Training camp 2024

[David]

Interested to see what, if anything, we can read into the Taylor signing. To me, these late TC signings are often a sign that the club is not satisfied with what they have.

Unless Taylor has been on their radar and the opportunity to sign him recently presented itself?

Hard to know where they see him fitting in. Starters in the interior likely to be Covington and Banks (with back-ups Moore, Cherry, Debaillie....and Behimy showed well in Calgary. Tavai had a strong game as well). I wonder if they move on from Debaillie?



DH

[B.C.FAN]

I'm sure BCF will chime in. From what I saw Joseph just didn't stand out in any way. He looked like just another guy out there who wasn't doing anything to push himself up the depth chart beyond getting 3rd unit reps. They were going to have a hard time finding a PR spot for him. Prior to his release they had 29 NATs in camp with 21 active spots and 3 or at most 4 PR spots left. When I get thru the locks for starters, rotational depth guys and special teams needs I get down to Joseph battling with Una, Packer, Tieide, Poissant, Bagayogo, Beaulieu, Ringland, Ganyi and loser of Pickett/Nelson LS duel for what amounts to 3 spots on the 46 and 3 or at most 4 PR spots, That's 10 guys for 5 or 6 spots. Joseph is now gone. I think once Harty returns Poissant will go. Loser of the LS duel goes. After that it will be difficult to determine the final couple of 46/PR spots but likely they tell Una he has a hang nail problem and 1G him. They won't risk possible poaching by putting him on the PR. Packer may be vulnerable although they have been working him some at center which could put pressure on Pierson depending on how he's grading. I think Bagayogo, who continues to improve, will get a spot on the 46 as will Tieide until Harty returns. Beaulieu and Ringland are safe. Ganyi is next on the bubble after Joseph, Poissant, Pickett/Nelson.

I haven't done a full roster projection but that's basically how I see it. The Lions have a deep national talent base. Anyone who is cut loose is likely to get a second chance elsewhere in the league. At DB alone, they have 5 nationals who can play, and who have made big plays in camp. The Lions will have to decide who to carry on the 1-game injured list as healthy scratches or who to park on the 6-game list until a need arises.

[maxlion]

I was hoping for more from Joseph but he didn’t seem to be distinguishing himself much at TC. I am curious how Covington has looked. After losing Betts and Menard, it would be nice to have one national stepping up on the dline.

The reports on Meyer sure make it tempting to advocate for him over Flintoft. Meyer seems to bring more to the table, especially if he is a potential replacement for Whyte down the road. It is hard to justify having a US player just for punts and kickoffs unless he is excellent. Not sure that Flintoft is that.

[Hambone]

Tiquan Mizzell might be just as much a casualty of the run schemes as he is by guys who showed better in TC and Stanback's signing suggesting he's the preferred back for the limited run package BC employs.

The astute observation from Hambone and BC Fan etc seems to be that Brice has shown and grown and earned his spot.
Who will run short yardage?

Prukop like any QB, RB or ball carrier benefits from the quality of their OL and in the Bomber's case, their schemes even on short yardage.
Despite his USFL time, he's not had much of a chance to show a total package as hey used Dru Brown.
He wants to live in WPG as a home base so I guess the question for him will be will the Bombers had a 3rd spot for him. I think they loaded up on QBs for TC.

It seems there are 3 approaches in CFL pre-season:
1. The Hugh Campbell approach to use game 1 at least to see if they have talent that deserves a roster spot.
2. The MTL approach this year
https://3downnation.com/2024/05/26/a-ch ... r-toronto/
3. the hybrid that we'll see in the 2nd game. Give the starters more time but your QB less but enough to get some game experience.

If you go MTL and lose key starters, your fans will say go BC route.
If you go full BC with rookies and not much to your starters and blow the first league game, you'll get you should have done the MTL approach.

I pondered the same question about Prukop possibly going back to Winnipeg. They did just this week release 1 QB and immediately replace him with another one. They still have 4 QBs in camp; Collaros, Streveler, Terry Wilson (signed back in Nov) & newcomer Darren Grainger. As much as O'Shea is a loyalist to just about everybody who's come thru Winnipeg I doubt they bring Prukop back. He's basically Streveler-lite. I don't think they need Streveler-lite when they already have Streveler who has proven to be one of the best in years at the short yardage game. Prukop would only serve to being a roadblock to the development of Wilson, Grainger or another young QB who could be brought in if they don't pan out.

