State of the roster

[Jesse]

Yeah, that'll do. There's always another Janarion Grant somewhere. We just need to find him.
I doubt we let him walk. That makes no sense to me. What possible reason would we have to do that? No, I suspect JG didn't want to be here and chose Toronto for some reason and that's fine, he's entitled to do that. The challenge now is for us to replace him with someone of equal or greater ability. That's all I'm hoping for.

He's the best returner in franchise history. There's definitely not "always another one"

And he was here for multiple years. Signing a new contract each time. If he wanted to be elsewhere for some reason, it's Walters' job to understand that reason and make it go away.

[Blue In BC]

He's the best returner in franchise history. There's definitely not "always another one"

And he was here for multiple years. Signing a new contract each time. If he wanted to be elsewhere for some reason, it's Walters' job to understand that reason and make it go away.

Grant is an excellent returner. I'm not so sure I'd call him the best in franchise history. It's difficult to compare different era's of football.

However, Leo Lewis had more KR returns for more yardage. His average was 29.1 yards while Grant is 16.3 yards. Lewis only had a few PR in his career but he was also a full time offensive player, at times he was a passer, receiver, punter and defensive player.

Charles Roberts might be another to consider. He had a better average on KR but lower on PR's. Again, he was a primary player on offence so he was doing triple duty.

Dave Raimey didn't have many PR's but averaged 26.6 on 140 KR's. Grant only had 126 KR's and averaged 16.3 yards.

Others: Jovon Johnson, Albert Johnson and Paul Bennett.

Lots of differences in the old days. Roster size, ratio, grass field and players having multiple roles.

[Pigskin]

Keith Stokes. first 4 years in the CFL he had 9 punt return TDs. 5 with the Bombers in 2004/2005. He also had a 20.8 yard avg. on KRs and 1 TD.

[Cool Spot]

Keith Stokes. first 4 years in the CFL he had 9 punt return TDs. 5 with the Bombers in 2004/2005. He also had a 20.8 yard avg. on KRs and 1 TD.

I remember Keith Stokes, he was great. Though he also had a case of fumble'itis, IIRC.

[J5V]

He's the best returner in franchise history. There's definitely not "always another one"

He's not a Gizmo Williams or even a DeVonte Dedmon. I maintain that there's always another one.

And he was here for multiple years. Signing a new contract each time. If he wanted to be elsewhere for some reason, it's Walters' job to understand that reason and make it go away.

You make it sound so easy. I doubt it is and I'm not going to blame Walters when I simply don't know why we couldn't keep JG in Winnipeg. Since we couldn't we need to replace him. Maybe we have already. I hope so.

[TecnoGenius]

I'm not sure it isn't as simple as paying... IF we had offered him a contract for 2024 in his 2023 exit interview for $150k, I'm betting he signs it before leaving thee facility.

Is it prudent to pay a guy playing a few plays per game that much? I guess it depends on the result.

How quickly many forget!  We got the whole story last year.

It had nothing to do with money!  Grant got something like $10k less to sign for TOR than WPG paid him the previous year.

It came out and was very clear that no one in WFC could get a hold of Grant in the off-season.  I guess that means he didn't return calls and was generally unavailable.

It had nothing to do with him not wanting to be here, or liking TOR.  TOR was the only team that wanted to babysit him and chase after him like he was a truant teenager AWOL from his McDonalds shift.

Mafia didn't like the disrespect and unprofessional attitude of Grant.  Period.  We gave him a normal amount of effort and then bailed.  We felt it was beneath us to act like babysitters.  (One could argue the merits of this approach.)

Pinball sucked it up and thought about the cup more than his pride.  I bet he tasked someone with doing nothing but chasing after Grant for 3 months.  I bet they even sent some dude flying over to his house in the USA to camp on his porch.  Whatever it took to obtain a generational #1 returner for their team, all for around $115K and off-SMS babysitter!

They reap the rewards.  We cry with no viable returner; or worse, one that fumbles in both the WDF and GC.

[TecnoGenius]

Yeah, that'll do. There's always another Janarion Grant somewhere. We just need to find him.

I watched the '24 EDF last weekend.  Grant busted another post-season punt return TD.  TSN put up a graphic (maybe even before that!?) that showed # of games per kick/punt return TD.  Grant had every single CFL superstar beat!  Even better than Gizmo and Pinball.

No CFL returner has ever had the # of TD returns that Grant has, on a games-played basis.

I think the best we can hope for is a '19 Lucky level returner.  Those guys are somewhat more common.

P.S. Grant got TOR a 40-50 yard reception in that game too.  Dude might be the next Speed B while still being the best returner!!