Outlook for the 2025 BC Lions

[Gridiron Ernie]

I enjoyed looking over your Unofficial Offseason Depth Chart, B.C.FAN. Nice job! It really is helpful toward getting a less foggy picture of how it might all unfold. I guess the one name/slot that puzzled me was Crawford in the secondary. I believe the only Crawford on the roster is a 235 lb defensive lineman. But you may likely know more than I know about that. But thanks again for the chart. Much appreciated.

[B.C.FAN]

I enjoyed looking over your Unofficial Offseason Depth Chart, B.C.FAN. Nice job! It really is helpful toward getting a less foggy picture of how it might all unfold. I guess the one name/slot that puzzled me was Crawford in the secondary. I believe the only Crawford on the roster is a 235 lb defensive lineman. But you may likely know more than I know about that. But thanks again for the chart. Much appreciated.

You're correct, Ernie. Tre Crawford got some playing time in Hamilton in 2022 and 2023 and has also had brief stops in Atlanta, Denver and Saskatchewan. I've moved him to defensive end in the chart.

[don corleone]

I think it only makes sense that Pierce would be far greatly influenced by the way Mike O'Shea operates than Wally Buono. Pierce is 15 years removed from any direct coaching influence from Wally. He last played for Wally in 2009. He had a brief 5 game stint back with BC at the end of the 2013 season but that was under Benevides. As a player he worked under Wally for 5 years before 4 split between Lapolice, Tim Burke and finally Bene. He started coaching in 2014, same year as O'Shea became Bombers HC. 2025 will mark the first season Pierce isn't coaching under Mike O'Shea's influence.

I could be wrong but am under the impression Buck's father was a football coach and if so will no doubt be a source of inspiration and advice. Anyone know for sure?

A bit surprised he hasn't been directly asked the question of who his biggest influence has been, Quite likely there is a bit of all who have been involved along the way.

[SammyGreene]

Here is my early and entirely unofficial offseason depth chart, based only on players with CFL or NFL experience. I don't know enough to include raw rookies, most of whom will find themselves fighting to move far enough up the depth chart to make the active roster for the regular season.

The offence is fairly set. You can shuffle players around at the guard positions and backup tackles. I listed 3 American starters on the O-line but I hope that either Packer or Una get a fair chance at a starting position.

On the defensive line, it seems that Betts and Teuhema (after his 2-game suspension) are likely to start on the outside, with Covington and Hendrix inside. The remaining players can be shuffled around. There is lots of depth.

Linebacker is where the Lions have the most depth. I find it hard to believe that Hladik, Auclair and 3 other veteran nationals will be backups to Woods and Awe, but that seems to be what the coaches want. I've pencilled in Rene at SAM, with Auclair backing him up (he played there at Laval), but former Rider CB Deontai Williams could do well there.

The secondary is where the Lions have the least experience, so I've pencilled in Williams at field corner ahead of second-year American Jordan Perryman, with Jalon Edwards-Cooper at field halfback. He and second-year Lion Ronald Kent are the only Lions who have played halfback, and I've pencilled in Kent for the boundary half, where he had some playing time last year. The only near certainties are that Garry Peters will keep his shutdown boundary corner position and second-year Lion Christophe Beaulieu will return at safety.

UNOFFICIAL OFFSEASON DEPTH CHART

Great stuff BC FAN. I would love to see the Lions have a "live" off-season depth chart to get a better idea of their signings. The crowd at the LB spots looks to be less as the CFL transactions page shows the Lions releasing Ace Eley yesterday along with former Okanagan Sun star & American RB Elelyon Noa.

https://www.cfl.ca/transactions

The kick returner job might be former Eagles draft pick & RB Jason Huntley's to lose who Rigmaiden is high on. As we have said, I have respect for Rigmaiden's vision and process of building a championship roster by leaning much more on recruiting than the FA route. And there were certainly some "safer" signings like the Bombers getting former Stamps RB & returner Peyton Logan for only a $107,500 cap hit. He is just 26.
https://3downnation.com/2025/02/19/what ... he-roster/

Besides the lack of experience in the secondary my other concern is the national depth on the d-line that once enjoyed a rotation that included Josh Archibald and David Menard.
No suprise to hear Archibald was the Lions' most coveted FA. Let's hope Bemiy is finally healthy and ready to contribute.

[don corleone]

Appreciation from me as well to BCFan for his time and good computer skills in preparing an early depth chart. The name that popped for me was Dylan St Pierre who might pick up a lot of the slack left by David Mackie moving on. High hopes for DSP.