When it comes to rosters for pre-season one thing that has factored in for BC is that for several years they always played the first game on the road and the second game at home. You have to go back to 2012 for the last time they were at home for the first preseason game. There's a definite tendency for teams to prefer playing more of their stars and projected starters in front of the home audience. When you're always playing the 2nd game at home it becomes easy to load the rosters the way BC has for the past several years. Another factor in how to deploy preseason rosters could be the number of starting positions that are really up for grabs for a team. I think it creates a different scenario for a team like the 2024 BC Lions who really had only 4 starting spots up for grabs when camp opened which were whittled down to maybe 2 by the time they headed for Calgary. This as opposed to a team that has 6 or 7 wide open starting spots heading into their 1st ex-game. I was thinking I would have liked to see more vets and starters mixed into the Calgary roster. Then I started wondering if it wasn't for the better to have all the guys battling for those depth/rotational/PR spots competing on a more level playing field vs some getting their preseason reps with several 1s while others are going out with 2s and 3s.

[David]

The reports on Meyer sure make it tempting to advocate for him over Flintoft. Meyer seems to bring more to the table, especially if he is a potential replacement for Whyte down the road. It is hard to justify having a US player just for punts and kickoffs unless he is excellent. Not sure that Flintoft is that.

I am with you on that maxlion, Flintoft is good punter (7th best punting average over 45 punts but less than 1 yard average separates him from 2nd place). He can hit those great coffin corners like McCallum used to, but he can also sail 30-yard punts outside the 15s.

He has a fairly lively leg on kick-offs (61.9 yard average in 2023) and is a good holder and team leader. In short, he is solid, but hardly irreplaceable as an American punter. I might be willing to take the chance given Mayer's progress and what it would open up on the game-day roster.


DH

[SammyGreene]

A nice training camp update article by Moj on the releases of Mizzell and Prokup. Campbell says they will begin the season with VA running the short yardage offence.

https://www.similkameenspotlight.com/s ... er-7366161

[David]

A nice "sack, scoop, and score" here by Demetrius Taylor when he was at Appalachian State.




DH

[B.C.FAN]

Marty Hastings of Kamloops TV station CFJC has some fun interviewing Lions players about 50 Cent, the City of Kamloops and newcomers who have stood out to them in camp. Among rookies receiving praise from veterans are DT Jonah Tavai, WR Stanley Berryhill, DB Jordan Perryman and LB Ayinde Eley.

https://cfjctoday.com/2024/05/28/the-ta ... t-capital/

[David]

Great interview! Thanks B.C.FAN. The interviewer (Hastings?) has a presence and demeanor that puts these guys at ease so he was able to draw some really candid and thoughtful responses to his questions.

It's so refreshing to hear our athletes speak from the heart instead of the usual cliches.



DH

[Toppy Vann]

A nice training camp update article by Moj on the releases of Mizzell and Prokup. Campbell says they will begin the season with VA running the short yardage offence.

https://www.similkameenspotlight.com/s ... er-7366161

I think VA doing short yardage is not just gambling on short yardage but gambling on your starter's health. Not a wise decision. If you haven't a back up able to run short yardage and you have little to no creativity on how you run, put Stanback at QB.

As it is these teams don't all use QBs on FGs but use the Punter to take the snap and hold - another tactic I dislike as it takes away the threat of gambling off that formation.

It makes sense that they want a bigger back like Stanback given their few run plays. Interesting he was told to add weight and came back lighter. He'd fit more in Calgary.

[Hambone]

I think VA doing short yardage is not just gambling on short yardage but gambling on your starter's health. Not a wise decision. If you haven't a back up able to run short yardage and you have little to no creativity on how you run, put Stanback at QB.

As it is these teams don't all use QBs on FGs but use the Punter to take the snap and hold - another tactic I dislike as it takes away the threat of gambling off that formation.

Your comment about punters being the holders jogs my memory from being at camp 2 weeks ago. During placekicking drills BC used Flintoft, Prukop and Adams, usually in that order. As you say the norm has become for punters doing the holding unless of course the placekicker like Bede, or Ty Long in the recent past for BC, is also the punter. Flintoft was a given. At the time Prukop, as the expected #3, made sense to be Flintoft's backup as barring the punter doing the holding it's usually a backup QB. Adams' inclusion in the drills caused me to raise an eyebrow for 2 reasons; 1) rarely does the starting QB do the holding and 2) it seemed odd to be working out 3 holders for 2 kickers.

In hindsight it now makes sense. I don't think it was a factor at the time but the apparent 1st backup holder, Prukop, has been released. The other aspect is that should they turn punting chores over to Meyer, either on merit or due to injury, Most punters were holding for kickers going well back into their collegiate careers, if not earlier. Meyer's background is as rugby player who had one season of gridiron football as both punter and placekicker in arena football. There's no such thing as a holder in rugby. It may not end well to expect him to handle holding chores for Whyte until he's proven himself competent after tons of practicing. With that I'm thinking should they opt to use Meyer for punting Whyte's holder will be one of the QBs.

