Toronto Argonauts relieve Marc Trestman of head coaching duties

[AngeloV]

How a dressing room goes from that 'Today is the Day!' togetherness to 'toxic' in one year is beyond me.

It's so hard to have the same atmosphere on a team from year to year when so many players don't return. I've said it before, but the league really needs to put some incentive in for free agents to re-sign with the own teams, and to me the most obvious way to do that is to have a portion of a re-signed player eligible for free agency not count against the cap. That way their current team can likely pay them more than any other team.

Look at the players that did not return from last year: Rico Murray, Owusa-Ansah, Mitchell White, Victor Butler, Devier Posey, Jeff Fuller (whether you liked him as a player never publicly stirred the you know what when he was demoted), Corey Watman. Add to that players that were let go (Lemon) or injured for most of the season, and it's a completely different team.

[Joe Barnes]

It's so hard to have the same atmosphere on a team from year to year when so many players don't return. I've said it before, but the league really needs to put some incentive in for free agents to re-sign with the own teams, and to me the most obvious way to do that is to have a portion of a re-signed player eligible for free agency not count against the cap. That way their current team can likely pay them more than any other team.

Look at the players that did not return from last year: Rico Murray, Owusa-Ansah, Mitchell White, Victor Butler, Devier Posey, Jeff Fuller (whether you liked him as a player never publicly stirred the you know what when he was demoted), Corey Watman. Add to that players that were let go (Lemon) or injured for most of the season, and it's a completely different team.

True enough, a lot of different faces. And once the losing starts, I guess that negativity takes on a life of its own, as well. Though Trestman insisted it was a good room right to the end...so who knows. Hey, maybe the Don Bosco/School Bus/Tennis court situation actually unified last year's group - kind of an 'us against the world' thing and Trestman's visualizations and 'play for the guy next to you' philosophy worked. This year, a different group, in a better (though still far from perfect) practice set up, didn't buy in.

[Argo]

It's so hard to have the same atmosphere on a team from year to year when so many players don't return. I've said it before, but the league really needs to put some incentive in for free agents to re-sign with the own teams, and to me the most obvious way to do that is to have a portion of a re-signed player eligible for free agency not count against the cap. That way their current team can likely pay them more than any other team.

Words of wisdom.

[Argo57]

It's so hard to have the same atmosphere on a team from year to year when so many players don't return. I've said it before, but the league really needs to put some incentive in for free agents to re-sign with the own teams, and to me the most obvious way to do that is to have a portion of a re-signed player eligible for free agency not count against the cap. That way their current team can likely pay them more than any other team.

Look at the players that did not return from last year: Rico Murray, Owusa-Ansah, Mitchell White, Victor Butler, Devier Posey, Jeff Fuller (whether you liked him as a player never publicly stirred the you know what when he was demoted), Corey Watman. Add to that players that were let go (Lemon) or injured for most of the season, and it's a completely different team.

Very true, we now cheer for the uniform which are filled each season with interchangeable parts it seems.
CFL rosters back in the day had much more stability allowing you to cheer for the player as you were more familiar with them, now each off season becomes a game of musical chairs with most teams rosters and it kind of sucks IMO.

[AngeloV]

Very true, we now cheer for the uniform which are filled each season with interchangeable parts it seems.
CFL rosters back in the day had much more stability allowing you to cheer for the player as you were more familiar with them, now each off season becomes a game of musical chairs with most teams rosters and it kind of sucks IMO.

Agree it sucks, but it's not just the CFL. It happens in almost every sport now. NBA players sign contracts which give players the option to opt out now. I guess the NHL and MLB are a little different because somehow their unions allow teams to own full control of a player for like 7 years or so, but there are also plenty of players who move on an annual basis as teams sign player to 1 year contracts to fill out the bottom half of their rosters.. I kind of like that football players have more freedom, but as I said, players and teams may just need an extra little incentive in order to keep players where they are and not move every year.

[Argo57]

Agree it sucks, but it's not just the CFL. It happens in almost every sport now. NBA players sign contracts which give players the option to opt out now. I guess the NHL and MLB are a little different because somehow their unions allow teams to own full control of a player for like 7 years or so, but there are also plenty of players who move on an annual basis as teams sign player to 1 year contracts to fill out the bottom half of their rosters.. I kind of like that football players have more freedom, but as I said, players and teams may just need an extra little incentive in order to keep players where they are and not move every year.

Your suggestion makes sense.