Lionbackers.com

JohnHenry wrote: ...the Lions like to build from within rather than overspend on FA. ....

...There's no saying these high priced FA will play any better than a college or NFL recruit the Lions will develop. ....

Not broken up about Moore leaving. ....

Overspending on FA is not Buono's gameplan and IMO, it seems to work. He's invested in FA but didn't overspend.....

Maybe Shivers and/or the scouting dept. has some guys hidden away that will get the job done.....

I'm not broken up about Moore leaving either.....

No one on here is a bigger fan of Nick Moore than me, I guarantee you.

But at that price, he can go finish 5-13 in Winnipeg. He's replaceable.

What isn't replaceable is the lack of pass rush, an upgrade on the offensive line and some actual talent on the interior of the defensive line. And seeing no action in those areas is a problem.

I wonder if "lotus land" is a harder sell due to the high cost of housing? If you are not looking to put down long term roots in a CFL community, why not go to a city where it's a lot cheaper to live?

Hufnagel and Buono are cut from the same cloth. Argos have same owner as BC and they dipped into FA so money is not the only issue.

“I think it’s very good,” Hufnagel said of the free-agent market. “There’s a lot of good players out there, but my philosophy about free agency isn’t any different than it has been in the years before.

“There may be a player or two or a position or two that I’ll be looking at, but I can’t see myself being an active player. I spent the few bucks that I have already.”

In case you missed it, Hufnagel’s free-agent philosophy is essentially that there isn’t much value to be found on the open market, instead building his roster through import talent with no previous CFL experience and stockpiling his Canadian cupboard through the CFL Draft.

http://www.calgarysun.com/2014/02/10/ca ... marketPopp too - but in his own way.

Hamilton is one that surprises me with their money but last year they had a ton of players and Austin got them to a GC so he seems to have got his coaching staff to work in new guys quite nicely.



You don't build a great team culture with a high number of short term FAs who will seek to max. their contracts by willingly moving. The Lions have done well when they get guys who like it here and of course even better when they are from the western states as they are closer to home and will commit here longer. I don't see them changing that.

Not sure why a Butler would not be interested in BC but who knows what he wants. Calg. Sun link says Butler is likely going to be expensive.


I doubt it is that BC is not attractive a place to be - it's just that this GM has been more of a build it yourself guy and of course he has the most wins ever doing that.

Toppy Vann wrote: I had read how MB said too that they wanted to hype the life here in BC.

I think this is a strategic mistake. Majority of the players leave town when the season ends.

Farhan L. sure seems to have a positive outlook. Read his tweets on the CFL page. To the effect "those that are busy on free agency are the teams with the most holes to fill"


As for the rest of free agency, I think there is still time to get some pieces that are needed. Other pieces will have to be found later, I guess (I hope that doesn't sound optimistic because I'm not). The last time a Grey Cup was being played here I went into the season figuring the Lions would roar all year long, they stumbled and then roared their way to a home site Grey Cup win. I'm really surprised more hasn't been done. Maybe they have some ideas that we just don't get to find out about until the games matter? D-line sure seemed like a thing we could improve on. Guess we'll see how the rest of FA works out......

MexicoLionFan wrote:When it smells like it Joe, and looks like it, and even tastes like it...don't step in it...

Buono and the Lions PR Dept. was serving it up rich today...yep, forget Craig Butler, Matt McGarva, coming off a major knee injury is going to make us soon forget about JR LaRose...

So true Mexico LionFan. Nothing against McGarva but he needs to establish himself as a special teamer first and is at least a year away. It could be argued Parker is ahead of him right now too.

Lions haven't had an effective Canadian playing safety since the days of Tommy Europe in the mid-1990s. Frickin 20 years ago. Butler led the Riders in tackles last season and added 4 picks playing safety and sliding over to LB to essentially play the same position as Banks. He turned 25 in November and still has plenty of upside. Ratio buster FAs rarely come on the market at this stage of their career. A huge miss on the Lions part.

It was funny seeing Ryan Phillips trying to recruit him via twitter yesterday. Maybe he is tired of watching Larose fail to make plays at the safety position like the fans are too.

