Kierrie Johnson released/signed by Riders

[Cougar Country]

Released Johnson loses Leos roster battle
Posted by: Lowell Ullrich
Posted on Oct 24, 2012

Kierrie Johnson caught 11 passes in the three games he played after returning from injury, a figure not deemed productive enough by the Lions, who cut him before heading to Calgary.

The speed vs. size debate which had been a discussion topic among receivers with the Lions was pretty much ended Wednesday when the team cut Kierrie Johnson.

Doesn’t take long to fall out of favour when you have a little depth apparently.

full post here http://blogs.theprovince.com/2012/10/24 ... er-battle/

[SammyGreene]

Wow. Had a feeling we wouldn't be seeing him in a Lions uniform again but still surprising given he was considered a major part of this team a short time ago.

[TheLionKing]

I guess this partially explain why DJ Woods is seeing first team reps.

[WestCoastJoe]

Well the surprising thing to me is how some of the offence was built around him in the off season. What did they see then that they don't see now?

He seemed to have good separation on some of his longer receptions. Was this because of his skill and speed? Or were defences just not giving him respect? He seemed to lack explosion to me. And he also seemed to not react all that well to the ball if it was not right there for him. Dunno ...

For myself, I was never all that impressed. Nice TD in the Grey Cup for sure. But once again, I wonder if the D didn't pay that much attention to him. He certainly did not look like the second coming of Chris Williams to me. Maybe they just decided 160 pounds was just not enough. Fragile.

Dunno ... kind of strange. The glory. The respect. The fall from grace.

And it seems somewhat similar with Ernest Jackson. Fall from grace.

So we still seemingly have Nick Moore in the good books. And yet this close look at D.J. Woods is surprising. Is he such a phenom? Or is it another case of disillusionment with the guys they already had?

And who is driving this restless search? Is it Benny? Is it Travis Moore? Is it JC?
............

This has an unsettling feeling of similarity to the endless search we went through looking for a rush end. Try this guy. Nope. Try that guy. Nope. On and on it went. Finally we settled on a veteran who had logged miles in many places, Khreem Smith. And he is certainly a good one. But all the athletic young phenoms were deemed not good enough.
............

Personnel work is no mathematical exercize. Sometimes it seems like a crap shoot. Perhaps it is like Peter Lynch the stock market guru said: "You have to lift up a lot of rocks to find the gems." Dunno ...
..............

One thing to note though ... these are imports. Dime a dozen in some respects. Same as with import running backs. Personnel guys can get quite fussy with such a huge pool to draw from.

One wishes there was such a pool of non import O Linemen to draw from. We could use a couple of healthy phenoms in that regard.

[B.C.FAN]

There has to be more to the story. I've been a big KJ fan, and I've seen how Mike Benevides and the coaching staff were big KJ fans until a few weeks ago. Bene wanted to insert him sooner when he came off his injury but waited a week out of respect for Ernest Jackson, who had been taking practice reps and was coming off his best game as a Lion.

KJ's 11 catches (many of them clutch receptions for first downs) and 190 yards in three games back from injury project to 66 catches for 1,140 yards over 18 games. He was the team's leading receiver (or tied for the lead in yardage) in two of those three games. That's pretty productive.

I haven't been to practices and I hadn't noticed KJ on the sidelines during games when he wasn't dressed so I don't know if had a falling out with coaches or players or just got frustrated at not playing and demanded to be released. It doesn't add up otherwise. Whatever happened, I wish him well.

[prairielion]

Could we be making room for the return of Arceneaux??

[TheLionKing]

Nick Moore IMO is still on the bubble. Still dropping passes.

[Sir Purrcival]

My thought is that in a league that seems to be trending more and more to taller, heavier receivers, that KJ just didn't have enough other ways to warrant his continued presence as an import. He was fast but his hands weren't always the best. The timing seems kind of bad and chemistry is such a fragile thing sometimes. Hope it doesn't disrupt the teams upwards spiral.

[Sir Purrcival]

Nick Moore IMO is still on the bubble. Still dropping passes.

He has had some instances of the dropies but as a Canadian and with his continued improvement, he seems less on the bubble than others might be. At this stage, I would be more inclined to keep him over Foster if it ever came down to that.

