Canadian OL Drew Desjarlais drawing significant interest from NFL teams

[theaardvark]

If we can shave even $5-10k off of every deal resigning players due to our "culture", coaches, team mates and potential playoff payouts. that is huge.  I don't doubt that will be the case, and opposing GM's are going to know they have to overbid to sway our players.  There will be some we lose, but I am confident that we will sign most, and will have pipeline ready for the rest. 

The Canadian Mafia inspires confidence.  It would take a major meltdown to not have a phenomenal contender to start the year.

[GCn19]

If we can shave even $5-10k off of every deal resigning players due to our "culture", coaches, team mates and potential playoff payouts. that is huge.  I don't doubt that will be the case, and opposing GM's are going to know they have to overbid to sway our players.  There will be some we lose, but I am confident that we will sign most, and will have pipeline ready for the rest. 

The Canadian Mafia inspires confidence.  It would take a major meltdown to not have a phenomenal contender to start the year.

If all our remaining FAs hit the market and we sign them all to 5-10k each under what they would get on the open market we will be far over the SMS. We can't let our big fish get to FA, if we do they will command dollars that we cannot keep up with because of the depth of our talent. Ottawa can sign a Biggie to a stupid number, we can't. Ottawa can sign Lawler to a redonkulous contract without losing anything they already have. We can't. The fact of the matter is that CFL rosters predicate on some guys being on the high end and some guys being on the low end of the salary scale. When half your team is all stars it becomes a very tough situation to navigate unless some guys are willing to take big discounts and those guys are few and far between. We will lose some good players. It is inevitable. I am sure that KW already has a pretty good idea who those guys will be.

[theaardvark]

If all our remaining FAs hit the market and we sign them all to 5-10k each under what they would get on the open market we will be far over the SMS. We can't let our big fish get to FA, if we do they will command dollars that we cannot keep up with because of the depth of our talent. Ottawa can sign a Biggie to a stupid number, we can't. Ottawa can sign Lawler to a redonkulous contract without losing anything they already have. We can't. The fact of the matter is that CFL rosters predicate on some guys being on the high end and some guys being on the low end of the salary scale. When half your team is all stars it becomes a very tough situation to navigate unless some guys are willing to take big discounts and those guys are few and far between. We will lose some good players. It is inevitable. I am sure that KW already has a pretty good idea who those guys will be.

My point being, if the culture lets you shave a bit here and there, you scrape that all together and you can sign Biggie, Lawler or Collaros to a larger contract than you'd like, and stop an Ottawa from poaching them.   

Its all going to come down to timing, and the one week pre FA negotiation window is going to set up a lot of scenarios that will play out quickly... I'm betting there will be a number of "We have enough to sign you at this rate, or 3 other players at rates we have offered, and have 6 offers out there.  The first 3 that accept will get the deal, after that, our offer will be reduced.   

The negotiation window should do away with the 5 minutes into FA and we resign a guy who just wanted to see if he'd get an offer...

I guess we will either have most of the team locked up and it be quiet like last year, or we see a frenzy with the new GM's trying to make their mark raiding our roster

[GCn19]

My point being, if the culture lets you shave a bit here and there, you scrape that all together and you can sign Biggie, Lawler or Collaros to a larger contract than you'd like, and stop an Ottawa from poaching them.   

Its all going to come down to timing, and the one week pre FA negotiation window is going to set up a lot of scenarios that will play out quickly... I'm betting there will be a number of "We have enough to sign you at this rate, or 3 other players at rates we have offered, and have 6 offers out there.  The first 3 that accept will get the deal, after that, our offer will be reduced.  

The negotiation window should do away with the 5 minutes into FA and we resign a guy who just wanted to see if he'd get an offer...

I guess we will either have most of the team locked up and it be quiet like last year, or we see a frenzy with the new GM's trying to make their mark raiding our roster

Some players we don't want to lose, we are going to lose. That's the reality of having half the league's all star team on our roster. It's just not feasible to sign them all. The guys who hit FA will get redonkulous offers by someone. I mean look at how ridiculous the Whitehead and AC Leonard contracts are already. You got teams that have to be desperate and are going to blow their brains out in FA and some of our guys will wait in that soup line.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

This comment made me curious, so I went to look at rosters for 10 NFL teams at random.  I would say 90% of the DTs were in the 300-320 range.  I found 4 who were 330-335.  So while there might be an exception or two, almost all DTs are going to be of a comparable weight to a CFL nose tackle.

Not to over generalize, but I think most CFL teams run a nose tackle at 300+, and a second DT at 280-290.  So the average NFL line is going to be a little heavier, but Desjarlais will have had plenty of experience handling players of that size.

If anything I think they lose Stove to another CFL team where his reputation is well known and not the NFL, if he's going to move on, hopefully it's to an Eastern team.

[blue_or_die]

I am unclear on why so many people are discounting the work Casey Sayles put in this season. His stat line reads pretty good. I would love Stove back but if he chases higher dollars I am OK with Sayles.

I think you answered your own question. Sayles is pretty good.

I think he's proven that he's a great member of this defense but I think that only applies in a rotational setting. In other words, if we lose Stove I don't think we can in any way say we can "replace" him with Sayles. We would need to find another DT of *at least* Sayles' calibre just to keep pace while rotating.

[theaardvark]

Some players we don't want to lose, we are going to lose. That's the reality of having half the league's all star team on our roster. It's just not feasible to sign them all. The guys who hit FA will get redonkulous offers by someone. I mean look at how ridiculous the Whitehead and AC Leonard contracts are already. You got teams that have to be desperate and are going to blow their brains out in FA and some of our guys will wait in that soup line.

The AC Leonard and Whitehead contracts included a big chunk of fan appeal... the extra cash was to sell seats.  You don't get as much of a return on that poaching a opponent's players... maybe on a Bighill, but can't see him moving. 

I think things will settle down and get reasonable quick enough...

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

The AC Leonard and Whitehead contracts included a big chunk of fan appeal... the extra cash was to sell seats.  You don't get as much of a return on that poaching a opponent's players... maybe on a Bighill, but can't see him moving. 

I think things will settle down and get reasonable quick enough...

It would be nice if the league and the CFLPA had their salary cap set before GM's start throwing big money around, but as is usually the case with the CFL chaos comes first, rules and boundaries come second.

[blueraid]

It would be nice if the league and the CFLPA had their salary cap set before GM's start throwing big money around, but as is usually the case with the CFL chaos comes first, rules and boundaries come second.

.......AND with guys like Suitor suggesting 'throw caution to the wind'....fa could get really wild...I hope there's still some sanity left amongst the gm's