[Toppy Vann]

I think VA doing short yardage is not just gambling on short yardage but gambling on your starter's health. Not a wise decision. If you haven't a back up able to run short yardage and you have little to no creativity on how you run, put Stanback at QB.

As it is these teams don't all use QBs on FGs but use the Punter to take the snap and hold - another tactic I dislike as it takes away the threat of gambling off that formation.

Your comment about punters being the holders jogs my memory from being at camp 2 weeks ago. During placekicking drills BC used Flintoft, Prukop and Adams, usually in that order. As you say the norm has become for punters doing the holding unless of course the placekicker like Bede, or Ty Long in the recent past for BC, is also the punter. Flintoft was a given. At the time Prukop, as the expected #3, made sense to be Flintoft's backup as barring the punter doing the holding it's usually a backup QB. Adams' inclusion in the drills caused me to raise an eyebrow for 2 reasons; 1) rarely does the starting QB do the holding and 2) it seemed odd to be working out 3 holders for 2 kickers.

In hindsight it now makes sense. I don't think it was a factor at the time but the apparent 1st backup holder, Prukop, has been released. The other aspect is that should they turn punting chores over to Meyer, either on merit or due to injury, Most punters were holding for kickers going well back into their collegiate careers, if not earlier. Meyer's background is as rugby player who had one season of gridiron football as both punter and placekicker in arena football. There's no such thing as a holder in rugby. It may not end well to expect him to handle holding chores for Whyte until he's proven himself competent after tons of practicing. With that I'm thinking should they opt to use Meyer for punting Whyte's holder will be one of the QBs.

I like a back up QB and Prukop if he turned up able to win a job would have made sense as that gives your team the fake FG option - something that I'd love to see more happen. But, I'd also love to see the quick kick back in the game but the days of DBs or FBs like Charlie Shepherd who could punt 70 yds in some situations IIRC LOL don't exist. Coaches got more conservative and players got more specialized which gives those of us old enough to have watched Kenny Ploen and Jackie Parker at their prime know you could see these guys in more than one position. Today the athleticism of playes changes all that as TC is not where players come to get in shape.

Lui P was different as both he punted and placed kicked but he was also a skilled football player and he could pull off the fake punts etc. I miss that.

Boris Bede is a genuine stud who can do more than kick if a big return comes back.

[B.C.FAN]

Training camp wrapped up Wednesday with a spirited two-hour practice before the Lions head to Vancouver for their final preseason game Friday night against Edmonton. The team seems healthier than at any time in camp. DL Nathan Cherry, still rehabbing after ACL surgery last year, was the only player working out on his own. DL/ST Josh Archibald took regular reps at defensive end and celebrated his return with a tackle for loss against Will Stanback on a screen pass. Manny Rugamba, who was limited on Tuesday, was back in his usual SAM position on the first-team defence. Michael Couture, who has sat out several practices in the past week, was dressed but split first-team reps at centre with Tyler Packer.

After nearly two weeks of running the Lions' base offence, OC Jordan Maksymic has added a lot of new wrinkles to the passing game this week, with Jevon Cottoy, Alex Hollins and Stanback being the main beneficiaries.

Practice featured lots of high-tempo team play, including no-huddle and red-zone. Second-team WR Stanley Berryhill, one of several Americans fighting for one or two practice roster spots, had a deep TD catch from Jake Dolegala behind Siriman Bagayogo. Berryhill also caught a deep post pattern behind second-team SAM Chris Cooper. Cooper also had a pass knockdown, as did rookie American linebacker Ayinde Eley, who seems to have an inside track on a rotational roster spot. Sione Teuhema, who seems entrenched on the first-unit defensive line with Pete Robertson, Christian Covington and Josh Banks, had a knockdown at the line. Marcus Sayles had an end-zone interception of third-team QB Chase Bice.

On special teams, Sean Whyte was good on all but one field goal attempt with Stefan Flintoft as his holder, clanking one kick off the left upright. Rookie Global Carl Meyer handled kickoffs, Flintoft did all punting and former NFLer Kyle Nelson handled long snapping. Riley Pickett, who handled long-snapping duties last year, took other roles on kick and cover teams.

[Qman]

Despite good game vs Calgary, looks like picket has lost the long snapper competition. Nelson was main guest on lions 1st and now last night, doubt he would have been so highlighted if he was going to be cut in 4 days.

[DanoT]

Often times the punter is the backup FG kicker, so if the FG kicker gets injured and the holder is then moved from holding to doing the FG kicking you then have to get a new holder. Thus the team ends up needing to replace 2 positions when only one guy got injured. The backup QB is a better choice for the holder position.