[WestCoastJoe]

Nick Moore IMO is still on the bubble. Still dropping passes.

He has had some instances of the dropies but as a Canadian and with his continued improvement, he seems less on the bubble than others might be. At this stage, I would be more inclined to keep him over Foster if it ever came down to that.

He is an import Sir P, an American. And his American brother is with the Saints.

OMG, I am being infected pun itis. Thanks to Rammer probably.

A thought. In regard to enemies or opponents, his brother Lance runs them through. Nick just grazes them.

[MexicoLionFan]

I am not surprised by this at all...KJ is simply too small...I have said this all season long, through the preseason...if we were going to use KJ it should have been as a returner and then an "H" back, who comes in with special plays 5/6 times a game...as a RB, as a WR, etc...but that isn't the route the Lions went...they tried to make a tiny, fast player their short side WR...and you simply can't do it...he is too small to simply become a deep seam receiver and not good enough of a route runner to become a possession receiver...and certainly not durable enough...I mean his broken arm came from harmlessly falling from his own inertia into the end zone...

As BCFAN said, he didn't do anything "wrong" per se, but he still barely had an impact on this team and the games he played in...for a guy with that speed and those moves, he had to be producing at least ONE BIG PLAY per game, and he wasn't...he was making 1 or 2 nice catches on 2nd down...which is nice to have, but not at the expense of an Ernest Jackson, Nick Moore, or DJ Woods...in other words, he wasn't scaring or effecting defences the way he should have...

As for "what is going on with this carrousel at Import WR" I wouldn't be worried about it...the Lions are NOT run by a bunch of amateurs...Wally, MB, Chaps know what they are doing...they wouldn't drop KJ and insert Woods into the lineup without good reason...I think the thing that we all need to understand is that on a team this deep and talented, with so much on the line, the best man wins...and the import WR position is far from settled...we went into camp thinking it was KJ, it wasn't...Ernest Jackson has brought size and potential, but not numbers...Nick Moore has played INSIDE...Courtney Taylor has played INSIDE...so along comes Woods out of Cincinnati, and has had 2 weeks in camp...and guess what, he gets a chance to start??? Because he is average or unimpressive at practise??? Come on, the guy must have been lights out at practise, and likely Marsh and Banks said something to MB about his speed and skills...

So all this talk about "causing disruption", is unfounded IMO...Courtney Taylor and Nick Moore won't take this as a slap in the face...yes, they want to play, but they have practised and played inside, not outside...Woods came in specifically for the WR position...and I like EJ, but he hasn't exactly lit things up either...to create the space for our trio of inside slots to wreak havoc all over the field, we must have not only speed on the outside pushing the secondary, but PRODUCTION...and simply put, we haven't...that is why Woods is getting his shot...that and he MUST have been lights out in practise...

I think we should relax and trust that the Lions MGT and Coaches know what they are doing...

Also, Taylor will play as Bruce is not ready, so only Moore and EJ are out...

[Blitz]

There has to be more to the story. I've been a big KJ fan, and I've seen how Mike Benevides and the coaching staff were big KJ fans until a few weeks ago. Bene wanted to insert him sooner when he came off his injury but waited a week out of respect for Ernest Jackson, who had been taking practice reps and was coming off his best game as a Lion.

KJ's 11 catches (many of them clutch receptions for first downs) and 190 yards in three games back from injury project to 66 catches for 1,140 yards over 18 games. He was the team's leading receiver (or tied for the lead in yardage) in two of those three games. That's pretty productive.

I haven't been to practices and I hadn't noticed KJ on the sidelines during games when he wasn't dressed so I don't know if had a falling out with coaches or players or just got frustrated at not playing and demanded to be released. It doesn't add up otherwise. Whatever happened, I wish him well.

Im very surprised for a number of reasons. The first is that our Leos started him this season and went back to him when he came back from injury over Nick Moore at the time. Secondly B.C. Fan, while we may not always agree, is very knowledgeable and I respect him and he saw the offence being built around Kierrie Johnson as well as Simon and raved about his training camp play and his play at pratice when he returned from injury prior to starting again. The third reason is that, with Geroy Simon returning (and he supposedly loved playing with Kierrie and Ernest coming off a poor game for him) I thought we might see Kierrie Johnson start again against Calgary.

