker and special teams player, I really like our linebacking crew.
"When I went to Catholic high school in Philadelphia, we just had one coach for football and basketball. He took all of us who turned out and had us run through a forest. The ones who ran into the trees were on the football team". (George Raveling)
TheLionKing
Hall of Famer
Posts: 25103
Joined: Sat Feb 19, 2005 10:13 pm
Location: Vancouver

VictoriaFan wrote:
Wed Nov 15, 2017 10:31 am
Wally likes to get rid of vets that are getting older looking for more money,
Wish he would do that with his assistants.
Post Reply