CFL News re: TC's 2024- Not BC Lions

[Hambone]

Jalen Edwards-Cooper released by Riders. No particular reason given. Possibly failed medical?

https://3downnation.com/2024/05/12/sask ... ds-cooper/

EDIT: Mace has clarified that the reason for release is he's still not fully recovered from the dislocated shoulder injury suffered in the Lions 2nd last regular season game in 2023. He failed the medical.

Did the Lions know Edwards-Cooper's shoulder injury was still lingering, so they didn't re-sign him in Free Agency? And then the Riders give him a signing bonus without checking his shoulder????

It's kind of hard for another team to check out his shoulder before free agency because he'd still be under contract to BC. It's also hard to predict in early Feb what his status would be 3 months later. Given they waived Mauger and knew they won't see Lee until likely after Labour Day I doubt they didn't make a pitch themselves. Maybe they offered $20K report and pass instead of $20K signing that Riders offered. The offer O'Day made may have been what was necessary to land him.

[don corleone]

If Riders were to put Edwards-Cooper on the 6 game IR, they would have to pay him but it would not count against the SMS. By releasing him they may have just said something like: we have already paid you $20k, don't move to Regina just yet but call us when the shoulder is 100%.

I keep forgetting record profits come first.

Seriously Edwards-Cooper is only 27 and was being looked at as the Nick Marshall replacement and a cornerstone to build on, at least publicly, until very recently. Played well when healthy for the Lions if I recall correctly.

Would be interesting to know the extent of the injury as my guess other teams would be interested.

Riders should sign Winston Rose.

[Hambone]

If Riders were to put Edwards-Cooper on the 6 game IR, they would have to pay him but it would not count against the SMS. By releasing him they may have just said something like: we have already paid you $20k, don't move to Regina just yet but call us when the shoulder is 100%.

I keep forgetting record profits come first.

Seriously Edwards-Cooper is only 27 and was being looked at as the Nick Marshall replacement and a cornerstone to build on, at least publicly, until very recently. Played well when healthy for the Lions if I recall correctly.

Would be interesting to know the extent of the injury as my guess other teams would be interested.

Riders should sign Winston Rose.

Dislocated shoulder. All it would take is not yet having full range of motion yet to flunk the medical. He could be close, but not close enough. I suspect once he has that full range back we'll see him again signing with the Riders. With $20K in his pocket he should feel he does owe them.

[Toppy Vann]

Jim Barker makes the point that I've found a bit concerning where several prominent women have spoken out trashing Kelly at that practice, etc.

I know times have changed from when women had to fear speaking out BUT there is an argument that these two in question should be given a bit of a reprimand as they're not doing what O'Shea did in speaking to the issue generally, they've exceeded what they should be saying in dealing with the specifics of a case. If they let this go without a quiet word that they can speak to the issues generally but desist from this case with comments, it sends a bad message.


This may have to be a policy change in the CBA / CFL if it's a serious harassment complaint OR each team must be required to have an independent third party investigator a woman or man can turn to for resolution of these issues like in many corporations so it removes this from the day to day folks and usually gets fixed as the perps now know their job is at risk if this isn't ended satisfactorily for both parties.

(Barker)...believes Toronto was obligated to allow Kelly to remain with the team under the terms of the CFL’s collective bargaining agreement unless they exercised their right to suspend him as a team.

This speaks to a complete lack of leadership in the Argos team from the GM to the HC on down. Regardless of the merits of the lawsuit or the complaintant's credibility, this was handled wrongly and badly. I'd be furious if I was MLSE for this debacle getting started and ending in a law suit and I'd be forcing change.

“They did an independent investigation themselves and came out in support of Chad Kelly. They said that they found nothing, I believe, and that had to do also with the suit against them,” he said. “They did their own thing, so I’m guessing that they didn’t feel like what happened warranted him being suspended by the team.”

https://3downnation.com/2024/05/13/tsn- ... had-kelly/

Chad Kelly removed from Argos’ training camp, Cameron Dukes has ‘headstart’ to be starting QB
By Justin Dunk -May 12, 2024

On a pure football note, I've said - and I strongly believe - that Cameron Dukes might be a special player and can ably take over if they don't find a genuine starter and they say they haven't reaached out to Taylor Cornelius who has many question marks a starter in my view. I could be proven wrong.

Dukes started two games last season in Double Blue, his first came in Week 17 at Winnipeg and the last in Week 21 at Ottawa. The six-foot-one, 205-pound QB completed 17-of-31 passes for 231 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions while rushing four times for 34 yards and one major in a 31-21 loss to the Blue Bombers. He completed 22-of-34 passes for 317 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions while rushing eight times for 39 yards in a 27-22 win against the Reblacks.