The only good news to come out of yesterday was the Lions not getting caught up in a bidding war for Nick Moore. No way should you be paying an import receiver anything north of $140,000 for 1 productive season. Lions already have enough money tied up in Arceneaux and Gore. They will be fine with Korey Williams or Ernest Jackson. They may even land Chris Matthews at a much cheaper price.

MexicoLionFan wrote:When it smells like it Joe, and looks like it, and even tastes like it...don't step in it...

Buono and the Lions PR Dept. was serving it up rich today...yep, forget Craig Butler, Matt McGarva, coming off a major knee injury is going to make us soon forget about JR LaRose...

Some more thoughts on this FA market, MLF.

As noted a few times, I agree with Hufnagel when he expresses the view that he prefers to build his team through the NI draft, and with American free agents, fresh to the CFL.

Buono has also taken this route in his career.

I do find it annoying though, that Benevides and Buono hyped this Free Agency market, got the fans hopes up, and then do nothing. Buono has been around long enough to know what it takes to sign a free agent. Making offers is hardly a show of determination. So for me, this FA has been a bit of a sham for the Lions.

And I expect we were not all that close to the offer that Hamilton made for Butler. So why hype this FA market? Get the fans interested in the upcoming season. It would have been better to say up front that the Lions will make some offers, but not break their budget. It would have been better to not let it be understood that we would be "aggressive" in the FA market. Because that gets the fans hopes up for Craig Butler. I would say it was a PR mistake. Better to low key it the way Hufnagel did.

As Toppy noted:

“I think it’s very good,” Hufnagel said of the free-agent market. “There’s a lot of good players out there, but my philosophy about free agency isn’t any different than it has been in the years before.

“There may be a player or two or a position or two that I’ll be looking at, but I can’t see myself being an active player. I spent the few bucks that I have already.”

.........................

Could the Lions come roaring out of the gate to start the season? Sure, anything is possible in the CFL. Top to bottom. Bottom to top. Hamilton rose up very fast under Austin. Winnipeg collapsed very fast after making it to the Grey Cup in 2011.

But so far, and following on our results the last couple of years, I see us as a middling team, middle of the pack. I would be surprised and delighted, however, to be shown a better result, challenging for the Cup.

It seems to me that we do not have one of the best offensive lines in the league.

Same with the D Line.

Soft spot at safety.

Lost our top receiver to free agency.

Lost our fiery leader, Korey Banks, in a messy divorce.

We are an old team, a veteran team, without the fresh legs of youth.

Our top two QBs are coming off surgery.

We have a new OC and a new DC. Both unproven. Our HC still sits in the shadow of his mentor.

Plenty of reasons to keep my hopes in check.

cromartie wrote:What isn't replaceable is the lack of pass rush, an upgrade on the offensive line and some actual talent on the interior of the defensive line. And seeing no action in those areas is a problem.

Not sure if anything can be done in that area Cro. At least not yet. Hall, Laurent and Law are the nuggets in the DL FA class. I believe all are still going through the process of trying to land an NFL gig and not ready to consider a new CFL deal just yet. Get beyond those 3 names and maybe Kenny Mainor and it's a thin list of backups who would not be upgrades over BC's backups.

SammyGreene wrote:

MexicoLionFan wrote:When it smells like it Joe, and looks like it, and even tastes like it...don't step in it...

Buono and the Lions PR Dept. was serving it up rich today...yep, forget Craig Butler, Matt McGarva, coming off a major knee injury is going to make us soon forget about JR LaRose...

So true Mexico LionFan. Nothing against McGarva but he needs to establish himself as a special teamer first and is at least a year away. It could be argued Parker is ahead of him right now too.

Lions haven't had an effective Canadian playing safety since the days of Tommy Europe in the mid-1990s. Frickin 20 years ago. Butler led the Riders in tackles last season and added 4 picks playing safety and sliding over to LB to essentially play the same position as Banks. He turned 25 in November and still has plenty of upside. Ratio buster FAs rarely come on the market at this stage of their career. A huge miss on the Lions part.

