Who Should the Argos Play Now, Keep and/or Release in the Off-season?

[jerrym]

I know for some it is sacrilege to say anything until the team is mathematically eliminated, but I will bring it up because it's all but staring us in the face. Who should the team play who haven't played much? Who should the team keep, considering not just their talent but also their age, skills, and salary? Who should the team release now or after the season for whatever reasons?

[ArgoRavi]

I know for some it is sacrilege to say anything until the team is mathematically eliminated, but I will bring it up because it's all but staring us in the face. Who should the team play who haven't played much? Who should the team keep, considering not just their talent but also their age, skills, and salary? Who should the team release now or after the season for whatever reasons?

I would say goodbye to both Abdul Kanneh and Johnny Sears Jr. for starters.

[Wobbler]

I'd like to see Sackey get a start. He didn't look great at C in the preseason, but can he play G? It's time we found out.

[Argo57]

Goodbye: Frank Beltre, Troy Davis, Ronnie Yell, Rodney Smith, Ronnie Pfeffer, Johnny Sears Jr, Abdul Kanneh, Mike Archer DC, Greg Quick LB Coach.

On the bubble: Justin Tuggle, Bear Woods, James Wilder.
*Bear Woods starting to show signs of wear and tear, not overly impressed with Tuggle, Wilder pissed and moaned about his contract during the off season and has done SFA his season*.
Get an extended look at Franklin should be priority#1 the rest of this season.

Recruit heavily at DL, DB, receiver, RB and address O-Line through the draft.

[AngeloV]

Goodbye: Frank Beltre, Troy Davis, Ronnie Yell, Rodney Smith, Ronnie Pfeffer, Johnny Sears Jr, Abdul Kanneh, Mike Archer DC, Greg Quick LB Coach.

On the bubble: Justin Tuggle, Bear Woods, James Wilder.
*Bear Woods starting to show signs of wear and tear, not overly impressed with Tuggle, Wilder pissed and moaned about his contract during the off season and has done SFA his season*.

I don't get how you can put Wilder on the bubble. Going into yesterday, he was averaging 100 yards per game from scrimmage and played hard before his injury last night. Offence went south after he left the game last night. Don't let his contract situation in the off season cloud your judgement. If it was me and I was making what he was, and had a young family, I would have retired rather than play for what they were paying him too.

[Argo57]

I don't get how you can put Wilder on the bubble. Going into yesterday, he was averaging 100 yards per game from scrimmage and played hard before his injury last night. Offence went south after he left the game last night. Don't let his contract situation in the off season cloud your judgement. If it was me and I was making what he was, and had a young family, I would have retired rather than play for what they were paying him too.

Offence has been going south all season with him in the lineup, recruit heavily at RB and push him to keep his job.

[gilthethrill]

I'd like to see Sackey get a start. He didn't look great at C in the preseason, but can he play G? It's time we found out.

Along with Sackey, there seem to be a plethora of young National talent that gets drafted by the Argos and end up on ST, IR or PR. Looking around the league, draft picks are playing and playing well.

[cfl-cis fan]

I don't get how you can put Wilder on the bubble. Going into yesterday, he was averaging 100 yards per game from scrimmage and played hard before his injury last night. Offence went south after he left the game last night. Don't let his contract situation in the off season cloud your judgement. If it was me and I was making what he was, and had a young family, I would have retired rather than play for what they were paying him too.

Any evaluation of Wilder must include how many touches it takes for the production.

[OV Argo]

Any evaluation of Wilder must include how many touches it takes for the production.

Wilder's yards/carry average is league worst for a starting RB; he made a name last year with some explosive big runs and he has done zero of that this year. HUGE mistake to give in to his cry-baby act and hand him the starting job; he is big time over-rated IMO and a candidate to be cut - soon.

[R.J]

Wilder's yards/carry average is league worst for a starting RB; he made a name last year with some explosive big runs and he has done zero of that this year. HUGE mistake to give in to his cry-baby act and hand him the starting job; he is big time over-rated IMO and a candidate to be cut - soon.

40% of Wilder's rushing yards last season came off of three big runs. Last season he avg 7.1 per carry vs 4.7 this season. Last year his longest run was 85 yards - this season 24. I'll leave it at that...

[ArgoGabe22]

A new kicker!

[jerrym]

Goodbye: Frank Beltre, Troy Davis, Ronnie Yell, Rodney Smith, Ronnie Pfeffer, Johnny Sears Jr, Abdul Kanneh, Mike Archer DC, Greg Quick LB Coach.

