Money Well Spent, Ottawa

 

Redblacks' receiver and member of the fab-five, Brad Sinopoli has been a major contributer to Ottawa's early season success. Photo via Ottawa REDBLACKS (@REDBLACKS)

They didn't come easy, nor did they come cheap, but the Ottawa Redblacks' off-season signings have so far proven to be worth every penny they've been promised in 2015.

The Redblacks, who missed the playoffs in their inaugural season with a 2-16 record, had no choice but to overhaul their passing-offence, acquiring five prized receivers- Chris Williams, Maurice Price, Brad Sinopoli, Ernest Jackson and Greg Ellingson- as well as a stout left tackle in SirVincent Rogers, formerly of the Toronto Argonauts. General Manager Marcel Desjardins identified those two positions as the team's weakest links and addressed them in the best, but most expensive way possible: free agency. 

Not every General Manager is a believer in using free agency to build a team. Many teams have sustained success by finding their own talent south of border and either re-signing or replacing them with a new diamond-in-the-rough player once their contracts are up; not by paying a high price for an established free agent replacement and/or upgrade. 

The Redblacks will one day boast a team deep enough to do that, although they had to start somewhere, much like how Kent Austin had to when he re-built the Hamilton Tiger-Cats after joining them in December of 2012. 

Austin signed numerous free agents in his first-offseason at the helm including DE Brian Bulcke and LB Marcellus Bowman. He then inked S Chris Butler, DB Brandon Stewart and WR Cary Koch to contracts the following off-season in 2014. Having successfully used free agency to kick-start the rebuild and put together part of the team he originally envisioned back in 2012, Austin is now aiming for year-to-year continuity now that something like only six players remain from the team he took over three seasons ago.

After literally and figuratively starting from scratch, this seems to be the approach Desjardins is taking with his own team. And while they didn't come cheap, Ottawa is absolutely getting their money's worth as this version of R-Nation has never seen better days after two wins in two weeks of regular season action.

The Redblacks looked good during their 20-16 win against Montreal, however injuries to Alouettes' quarterbacks Jonathon Crompton and Dan Lefevour undoubtedly helped matters. But any doubts regarding Ottawa's offence were erased in their impressive week two victory over the re-budding BC Lions, as Henry Burris and co. put up 437 total yards of offence while spreading the ball around to seven different receivers on route to 296 yards passing with three touchdowns and one interception. 

Ottawa's remarkable turn-around, having already matched their win total of their first season in the CFL, shouldn't be all that surprising given the amount of talent they brought in on offence to balance out what was already a solid defence on very a competitive team in 2014.

See, this Redblacks offence is totally night-and-day compared to last year. While having a new offensive coordinator and offensive line coach in Jason Maas and Byran Chiu have been huge, I still don't think the results on offence would be anywhere close to as good as they've been so far in 2015 without the additions of Rogers or any of the fab-five. Having numerous dynamic and experienced receivers have been huge, and they've all been contributing. 

Ernest Jackson was the go-to guy in week one, amassing 7 catches for 74 yards and the game-winning touchdown. National receiver and former Ottawa Gee-Gee star quarterback Brad Sinopoli was that guy in week two, hauling in 9 passes for 99 yards and a touchdown during his homecoming game at TD Place against BC.

The most highly-touted of the five, Chris Williams, has been Mr. Consistent, totalling 149 yards as the teams leading receiver while often piling up his yards in chunks as the big-play target, much like he was with the Tiger-Cats in 2011 and 2012. Rounding out the bunch have been former Stampeder Maurice Price (6 catches for 52 yards) and former Tiger-Cat Greg Ellingson, who has 5 grabs of his own for 74 yards with his first touchdown coming in the second half of Saturday night's game against the Lions.

The ball is being spread around evenly and everyone is making plays in this pick-your-poison system. As a result, quarterback Henry Burris appears to be turning back the clock and finding success, proving to everyone that a 40-year old quarterback can still be effective in professional football.