Surprising numbers coming out of the 3DN story on Rider signings. McEwen at $146,000 is a steal compared to David Beard at $230,000 imo. Knowing those numbers suggests Mike Couture may not have done much better. Of course it is not collusion but sometimes the CFL can be funny that way.

https://3downnation.com/2025/02/22/how- ... -signings/

[Hambone]

Count me as both surprised and disappointed about Eley but not about Noa. Once it dawned on me he didn't qualify as a National and I believe aged out for CJFL I thought it an odd signing. Then again early offseason signings are always vulnerable as the offseason roster gets close to full. Just because a new player has been signed doesn't mean a team should stop looking for someone better. Noa won't be the last one signed since the end of the 2024 season to be cut before camp.

[Hambone]

Besides the lack of experience in the secondary my other concern is the national depth on the d-line that once enjoyed a rotation that included Josh Archibald and David Menard.
No suprise to hear Archibald was the Lions' most coveted FA. Let's hope Bemiy is finally healthy and ready to contribute.

BC isn't exactly thin on NAT DL depth. They still have Betts, Bemiy, Covington, Cherry and Deshawn Stevens to compete for what might only be 3 or at most 4 game roster spots. Covington is the only true big interior DL. Betts and Stevens are more edge size. Cherry is more of a smaller interior size. Bemiy could play end or inside. His body type looks like it can carry more than the 260# he's listed at. I think they will be hard pressed to dress more than 3 with Teuhema, Falinko, Hendrix, Moore, Tavai, Debaillie not to mention other signings new to the CFL. Always good to have many ratio options though. I still look at Horvath with interest and wonder if they might consider going American at FB. The additions of Lenius and John do open up the potential for starting 3 NAT receivers and if they can suit up 4 NAT DL then a DA spot could be used at FB.

[don corleone]

Agree Horvath could play FB especially with the QB being a National. What will be interesting is how they intend to use the position. St Pierre will be a special teamer and available as a backup or maybe training camp will decide. I have no doubt he will make the team.

[OV:54-40]

Agree Horvath could play FB especially with the QB being a National. What will be interesting is how they intend to use the position. St Pierre will be a special teamer and available as a backup or maybe training camp will decide. I have no doubt he will make the team.

Again, the Buck offence in the Peg rarely deployed a fullback / H-back (as little/less than any other team except maybe the Argos); so, unless Buck has had a change of thinking, I highly doubt he all of a sudden starts using a fullback; though having one around on the roster for a tiny bit of duty might make some sense as that body type can usually do lots of ST duty as well.

I'll be looking forward to seeing if both Lenius & Rysen John make the roster and if they do, get to play much. With Cottoy and McInnis already there as big body targets, they might think that is plenty of that kind of receivers for the corps (though McInnis can certainly get deep and has speed), and prefer 3 other smaller speedsters in the 5 pack. But a smart offence nowdays IMO employs plenty of diversity - like using more than just one main tailback to carry the ball (Buck used Demski out of slotback as a ball carrier very effectively), and, using all receivers on the roster for variety / different looks. Rourke being able to read / look at 3 giant targets on the field for some downs or situations might be very smart. But also good to have at least one if not 2 real fast deep threats to stretch the field at other times.

And the loss of Archibald, could be addressed (if need be) in this year's draft that is fairly deep in D-linemen with a few good DE prospects; might be able to get one by mid rounds.

[Hambone]

Agree Horvath could play FB especially with the QB being a National. What will be interesting is how they intend to use the position. St Pierre will be a special teamer and available as a backup or maybe training camp will decide. I have no doubt he will make the team.

It's not exactly that simple. Rourke counts as a NAT starter but he doesn't change the rest of the ratio. QBs are separate from the other 42 who dress, effectively neutral when it comes to N, A or G. Teams still must dress 21 NATs in addition to any Canadians designated as QBs. If all 3 QBs were NATs they'd still have to dress 21 more NAT non-QBs.

The remaining non-QBs include max of 20 Americans and min of 1 Global. If you want to dress more than one Global as BC often did the number of Americans is reduced. If they go with Meyer punting and dress both Debaillie and Rouyer then they can only dress 18 non-QB Americans.

[CrazyCanuck89]

I'm assuming Foucault at LG and Una at RG?

[Hambone]

I'm assuming Foucault at LG and Una at RG?

