Lionbackers.com

Great news.

Jarious

I guess Kerry Joseph's comeback in on the backburner for now.

I am a little surprised to see JJ back in black (and orange). I am glad he's back, I just thought the Argos would snap him up. I wonder if he's up for the coaching gig once he hangs up the helmet? I really do hope the Lions Staff (Offensive Coordinator/O-line Coach etc...) get those short yardage situations tweaked. IIRC, it was marginally better but IMO, it still is an achilles heel.

I'm shocked that the Argos didn't sign JJ. Lemon is not all that great so Argos need a good back up who could become the starter when Lemon becomes a lemon and who would that be? Pencil the Argos in for last place in the East. And Barker should not be the coach of the year.

DanoT wrote:I'm shocked that the Argos didn't sign JJ. Lemon is not all that great so Argos need a good back up who could become the starter when Lemon becomes a lemon and who would that be? Pencil the Argos in for last place in the East. And Barker should not be the coach of the year.

I am shocked that Jim Barker didn't make a better effort to sign him. How are you going to sell tickets in the off-season with Cleo Lemon as your incumbent? At times last year Lemon was productive; other times he was awful. I found Barker's comments toward JJ strangely ill-informed:

"I’ve talked to Jarious. There's no (game) film on him, so it's hard to make a statement on where he's at," Barker said. "That’s about where to leave it."

"I said I need to find out more about his (physical) situation," Barker said. "At some point we would need to bring him in, and not only give him a physical, but watch him throw for an extended period. Because he has not played in two years, I have absolutely nothing to base anything on. For me to do anything except do my due diligence as a general manager as I should, that’s what I’m doing. I’m investigating every opportunity. We have not set an actual date."

Hasn't played in two years? Huh? He was (albeit briefly) our #1 in 2009 before suffering a shoulder injury in Montreal. No game film on him? Huh? He played in two games last season (Calgary at home and Saskatchewan on the road) and, as far as I know, his shoulder didn't get worse. I expected Barker to work JJ out while here for the CFL Congress meetings/Coach Of The Year Awards. Oh well, their loss.

DH

Great News! and only about 4 months left until the new cfl season begins!

David, I think Barker is trying to cover his ass for letting Jarious go. He knows he will face a lot of "Why didn't you sign Jarious when you had the change?" during the season.

MacNews wrote:David, I think Barker is trying to cover his ass for letting Jarious go. He knows he will face a lot of "Why didn't you sign Jarious when you had the change?" during the season.

Barker is taking a large risk in not really improving the Argos, they won more than a few games based on things like kick returns that you just cannot really count on.

Maybe Lemon finds his stride this season, but as I've said I've seen him play in the other league and think they are taking a huge gamble on him.

David wrote:First reported by CKWX and confirmed by The Province's Lowell Ullrich, the Jarious Jackson deal with the Lions is done (details just need to be ironed out). The deal will keep him here for at least one more year.

link HERE

DH

What the Lions needed for a legitimate run at the GC, a solid safety net. Glad that he looked around and made the decision to stick with the Lions, as the Archibald signing did concern me that some SC funds wouldn't be left for JJ.

David wrote:

DanoT wrote:I'm shocked that the Argos didn't sign JJ. Lemon is not all that great so Argos need a good back up who could become the starter when Lemon becomes a lemon and who would that be? Pencil the Argos in for last place in the East. And Barker should not be the coach of the year.

I am shocked that Jim Barker didn't make a better effort to sign him. How are you going to sell tickets in the off-season with Cleo Lemon as your incumbent? At times last year Lemon was productive; other times he was awful. I found Barker's comments toward JJ strangely ill-informed:

"I’ve talked to Jarious. There's no (game) film on him, so it's hard to make a statement on where he's at," Barker said. "That’s about where to leave it."

"I said I need to find out more about his (physical) situation," Barker said. "At some point we would need to bring him in, and not only give him a physical, but watch him throw for an extended period. Because he has not played in two years, I have absolutely nothing to base anything on. For me to do anything except do my due diligence as a general manager as I should, that’s what I’m doing. I’m investigating every opportunity. We have not set an actual date."

