How do the Argos prepare for next year?
The East Finals was a big bummer. But some perspective is needed. The LA Dodgers won exactly zero world championships between 1989 and 2019 despite all their tons of talent and money to buy free agents. The Atlanta Braves won one World Series during 14 consecutive first place finishes, including many when they led the Majors in wins. They have finished first the last six years in a row, including this year when they led the league in wins and runs and tied the record for most home runs in a season, yet won only one World Series in those six years in 2021 and were out of the playoffs this year in a flash. As for the Maple Leafs - you know the story. Winning in the playoffs is never easy despite how much talent you have.
However, the Argos do need to start preparing for next year by looking at where they need to change and where circumstances, especially free agency, forces changes on them.
When it comes to Kelly, I think he has the potential to be the best QB in the CFL, but he is still learning. He has to get over trying to do it all, recognizing when going for broke is not the best strategy. He also has to learn how to not lose confidence in himself, as seen when he started running on nearly every play for a while after he lost confidence in his passing, although time to repeatedly do that was starting to run short. His signing a three year contract is good for the Argos, but his increased salary is likely going to decrease the team's flexibility in signing free agents or retaining players. I also like Dukes and think he could have a bright future, but I would like to have experienced backup, who take some pressure off Kelly and act as a coach to some extent, just as Andrew Harris did for Ouellette. However, not every player, even talented ones, are good at this role, so picking the right guy for the job is important. I would like to see Kelly continue to develop his passing skills in the offseason, something that Rourke, a workaholic, worked on hard in his two CFL offseasons, resulting a QB whose passes were much crisper and his defence recognition was much improved.
With regards to the defence and special teams, including their depth, even in the East Final loss they showed they are arguably the best, finishing just behind the Bombers and Als (a warning that could have got more attention since good defences often are the difference in playoffs) in points allowed and as many of them as possible should be retained. Leake in most games set up the offence with short fields repeatedly. The job here, IMO, will be primarily to fill the vacancies left by any players departing for free agency or the NFL.
The receiving corp could use a high octane speedster to open up the field even more, but overall it is a deep talented corps with the most depth in Canadian talent. A talented RB is needed to replace Andrew Harris, even if Adeboboye continues to develop into a good first string RB. RBs and injuries are synonymous.
Another lesson from this year, comes from the many predictions that the Als would be a disaster this year, because they lost so many players and signed very few in free agency. However, they added valuable pieces repeatedly throughout the season, such as Shawn Lemon and Darnell Sankey, that were there for anyone to sign for a while. They also scouted well for the draft and the American newcomers they did add. So the Argos should not ignore possible additions to an already strong team during the season.
