First Impressions Not Always the Most Accurate

The move puts Jones on the market and with Hamilton now being out of the picture, would Calgary be interested in bringing back Jones who was once the DC there once upon a time.

I would think yes because GM/Head Coach Dave Dickenson is staring down the barrel of his last year and if he is going to hang on, he has to turn around the fortunes of the Stampeders especially after last year. Bringing in people like Jones, especially after seeing former special teams coach Mark Kilam be named their head coach and Monson getting on in Hamilton, is meant to show the Stamps will do whatever it takes to return to contender status.

Jones did a good job of turning the Hamilton defense around, and would relish to do a similar job in Calgary, who is now already poised to demonstrate to show they can do better in replacing the two coaches than hang on

Field got the job in Ottawa and there were those in Riderville who were hoping he might come here to work again with Mace. The Riders are likely to lose running game coordinator JC Sherritt to Edmonton as their defensive coordinator, so Rider Head Coach Cory Mace might want to work with someone who is already familiar with his work

What was interesting about the Ottawa decision is that Winnipeg defensive consultant, Richie Hall, interviewed there before losing the job to Fields. Hall and Ottawa coach Bob Dyce have worked before in Saskatchewan.

CFL teams are extending players or signing them with money they have left under the salary cap. Javan Leake, RB was extended in Edmonton and that decision likely played out against QB Tre Ford contract being extended. Leake is an explosive runner and his signing hastened the departure of Kevin Brown, signing with the Argonauts, who might be looking as a replacement for Ka’ Deem Carey who helped the Argos win the Grey Cup.

The Riders may have taken note of the release of defensive coordinator Warren Muzika from the University of Huskies. Muzika had been pretty good as a defensive coordinator with the Huskies but if Sherritt is confirmed as the new Elk DC, then Muzika who had pretty solid technique in the CFL as a player and taught it effectively in Saskatoon, might be a good replacement to team the Riders how to tackle more effectively.

Rider LB or DB depending on how you view it, AJ Allen, was working out for the Denver Broncos this past week. The schedule for workouts for CFL players is from November 18th and the window to sign will run from January 6 to 11. Expect to hear other players take a look at workouts, but bear in mind workouts do not necessarily add up to NFL signings.

The CFL released its partial winter negotiation lists for CFL teams, ideal for tracking players on your team as the NCAA goes through its football playoffs and bowl games. The Riders had three quarterbacks on their negotiation list which makes sense since they are looking for an eventual replacement for Trevor Harris.

The quarterbacks on the Rider negotiation list include Payton Thorne (Auburn); Will Rogers (Washington); John Paddock (Illinois). Other players include Austin Pleasants (OL Ohio); Lewis Kidd (OL Montana); Snoop Conner (Mississippi); Michael Ojemada (DB) |Texas, Tyrie Cleveland (WR Florida); Kalen Deloach (LB Florida); Thomas Rush (DL Minnesota).

For the upcoming draft, the Riders, who might be looking for a bit more offensive line depth, may want to ponder Dre Doran, an offensive lineman at Kansas who declared he will be eligible for the CFL and NFL drafts.

Another former Rider quarterback Seth Doege made news after being named the offensive coordinator at Arizona. Doege and Tino Sunseri are best remembered in Riderville as the hapless quarterbacks who could not fill the shoes of Darian Durant when he went down to injury in 2014 and 2015 but both have gone on to do well. Sunseri is the co-offensive coordinator and quarterback coach at Indiana (where Canadian QB Kevin Rourke is currently playing). Of course, there is former Rider back-up Steve Sarkisian who is now the head coach of Texas.

The Riders have signed defensive lineman, Alex Gubner of Montana and Wide receiver, Ja Marcus Bradley who looks interesting as a kick returner, meaning we may have seen the last of Mario Alford.

The Riders made it back into the news with the new Regina City Council voting to forgive $1 Million for rental of Mosaic Stadium, dating from 2020 when the CFL cancelled the season and no games were played. The Riders were sure they would win in court if necessary but at the same time, after Covid restrictions were brought in, there was shopping at the store.

The thing with stadium rent is that it also makes one think the city has never done anything with the former Taylor Field site which was supposed to be social housing.

If you don’t pay taxes in Regina, you want a dome on the stadium, but with what homeowners already pay towards the stadium, paying more for a building that has managed to attract only two stand alone concerts since it opened is not on the table, especially when non Rider fans hear about season tickets going up, the cost of a beer and concession food. Those people are thinking if the team can afford to charge that, then they should have money available for paying rent.

The big news was the one-year extension for Harris at quarterback.

According to 3DownNation, Harris is getting a $160 K signing bonus, which may be placed on the 2024 salary cap, leaving him with a $200K base salary in 2025, $20 in marketing money, $5 K in travel with a total hard money salary of $399,700. Harris does have the opportunity to pick up $54 K in playoff bonuses for a maximum of $453K.

Compare that to 2024 when Harris had $474K in hard money and $19 K in marketing for a total of $491K. It’s a more team friendly contract as Harris wants the Riders to use the money to sign good players to help the team get over the hump.

Now it will be interesting to see where the Riders spend the savings that Harris has given them.

by Greg Urbanoski

First Impressions Not Always the Most Accurate

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