Hasn't played in two years? Huh? He was (albeit briefly) our #1 in 2009 before suffering a shoulder injury in Montreal. No game film on him? Huh? He played in two games last season (Calgary at home and Saskatchewan on the road) and, as far as I know, his shoulder didn't get worse. I expected Barker to work JJ out while here for the CFL Congress meetings/Coach Of The Year Awards. Oh well, their loss.

DH

While I fully agree with all you said we must realize that this guy is the best in class in the CFL among coaches. Even Wally's turnaround in the year didn't get him a nomination. While I was a bit surprised at Barker being a nominee I thought it didn't matter as common says it had to be Trestman or Miller. I kind of thought maybe with Miller going upstairs they'd give it to him as a bit of a sentimental pick but they went to a guy who did so little to excite fans other than with Chad Owens who was awesome.

Making the inane comments he made about Jackson as a QB don't say much for the coach of the year pick.


He's coach of the year!!! He led his team from really sad records and got them to be a mediocre pro team at 9 -9. Played offense not to lose boring fans in the process. Had no one but Lemon and 35 of 49 football writers who should be fired or locked up said this guy is the best coach in the CFL last year. Wow. No wonder no one but his own player - Jermaine Copeland wanted to hand out the award over Trestman and Miller - either of which would not have raised an eyebrow amongst fans if they had won.

Just makes you wonder though, if no other team was willing to pick Jackson up, even Toronto given their QB situation, why are we paying him so much to be our backup? He hasn't done anything in 2 years and he looked absolutely horrendous last season.

Oh well. Hopefully his play improves and he can be a capable backup this year.

The_Pauser wrote:Just makes you wonder though, if no other team was willing to pick Jackson up, even Toronto given their QB situation, why are we paying him so much to be our backup? He hasn't done anything in 2 years and he looked absolutely horrendous last season.

Oh well. Hopefully his play improves and he can be a capable backup this year.

Well, Pauser, I'm thinking that when the signing was announced you gritted your teeth a bit, and perhaps even cursed once or twice. LOL

But you've seen that Jarious, despite all of his failings, does have his fans, including Wally.

I've got a hunch that Jarious might be a better QB than he has been now that being a designated starter is pretty much out of the realm of possibility.

Those that appreciate what he brings, including myself, feel a little more reassured about our quaterbacking position with his signing. And I don't really think anyone expects him to be a high percentage passer, or even to be very, very consistent. That hasn't been his pattern.

The reasons why some people believe in him have been stated over and over: leadership, strength, long ball, clutch, etc. Other than that, I cannot answer any questions you might have about: Why Jarious? or Too much money? et cetera ... It seems that either one is a fan, or one is not.

I give him the thumbs up ...

You give him the thumbs down ...

We sweetened the pot for Jarious and it made good sense to do that, before he potentially signed elsewhere. I believe other teams thought he was so determined to become a starter, that they thought they had more time. Wally was wise to come back with a new contract offer for Jarious.

We now have an experienced backup for Travis Lulay, Had Lulay gotten injured, we would have needed to put in Reilly, with no experience or another unproven rookie. Jarious also plays a key role on our short yardage offence and our field goal team. He has excellent leaderships skills and will return as a team captain.

As to Pauser's comment that we didn't need to sweeten our offer, we likely did to retain Jarious and even if we didn't he is good value at present, for what he brings and the fact that we could afford to, based upon what we will be paying for the quarterback position on our Leos. We don't have a $450,000 salary to pay for the starting quarterback postion, as we did in the days of Dave Dickenson.

I'm thrilled that Jarious is back. He wants to start but he will likely get his chances to play this season. Its a lot more comfortable going into 2011 with Jarious on the roster, than if he had signed elsewhere. The thoughts of Stefan Lafors or a 37 year old Kerry Joseph in the backup quarterback positon were a lot less appealling.

The_Pauser wrote:Just makes you wonder though, if no other team was willing to pick Jackson up, even Toronto given their QB situation, why are we paying him so much to be our backup? He hasn't done anything in 2 years and he looked absolutely horrendous last season.

Oh well. Hopefully his play improves and he can be a capable backup this year.

So Pauser, who would you prefer as a back up QB? AS far as Argos not wanting JJ, thats their problem. Me I'd rather have JJ as a back up over a Lemon who did not really get any better as the season progressed last year.