John Murphy suspended indefinitely

[Will]

From the CFL

"The Canadian Football League has suspended indefinitely John Murphy, Toronto Argonaut Vice-President Player Personnel, following an investigation into his physical and verbal altercation with fans following last Sunday’s Eastern Final."

— Danny Austin (@DannyAustin_9) December 8, 2021

[AngeloV]

I don’t think we’ll be seeing Murphy back which is too bad as he was not the instigator. He will have to come up with a big time apology and I don’t think that will even be enough. Sometimes things said in the heat of the moment can be forgiven, but not in 2021.

[Stevoman]

Whoa! It's a sad incident and he definitely played a role but I hope it's not impossible for him to be able to come back. He and Pinball were sharing GM duties right (not officially but in reality)?

[ArgoZ]

I don’t think we’ll be seeing Murphy back which is too bad as he was not the instigator. He will have to come up with a big time apology and I don’t think that will even be enough. Sometimes things said in the heat of the moment can be forgiven, but not in 2021.

I always show resistance when it comes to someone losing their job. I can’t stand some of our cancel culture. I’m not excusing anything Murphy did, however, if he were to sincerely apologize, pay a large fine and explain how he is going to counselling, I would forgive the slur. We should be allowed to make a mistake and be forgiving as people. As someone who has played organized sports since Tyke Hockey to Old Timers Soccer, homophobia had been engrained into my thinking. It was and likely still is a huge problem in our sports culture. I hope that if I was ever caught in a moment something like that wouldn’t come out, I’m confident it wouldn’t, but I can easily imagine how someone being around football their whole life has been influenced.

[paulwoods13]

If Murphy loses his job, I'm guessing Chris Jones will step into the personnel void. But Vince Magri might be in line for a promotion, based on how good our past three drafts are looking.

Murphy did some good things over the past two years. He brought in some excellent INT talent. His trade for Bede was a master stroke.

On the other side of the equation, the trade that sent Darby away brought nothing back. And it was his call to trade Collaros -- Popp had offered to extend Collaros's contract just before he was fired, on the eve of the deadline. Murphy elected to trade him.

[gilthethrill]

Just when it appeared the Argos had a man in place to direct this team in the right direction an incident like this takes place.

[argotom]

Just when it appeared the Argos had a man in place to direct this team in the right direction an incident like this takes place.

Frank Zicarrelli in today's Sun wrote what I thought was largely a hit piece on Murph.
https://torontosun.com/sports/footba...s-long-overdue

[Argo57]

Glad Frank found the time to rehash a miserable week for the Argonauts.
I have no doubt Murphy is done with the Argonauts but maybe the league doesn’t want the team to announce anything the week of the Grey Cup.

[Rich]

And it was his call to trade Collaros -- Popp had offered to extend Collaros's contract just before he was fired, on the eve of the deadline. Murphy elected to trade him.

yeah in retrospect this was a major blunder, trading away the future MOP for a draft pick. But here's a question to speculate: Would Murphy have traded Collaros if he had known that he would play so well? Or did he come here with a hard plan to go with both Dinwiddie and Arbuckle (or another low-salary QB concept) no matter what he believed Collaros had left in the tank?

Hey what's Jimmy Popp up to these days anyway?

[paulwoods13]

Nobody in their right mind would have traded Collaros if they had known he was going to return to form. I was ready to see Popp leave, but on this issue he was smart to offer Collaros a new contract; it's too bad he was fired before the contract could be executed.

[Argo57]

Nobody in their right mind would have traded Collaros if they had known he was going to return to form. I was ready to see Popp leave, but on this issue he was smart to offer Collaros a new contract; it's too bad he was fired before the contract could be executed.

Collaros landed in a great situation, playing with an elite RB and great OL in Winnipeg to keep hits to a minimum.
We will never know but I don’t think he would be playing for back to back Grey Cups in Toronto.

[paulwoods13]

Collaros landed in a great situation, playing with an elite RB and great OL in Winnipeg to keep hits to a minimum.
We will never know but I don’t think he would be playing for back to back Grey Cups in Toronto.

No, because the Argos had zero chance of even making the playoffs when Zach was traded in 2019. But they would have been in the hunt this year.

[Argo57]

No, because the Argos had zero chance of even making the playoffs when Zach was traded in 2019. But they would have been in the hunt this year.

He was exactly what Winnipeg needed at the time, in truth when he was traded to Winnipeg many of us thought there was a good chance of him returning to Toronto but Winnipeg winning the Grey Cup changed that.
The main point here is he landed in the perfect spot in Winnipeg behind that OL.

[ArgoRavi]

He was exactly what Winnipeg needed at the time, in truth when he was traded to Winnipeg many of us thought there was a good chance of him returning to Toronto but Winnipeg winning the Grey Cup changed that.
The main point here is he landed in the perfect spot in Winnipeg behind that OL.

Exactly. Let's not forget how we were all worried about Collaros being one concussion away from the end of his career. The best situation for him was Winnipeg behind that on-line.

[AngeloV]

He was exactly what Winnipeg needed at the time, in truth when he was traded to Winnipeg many of us thought there was a good chance of him returning to Toronto but Winnipeg winning the Grey Cup changed that.
The main point here is he landed in the perfect spot in Winnipeg behind that OL.

I thought he was definitely coming back. At the same time, when we acquired him, I also remember a lot of people asking why they would pick up a guy that was one hit away from calling it a career. Those same people are now outraged. Argos can't win no matter what they do with some people.

[Skinny G]

Frank Z has just reported that announcement of John Murphy being let go will happen early next week...

https://torontosun.com/sports/footba...-argos-sources

[Argo57]

I thought he was definitely coming back. At the same time, when we acquired him, I also remember a lot of people asking why they would pick up a guy that was one hit away from calling it a career. Those same people are now outraged. Argos can't win no matter what they do with some people.

The trade didn’t bother me at all when the Argos did it, the team was a complete mess and getting draft capital back made a lot of sense.
You are correct, hindsight makes everyone a genius.

[AngeloV]

Frank Z has just reported that announcement of John Murphy being let go will happen early next week...

https://torontosun.com/sports/footba...-argos-sources

Farhan Lalji has confirmed this on twitter. No official announcement until Monday as there is a news blackout during the Grey Cup. Not surprising, the second I heard about the homophobic slur, I knew he was out.

[Argo57]

Frank Z has just reported that announcement of John Murphy being let go will happen early next week...

https://torontosun.com/sports/footba...-argos-sources

Wonder who will take over in that role, Vince Magri may be considered but a prudent move would be contacting Winnipeg for permission to explore Ted Goveia’s interest in returning to Toronto.

[gilthethrill]

Wonder who will take over in that role, Vince Magri may be considered but a prudent move would be contacting Winnipeg for permission to explore Ted Goveia’s interest in returning to Toronto.

Frank Z sure is harping on the Collaros trade isn’t he? A real shame that Murphy is being let go. No shortage of good young Canadian front office guys to consider. Spencer Zimmerman is another that comes to mind.