2023 Free Agency Transactions - Other Teams

[the paw]

Neither Adams or Evans are on anything near an ELC that Rourke and O'Conner were on in 2023.  Richardson spent the entire 2022 season on the 6 game IR taking SMS hit off the books. Somewhat ditto for Baron who spent 12 games on 6 game IR.

I'm not sure where you got that Adams was on a cap friendly deal. IIRC he re-negotiated after Rourke departed based on being the starter not the # 2. Either way, it's not a bottom barrel deal.

Couture, Mike Jones and Lemon didn't come cheap. Many players that were potential free agents were re-signed ( 12 so far ) so that added to SMS. That included players like Chungh and TJ Lee.

They may not have many excess DT's but they'll still have too many extra DL overall for TC IMO.

No teams are over the cap today. Only advance money goes against the SMS at the moment. Not everybody on a given roster will make to or past declaration of final rosters. Some will start the season on 6 game IR.

My point being is that the Lions will have to deal with some of these issues by the end of TC.

Don't be obtuse.  Adams restructured contract was reported in 3down.  He is set to get $153k in hard money, and if he starts all 18 games, he raises that to $350k with $11k per game started bonuses.  That is a team friendly rate for a QB no matter how you slice it.  If your threshold for "team friendly" is league minimum, then this isn't a serious conversation. 

Couture may have cost them a bit, but coming off a missed season, he surely didn't command his top price.  Mike Jones is familiar to us, but there is nothing to indicate he got anything more than the going rate.  And the length of time Lemon was twisting in the wind suggests that he probably did come cheap.

My first thought was that they might be wanting to dump Richardson and or Woody Baron this year as they were relatively expensive free agent acquisitions last year.  But given how few players they have at DT, I don't see that as super likely.  But yes, I agree they have a crapload of DE's and some will shake loose. 

If I had to guess, Teuhema and Lemon rotate at one DE spot, and they will go Canadian at the other with Betts, Menard and Archibald.

[Pete]

the other factor for BC, because Lemon has been in the league 5 years he qualifies to be a nationalized american meaning they can designate him as such and he can sub in for up tp 49% of the snaps and be counted as a canadian. Meaning he can sub in for Menaud or betts and not have to worry about the ratio.

[Blue In BC]

Don't be obtuse.  Adams restructured contract was reported in 3down.  He is set to get $153k in hard money, and if he starts all 18 games, he raises that to $350k with $11k per game started bonuses.  That is a team friendly rate for a QB no matter how you slice it.  If your threshold for "team friendly" is league minimum, then this isn't a serious conversation. 

Couture may have cost them a bit, but coming off a missed season, he surely didn't command his top price.  Mike Jones is familiar to us, but there is nothing to indicate he got anything more than the going rate.  And the length of time Lemon was twisting in the wind suggests that he probably did come cheap.

My first thought was that they might be wanting to dump Richardson and or Woody Baron this year as they were relatively expensive free agent acquisitions last year.  But given how few players they have at DT, I don't see that as super likely.  But yes, I agree they have a crapload of DE's and some will shake loose. 

If I had to guess, Teuhema and Lemon rotate at one DE spot, and they will go Canadian at the other with Betts, Menard and Archibald.

Which part of the fact that both Rourke and O'Conner were on minimum ELC's don't you understand?  Last year that would have been about $64k each. So Adams alone will earn nearly $275K more than either one of them. Add in Evans and even if he takes a massive drop to $150K that's another $85K increase. So even with what you want to call a team friendly deal, it's still probably $350K more than what their top 2 QB's got in 2022.

How much of a trim did Evans take anyway?  I imagine Davis may not survive getting to TC. As a veteran he probably equal SMS to whatever Pipkin was giving, so that might be a wash but he may have gotten more as a # 2 QB when he was initially signed. That changed when Evans was acquired.

Sure for the overall group it's probably less than what the Bombers pay Collaros. Doesn't change the impact to their SMS from 2022 to 2023.

[the paw]

Which part of the fact that both Rourke and O'Conner were on minimum ELC's don't you understand?  Last year that would have been about $64k each. So Adams alone will earn nearly $275K more than either one of them. Add in Evans and even if he takes a massive drop to $150K that's another $85K increase. So even with what you want to call a team friendly deal, it's still probably $350K more than what their top 2 QB's got in 2022.

How much of a trim did Evans take anyway?  I imagine Davis may not survive getting to TC. As a veteran he probably equal SMS to whatever Pipkin was giving, so that might be a wash but he may have gotten more as a # 2 QB when he was initially signed. That changed when Evans was acquired.

Sure for the overall group it's probably less than what the Bombers pay Collaros. Doesn't change the impact to their SMS from 2022 to 2023.

Rourke would have been at $80k if we are splitting hairs, if there was ever a draft pick who qualified for the maximum bonuses available on the "A" grid for rookies it would be Rourke.  And O'Connor was on his third contract, so he wasn't bound by the CBA ELC.

I don't know what kind of deal Evans signed, but its possibly virtually the same as Adams.  If so, because they only pay the games started bonus to one guy per game, their total for both QBs is $506k.  That's a good deal, and a saving over what Wpg or SK are paying for their top 2.

As noted earlier, I think they used up their Rourke "dividend" on front loading Lucky.  They may have also had signing bonuses for Stove and Woody that still counted against the cap, but won't be on the books this year.

This isn't to say they haven't had to make sacrifices.  Not signing Butler, Figueroa and trading Williams are concessions to affordability.

[Blue In BC]

Rourke would have been at $80k if we are splitting hairs, if there was ever a draft pick who qualified for the maximum bonuses available on the "A" grid for rookies it would be Rourke.  And O'Connor was on his third contract, so he wasn't bound by the CBA ELC.