After tossing 14 interceptions versus 11 touchdowns last year, Burris has looked far more comfortable being able to trust his receivers and the scheme he's playing in. While he's already thrown four picks in 2015, much of last year's offensive-woes that resulted in Burris' worst statistical season of his career can be attributed to the poor group of receivers and offensive lineman he was surrounded with. 

Not anymore, however, as Burris is re-gaining his stride with five receivers who can actually catch, run the correct route and read defences at a fast pace. It's all coming together for Ottawa, and much of the credit has to go to Desjardins for going out and bringing his signal-caller some playmakers that make the job of Burris, and everyone else, much easier. 

So just how vital have Ottawa's off-season acquisitions been to the team's success thus far in 2015? 

Well, had they not opened up their chequebook and spent big money in free agency, there's a far better chance the Redblacks are staring at an 0-2 record rather than sitting undefeated atop the East Division. 

Rogers and the fab-five have just been that good. Money well spent, Ottawa. 

REDBLACKS Receivers Have Plenty To Prove in 2015

According to the latest fan poll on CFL.ca, the Ottawa REDBLACKS went from having the worst receiving corps in the East Division to having the best after bringing in four new targets for Henry Burris this off-season.

In my opinion, that is simply not the case. It's also unfair to suggest that considering none of their new acquisitions have played a single down in Ottawa with the trademark 'R' on each side of their helmet.

When I look at the REDBLACKS receiving corps, I see several unproven players in Maurice Price, Greg Ellingson, Brad Sinopoli and Ernest Jackson; who will all be granted bigger roles with Ottawa in comparison to where they were on the depth chart with their former teams. Ottawa went into the off-season with a need to bolster their receiving corps and brought in four potential, but unproven receivers for an expensive price.

As it stands, Ottawa has no go-to receiver that defences have to game-plan around. If you look around the Eastern Division, the Argonauts have Chad Owens; the Alouettes have SJ Green and the Tiger-Cats have Luke Tasker. Ottawa's receiving corps has other teams' third and fourth receivers who they are hoping can blossom in a bigger role. Price, Ellingson and Jackson have all shown flashes of becoming bona-fide receivers, but overall haven't been consistent enough during their young careers to achieve that potential.

Ernest Jackson had a brilliant month of October, amassing 438 yards and two touchdowns; good enough for Offensive Player of the Month honors. Despite those incredible numbers, Jackson only had a total of 813 yards and 3 touchdowns in 2014 over 18 games, which isn't all that good considering over 50% of that was achieved in 3 game stretch. Without his great month of October, I highly doubt Ottawa would have offered him anywhere close to the $130,000 he will be making in 2015.

Maurice Price was deemed expendable in Calgary after only appearing in 29 of a possible 54 games since 2012 due to injury. Price was usually productive when he was in the lineup, demonstrating some unique speed and big-play capabilities during his time with Kevin Glenn as his Quarterback. Despite that, his career high for receiving yards in a season is only 788 yards, and he will no longer be surrounded with the talent he once was in Calgary.

If the rumours of Ottawa signing former Tiger-Cat receiver Greg Ellingson for $310k over two seasons are true, then money-wise, that is the worst free agent signing of 2015. Ellingson was well on his way to rookie of the year honours in 2013 before missing 6 games due to injury, leaving him at an impressive 800 yards in his rookie year. What confuses things is that Ellingson slowly became an after-thought for the Ti-Cats in 2014 and followed up his great rookie campaign with only 429 yards as a depth receiver after Luke Tasker emerged. Ottawa will be hoping Ellingson can return to his rookie form and eventually build on it, as they're paying him like his sophomore slump never happened.

In my opinion, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats boast the most elite receiving corps in the East Division. They have a number one receiver in Luke Tasker and two solid national receivers in former 1000 yard Slot-back Andy Fantuz and newly-signed former-Argo Spencer Watt. Hamilton has two talented international receivers behind Tasker in Bakari Grant (should he be re-signed) and X-factor Brandon Banks, who could be in for a breakout season after signing a big extension in January. They also have some decent depth in Cary Koch, Terell Sinkfield and Quincy McDuffie.