On the bubble: Justin Tuggle, Bear Woods, James Wilder.
*Bear Woods starting to show signs of wear and tear, not overly impressed with Tuggle, Wilder pissed and moaned about his contract during the off season and has done SFA his season*.
Get an extended look at Franklin should be priority#1 the rest of this season.

Recruit heavily at DL, DB, receiver, RB and address O-Line through the draft.

A new kicker!

A new kicker is an absolute priority. This team cannot afford to blow games because of substandard kicking.

Keep Wilder but bring another quality RB to challenge him since you need a good backup in the significant chance that your RB will miss sometime anyway. Much as I love Bear Woods, his back surgery and other injuries, strongly suggest he is nearing the end. Please, please get rid of Rodney Smith who is slow and when he catches a ball seems to have no balance, far too often falling to the ground without anyone touching him. Furthermore, doesn't even try to get up.

I don't think MBT will develop into a decent starting QB because at 30 he still cannot throw an accurate long pass with even minimal accuracy, which means other teams will play the Argos extremely tight, willing to concede an occasional long bomb TD when MBT occasionally gets it near a deep receiver. Next year, at 31 I can't see him developing a decent deep threat arm. Since he doesn't get flustered and manages the players reasonably well, he could be a decent #2. Play Franklin now and see what the team has, before deciding whether or not the Argos need to look elsewhere for a starting QB.

Another must is getting two new true rush ends who can actually rush. There is almost no pressure on opposition QBs unless we blitz and even then it is substandard.

The defensive backfield playing now is very inexperienced and often beaten, but they actually looked better last night in that they didn't look totally out of position, although they were playing a depleted Calgary receiver corps. Let them continue to play to see who improves. Get rid of Kanneh and Sears. Bring the other injured veteran DBs to TC. I remember one year where the Riders had a set of inexperienced DBs that were statisically the worse in the league in their rookie year and led the league the next year thanks to what they learned through being burned. I do not expect that kind of improvement with the Argos but the team can afford to treat the rest of the season as an extended TC to not only see what they have got, but who is improving and who doesn't quit in the face of adversity, which I suspect there will be a lot of.

Chris Van Zyl will be 36 next year. He may have a year or two left, but the Argos have to make a major effort to find a replacement and upgrade the OL. Bomben has helped but they need more. Drafting OL in the first and second round should be a priority but not an absolute. Get Sackey on the field now and find out whether he can do the job.

I don't know if Duron Carter will ever fit into a Trestman offence because Duron's creativity which doesn't fit the orthodox Trestman offence. After all, Carter has had considerable success, aside from temperment, elsewhere in more flexible offences. That may well also be true of Franklin.

[Argo]

A new kicker is an absolute priority. This team cannot afford to blow games because of substandard kicking.

Keep Wilder but bring another quality RB to challenge him since you need a good backup in the significant chance that your RB will miss sometime anyway. Much as I love Bear Woods, his back surgery and other injuries, strongly suggest he is nearing the end. Please, please get rid of Rodney Smith who is slow and when he catches a ball seems to have no balance, far too often falling to the ground without anyone touching him. Furthermore, doesn't even try to get up.

I don't think MBT will develop into a decent starting QB because at 30 he still cannot throw an accurate long pass with even minimal accuracy, which means other teams will play the Argos extremely tight, willing to concede an occasional long bomb TD when MBT occasionally gets it near a deep receiver. Next year, at 31 I can't see him developing a decent deep threat arm. Since he doesn't get flustered and manages the players reasonably well, he could be a decent #2. Play Franklin now and see what the team has, before deciding whether or not the Argos need to look elsewhere for a starting QB.

Another must is getting two new true rush ends who can actually rush. There is almost no pressure on opposition QBs unless we blitz and even then it is substandard.

The defensive backfield playing now is very inexperienced and often beaten, but they actually looked better last night in that they didn't look totally out of position, although they were playing a depleted Calgary receiver corps. Let them continue to play to see who improves. Get rid of Kanneh and Sears. Bring the other injured veteran DBs to TC. I remember one year where the Riders had a set of inexperienced DBs that were statisically the worse in the league in their rookie year and led the league the next year thanks to what they learned through being burned. I do not expect that kind of improvement with the Argos but the team can afford to treat the rest of the season as an extended TC to not only see what they have got, but who is improving and who doesn't quit in the face of adversity, which I suspect there will be a lot of.