I don't know what kind of deal Evans signed, but its possibly virtually the same as Adams.  If so, because they only pay the games started bonus to one guy per game, their total for both QBs is $506k.  That's a good deal, and a saving over what Wpg or SK are paying for their top 2.

As noted earlier, I think they used up their Rourke "dividend" on front loading Lucky.  They may have also had signing bonuses for Stove and Woody that still counted against the cap, but won't be on the books this year.

This isn't to say they haven't had to make sacrifices.  Not signing Butler, Figueroa and trading Williams are concessions to affordability.

Rourke was drafted late in the 2nd round, 15th IIRC. Not sure why he'd be at $80K but he certainly wouldn't have a large bonus clause written into a deal when he was fighting to make the # 2 spot in 2021.

O'Connor might have gotten a little more than the ELC minimum but his value was debatable. There was no reason to give him much more than min.

I've already said that the 2023 QB's are a relatively good deal but the point was it's a giant jump from what their QB's earned in 2022. Even if Rourke and O'Connor both got $80K, that's a $300K jump. That takes other adjustments.

Rhymes also renegotiated his deal to $185K and several other potential free agents retained also got more. Rhymes extra cash probably the result of Burnham retiring.

Front end loading doesn't really change the value of the contracts. Players like Whitehead, Baron or Richardson might have gotten 30%-50% in advance of the 1st year deal total. It's not like they get a 50% reduction in year 2. There may be similar advance payments due to the tax advantage.

We'll see what additional roster adjustments the Lions make before and during TC.

[TBURGESS]

All Nationals will be required to sign a minimum 2 + 1 first contract and follow the salary grid at outlined below:
?A? Grid ? 1st or 2nd round C.F.L. Draft Choice

                            1st Year 2nd Year 3rd Year
Max. - Min. Salary $65,000 $65,000   Option year base salary to be negotiated -
                                                       not to exceed 10% more than the 2nd year base salary

From the CBA showing why Rourke's salary would be capped at 80K

[Sir Blue and Gold]

From the CBA showing why Rourke's salary would be capped at 80K

And the reason for that makes sense. Canadian players are artificially worth more than a comparable American due to the rules so you need to keep them in better balance somehow. If you let the market play out without any mechanism to control Canadian costs, you'd have teams paying bigger money to draft picks right out of the gate. This would have repercussions at each extension as you'd see those Canadian salaries swell even larger. This would put even more downward pressure on American salaries because the pie is only so and at some point it would have a dramatic impact on the quality of the league.

[Blue In BC]

From the CBA showing why Rourke's salary would be capped at 80K

Rourke was just coming into his 3rd season. This info confirms he would have been at ELC minimum last year. That's what I said twice. O'Connor was in his 3rd year and he MAY have had an increase. Note that a 10% increase to the base of $65K is only $6500 which would take his salary to $71.5K not $80K

[TBURGESS]

3rd year can't be more than 10% more than the 2nd year. Add in the $7500 Max signing bonus & the $7500 50%+1 snaps bonus and you get $86,500 as the actual maximum. (All numbers from the CBA)

[Blue In BC]

3rd year can't be more than 10% more than the 2nd year. Add in the $7500 Max signing bonus & the $7500 50%+1 snaps bonus and you get $86,500 as the actual maximum. (All numbers from the CBA)

Why would we think Rourke would have had a signing bonus as a 15th draft pick ( possible, but probable )? Not even sure he'd have the 50% snap bonus when drafted in either year, but let's say he did.

That's still a bargain basement price whether he got to play and succeeded or not.

O'Connor never got close to 50% of snaps due to injury. So his max would have been lower.

[TBURGESS]

Why would we think Rourke would have had a signing bonus as a 15th draft pick ( possible, but probable )? Not even sure he'd have the 50% snap bonus when drafted in either year, but let's say he did.

That's still a bargain basement price whether he got to play and succeeded or not.

O'Connor never got close to 50% of snaps due to injury. So his max would have been lower.

The signing bonus/Housing Allowance is a yearly thing, gotta assume that Rourke got it last year as the projected starting QB. 65K+15K = 80K last year max for Rourke.

[the paw]

Rourke was just coming into his 3rd season. This info confirms he would have been at ELC minimum last year. That's what I said twice. O'Connor was in his 3rd year and he MAY have had an increase. Note that a 10% increase to the base of $65K is only $6500 which would take his salary to $71.5K not $80K

O?Connor signed a 2 year deal in 2019, and was out of his ELC at the end of 2020.  He signed as a free agent with Calgary for one year in 2021.  He then signed as a free agent with BC for 2022.  So that was his third contract, and he was in no way limited by the 10% clause in the CBA.

I don?t think he was a huge earner, but as a Canadian QB, the opportunity to back up Rourke would have maximized his value.  Once BC built their ratio around Rourke, a Canadian backup is much more desirable. 

[pjrocksmb]

https://3downnation.com/2023/02/28/montreal-alouettes-add-longtime-cfl-rb-tyrell-sutton-to-finalize-coaching-staff/

[TecnoGenius]

https://3downnation.com/2023/02/28/montreal-alouettes-add-longtime-cfl-rb-tyrell-sutton-to-finalize-coaching-staff/

Sutton was good: not just another RB.  I was always wondering if this was in the works.  Wonder what took so long.

[pjrocksmb]

https://3downnation.com/2023/03/01/blast-from-the-past-argos-sign-rec-dontrelle-inman/

Sutton was good: not just another RB.  I was always wondering if this was in the works.  Wonder what took so long.

Was very good