While I preferred Ernest Jackson due to the fact that he was close to speed but not quite as fast as Kierrie, was a much talller and much bigger receiver, made some clutch catches, and could run the reverse very well it wasnt as if Kierrie didnt play well, outside of some of his reverses..and B.C. Fan just a few days ago published Kierries stats per game to support Kierrie returning to the lineup and they looked fine.

I don't believe Kierrie did anything wrong. I just think they have gotten enamored with D.J., at this point in time they prefer Ernest over Kierrie, and Arseneaux could be available although unlikely to either be signed by our Leos or play this season but one never knows. Our Leos could also move Moore out wide as well as an option.

[Blitz]

There has to be more to the story. I've been a big KJ fan, and I've seen how Mike Benevides and the coaching staff were big KJ fans until a few weeks ago. Bene wanted to insert him sooner when he came off his injury but waited a week out of respect for Ernest Jackson, who had been taking practice reps and was coming off his best game as a Lion.

KJ's 11 catches (many of them clutch receptions for first downs) and 190 yards in three games back from injury project to 66 catches for 1,140 yards over 18 games. He was the team's leading receiver (or tied for the lead in yardage) in two of those three games. That's pretty productive.

I haven't been to practices and I hadn't noticed KJ on the sidelines during games when he wasn't dressed so I don't know if had a falling out with coaches or players or just got frustrated at not playing and demanded to be released. It doesn't add up otherwise. Whatever happened, I wish him well.

Im very surprised for a number of reasons. The first is that our Leos started him this season and went back to him when he came back from injury over Nick Moore at the time. Secondly B.C. Fan, while we may not always agree, is very knowledgeable and I respect him and he saw the offence being built around Kierrie Johnson as well as Simon and raved about his training camp play and his play at pratice when he returned from injury prior to starting again. The third reason is that, with Geroy Simon returning (and he supposedly loved playing with Kierrie and Ernest coming off a poor game for him) I thought we might see Kierrie Johnson start again against Calgary.

While I preferred Ernest Jackson due to the fact that he was close to speed but not quite as fast as Kierrie, was a much talller and much bigger receiver, made some clutch catches, and could run the reverse very well it wasnt as if Kierrie didnt play well, outside of some of his reverses..and B.C. Fan just a few days ago published Kierries stats per game to support Kierrie returning to the lineup and they looked fine.

I don't believe Kierrie did anything wrong. I just think they have gotten enamored with D.J., at this point in time they prefer Ernest over Kierrie, and Arseneaux could be available although unlikely to either be signed by our Leos or play this season but one never knows. Our Leos could also move Moore out wide as well as an option.

One thing I don't like right now is Benevedes and J.C.'s comments about this being a plug and play offence...that you can stick anyone in there and it will work well. I really love our scheme and play calling but the reason that we can so called plug anyone in there is because of the talent that we have. I also find it arrogant. Chemistry is important on a team. So is a feeling of teamwork, having your teamate's back, playing for each other. While I have always believed that scheme and play calling and coaching were more important than any other factor, the other factors are also important. The concept that we can just plug another quarterback in there, a different receiver, a different lineman is risky. While football is chess with real live men, those real live men - their talent, their knowledge, their passion and their committment to each other and the team are also critical.

But maybe I have it wrong. Perhaps this team is so good that we could have plug and play coaches...perhaps that should be suggested to Benny and Chap..

[MexicoLionFan]

I don't believe Kierrie did anything wrong. I just think they have gotten enamored with D.J., at this point in time they prefer Ernest over Kierrie, and Arseneaux could be available although unlikely to either be signed by our Leos or play this season but one never knows. Our Leos could also move Moore out wide as well as an option.

Exactly Blitz...the Lions have a bevy of options at the import WR position...and the MGT is simply trying to make it a position of strength on this team, not weakness or indifference...

[DanoT]

Cutting KJ is not all that surprising given the number of receivers that the Lions have on the roster and the fact that they added Woods recently to the PR. I'm pretty sure KJ will find himself at a CFL training camp next June.