Lionbackers.com

Ryan Rigmaiden held a media availability at noon in which he addressed the Lions’ acquisitions and confirmed that he has informed T.J. Lee and Sukh Chungh that the team will be moving on from them. He wasn’t asked about David Mackie.

With the news (not surprising) that TJ Lee is no longer a Lion (though he always will be in my mind, after 11 years!) I got to wondering who among the current Lions has had the longest tenure with us. I'm guessing Garry Peters. And perhaps Sean Whyte if you add up the years though he was elsewhere for a spell. I'm simply going by memory, and that's a risky business for me! Does anyone know of a handy resource where players' 'number of years served' are listed? Anyhow, just offering an enormous thankyou to TJ for his significant contributions to the Lions. A real solid fellow.

Interesting that they gave Awe a 2 year deal.

Hambone wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2025 10:54 am

SammyGreene wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2025 10:41 am And they do go the veteran back up QB route by signing Masoli.

That I don't mind. Good unselfish vet who oozes leadership and works very well with everybody in the QB room. He could be very helpful to the development of Brice and/or Schrader and/or another rookie to be named later. If he's on a deal like Dane Evans low base, high playtime incentive contract was he'll be inexpensive.

Given Mazoli's dozen + years in the CFL, I would add Rourke to the list of QB's whose development Mazoli can help. So yeah, this is a great signing as the QB room just got more experienced and better.

Last year was Peters' 6th as a Lion tying him with Guzylak-Messam, Mackie & Peirson.

Gridiron Ernie wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2025 3:00 pm With the news (not surprising) that TJ Lee is no longer a Lion (though he always will be in my mind, after 11 years!) I got to wondering who among the current Lions has had the longest tenure with us. I'm guessing Garry Peters. And perhaps Sean Whyte if you add up the years though he was elsewhere for a spell. I'm simply going by memory, and that's a risky business for me! Does anyone know of a handy resource where players' 'number of years served' are listed? Anyhow, just offering an enormous thankyou to TJ for his significant contributions to the Lions. A real solid fellow.

There isn't a lot of longevity on this roster. Garry Peters, Isaiah Messam and Andrew Peirson have all been with the Lions since 2018. The club lists player longevity on their training camp rosters and weekly game rosters during the season (2024 WSF roster here).

Last year was Peters' 6th as a Lion tying him with Guzylak-Messam, Mackie & Peirson.

Here's your resource Ernie. Stats.cfldb.ca is excellent. Click on 2024 BC Lions Roster.

https://stats.cfldb.ca/team/bc-lions/2024/

What a crazy and unpredictable 1st day of free agency.

- Not once did I think linebacker was a position of need and the potential of going All American at the 2 inside spots.

- the one position that had a starter vacancy filled is by a former Lion (Foucault).

- Nathan Cherry ended the drought to become the 1st Lion to reach FA in 4 years only to be re-signed by the club.

- TJ Lee, Stefan Flintoff, Sukh Chungh, David Mackie, Ciante Evans, Josh Banks, Terry Williams and Alexander Hollins were not only 2024 starters passed over or released but have yet to sign elsewhere either. For a team that had a pretty damn good run the last 3 years, that’s crazy.

The Lions’ plan to change the ratio at linebacker had been reported before but I thought Hladik would get rotational reps with Woods and Eley. This appears to knock Hladik further down the depth chart.

In my opinion we were the weakest team in the league at Linebacker once Woods got injured. They made a lot of tackles but only after opposing players would gain significant yardage. We were slow side to side and did not do a great job in our drops. This new regime seems to want to get bigger and tougher and most of the signings have trended that way. As much as I loved our team we were just too soft in the trenches and linebacking crew.

We have always had the skill players but seemed to lack in size and physicality on the lines. I like the new direction we are going. It also says a lot about a lot of our starters from last year when so far no other teams are jumping to sign them. Sometimes an outside source (Buck) coming in can be a bit more objective when it comes to looking at a team.

J.J. Adams summarizes the highlights of free agency so far for the Lions.

https://theprovince.com/sports/football ... ree-agency

Thank you kindly, B.C.FAN & Hambone for the links re longevity/tenure info. Cheers.

B.C.FAN wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2025 4:40 pm The Lions’ plan to change the ratio at linebacker had been reported before but I thought Hladik would get rotational reps with Woods and Eley. This appears to knock Hladik further down the depth chart.

So the Lions have Woods, Eley and now Awe to man the 2 inside LB spots; but at least have good old Canadian "depth" there with Hladik, Auclair & Konar.

OV:54-40 wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2025 12:09 pm [
Awe getting to start would just not a good sign IMO - over-rated, but good for some big hits along with dumb penalties - keeps getting more CFL playing time chances due to his passport.

Awe is Nigerian born but is considered American by CFL because he grew up in USA and went to school there. With his patern of changing teams he will never qualify as a Nationalized American.

Belize City Lion wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2025 7:34 pm

OV:54-40 wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2025 12:09 pm [
Awe getting to start would just not a good sign IMO - over-rated, but good for some big hits along with dumb penalties - keeps getting more CFL playing time chances due to his passport.

Awe is Nigerian born but is considered American by CFL because he grew up in USA and went to school there. With his patern of changing teams he will never qualify as a Nationalized American.

OV:54-40 holds to an unconventional and counterintuitive belief that Americans get more opportunities in the CFL due to their nationality while Canadians are prejudiced for the same reason.

We'll see how long Awe sticks around this time. I do think he is an upgrade on Eley who I thought was just okay in relief of Woods (but who may be better in his second year in the league).