When you compare the REDBLACKS' and Ti-Cats' receiving corps, it's Luke Tasker, Andy Fantuz and Spencer Watt that really give Hamilton the edge. Despite Tasker not eclipsing 1000 yards in his first season as a starter (he had 937 in 2014), I think the sky is the limit for the 26 year product of Cornell University. Tasker quickly became Zach Collaros' favourite target when he returned from a concussion and was one of the league's best receivers after the catch.

When you compare Hamilton's national receiving depth to Ottawa's, it's not even a competition. Hamilton has arguably the best national receiver in Andy Fantuz and a solid compliment to the former league all-star in the newly-signed deep threat Spencer Watt, who has put up consistent numbers as a depth receiver with Toronto. Ottawa's number one Canadian receiver is former Ottawa Gee Gee Quarterback-turned-Stampeders-receiver Brad Sinopoli. While I am a huge fan of Sinopoli, he is still completely unproven and hasn't really shown any signs of becoming the next Andy Fantuz or Chris Getzlaf while playing behind Anthony Parker and Simon Charbonneau-Campeau in Calgary.

With all this being said, I do like what REDBLACKS general manager Marcel Desjardins has done with Henry Burris' receiving corps, I just don't think it's fair to suggest they now have the best group of pass-catches in the East despite not playing a single down or having a proven guy in the lineup. It was obvious very early on in the Ottawa Redblacks' inaugural season that they needed a lot of help at the receiver position and Desjardins did everything he could to take care of that problem. As it stands, how good Ottawa's receiving corps will be remains unknown, but it is a sure-fact that it'll be more productive than last year.

REDBLACKS fans have every reason to be optimistic and excited for the 2015 football season.

Five Players Primed for a Bounce-Back Season

The 2014 season was dominated by defences around the Canadian Football League. Whether it was due to injuries surrounding many of the league's top players or others just having a down-year, the CFL saw only 4 running backs and receivers surpass 1000 yards and only 2 Quarterbacks throw for over 20 touchdowns. Since the majority of CFL offences are due for a bounce back year, I decided to narrow it down to a list of 5 offensive players who need to get back on track in 2015.

 

1.) Chris Getzlaf, Slotback, Saskatchewan Roughriders
Getzlaf followed up his second career 1000 yard campaign in 2013 with a rather underwhelming season in 2014 that saw the Most Valuable Canadian at 101st Grey Cup only haul in 36 passes for 591 yards and one touchdown. While I would agree that Getzlaf's poor play was impacted by the loss of Darian Durant to a season-ending elbow injury, it should be mentioned that the Regina Native only averaged 15 yards per game during the 10 games Durant started, including three straight games early in the season with zero receptions. At 32 years old, the Riders are looking for at least one more productive year from the Canadian they pay $220,000 annually.

A healthy Darian Durant will certainly help Getzlaf get back on track; however, I think it's the hire of new offensive coordinator Jacques Chapdelaine that will help Getzlaf the most. "Air Chap's" offence is expected to be pass first with many high completion percentage short routes. Durant very well could be dropping back 35-40 times each week; a significant increase compared to the run-heavy offence George Cortez ran for two years that saw Durant attempt around 25 passes per game. Getzlaf will get plenty of targets while also playing the entire season in a more familiar role behind Weston Dressler as the number two receiver.

2.) Andrew Harris, Runningback, BC Lions
The entire BC Lions offence had a down-year in 2014. Despite missing 6 games with an ankle injury, Harris was very productive, amassing 1,181 total yards and six touchdowns. Harris' 652 rushing yards are low by his standards, but a large part of that is due to BC giving both Harris and Stefan Logan similar touches and utilizing them both heavily in the passing game.

