From Lowell Ullrich's report at TC ...
It seems evident that if his health is up to it, he would help our depth and experience in the receiving corps."It can be difficult to an organization that wants to make productive decisions to bring in a 32-year old guy coming off a ruptured Achilles who also carries a pretty decent contract," he said.
So, in one regard, the B.C. Lions stood alone Monday and began what likely could become the final test of a solid career. They put the former Edmonton Eskimos receiver through a physical, asked him questions and will test him further today. If satisfied they will register a CFL contract. An offence that is in clear need of answers will have one more receiving option.
If Kamau plays for us, I will be very disappointed if it means zero reps for our young receivers. It seems to me Wally takes the idea of letting the young non imports develop slowly way too far. IMO they wither and die on the vine.Buono envisions a scenario where both Peterson and Jackson are on the roster. Potential teammates envision more, as there is added value to a player who not only might instantly become the number two receiver but the second-best quote on the Lions behind Angus Reid.
"You see these receivers? They're all 12 years old," said Geroy Simon. "I'm not saying the young guys can't do it but Kamau's been in the fire. You don't have to be the face of the franchise, but having him would be a definite benefit for us, especially in the locker-room."
That is good news about Olafioye.Periodically at Lions training camp in Kamloops we'll look at some of the position battles underway for spots on the 46-man roster. Today: Offensive line.
You wouldn't think a position group that was so unstable last year has moulded, but it's the Lions belief. Having saved face by restoring Angus Reid at centre last year, the Lions have slotted Jon Hameister-Ries and Jesse Newman on either side and imports Ben Archibald and Jovan Olafioye as tackles. The guards may change but based on Monday's one-on-one drills where Olafioye dominated, he isn't going anywhere.
The battles are mostly for backup spots. The Lions will need to carry one import, which will be either Dane Randolph or fellow returning sophomore Nick Hennessey. There's likely only two other backup non-import roster spots left and little likelihood Justin Sorensen, Andrew Jones or Dean Valli would accept a practice roster position better suited for draft picks Adam Baboulas or Yannick Sage.
In regard to our non imports, I would say Dan Dorazio has been given every opportunity to fill the cupboard with talent. And now from that boatload of talent, it seems we will have to let some of it go, for free. Valli, Sorensen, Jones, Baboulas and Sage. No room in the Inn for all those guys.
Meanwhile we are desperately thin in NI talent in the D Line. That might not matter so much if we stay with the 3-4 defence. Some of us have speculated if Andrew Jones could or would be moved back to his college position, D Line.
It would be sad to see Solo come and go too. I know it's the nature of the business in a tier II league but really hard to market your team when your young stars keep coming and going.
