Argos Tweeted that they Grant James Wilder Jr Request for Release

[1971GreyCup]

We have granted James Wilder Jr.’s request for release and wish him all the best in his future endeavours.

Thank you for your contributions both on and off the field, JWJ.

#PullTogether

[Mightygoose]

He was scheduled be a free agent anyways. Can't see him latching to an NFL team now.

Heading to the XFL perhaps?

[Argo57]

A key contributor in 2017 who’s performance for various reasons tailed off from there.
Always a good community ambassador for the Argos!
Time to move on.

[paulwoods13]

It's a shame we will never find out whether what we saw in second half of 2017 was a fluke or the real Wilder. He looked like he could have become an MOP type player but ended up doing little after that. How much of that was the scheme, the oline, JW's attitude, I guess we can only speculate. But he sure was fun to watch in September, October and November in 2017.

[Argo57]

It's a shame we will never find out whether what we saw in second half of 2017 was a fluke or the real Wilder. He looked like he could have become an MOP type player but ended up doing little after that. How much of that was the scheme, the oline, JW's attitude, I guess we can only speculate. But he sure was fun to watch in September, October and November in 2017.

I suspect all of the above when explaining Wilder’s decline.

[doubleblue]

We have granted James Wilder Jr.’s request for release and wish him all the best in his future endeavours.

Thank you for your contributions both on and off the field, JWJ.

#PullTogether

So this obviously lets Wilder sign in the XFL right away as the February CFL FA date is after the XFL start their season. So we will probably see others given the same treatment. If they don't want to play here then see you as far as I'm concerned.

Any rumours of anybody else asking for their early release? You know guys like James Franklin and McLeod Bethel-Thompson. ;)

[ArgoZ]

So this obviously lets Wilder sign in the XFL right away as the February CFL FA date is after the XFL start their season. So we will probably see others given the same treatment. If they don't want to play here then see you as far as I'm concerned.

Any rumours of anybody else asking for their early release? You know guys like James Franklin and McLeod Bethel-Thompson. ;)

With the news that XFL salaries are not what was originally reported, the CFL will still offer the greater number and better salaries in the skilled positions. Wilder will try to play for his hometown Tampa, as expected. Once the XFL folds, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him come back to the CFL for 2 more years, pending on the WWE career.

[AngeloV]

I think XFL makes sense. If he is any good at wrestling, Vince McMahon is probably drooling over the cross promotion possibilities here.

[Stevoman]

I especially loved his enthusiasm and off the field promotion. He was also great in 2017 but his departure is also not a surprise.

[gilthethrill]

I think his days as a CFL RB are done, but would like to see him converted to SB. Great hands and is fun to watch steamroll defenders. Hope he does well in his future endeavours.

[Stevoman]

Wilder Jr. says he didn't like playing for Chamblin or Chapdalaine and that he and other players were not on the same page as the coach.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5eeo43XNr0

[Argo57]

Wilder Jr. says he didn't like playing for Chamblin or Chapdalaine and that he and other players were not on the same page as the coach.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5eeo43XNr0

Pretty telling comments by Wilder in regards to the HC and his staff, don’t see the Argos being a preferred destination for a lot of players with Chamblin in charge.

[paulwoods13]

I said at the time and I will say again -- Wilder's refusal to play special teams showed a me-first attitude that no player should ever have. He was great in 2017 and he was good on the marketing side, but he was more interested in promoting himself than being a good teammate IMO.

[Will]

I thought that I saw somewhere (maybe in the insider column) that it was believed that Chamblin hadn't necessarily lost the room so who knows...

[Argo57]

I said at the time and I will say again -- Wilder's refusal to play special teams showed a me-first attitude that no player should ever have. He was great in 2017 and he was good on the marketing side, but he was more interested in promoting himself than being a good teammate IMO.

Wilder talks a bigger game than he produces at this point, addition by subtraction applies here.

[R.J]

So, did Wilder do enough to reach All-Time Argo status, and/or have his jersey number retired by the team ?

Asking for a friend...

[jerrym]

IMO, Wilder needs a strong OL in order to be successful. He is slow to accelerate, which allows defensive players to bring him down early in the play relatively easily, but is much tougher to stop once he gets moving. He might be successful with a team that gives him an initial hole to hit.

[argolio]

Who here said that Wilder had done enough to be an all-time Argo/have his number retired?

Asking for me.

[AngeloV]

So, did Wilder do enough to reach All-Time Argo status, and/or have his jersey number retired by the team ?

Asking for a friend...

As Roddy Piper once said to Hulk Hogan....You have a friend?

