Elk's merry-go-round roster...

[TecnoGenius]

"With all due respect to Thiadric Hansen?s ability to get garbage-time sacks and cover kicks"
Is this accurate?

It's a tad bit fair, but with a very negative tone.  But this JC Abbott guy couldn't write his way out of a paper bag.  The style and grammar is just atrocious!  Maybe they only let him write in garbage time. 

Break it down:

- Hansen only plays D in garbage time: FALSE.  We put him in on many sets.  He probably does get used more when we're up, but so are many "specialists".  He is not a garbage-time-only player like some of the 3rd string NAT D's.  (Although even those are used somewhat consistently across the game, MOS is good at spreading the load.)

- Hansen mostly makes his presence felt on ST: TRUE.  He plays nearly every ST cover snap, and he often makes big plays there.

- Hansen doesn't get many sacks: TRUE.  Even in garbage time he doesn't.  Because I'm pretty sure that's not his role.  He's more a disrupter than a sacker.  We have him tasked to do certain things and I think he does them very well.  But when the chance comes his way he takes the QB down.

Here's the truth: Hansen has been the biggest-impact GLOB in the whole CFL.  This is regularly acknowledged by the TSN talking heads.  His big hit in '19 GC will be remembered forever.  He makes life more difficult for QBs and helps keep the entire DL fresh.  He is no less effective than any other backup NAT DL.

The guy he is trying to compare him to I've never even heard of.  What does that tell you.

[The Zipp]

The thing is, it?s as much about ego as talent.  They gave away Saxelid, a starting CDN OT because Jones doesn?t like his Canadians in that spot.  He let go of 2 starting quality CDN DEs because he would rather start Makana Henry at DT.  He dumped Tevaun Smith and Mike Jones at WR to replace that spot with a nobody.  He took an athlete who washed out at WR with 3 teams and is trying to recycle him as a DB.

He insists on converting Duron Carter to safety, and pinning his hopes to retreads like Antigua and Caleb Holley.  He has also taken a haphazard approach to his QBs, which is the same mistake he made in SK.

It drives me crazy when I see articles claiming Jones as successfully rebuilt a roster before, because he hasn?t.  He won in Edm with Herveys roster, and he failed in SK.  He never got over the hump in Regina because he never solved his QB issue, and he let Duron Carter become such a distraction that his OC wouldn?t play him, and he had to go to DB before being cashiered.  It?s all hubris, through and through.

Truth

[TecnoGenius]

Have you noticed the increasingly smaller and smaller crowds in Edmonton? Losing is never good but an unrecognizable team week to week is not helping them either.  Check out the Elks forum.

Well, any die-hard uber-fan who happens to be rich is forced to buy a new jersey to wear every home game!  So there's that! 

So that's great for the EDM store.  Oh wait, that means the store has to throw away half the jerseys each week too!    (Or ship them away to get renumbered.)

Is there a "safe jersey" to buy right now in EDM?  I wouldn't bet on any single player being around 1 month from now.

[Blue In BC]

Well, any die-hard uber-fan who happens to be rich is forced to buy a new jersey to wear every home game!  So there's that! 

So that's great for the EDM store.  Oh wait, that means the store has to throw away half the jerseys each week too!    (Or ship them away to get renumbered.)

Is there a "safe jersey" to buy right now in EDM?  I wouldn't bet on any single player being around 1 month from now.

They can start writing the name in chalk so they can be changed every week.

NOTE: Did a quick check on their roster to see how many players are new to the Elks in 2022 and it came to 25 or 26.

Aside from Lawler the Elks didn't seem to sign top free agents in their prime. Several on the downside perhaps but still with some miles left I suppose.

Essentially the paid some bigger SMS numbers when they could have spent more wisely IMO.  Signing Arceneaux, Walker, Ryan, Castillo, Antigua, Carter, Makana, Washington is more about the now than the future. The now is not working out and it's reasonable to expect those older vets won't be part of the 2023 roster.