AKAChip

I was not there for the first half of practice and I will admit that on the level of the players it's sometimes hard to tell who throws which ball when there are multiple balls being thrown but at least in the drills, Willy was not as sharp as expected. All I'm saying.

I also thought it was super classy of the team to come see the fans after practice to thank them. Perhaps it looks a bit corny but it was a nice touch. Wade was also going from person to person on the sidelines chatting them up. Asking the kids if they played football. Sort of insulted he didn't ask the same thing of me, but I digress. It was also funny that there were only two port-a-potties outside the main entrance for both fans and players. Walking into practice seeing Darvin Adams and Demond Washington waiting in line with fans to use the toilet was a real treat.

I was super impressed with Adams today. Moore and Denmark looked very good as well. Tuinei was very good in the drills and as previously mentioned, knocked the crap out of Teague when he tried to jam him. Childs did not look as good as these four I thought but someone I really liked, especially in the drills was Mike Willie. Really good technique and also blew up Unamba on a jam, though less heralded and admittedly less powerful than Tuinei's. They didn't go to him a ton in the scrimmage but loved what I saw early on. I don't anticipate a lot of success from Millington but today he made a few really nice grabs. One of the sideline against Randle was especially nice. To be honest, I only saw a few drops all day. Childs had one and Reeves had one but at the very least this is a FAR better group of receivers than last year, when I was getting excited about an admittedly average looking Mario Urrutia. I mostly watched DBs, QBs and receivers for obvious reasons but I would like to show Cam Marshall some love. He looks to have the tools of a RB1. Loved what Cotton brought last year but hope Marshall gives him all he can handle. Johnny Adams deserves the love he's been getting so I don't need to give any additional details on him. Seems like the real deal but super early. Still, as good as Adams looked, Shaq Richardson was probably even better. He also looks a ton like Johnny Sears wearing number 0 and having a similar hairstyle. He blanketed everyone he was covering. I noticed Dominique Franks and Dominique Wright with nice coverage as well as Derek Jones. Stoudemire got beat BAD deep a few times by I believe Jhomo Gordon, who is very under the radar but looks very impressive as well. This is a very deep crop of receivers. I am not sold on Stoudemire as anything other than a returner but that's just fine with me if he continues to shine in that position. Randle has such amazing closing speed it's a treat to watch. He got beat off the line by JFG who went deep on a post. When the ball was thrown, Randle was a good 7 yards behind him and he still made a play to break it up. Unamba was by far the worst DB out there today, to me at least. Aside from being knocked over by Willie, on a separate 1-on-1, Willie juked him out of his shorts. Was never a huge fan of Unamba aside from on teams and this was a rough day for him. The QBs were hot and cold. Brohm was likely the worst and Willy certainly did not look great out there. Both had quite a few overthrows. I know Portis is judged on a different scale than Willy but love the zip on his throws. He absolutely fired one to a RB (didn't catch the number) about 4 yards in front of him and there was just no touch on it whatsoever. On the other hand, he was dropping long bombs placed beautifully all morning. I remember at least one to Gordon, one to Denmark and one to Veltung which was dropped. The thing I like most about Portis is while he seems like the prototypical CFL project QB, I believe this is now his third year in the league so he's had an appropriate amount of seasoning. Wouldn't mind seeing him on the roster. It is a pleasure to watch Robert Marve throw the football. I don't have much more to say about him other than that but no one can deny the ability of his arm. Also, as expected Yantz did not look out of place.

QB: Willy RB: Cotton. But I think Marshall makes a lot of noise and is at the very least PR'd REC: Denmark, Moore, Kohlert, Logan, Clemons OL: Bryant, Greaves, Picard, Chungh, Mims DE: Westerman, D. Johnson DT: Turner, Randall LB: Waggoner, Allen, D. Wright. Had a real time leaving out Sammy Brown but I don't think we can be sure where they plan on playing him. I see him and Allen being the clear front runners here either way with Lamar and Bass way behind. CB: Bucknor, Randle HB: Washington, Adams. With Bruce Johnson as DI S: Leggett I know it's the time of year where we are all shamelessly optimistic but the talent brought in on the defensive end this year is far better on paper than last year. I was really hard on Walters for bringing in only three impactful players who were completely new to the CFL (Leggett, B. Johnson and Cotton) but at this moment, I'm thrilled with the players he's brought in without CFL experience.

I truly hope that what Walters said about potentially starting 8 Canadians on opening day is not true. Unless he's counting Lirim. I seem to recall us doing this last year with Sherman over Johnny Sears to predictably pedestrian results.

Makes sense so I agree that it would be more of a situation of whether we want him or not. He's had a lot of chances and I'm far from a fan of his but for a cheap contract, why not?

I believe he at least at one point was dating someone from Winnipeg so you never know.

I think people are vastly overestimating the amount of homophobes in both Canada and the US. Sure, they exist but if Sam comes in, plays well and has a long career in Canada far more people will be happy for him than outraged. By an incredible margin. Unless he plays like Chip Cox in which case I will hate him and rue the day he was signed.

Oh yes. I remember back when Jackie Robinson made his debut. Mike was up in arms on the Dodgers message boards.

Chad Johnson worked out so well as a 36 year old, they're bringing him back for another kick at the can! Sam has a good 13 years left.