:)

[OV Argo]

I said at the time and I will say again -- Wilder's refusal to play special teams showed a me-first attitude that no player should ever have. He was great in 2017 and he was good on the marketing side, but he was more interested in promoting himself than being a good teammate IMO.


What type of coach or HC allows a player to stay on his roster who refuses to play special teams, or any other job that is asked of him by the TEAM ???

Wilder had a few very good games as an Argo; that's about it; and his cry-baby act at the end of that one season should have had him punted out of town, IMO. Argos can do wayyyyy better at RB.

[ArgoGabe22]

So, did Wilder do enough to reach All-Time Argo status, and/or have his jersey number retired by the team ?

Asking for a friend...

Wilder is surprisingly one of, if not the most productive RB for the Argos in the last 10 years (Total yards). Boyd was close, maybe a bit more rushing. Whitaker was ok and Kackert had great avg per carry but didn’t last long. The team probably averaged a new RB every two season. Dime a dozen.

[Jon Gonzo]

Wilder is surprisingly one of, if not the most productive RB for the Argos in the last 10 years (Total yards). Boyd was close, maybe a bit more rushing. Whitaker was ok and Kackert had great avg per carry but didn’t last long. The team probably averaged a new RB every two season. Dime a dozen.

Some truth here but worth pointing out that continuity is what Toronto has lacked, and it has shown itself with inconsistent seasons from season to season. Most of the best teams win with the same guy in what is a very important position. Pinball has identified consistency as one of his priorities.

[paulwoods13]

Some truth here but worth pointing out that continuity is what Toronto has lacked, and it has shown itself with inconsistent seasons from season to season. Most of the best teams win with the same guy in what is a very important position. Pinball has identified consistency as one of his priorities.


I don't disagree that Argos have lacked player continuity, but I don't think a good case can be made for continuity at running back being particularly important to team success. The most successful team of the past half-decade, Calgary, started three different RBs in its four Grey Cup appearances since 2014. The most successful RB over that span, Andrew Harris, has been with the same team for four years but made the Grey Cup only once.

[Jon Gonzo]

I don't disagree that Argos have lacked player continuity, but I don't think a good case can be made for continuity at running back being particularly important to team success. The most successful team of the past half-decade, Calgary, started three different RBs in its four Grey Cup appearances since 2014. The most successful RB over that span, Andrew Harris, has been with the same team for four years but made the Grey Cup only once.

Certainly that position is a bit of a different animal. If you get 4 years out of a career at RB, you are rockin. But I still stand by the stolidity and benefit to a program that has the RB as a long-term mainstay when at all possible.

Look at Harris or Cornish and how consistently solid those teams were in winning football games in all of Calgary, BC and Winnipeg. I dunno the West just seems to have that on us overall.

I see this as one of the contributing factors.

Even here in the East, watching Willy Powell leave Ottawa and seeing how it hurt them this past season.

Jim Popp in Montreal was very good at bringing along system ready backs like Brandon Whitaker, Tyrell Sutton and Avon Cobourne.

The East sure needs another Mike Pringle.

If they're out there and growing on trees, lets hope we can pluck one that'll give us lots of production and lots of mileage.

[R.J]

Wilder is surprisingly one of, if not the most productive RB for the Argos in the last 10 years (Total yards). Boyd was close, maybe a bit more rushing. Whitaker was ok and Kackert had great avg per carry but didn’t last long. The team probably averaged a new RB every two season. Dime a dozen.
I'd love see see more guys like Boyd and Sutton in the League (guys who don't seem to have a big issue issue running up the gut, even with crappy offensive lines), but sadly the Coaches in the CFL are currently more concerned with receiving backs. Maybe I'm just getting old, but isn't the primary job of a RUNNING back to actually run the ball ?

As I've stated previously, Wilder will always remind me of Chevon Walker, give him enough space and he'll burn you (can say that about anyone when you think about it), but horrible running up the gut, and aren't able to "make their own space".

[argolio]

Maybe I'm just getting old, but isn't the primary job of a RUNNING back to actually run the ball ?No.

[jerrym]

James Wilder Jr.'s statement about the situation on the team between players and coaches may be a classic case of a player's gripe after being release but the performance of the team this year suggests there could well be some truth in what he says.



Star running back James Wilder Jr. did not enjoy playing for Toronto Argonauts head coach Corey Chamblin or offensive coordinator Jacques Chapdelaine one bit.

