THROWIN’ ELBOWS WITH BRENDAN MCGUIRE

1. ROUGHRIDERS TAKE A FLYER ON HENDERSON: He’s 6-foot-7 and 350 pounds but even bigger than Seantrel Henderson’s frame is the back injury which he reportedly suffered away from the football field late in 2019. How did such a reliable performer in his rookie year steadily decline throughout his six-year NFL career? His weight might be an issue and anyone carrying around that size is flirting with bigtime health issues. That said, the upside is well worth it if Henderson can help the Rider O-line protect Cody Fajardo. It’s a gamble to bring in a player recovering from a back injury like that. Albeit a gamble without much downside at all.   

2. FINDING ROOKIE TALENT, RATHER THAN FREE AGENCY, WILL DEFINE O’DAY: Finding cheap American talent is how Roy Shivers transformed the Saskatchewan Roughriders from the poor country cousins to the league’s big-spending signature brand. It’s also how Chris Jones got the Riders to make him the highest paid executive in the league. Eric Tillman and Brendan Taman won Grey Cups here but neither one of them ever really built a roster from scratch themselves. Which category will O’Day fall under? Well if he wins a Grey Cup with mostly someone else’s assembly, we’ll all be okay with that. But his tenure to stay in the General Manager’s chair over the long haul will be dictated by his ability or inability to build a pipeline of unknowns who step in and make an impact. We’re still too early to judge that but two years in, we’re about to find out.  

3. HUGHES JUMP TO THE ARGOS ABOUT EGO, NOT MONEY: So, Charleston Hughes took an extra 40 grand to leave the Riders and sign with the Argos (from what I’ve heard). He’ll pay more on income taxes in Ontario than he did here, a lot more for housing and he’ll earn less on endorsement deals. And that should pretty well erase any raise Charleston Hughes is supposed to get out of this. It’s all enough to tell me this move is about Hughes sticking it to the Riders for not making him the highest-paid defensive player in the league than it is about actual money in his account. I’m not saying it’s wrong to make choices based on that but let’s call it what it is.   

4. NEW EDMONTON FOOTBALL NAME: Elk all the way. New logo is a dumb idea unless they go really retro. People won’t care once they start winning again.

5. NEW EDMONTON FOOTBALL COACH: Jaime Elizondo was the safe choice. He’s had Rod thrown out of pregame walkthroughs in Ottawa twice before and I’m hoping he does it again to give us all some good theatre. We knew Brock Sunderland wasn’t going to hire Chris Jones to constantly look over his shoulder. So instead, he chose his old pal from their RedBlacks days. But don’t think for a second that means the door is shut on a return to Edmonton for Chris Jones. That team has regressed from the time Sunderland showed up in Edmonton up until now. In each of the three seasons Sunderland has been in charge, they’ve gone from 12 wins to 9, and then to 8. Edmonton has changed a lot since they had that CITY OF CHAMPIONS sign up and they accept a lot more losing now than they used to. But it ain’t that different and if the team sputters early on this season, don’t be surprised if Chris Jones-the-GM resurfaces in the Alberta Capital.

6. ISN’T IT IRONIC: As Edmonton Sun writer/western Canadian treasure Terry Jones pointed out Monday, to choose the teams new name, fans are directed to their website of Esks.com to choose a name not so offensive.

7. CHRIS JONES’ PUSH TO RETURN TO CANADA PROVES: These high-priced American coaches need the CFL more than the CFL needs them. It also proves we truly have the most fun football game on earth.

8. TO THOSE WHO THINK THE CFL HAS TO PLAY IN 2021: Or else what? It would be great to have a season but even if we don’t, that doesn’t mean our game is dead. Not even close.

9. DREW REMENDA: One of my favorite people to ever work with in the media world. He let me carry the reigns on many of his programs back before CJME renamed it THE GREEN ZONE and it was still called THE DREW REMENDA SPORTS SHOW. Never talked down to any of us like a lot of other STARS do. Enjoyed listening to Drew fill in for John Gormley a bit over the past couple weeks. Drew never tries to be the show. He just loves visiting with people. Probably why the guy is a legend among hockey fans in northern California from his San Jose Shark broadcast work in teaching the game of hockey to fans out there. It took me mentioning Drew’s name once on a flight landing at San Francisco Airport to have some guy within earshot ask me how I knew Drew and explain to me what a gigantic fan of Drew he was. We are very lucky in Saskatchewan to have Drew doing radio on our airwaves.

10. GREG MORGAN: I promise I’ll talk about something other than CJME radio people next week but I must point out what a great fit Greg Morgan is running their morning show. My wife and I listen to 980 every morning. She asked me if the morning show should have two hosts to banter back and forth or not. Normally I would say YES but Greg seems to pull it off pretty well all by himself and sometimes two is too many. If then-Sports Director Wray Morrison hadn’t hired me to move back to Saskatchewan back in May of 2006, I might still be living halfway around the country. I owe Wray and CJME something for bringing me home and it’s still my favorite radio station.

(Follow Brendan on Twitter at @brendanhowardmc)