Maybe Nathan Rourke should get himself released as IIRC he'd be a FA on a return as Chad Kelly might never return if the lawsuit is real ugly and a low maintenace starter comes along.


https://3downnation.com/2024/05/12/chad ... arting-qb/

[don corleone]

Regarding taking a physical as a free agent in the process of signing with a new team, Jamal Morrow was one with a lingering issue that stopped Calgary from signing him. Not saying the Riders were not aware of J.E-C issue.

[David]

How concerned should Ti-Cats fans be with Bo Levi turning up at training camp in a walking boot, coming off an injury-plagued 2023 campaign in which the veteran signal caller had a QBR of 67.5%?

Mitchell, 34, was back taking reps with the offence today, but yikes, it's just Mitchell, Taylor Powell, former Lion cut Kevin Thomson, and rookie Harrison Frost on the QB depth chart.



DH

[Hambone]

Regarding taking a physical as a free agent in the process of signing with a new team, Jamal Morrow was one with a lingering issue that stopped Calgary from signing him. Not saying the Riders were not aware of J.E-C issue.

Every GM has to look at these FA decisions on a case by case basis. What needs are they trying to fill and what sort of priority did they place on them.

Having been willing to let Carey go to make room for Mills Calgary had to be looking at more as depth/insurance behind Mills. Whether they got him, another vet or relied on somebody new Morrow wasn't a priority signing. No idea what his injury issue was other than he missed several games.

Things were different in Saskatchewan. Have rid themselves of Nic Marshall due to legal issues they had a big hole to fill in their starting secondary. They signed JEC to $120K in hard money. At $120K he missed making today's 3D list of highest paid DBs by only $2K. That tells me they really wanted him. I won't assume the Riders were willing to overlook his shoulder injury but given they signed him 4 months after he suffered it, and 3 months before camp, likely felt he'd be fully recovered by no thus took the risk.

[don corleone]

Every GM has to look at these FA decisions on a case by case basis. What needs are they trying to fill and what sort of priority did they place on them.

Having been willing to let Carey go to make room for Mills Calgary had to be looking at more as depth/insurance behind Mills. Whether they got him, another vet or relied on somebody new Morrow wasn't a priority signing. No idea what his injury issue was other than he missed several games.

Things were different in Saskatchewan. Have rid themselves of Nic Marshall due to legal issues they had a big hole to fill in their starting secondary. They signed JEC to $120K in hard money. At $120K he missed making today's 3D list of highest paid DBs by only $2K. That tells me they really wanted him. I won't assume the Riders were willing to overlook his shoulder injury but given they signed him 4 months after he suffered it, and 3 months before camp, likely felt he'd be fully recovered by no thus took the risk.

I see one of the 100 yd games Morrow had last year was against Calgary so maybe that is what caught Dave Dickenson's eye. He had a big game against Hamilton late in the year as well and appears to have finished the season on the active roster. I thought it was mentioned to be a wrist issue with the free agency hiccup and do agree it would have been a depth situation for Calgary. A good depth situation imo as I think Morrow is a decent back but playing in Sask did not help. I won't be surprised if he is added somewhere.

Thinking Smoke Mizzell is just as good albeit a bit lighter and wonder how BC will work him into the lineup. Vernon Adams comments earlier in the year made me think he is likely to be back.

[Hambone]

I see one of the 100 yd games Morrow had last year was against Calgary so maybe that is what caught Dave Dickenson's eye. He had a big game against Hamilton late in the year as well and appears to have finished the season on the active roster. I thought it was mentioned to be a wrist issue with the free agency hiccup and do agree it would have been a depth situation for Calgary. A good depth situation imo as I think Morrow is a decent back but playing in Sask did not help. I won't be surprised if he is added somewhere.

Thinking Smoke Mizzell is just as good albeit a bit lighter and wonder how BC will work him into the lineup. Vernon Adams comments earlier in the year made me think he is likely to be back.

A couple of curious things about Morrow. Calgary did have concerns about his wrist at free agency time. That was 3 months ago and they still haven't circled back. Currently their RB room is loaded with mostly NAT fullbacks. They still have Mills and Logan but Logan is their premiere returner. They only have 2 other American tailbacks; scatback LeVamnte Bellamy who was with them last year and 6' 220 rookie B.J.Emmons. The other curiosity is that Calgary was concerned about his wrist. He only missed 2 games last year in late September but those were due to a knee injury. He did miss the final 6 games of the 2022 season with a broken hand that required surgery.

