Lucky Whitehead - Free Agent (no longer)

[Jesse]

Good for Lucky!

[theaardvark]

What the literal heck?



Justin Dunk@JDunk12

Explosive playmaker Lucky Whitehead becomes the highest paid receiver in the CFL at $200,000.

https://3downnation.com/2022/01/10/b-c-lions-re-sign-explosive-cfl-all-star-lucky-whitehead/


#BCLions #TheFlash #CFL

[Ridermania]

Way overpaid at $200K

[theaardvark]

Way overpaid at $200K

Way, way, WAY overpaid.

Love the guy, he's a hoot and a heckuvalot of fun to watch, but one good year does not = $200k+ during COVID.  BC could have signed him for $150k easily... or less with incentives.

I guess they felt they needed to make a statement, a commitment, so they blew the wad on Lucky, who was about their only bright spot last year.  No doubt he sells tickets, but they are going to create a lot of SMS troubles with this signing. 

[Pigskin]

Anyone know what the Cap is set at for this year?

[the paw]

When you think that Derel Walker had a 2021 contract for $180k and Shaq Evans was scheduled for $165k, Luckys new contract isn?t as outrageous as it first seems.

If he hadn?t broken his wrist, he would have been the leading CFL receiver.  I like Lawlers game more, but when you add in Lucky?s return ability, for a franchise looking to get fans excited, it?s probably fair value.

It does look like this will make retaining Lawler more challenging.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Way, way, WAY overpaid.

Love the guy, he's a hoot and a heckuvalot of fun to watch, but one good year does not = $200k+ during COVID.  BC could have signed him for $150k easily... or less with incentives.

I guess they felt they needed to make a statement, a commitment, so they blew the wad on Lucky, who was about their only bright spot last year.  No doubt he sells tickets, but they are going to create a lot of SMS troubles with this signing. 

This makes it really difficult to sign Lawler for less but just because the Lions made a crazy offer doesn't mean Walters has to follow suite.  Offer Lawler a fair deal that fits within the team salary structure or let him walk, no certainty any other team is going to offer him $200,000+ either.

[blue_or_die]

When you think that Derel Walker had a 2021 contract for $180k and Shaq Evans was scheduled for $165k, Luckys new contract isn?t as outrageous as it first seems.

If he hadn?t broken his wrist, he would have been the leading CFL receiver.  I like Lawlers game more, but when you add in Lucky?s return ability, for a franchise looking to get fans excited, it?s probably fair value.

It does look like this will make retaining Lawler more challenging.

Going into 2021, Walker and Evans were the class of the league as far as receivers went. Through that lens, I don't think of Lucky as in the same galaxy. When Lucky was having those big games at the beginning of the year, many including me said it wasn't sustainable and that he'd level off and I still firmly believe that.

Love the guy and I'm super happy for him, but bad deal for BC.

[Pigskin]

What do we think Burnham will be asking for?

[the paw]

Going into 2021, Walker and Evans were the class of the league as far as receivers went. Through that lens, I don't think of Lucky as in the same galaxy. When Lucky was having those big games at the beginning of the year, many including me said it wasn't sustainable and that he'd level off and I still firmly believe that.

Love the guy and I'm super happy for him, but bad deal for BC.

I understand your point.  I mentioned Walker and Evans specifically, as they kind of prove the point that past performance is no guarantee of future production.  Those 2 guys might bounce back, but it?s equally possible Whitehead has become a better receiver than both.

If you look at Luckys season in detail, it wasn?t just a hot start for a few games.  Although the stat sheets show he played 12/14 games, one of those games was the game he was injured, and one was his first game back, trying to play with a cast.  In reality, he put really good numbers fairly consistently over 10 games.   It?s fair to wonder if he sustains that in 2022, but you can?t really dismiss the 2021 production so easily.

If I was a GM, I don?t think I would have gone as high as $200k, but he is going to be the face of the franchise for the next couple of years, and maybe paying a bit of a marketing premium isn?t such bad business.

[pjrocksmb]

Steep price but gotta over pay for a top receiver with incredible potential.  I think he will earn his salary if he can stay healthy and will certainly entertain us!

[theaardvark]

I understand your point.  I mentioned Walker and Evans specifically, as they kind of prove the point that past performance is no guarantee of future production.  Those 2 guys might bounce back, but it?s equally possible Whitehead has become a better receiver than both.

If you look at Luckys season in detail, it wasn?t just a hot start for a few games.  Although the stat sheets show he played 12/14 games, one of those games was the game he was injured, and one was his first game back, trying to play with a cast.  In reality, he put really good numbers fairly consistently over 10 games.   It?s fair to wonder if he sustains that in 2022, but you can?t really dismiss the 2021 production so easily.

If I was a GM, I don?t think I would have gone as high as $200k, but he is going to be the face of the franchise for the next couple of years, and maybe paying a bit of a marketing premium isn?t such bad business.

The key is, he's had part of one great year.  Yes, he was injured, but still, it was 10 games.  And he lands the biggest deal for a WR?  Plus, we don't know what this year will be, with COVID there might be further fan restrictions, and who knows what the landscape will be.  

So, BC has set an unrealistic bar for salaries, to retain a guy that, for sure, is a crowd pleaser (although he had PO'd a bunch of fans showing up in Bomber gear at the WF), and he will sell tickets, and they have a new owner trying to revitalize the franchise....

He could have been given an incentive laden contract, and he would have jumped at that.  I get that BC could ill afford to lose him in FA (which they pretty much assured they will lose Burnham now...), but they pulled the trigger far to fast for far too much.   In My Humble Opinion.

Lucky got very Lucky...

[ichabod_crane]

I guess the Lions still have not learned from the Reilly way overpaid fiasco and screw up their cap once again!

[GOLDMEMBER]

Way overpaid plus he likes to go to Blue Bomber home games. LOL

Injury prone liability

[dd]

The key is, he's had part of one great year.  Yes, he was injured, but still, it was 10 games.  And he lands the biggest deal for a WR?  Plus, we don't know what this year will be, with COVID there might be further fan restrictions, and who knows what the landscape will be.  

So, BC has set an unrealistic bar for salaries, to retain a guy that, for sure, is a crowd pleaser (although he had PO'd a bunch of fans showing up in Bomber gear at the WF), and he will sell tickets, and they have a new owner trying to revitalize the franchise....

He could have been given an incentive laden contract, and he would have jumped at that.  I get that BC could ill afford to lose him in FA (which they pretty much assured they will lose Burnham now...), but they pulled the trigger far to fast for far too much.   In My Humble Opinion.

Lucky got very Lucky...

If BC had a choice-lose burnham or whitehead, they chose the wrong guy!! Grotesquely overpaid for a bubble screen, throw it in his gut so he can catch it receiver. He caught teams flat footed and burned them, that won?t happen now. Bc now has the reciever version of mike Reilly- he?s grossly overpaid and will lay an egg this year. Worst signing since Ottawa signing Ernest Jackson a couple of years ago and we all know what happened after that. Same thing here.