Red Blacks Sign OL Drew Desjarlais

[Ridermania]

Canadian offensive lineman Drew Desjarlais has signed a two-year contract with the Ottawa Redblacks following a stint in the NFL. The 25-year-old spent this past season as a member of the New England Patriots and New Orleans Saints.

According to 3DownNation reporter John Hodge, Desjarlais will earn $250,500 in the first year of the deal and $266,000 in the second year of the deal plus all-star incentives. He is now the highest-paid offensive lineman in the CFL. Previously, Mark Korte of the Edmonton Elks was the league?s highest-paid offensive lineman with annual earnings of $220,000.

https://3downnation.com/2023/01/30/canadian-ol-drew-desjarlais-signs-with-ottawa-redblacks-following-nfl-stint/

[Pigskin]

Good for Drew. Ottawa needed OL help.

[Lincoln Locomotive]

hoped he was coming back to us.....Walters obviously wasn't willing to get into a bidding war albeit he gave us that Walbyesque nastiness factor in spades.    Incidentally, Bluto was very high on Drew

[LXTSN]

Shoot! That's a big miss for us, although we do already have a load of OL depth.
If this were a video game where you don't need to consider loyalty when factoring in contracts... I would think about trying to resign a 25 year old monster vs. some 33-36 year old (past their prime) OL guys.
I love the guys we have, but this guy was a force!

[Pete]

Good move by redblacks , though it looks like they had to overpay its much the same scenario as when we originally sogned Bryant ( struggling team with little leadership) and look how that turned out.

[Blue In BC]

An excellent OL and he would have been a large upgrade at Guard in Winnipeg. That said, it comes at a large SMS hit in Ottawa. They were in a bigger need to upgrade than the Bombers. I can't dispute he's worth the money but yikes nevertheless.

Good luck to him on the Redblacks.

[LXTSN]

WOW! $250,000!!!
I think it will be a good investment for the RB's but I've never seen an OL contract so large!
Good for him, and shout out to our scouting crew. Seems every year we get someone taken away on a huge contract!

[CrazyCanuck89]

I think you guys will be fine with Grey and Neufeld starting at guard.  Dobson, Eli and  Kowalski as backups.  It's an embasment   of riches. 

Focus on Dline depth and halfback depth in the draft.  Maybe even cornerback, now that Ford is gone.

[TBURGESS]

We didn't need him and Ottawa did. Nice money for the big guy.

[Sir Blue and Gold]

Better out east if he's not in Winnipeg. Too bad but we've got good talent there.

[theaardvark]

Wow... we've lost a couple of nasty OG's.. Chungh to BC and now Dejarlais to OTT, but at rates that are just amazing.  Glad we got some time out of them at ELC rates... and this is great for recruiting OL for the future... looking at what a stint in WPG can do for your earning power...

Highest paid OL in the league at OG... That's kind of interesting.  Unless they are thinking about pushing him out to OT...

But protecting Masoli has become a big issue, and this will go a ways to doing that...

[Sir Blue and Gold]

We didn't need him and Ottawa did. Nice money for the big guy.

True. And last week Masoli reworked his contract to pay him more up front but be less of an SMS hit overall. The call probably went something like, "Hey Jeremiah, how's the leg? Do you want to die next year? No? Listen, we can probably get Desjarlais but we'll have to overpay. You want to split the difference with us to save your torso, limbs and cranium? Yes? Great, contract's already in your inbox."

[the paw]

True. And last week Masoli reworked his contract to pay him more up front but be less of an SMS hit overall. The call probably went something like, "Hey Jeremiah, how's the leg? Do you want to die next year? No? Listen, we can probably get Desjarlais but we'll have to overpay. You want to split the difference with us to save your torso, limbs and cranium? Yes? Great, contract's already in your inbox."

It raises the question of who Desjarlais is going to replace.  Ottawa added decent talent to their o-line last year, but struggled mostly due to QB injury and lack of a consistent running back. 

Both Hunter Steward and Ruby are only 30 years old, and Ciraco is a fixture at centre I think.  If I had to guess, I would say Steward is the most likely odd man out.  They have a couple of young guys developing who can serve as #6 and #7.   Unless they are wanting to try either Ruby or Steward at OT, something both were candidates for early in their career.  I think that would be folly, and based on the signings they are making of American OTs, I expect they won't go down this path. 

[Blue In BC]

I think you guys will be fine with Grey and Neufeld starting at guard.  Dobson, Eli and  Kowalski as backups.  It's an embasment   of riches. 

Focus on Dline depth and halfback depth in the draft.  Maybe even cornerback, now that Ford is gone.

Kolankowski is probable to start at center and Couture is probable to move on in free agency.

[Sir Blue and Gold]

Kolankowski is probable to start at center and Couture is probable to move on in free agency.

Kolankowski and Eli will have to sort that out in training camp for sure.