Chris Van Zyl will be 36 next year. He may have a year or two left, but the Argos have to make a major effort to find a replacement and upgrade the OL. Bomben has helped but they need more. Drafting OL in the first and second round should be a priority but not an absolute. Get Sackey on the field now and find out whether he can do the job.

I don't know if Duron Carter will ever fit into a Trestman offence because Duron's creativity which doesn't fit the orthodox Trestman offence. After all, Carter has had considerable success, aside from temperment, elsewhere in more flexible offences. That may well also be true of Franklin.

That wacky bald HC that Winnipeg fired a few years ago could produce seasons like this, the difference being that fans were treated to a comedy concurrent with the tragedy. These days, fans could have more fun watching paint dry than Argonauts football.

Oh, the questions about adaptability, flexibility, and game management. Sure, the lack of on-field talent is challenging, yet the very talented Carter has been mismanaged or worse.

[AngeloV]

Offence has been going south all season with him in the lineup, recruit heavily at RB and push him to keep his job.

I will argue that they haven’t used him enough. I have no idea why so many people are against him. Great player. Great community guy.

[R.J]

That wacky bald HC that Winnipeg fired a few years ago could produce seasons like this, the difference being that fans were treated to a comedy concurrent with the tragedy. These days, fans could have more fun watching paint dry than Argonauts football.

Oh, the questions about adaptability, flexibility, and game management. Sure, the lack of on-field talent is challenging, yet the very talented Carter has been mismanaged or worse.

One of my biggest issues with sports is that it always seems as though coaches would rather lose "their way" than adapt to win. I know that might sound weird to some, but I don't think it's anything new.

Trestman IMO is the leader of good men, and while I appreciate that I've had big issues with how he's handled the roster, schemes, and his unimaginative nature. The Carter signing still makes me scratch my head - I get that Popp wanted him to improve an area of need, but if your HC doesn't want him it just seems like a waste of time and money to me. The QB position as well has been a major source of frustration from me as well, because while I understood the need to sit Franklin initially Trestman made it clear from training camp that Thompson was his choice. I saw what Thompson was last season, and it seems as though others are slowly starting to see it now: he's a mediocre game manager at best. Now while I take issue with Trestman wasting time by trying to develop him; Thompson will be a good backup IMO. This offence has been hit and miss for 9 years now; at some point I hope someone up top realizes it and makes the necessary changes to ensure we see something different.

[Argo57]

I will argue that they haven’t used him enough. I have no idea why so many people are against him. Great player. Great community guy.

Great community guy 100% agree with you on that, played very well the last part of 2017 but hasn’t sustained that level of play over a long enough period to be considered a great player IMO.
Obviously I don’t personally know him but my perception is that Wilder thinks he is a much better player than he actually is.

[R.J]

Great community guy 100% agree with you on that, played very well the last part of 2017 but hasn’t sustained that level of play over a long enough period to be considered a great player IMO.
Obviously I don’t personally know him but my perception is that Wilder thinks he is a much better player than he actually is.

Wasn't he supposed to be the first 1,000/1,000 runningback ?

[Argo57]

Wasn't he supposed to be the first 1,000/1,000 runningback ?

According to Wilder, yes.

[ArgoGabe22]

1) The line struggles but it’s all on Wilder? When Wilder gets stopped, it’s usually early, just when he gets the ball. When they give him the ball early on, offence moves the ball. When they abandon him in second half or in 4th quarter, offence gets nothing done. I really don’t think he’s regressed much at all from last season in terms of his play. Still runs hard and makes catches out of the backfield. I’m not buying he’s doing any worse just because of a stat, lowest yards per carry as a starting RB. I don’t think the blame is all on him

2) Should Carter really be seen as a saving grace for this team? Even if he did get targeted more and started his first game, would the teams record be any different?

3) Not sure how anyone can say MBT played like this last year when he only threw the ball like two times and his first was actually a deep throw. Unless RJ has been out at every practice? But third string QB shouldn’t be getting any reps under Trestman, so....

[ArgoZ]

I will argue that they haven’t used him enough. I have no idea why so many people are against him. Great player. Great community guy.

Did everyone forget the great catch he made in BMO last week? Furthermore, if MBT hits him in stride on that play, he goes the field. Wilder has also made some tough runs this year. He's going to fall short of his 1000/1000 goal, but not by that much and that's pretty good considering how bad the team has played.