[don corleone]

A couple of curious things about Morrow. Calgary did have concerns about his wrist at free agency time. That was 3 months ago and they still haven't circled back. Currently their RB room is loaded with mostly NAT fullbacks. They still have Mills and Logan but Logan is their premiere returner. They only have 2 other American tailbacks; scatback LeVamnte Bellamy who was with them last year and 6' 220 rookie B.J.Emmons. The other curiosity is that Calgary was concerned about his wrist. He only missed 2 games last year in late September but those were due to a knee injury. He did miss the final 6 games of the 2022 season with a broken hand that required surgery.

So perhaps Morrow never fully recovered from the 2022 injury and played with it through 2023. Shows again how tough it is to be a player. Strange from a team perspective as well but what do I know.

[Toppy Vann]

On Jalen Edwards-Cooper:


Dano wrote

If Riders were to put Edwards-Cooper on the 6 game IR, they would have to pay him but it would not count against the SMS. By releasing him they may have just said something like: we have already paid you $20k, don't move to Regina just yet but call us when the shoulder is 100%.

Or, it's don't leave town if he's there.

Mace saying he felt sorry for JEC made it sound worse but maybe he knows he's not far away and it's worth the wait.

I'd be surprised if the Riders hadn't got some good insights into that injury sustained in late October in that second last regular season game IIRC and the prognosis when he might play before signing.

Making it sound worse helps keep others away.

OR BC let him go to FA as they knew how bad it was.

[Toppy Vann]

How concerned should Ti-Cats fans be with Bo Levi turning up at training camp in a walking boot, coming off an injury-plagued 2023 campaign in which the veteran signal caller had a QBR of 67.5%?

Mitchell, 34, was back taking reps with the offence today, but yikes, it's just Mitchell, Taylor Powell, former Lion cut Kevin Thomson, and rookie Harrison Frost on the QB depth chart.



DH

I want to see Bo Levi successful in the CFL but I found it surprising that Hamilton bet big time signing him when Calgary who will no doubt hire him to coach someday make the decision that Bo was too risky and possibly wanted that higher money for others. Bo is a slam dunk to coach with the Stamps in future and he, Dickenson and Hufnagel are tight professionally and personally but that didn't stop them moving on.

Surprise has turned to shock that GM and HC doubled down on the Ticat bet letting Matthew Shiltz get away and it's Taylor Powell next in line (who they just extended this past few days or so).

I'd have thought that Milanovich knows full well that you can't win or keep your job if you don't have a QB and he'd have forced the Ticats to have at least 3 who could be starters.

Taylor Powell might be okay but after last year I'd have wanted to see Shiltz stick around.

Bo got hurt in a work out in the training room it seems.

https://3downnation.com/2024/05/13/abso ... l-setback/

[Hambone]

On Jalen Edwards-Cooper:


Dano wrote

If Riders were to put Edwards-Cooper on the 6 game IR, they would have to pay him but it would not count against the SMS. By releasing him they may have just said something like: we have already paid you $20k, don't move to Regina just yet but call us when the shoulder is 100%.

Or, it's don't leave town if he's there.

Apparently he became a dad shortly after signing and talked of Regina being a good place for a young family. With that in mind if he already moved the wife and bambino to Regina he isn't going anywhere in the short term. If he hadn't made the move just yet then he's not sticking around.

[Toppy Vann]

Dinwiddie on Argos D and O and QB Cameron Dukes. No mention of Kelly - just the football.
Basically rookies not threatening their offense but on DEF they see some players competing and of course they lost DBs.

Some video from last year of Dukes - stuff that makes me think they can play with him at QB if need be.

https://www.tsn.ca/cfl/video/dinwiddie- ... qb~2920364

[Toppy Vann]

Randy Ambrosie is not makiing sense in this story condemniing an appeal.
Even a serial killer caught in the act of murder is given a date in court.

An astute Commissioner would not go as far as this one when a player exercises his right to appeal. Secondly, Indefinite suspensions assume the right to appeal by common sense. An Arbitrator will establish some parameters in determining an actual outcome. Zurkowsky in a tweet suggests it will end up as 1 or 2 games. I'd see that being fair if it was a one time parlay bet of $100 and he didn't let his play influence the outcome like the Raptors player was alleged to have done - exit the game so he'd win the under bet.

The discrepancy between the league and the CFLPA stems over when players were made aware of the league’s policy regarding wagering, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.

The player can argue he needs a specific determined outcome not just Indefinite.

The Als and the CFL need this guy to play.

Als lost

" ...fellow rush-end Lwal Uguak, the team’s first-round (seventh overall) draft choice last season, signed with the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers last winter.

https://montrealgazette.com/sports/foot ... ls-at-camp