Newly hired head-coach Jeff Tedford decided to bring in George Cortez from Saskatchewan to run BC's offence, which seems to be a perfect fit for Harris as Cortez's offence is primarily run-first. Cortez's Roughriders were the league's third best team running the football in 2014 and also led the league in rushing attempts with 417. Harris was already on pace for 972 rushing yards in 2014 before the injury bug hit him, so I have no doubts that Harris will shatter the 1000 yard mark next season under George Cortez where he will get double the carries and spend less time lining up in the slot. If I had to pick one player who has the best shot at dethroning Calgary's Jon Cornish as the league's Most Outstanding Canadian, it would Winnipeg-native Andrew Harris.

3.) Henry Burris, Quarterback, Ottawa REDBLACKS
Burris was brought into Ottawa before their inaugural season to provide instant stability at the Quarterback position. While numerous factors played into Ottawa's offensive woes such as former offensive coordinator Mike Gibson's awful play-calling, it's safe to say Burris did not get the job done or live up to expectations. Ottawa finished last place in the CFL with a 2-16 record and a large reason for that is due to them having the league's worst offence that only averaged 15.4 points per game. Burris only threw 11 touchdowns versus 14 interceptions despite starting all 18 games; his worst statistical season as a starting Quarterback in his Hall of Fame career. It all starts with the Quarterback, so Ottawa will be looking for Burris to turn this team around on a much shorter leash in his final year under contract.

 Ottawa GM Marcel Desjardins did his part in Free Agency, signing three receivers in Ernest Jackson from BC, Greg Ellingson from Hamilton and Brad Sinopoli from Calgary to help bolster the CFL's worst receiving corps in 2014. Desjardins also traded for veteran speedster Maurice Price from Calgary, so don't expect there to be any more dropped touchdown's at TD Place in 2015. Burris will also have more time to throw as Ottawa signed Left Tackle SirVincent Rogers from Toronto and will also hopefully have projected first overall pick Brett Boyko in the lineup as well. Burris has no excuses to not have a good year in Ottawa. If he doesn't, I wouldn't surprised if Ottawa gave him the hook in favour of who they hope is their franchise Quarterback, Thomas DeMarco.

4.) CJ Gable, Runningback, Hamilton Tiger-Cats

It appeared as though we were only witnessing the tip of the ice-burg of CJ Gable's full potential in his rookie season, where the USC product amassed 1,380 total yards with 12 touchdowns and East Division All-Star recognition. Yet only 10 months later, several Ti-Cats fans figured they found an upgrade over the now-injury-prone Gable in Nic Grigsby; who, similarly to Gable, was voted an East Division All-Star in his rookie season. Gable's injury riddled sophomore season allowed Grigsby (who was signed mid-season after demanding a release from Winnipeg) and back-up Mossis Madu to showcase their talents. If the Ti-Cats do decide to re-sign Nic Grigsby, I would expect a competitive pre-season between the two former Division All-Stars.

5.) Nick Moore, Slotback, Winnipeg Blue Bombers

Winnipeg's prized Free Agent acquisition in 2014 just couldn't stay healthy during his first season in the Blue and Gold. Moore was solid in the nine games he did play, catching 44 passes for 553 yards as Willy's main target. If only Moore could have stayed in the lineup, he definitely could have broke the 1000 yard plateau for a second straight season as he was on pace for 1,106 yards. Moore proved to be a big time player for Winnipeg early on, providing a spark to the offence with a pair 50 yard receptions against Ottawa and Montreal when his team needed them most. Moore is also yet to find the end zone as a Bomber, so a few touchdown's early in 2015 would already be an improvement over his first season in Winnipeg.

Moore will be in a good situation with Winnipeg next season. Drew Willy will only get better in his second year as a starter and will also have more time to throw now that GM Kyle Walters decided to re-tool the offensive line by bringing in a trio of guys in back to back CFL All-Star Left Tackle Stanley Bryant from Calgary, Saskatchewan's 2014 Most Outstanding Lineman in Centre Dominic Picard and serviceable Right Tackle Marc Dile, formerly of the Tiger-Cats. Moore will also be paired beside Clarence Denmark, who eclipsed 1000 yards for the first time in 2014. Winnipeg will need Moore to live up to his salary of $185,000/year if they want to make a serious run at winning the 103rd Grey Cup on home turf in November.