“No, I didn’t. I don’t know too much about their outside lives, I’m sure they’re great men. But as a football player to football coach it was pretty tough. Usually, I’ve been playing for coaches you have that connection, you’ll be able to talk with coaches, make adjustments and they’ll adjust off you or off the team to help the team where everybody is really comfortable out there on the field,” Wilder Jr. said on The Rod Pedersen Show (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5eeo43XNr0&feature=emb_title). ...

“It’s been a few times where I’ve reached out to try to — not for selfish reasons — but just our team was losing and I was just looking out to try to have player meetings, team meetings, player-coach meetings. I called for a few of those just to try to better the team, but we were just so disconnected with the coaches and the players. Most of our team is still contracted, but 90 percent of our locker room will tell you that.” ...

“I got put on the injured list, I felt that I could play still. I told them it’s a rib that pretty much that I broke the last two years. It was just a light break, a clean break and it’s something that I thought I could play through,” Wilder Jr. said. “They felt like I couldn’t play through it. It was pretty frustrating I was coming off two 100-yard games, I felt like I was starting to get my roll going, they decided to bench me, I was a little frustrated with it, but I understood. Once the time started to come, three or four weeks later I’m like ‘yo, what’s going on?’ I’m just sitting, I’m healthy. And the Argos were just like you can come back, but you can come back on special teams. You can come back and play the special teams role, not the running back role,” Wilder Jr. said. ...

“I was like well I don’t know if that’s the wisest thing to do coming off broken ribs to be playing special teams. I can come back off of broken ribs to play a little bit of running back and mix me in as I thought it would be like, but they told me they wanted to come back and play kick-off wedge bust and all this other stuff. I didn’t think it was a wise thing to do.

“Toronto, it started off very great. We won a Grey Cup. Second year we had an injury to our quarterback [Ricky Ray], so we were a little shaken up, battled a lot of injuries, the season didn’t go as well. Individually, probably not up to my standard, but still elite in the CFL. Third year not at all to my standard, not to the team’s standard, not for the standard of the city,” Wilder Jr. said. “It was a little frustrating, mentally that took a little toll on me throughout the season. But I’m a free agent now, so hopefully be able to bring that love back and get back to those 2017-type years.” ...

“We’re waiting for the [NFL] phone calls right now. There were talks, nothing formally planned when I was under contract getting the release that there would be interest for workouts with a few teams,” Wilder Jr. said. “Right now, I’m just weighing out all the options. I’m going to try to snap out a few NFL workouts and if that doesn’t go as planned I’ll have a jump start at [CFL] free agency.”

https://3downnation.com/2019/12/04/argos-players-coaches-were-disconnected-90-percent-of-the-locker-room-would-agree-james-wilder-jr/

[Will]

I don't think many of us are fans of the coaching staff. However, I've also seen it reported (perhaps in the Insider column or elsewhere) that Chamblin never lost the room.

[AngeloV]

I don't think many of us are fans of the coaching staff. However, I've also seen it reported (perhaps in the Insider column or elsewhere) that Chamblin never lost the room.

Wilder often showed frustration (as most of us did) with some of Chamblin's in game decisions. Personally, I think it showed lack of class for Lemon to set him up with that question on the Rod Pederson show, and I sure didn't like the way Wilder handled it. I have never hid the support I had for Wilder, but sometimes you need to check your ego. Good luck to him in wrestling if he thinks the CFL is a political business.

[ArgoGabe22]

Wilder often showed frustration (as most of us did) with some of Chamblin's in game decisions. Personally, I think it showed lack of class for Lemon to set him up with that question on the Rod Pederson show, and I sure didn't like the way Wilder handled it. I have never hid the support I had for Wilder, but sometimes you need to check your ego. Good luck to him in wrestling if he thinks the CFL is a political business.

I like Wilder as a person in the community but his biggest knock is his commitment to the team. The fact he refused to play specials and I sometimes felt he was more concerned about his own brand than the team itself.

[Jon Gonzo]

Most players I know don't really warm up to players with their own merch-line complete with a catchy name-based slogan

[gilthethrill]

Most players I know don't really warm up to players with their own merch-line complete with a catchy name-based slogan

Like Come Back SZN???? Who was that player again?

[Argo57]

Wilder often showed frustration (as most of us did) with some of Chamblin's in game decisions. Personally, I think it showed lack of class for Lemon to set him up with that question on the Rod Pederson show, and I sure didn't like the way Wilder handled it. I have never hid the support I had for Wilder, but sometimes you need to check your ego. Good luck to him in wrestling if he thinks the CFL is a political business.

Maybe explains why Lemon has bounced around the league as much as he has.