COMMENTARY: THEY’RE REALLY ROLLING?
(Listen daily for the Rod Pedersen Commentary on Cat Country 98 & Rock 98.5 FM)
Are we going to have another “Cactus Jack” moment?
Is it all going to turn out nice again?
Despite the flurry of other activity going on in the sports world right now like Super Bowl, some wild NHL games and Lebron James becoming the NBA’s all-time scoring leader, the CFL has been making some waves of its own with this week’s exclusive Negotiation Window activity.
And really, it’s the Saskatchewan Roughriders whom are making the most noise, reportedly poised to lure pending free agent quarterback Trevor Harris away from the Montreal Alouettes.
One phone call Tuesday informed me of all I need to know including, apparently, that Trevor Harris’s contract with the Riders will pay him over a million dollars over two years. And apparently Trevor is actively recruiting other free agents to come to Riderville, most notably acrobatic receiver Jake Wienicke who agreed to terms with Sask on Tuesday.
This Negotiating Window is fairly new compared to the way CFL business has always been done and in truth, I don’t totally understand it.
For instance, if the Montreal Alouettes really don’t want to lose Harris, you’d think they could match the Riders’ offer and keep him in the nest for this upcoming season and beyond. That’s the way this window was designed.
But perhaps the ownership situation with the Alouettes truly is as bad as I hear, and that GM Danny Maciocia can’t get clearance from anyone above him to make formal offers to players.
That explains the player exodus out of Montreal.
Shaky ownership is nothing new in the CFL but it appears for the first time ever, it’s actually going to benefit the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
That’s today’s Rod Pedersen Commentary
(The Rod Pedersen Show airs daily at 12 pm ET on Game+ TV, YouTube Live and WQEE Radio)
This would be about the third time it’s benefitted in terms of an impact. First – Montreal Alouettes/Concords fold/issues in 1982 – Roughriders ended up with Dave Ridgeway Second – Ottawa Renegades fold – Roughriders ended up with Kerry Joseph and some other guy that was pretty good on Defense. I do not believe in hindsight being 20/20, but in this instance it wasn’t required. The #1 thing a CFL team needs is stable, local, community involved ownership. Now Eric LaPointe was ready, willing, and able to pull a group of Francophone investors together when this team was last up… Read more »
With the signing of Dean today, the Riders still have 31 of their 41 FA’s out there for other teams to pick through. And by signing Lanier this week, they paid him $250K making him the highest paid at his position – a good player but with only 21 games to his credit. Harris is getting north of $1MM which is pretty much what everyone expected. Money is flowing. Where to from here? This is a full scale reconstruction by the looks of it. They will be piling on the dough for new talent, while leaving themselves open to lose… Read more »
Why not just keep Fajardo? He’s better and younger than Harris.
Have to agree. And it could still happen out of necessity! Two years ago, O line was crap and needed fixing. Hind sight I know, but should have been fixed LAST year, Cody would have been fine; and, if OD had a decent back up (come on, Fine and Dolegala?,!! They’ll never start inthis league and we all know it!)
All comes back to O line which the entire. UNIVERSE knew needed fixing, and OD did nothing.
Fine definitely not a starter. Caliber of qbs in the league way down compared with 10 years ago. Lulay, Reilly, Burris, Durant, Cavillo, Ray. No comparison
Fajardo is definitely not as good I get that he’s a good guy and all but Harris is a real upgrade
None of this means anything if the Riders don’t get some quality O-linemen.