I guess I fail to see the connection beyond them being supplemental picks which is a stretch. A first round pick is a first round pick. We just ended up having two this year instead of one this year and one next year.

Yeah there is no way Edmonton would do that deal lol. Myers is good and Yak has had a slow start but Myers is crazy overrated here being the new guy who contributed offensively early.

All this comaring this guy to Poblah is driving me nuts. The similarities end with them both being supplemental draft picks. Why compare a LB to a WR drafted 4 years apart by different regimes? May as well compare Waggoner to Jeremy O'Day and Noel Prefontaine while we're at it. I am afraid of giving up first round picks because of the stigma attached with it but it isn't as if we just gave the pick away. This guy has the potential to be something special and even if we crap the bed and end up with a top 2-3 pick but this guy is even a halfway decent NI starter at WIL, I'll be more than content.

I'm just starting to realize after making a giant post about who was released in previous years and when that the CFL transactions page is full of errors and omissions. Frankly, I think it's a joke but this year there have absolutely been more cuts prior to TC, especially of players signed just since the new year. There is just unfortunately no foolproof way of checking up on it since the CFL website is a joke. You can, however, look up all retired players in the past 20 years. Including the very popular "New Player", who I think was an OL.

I can't remember the last time we cut so many new signings prior to rookie camp even. Strange.

Well at least they gave him a chance.

I don't loathe the Richards pick but this post reminds me of Mike's post a few years ago of a muscle-bound Dorzon once Garrett was hurt in training camp.

Don't tell us what to do!

Not sure I understand converting Lattanzio to fullback and thus essentially using 2 picks in this draft on that position. I get that he will for the most part be a special teamer but man it would have been nice to snag Forde or anyone who can spell Westerman.

lol at the thought of Zach Anderson being cut.

That was Keon Lyn.

Just to make it interesting, here is some info. The LHD depth on the Habs is Markov-Emelin-Gilbert as it stands now. I love Markov as a player so as it stands now I would rank him pretty handily above Toby but I'd certainly have Toby in that top for over Emelin, who is a physical specimen but not without his glaring flaws. And for those complaining about Toby's point totals, Emelin had 14 points in 68 games. Enstrom is easily a superior player than Tom Gilbert, so I won't even start with that. Chicago's LHD depth is better than the Habs as they have a Norris winner (albeit an undeserving one) in Keith on the first pair. Then you have Nik Hjalmarsson who is a very solid stay at home defenceman who again posted paltry offensive numbers (19 points in 82 games.) He's a player I would love on the Jets but not at the expense of Enstrom who is a much better offensive player at driving the play and likely negligible defensively. Timonen, on their third pair, is done as a hockey player. Then you have St. Louis, who before their playoff exit was a premier team in the league. Their LHD depth is Gunnarsson, Bouwmeester and Jackman. Believe it or not, Jackman was the leading scorer of the three with all of 15 points. Bouwmeester is carrying on in name only as Blues fans are ready to see the end of him. He's still a serviceable player but Enstrom could easily play on the first pair on the Blues. Even if you argue that Bouwmeester is better (at this point, he's not), Gunnarsson and Stuart clone Jackman are nowhere in Enstrom's league. To save time, I'll end with the Ducks, who have the "enviable" LHD depth of Lindholm, Despres and Stoner. Lindholm is a young player that any team would want, maybe at this point he's a superior player to Enstrom, maybe he's not. Even still, Despres is a young, physical player with upside but nowhere near the caliber of Enstrom and Stoner is frankly a joke. The bottom line is, good LHD are very hard to find. Enstrom would be a top 4 D at least on all of these teams. Enstrom had 23 points in 60 games. No, he did not tear it up but that's a pace of over 30 points, which combined with his defensive play is absolutely top 4 worthy. On essentially any team in the league. You can say all you want that good teams wouldn't want him, but it's frankly a grossly uninformed opinion.

I don't think Enstrom is bad, but the bar has been dropped considerably if he's being given the "great" label. Stuart gets praised for his game b/c he does exactly what he's paid to do. The bar is set lower for him b/c he's paid accordingly. Enstrom got his big contract on the assumption he was going to be a regular 50 point guy. He's been very underwhelming offensively since signing that deal. A nearly $6M dman who is undersized and bad on the pp isn't the greatest asset a team can have. I get the fact that he's paid a lot makes him ripe for criticism, but Stuart is paid more than he's worth as well. I'd rather overpay for a defenceman who makes play on both ends of the ice and contributes positively to a team's success than one like Stuart who by all intents and purposes should be a 6th defenceman at best. I am certainly not a fan of the "lunch bucket" way of thinking that Winnipeg seems to have because I have to listen to the people in my section and my family talk about how great Thorburn is because he "tries his best" but let's not ignore the fact that Stuart playing with Trouba has potentially started to stunt his development. It is not as easy carrying a pairing as Entrom makes it look. To go back to Enstrom for a moment, there is also a very good reason Myers has looked like a new man since coming here and it's not because he magically rediscovered his game out of the blue.

It's amazing the crap that people say about Toby while people like Stuart and Pardy get praised for physical play. Enstrom is a great hockey player and literally makes everyone he plays with better. Every other LHD we have save for maybe Chiarot makes everyone they play with worse. We don't deserve a player like Enstrom with the way we crap on him.

This is simultaneously the most pointless and least funny post I have ever read on this site. Congrats.