It was funny seeing Ryan Phillips trying to recruit him via twitter yesterday. Maybe he is tired of watching Larose fail to make plays at the safety position like the fans are too.

The only good news to come out of yesterday was the Lions not getting caught up in a bidding war for Nick Moore. No way should you be paying an import receiver anything north of $140,000 for 1 productive season. Lions already have enough money tied up in Arceneaux and Gore. They will be fine with Korey Williams or Ernest Jackson. They may even land Chris Matthews at a much cheaper price.

Sammy, you know Phillips said that for EXACTLY that reason...the entire secondary, but especially the HBs are tired of getting no support from the safety...remember the Hail Mary in MTL last year that gave MTL the last second FG win...Dante Marsh had to play jump ball with a taller WR with NO HELP with 3 seconds left on the clock...LaRose jumped a crossing route 15 yards downfield...now come on, if the safety on my Jr. team did this, he would likely sit a game to think about costing his team a win...NOTHING happened to LaRose and it wasn't even admitted that it was his mistake until after the season...BRUTAL.

Joe, you are exactly right...why the hype from the Lions if that weren't going to be aggressive? And not getting Butler was a HUGE loss IMO, as is Korey Banks...

DB Josh Bell has agreed to terms with the #Stamps. #CFLFA14 #BCLions lose another

Phillips shouldn't be saying anything, his play especially tackling have been awful the past few seasons with a joke all star nomination. What an embarrassment in free agency this year. I think the organization has some explaining to do. It is one thing not to sign free agents from other teams but then to not even have our own sign is not acceptable to me. Watch Keron Williams be next then excel for another team I am not happy it seems to me this team is trying to save money and don't really care about competing this season because they won't at this rate.

cfl.ca reporting that Steve Myddleton, from our roster, has signed with the TiCats.

Ho hum ...

So much for being "aggressive" in the FA market.

Josh Bell gone also, to Calgary, even though Hufnagel says he doesn't really like to participate all that much in the FA market.

Farhan Lalji‏@FarhanLaljiTSN·16 hrs
Both the #Stamps & #REDBLACKS have offered DB Josh Bell more than #BCLions. I expect him to rejoin Rich Stubler in Calgary soon. #CFLFA14

Wally says he made competitive offers. They just happen to be less than the offers that succeed.

As GM it seems Wally is guaranteeing that he will not exceed the cap, and that he is making sure David Braley does not have to overspend on the Lions. Make sure the revenue exceeds the expenses. Run a tight budget. Full marks for that.

"aggressive" ... Time to say that OK we were not really aggressive. We went on the cheap. We hoped to score some guys for bargain wages. Top priority -> Keeping expenses down. Not overpaying. We'll make some offers. OK probably low ball, but we might get lucky.

"We are not really shopping."

Did the FA market change with the arrival of the RedBlacks? Probably. But, Hey, that is reality. Stuff happens. Things change. They don't stay the same forever.

How are we stronger without Josh Bell? How are we stronger without Steve Myddleton? Without Nick Moore? Without Korey Banks?

Is Hamilton stronger with the moves they have made so far? I would certainly say that they are. Austin is being aggressive.

Spud387 wrote:

DB Josh Bell has agreed to terms with the #Stamps. #CFLFA14 #BCLions lose another

It's kind of funny and sad watching the Lions undo their championship calibre defence from 2011/12 with no answer for their replacements.

Banks was an all-star at halfback in 2011/12. Lions believed he was better served at nickel in 2013 so release a bigger and more physcial Anthony Reddick (6-foot, 205 pounds), paving the way for Josh Bell to step in at halfback after a year on the practice roster.

Now all three are gone with no real proven replacements for either halfback or nickel. Banks deemed too small when he replaced a bigger player and he doesn't even get his old halfback spot back even though the Lions weren't certain they could re-sign Bell, who they just wasted 2 years of developing.

Maybe they will get lucky and sign a couple of Cord Parks or maybe they won't and the defence slips another notch or two in 2014..