The demise of the Riders...Dickenson fired...GM extended.

[theaardvark]

JOD needs to look at KW and switch to a 3-IMP OL when you don't yet have a good unit.  We played Bond at guard for 2(?) seasons when we didn't have the depth or talent.  SSK needs to do the same until smart OL drafting can start to pay off, as well as some shrewd FA pickups.

SSK has two of the league-best NAT WRs: Emilus and KSB.  That should allow them to go 3-IMP OL without problem.

There are a plethora of Good Nat Oline coming up this year.  The key is, getting good ones with upside, and not mortgaging the farm for them.  And making it attractive, with a good Oline coach.

No reason he can't assemble a 3 Nat interior Oline as long as he doesn't waste money signing American starters to crazy contracts. Their scouting needs to come through with some quality competition across the board... and hope for some rookies to shine

[blue_gold_84]

O'Day was fortunate to inherit whatever Jones left behind when he bailed after the 2018 season. Outside of a strong 2019 season, which seems like pure dumb luck in retrospect, things have only worsened under his tenure as GM.

He isn't the answer.

[wpg#1]

Oh no!  Daniella Ponticelli on CKRM Regina radio announced in the post-game that she's leaving the station after the GC.  I know few here will care, but man I'll miss that voice, it's half the reason why I tuned into the greenie post-gamers.  Maybe she just couldn't take the heartbreak anymore, or got some even better job offers for that buttery voice.

Maybe she's coming to WPG to take on my 3-hour post-game CJOB show idea!    One can dream...

She's probably tired of doing 3 hour post game shows that's why she's leaving !   

[TecnoGenius]

There are a plethora of Good Nat Oline coming up this year.  The key is, getting good ones with upside, and not mortgaging the farm for them.  And making it attractive, with a good Oline coach.

No reason he can't assemble a 3 Nat interior Oline as long as he doesn't waste money signing American starters to crazy contracts. Their scouting needs to come through with some quality competition across the board... and hope for some rookies to shine

But that's the other big advantage to 3 IMP OL... that IMP G should be major cheap.  Talented NAT OL are rare-ish, talented IMP guards in theory should be a dime a dozen.  Bond was never paid that much, compared to other Gs like Neufeld or Desjar.

The only reason more teams don't do more IMP OL is because it's the easiest way to make the ratio.  If SSK makes the ratio in other ways (top NAT WRs) then the money/talent aspect of an IMP G should override the thinking.

If it was a bad move, why did WPG do it for a few/many years?  It instantly made our team better until we could draft and entice better NAT OL here.

[TecnoGenius]

She's probably tired of doing 3 hour post game shows that's why she's leaving !   

Haha!  Maybe!  But she said on air she loves it and will miss it!   

[theaardvark]

But that's the other big advantage to 3 IMP OL... that IMP G should be major cheap.  Talented NAT OL are rare-ish, talented IMP guards in theory should be a dime a dozen.  Bond was never paid that much, compared to other Gs like Neufeld or Desjar.

The only reason more teams don't do more IMP OL is because it's the easiest way to make the ratio.  If SSK makes the ratio in other ways (top NAT WRs) then the money/talent aspect of an IMP G should override the thinking.

If it was a bad move, why did WPG do it for a few/many years?  It instantly made our team better until we could draft and entice better NAT OL here.

Does a NAT Olineman cost more than a starting NAT RB/WR.LB?  I don't think there is a lot of difference.

A NAT Olineman should play more games, per year, and over a career. 

That's one of the reasons a NAT OT is the holy grail.

Now, NAT skilled players are becoming more numerous. And the premium is coming down for them.  So, sure, if you need to use an American OG, and have a surplus of skilled position players to cover, and backup depth in case one or more get injured, use a American OG.  Heck, have an all American OL for that matter.  We started 9  NATs last week, did we not?

The days of Nats "being hidden" on rosters are not totally behind us, but when multiple NAT players get nominated for more than MOC, it says a lot about the talent level our NAT players are attaining.

[TecnoGenius]

Does a NAT Olineman cost more than a starting NAT RB/WR.LB?  I don't think there is a lot of difference.

Good ones, yes.  A "very good" NAT OL will be close to $200k.  They are almost always vets as (like with our system) most take 3+ seasons to become "good".  Desjar and Chung notwithstanding.

Good NAT WR are often on ELC, or working in the $100-$125k range.  Look at KSB and Emilus.  Ya, I guess KSB will be off ELC in FA, but probably won't get over $125k... yet.  And solid guys like Cottoy, Woli, Philpot, etc aren't earning a ton.  Far less than their comparably-ranked OL team-mates.

My point is, if you can field a bunch of KSBs for under $125k then you don't need to pay $200k+ for a good NAT guard (Desjar, Neufeld, etc.).  A lot of this is luck: if you've lucked into good WR DPs, or stolen some FA NAT WRs.  SSK seems to have done very well in NAT WR DPing lately.

Bottom line: SSK needs OL help and they can't afford to steal away 2 or 3 $200k+ NAT OL in FA.  So why not just use IMP like KW did early on when we faced the exact same problem?

[Pete]

One of the issues is that even with import.quality olinemen are hard to find. Sask tackles are subpar and they haven't been able sign any better ones. At the beginning of the year we had 2 import olinemen on pr, because it is do hard to find replacements.

[BBRT]

O'Day was fortunate to inherit whatever Jones left behind when he bailed after the 2018 season. Outside of a strong 2019 season, which seems like pure dumb luck in retrospect, things have only worsened under his tenure as GM.

He isn't the answer.

Amen! I agree with your thoughts O'Day is not the answer but the Riders are stuck with him for another 3 years. Lots of folks over on their site agree that he is not the answer but it woul appear they are stuck with him.

[wpg#1]

Amen! I agree with your thoughts O'Day is not the answer but the Riders are stuck with him for another 3 years. Lots of folks over on their site agree that he is not the answer but it woul appear they are stuck with him.

Yes, but only because they extended him 3 more years. It's their own fault. I just don't understand why they would do that.

[TecnoGenius]

One of the issues is that even with import.quality olinemen are hard to find. Sask tackles are subpar and they haven't been able sign any better ones. At the beginning of the year we had 2 import olinemen on pr, because it is do hard to find replacements.

Why is this?  You'd think good IMP OL would be a dime a dozen: like IMP DB.  Shouldn't there be a zillion of these guys coming up through the schools?  Or does the NFL hog 15 good OL each team or something?

Weird how Canada U sports seems to produce proportionally more CFL-ready OL than the USA does.