Only safe assumptions are Foucault will be at LG or RG, Couture at C, Allen at RT and in all likelihood Broxton at LT. After that all bets are off. They could go Packer or Una at the other guard or could go American. Despite having both Packer and Una available last year they started Woodruff at LG the final 5 games and for the WSF. He's still under contract and they re-signed Schleuger who played and started 9 games at LG and LT. That the re-signed Schleuger hints to me they are not dead set on starting 3 NATs on the OL.

We may not get any real indication of their initial thinking until BCF provides that first TC report laying out who's on the 1st unit.

[don corleone]

It's not exactly that simple. Rourke counts as a NAT starter but he doesn't change the rest of the ratio. QBs are separate from the other 42 who dress, effectively neutral when it comes to N, A or G. Teams still must dress 21 NATs in addition to any Canadians designated as QBs. If all 3 QBs were NATs they'd still have to dress 21 more NAT non-QBs.

The remaining non-QBs include max of 20 Americans and min of 1 Global. If you want to dress more than one Global as BC often did the number of Americans is reduced. If they go with Meyer punting and dress both Debaillie and Rouyer then they can only dress 18 non-QB Americans.

Kudos to you for staying on top of the ratio changes. There are way too many deviations of what constitutes a National for my liking. That said I thought Brandon Bridge was instrumental in getting the QB position to count as one of eight at the time.

[Hambone]

Kudos to you for staying on top of the ratio changes. There are way too many deviations of what constitutes a National for my liking. That said I thought Brandon Bridge was instrumental in getting the QB position to count as one of eight at the time.

Think of it this way. There are 23 positional starters + 1 starting QB.

Scenario 1: If the starting QB is American the team must field a minimum of 8 NAT starters amongst those 23 non-QBs, one of which may be a Nationalized American. The remaining 15 starters may be Americans or Globals from their combined total of 21 on the game roster.

Scenario 2: If the starting QB is Canadian the team must field a minimum of 7 NAT starters amongst those 23 non-QBs, one of which may be a Nationalized American. The remaining 16 starters may be Americans or Globals from their combined total of 21 on the game roster.

The edge in having a NAT starting QB as in Scenario 2 is it gives the team the option to start one of the 6 American or Global backup/depth players in Scenario 1. If the team chooses to do that it would turn a NAT starter into a depth/backup player. Keep in mind if the game roster turned in lists 5 NAT starters on offense then they must field 5 all game long. Example if Rourke gets replaced by Masoli then one of the American receivers, OL or RB would also have to come out and replaced by a NAT or Nationalized American. This could be where Schleuger provides value as he qualifies. If he's dressed as a backup and NA he could provide injury depth for both NATs and Americans.

Just to clarify an American qualifying as a Nationalized American (at least 5 years in the CFL or 3 with their current team including current season) does not count as one of the minimum 21 Nationals who must be on the game roster. He remains one of the max 20 Americans.

[SammyGreene]

Kudos to you for staying on top of the ratio changes. There are way too many deviations of what constitutes a National for my liking. That said I thought Brandon Bridge was instrumental in getting the QB position to count as one of eight at the time.

Think of it this way. There are 23 positional starters + 1 starting QB.

Scenario 1: If the starting QB is American the team must field a minimum of 8 NAT starters amongst those 23 non-QBs, one of which may be a Nationalized American. The remaining 15 starters may be Americans or Globals from their combined total of 21 on the game roster.

Scenario 2: If the starting QB is Canadian the team must field a minimum of 7 NAT starters amongst those 23 non-QBs, one of which may be a Nationalized American. The remaining 16 starters may be Americans or Globals from their combined total of 21 on the game roster.

The edge in having a NAT starting QB as in Scenario 2 is it gives the team the option to start one of the 6 American or Global backup/depth players in Scenario 1. If the team chooses to do that it would turn a NAT starter into a depth/backup player. Keep in mind if the game roster turned in lists 5 NAT starters on offense then they must field 5 all game long. Example if Rourke gets replaced by Masoli then one of the American receivers, OL or RB would also have to come out and replaced by a NAT or Nationalized American. This could be where Schleuger provides value as he qualifies. If he's dressed as a backup and NA he could provide injury depth for both NATs and Americans.

Just to clarify an American qualifying as a Nationalized American (at least 5 years in the CFL or 3 with their current team including current season) does not count as one of the minimum 21 Nationals who must be on the game roster. He remains one of the max 20 Americans.

Great breakdown Hambone. Farhan mentioned one of reasons the Lions liked Awe is he qualifies as a Nationalized American.