EXPECTING A TRADE? DON’T
It’s the most talked-about, speculated-upon, non-trade in the history of the CFL.
Rider fans seem adamant that the team is poised to pull off a trade with the Edmonton Eskimos to land quarterback James Franklin in the 306.
It’s not a far-fetched notion that Saskatchewan would be more than interested in acquiring the Missouri product’s services. Head Coach & GM Chris Jones brought Franklin into the league in 2015, and is looking for a franchise quarterback for the Green & White.
The trouble is, NO signs point to this trade happening.
I’d mentioned on Monday’s SportsCage that a rumour out of Alberta on the weekend was that Franklin will be Saskatchewan-bound because Eskimo GM Ed Hervey is in need of receivers and the Riders have plenty of those.
That casual mention spawned a wild Facebook debate on Jason Fichter’s The Rider Prider Fan Page. Fake News if there ever was any.
That’s because moments later I received a message from a Roughriders official who said there hasn’t been any trade talk involving Franklin since the Chris Jones regime put down stakes in Riderville 15 months ago.
None.
That’s why as wild as this “rumour” is, I still can’t foresee any scenario in which Franklin plays in Saskatchewan in 2017. There’s been no reports of Jones, Murphy, & O’Day et al even talking about it amongst themselves, let alone in the media.
Franklin himself has caused a stir, mentioning on Twitter last week “Patience is a great teacher”, alluding to the fact (we think) that he has one year left on his current contract.
But that Tweet could also mean any one of a million other things.
And for just one second, put yourself in the shoes of Eskimos GM Ed Hervey. You’ve got James Franklin under contract for one more year and #1 pivot Mike Reilly has a history of being unable to stay healthy for an entire season. Franklin has been the “next man up” for the past two seasons and has gotten key wins while Reilly was down.
Why would Hervey want to make a change there, even if he needs a receiver? To placate Chris Jones and give the division rival Roughriders “the next big thing”?
It continues to make no sense, and yet that’s all I hear about every day on social media.
Yet, we hear nothing from the Roughriders nor Eskimos about it.
RP
@rodpedersen
