Jason Halstead/CFL.ca
I’m anticipating 2017 CFL free agency even more than I was one year ago when the 2016 class was stacked with high-end talent. One year later we might be talking about the most talent ripe group of free agents we’ve ever seen available to the highest bidder.
Free agency opens on Tuesday and you can bet it’ll get started with a bang.
2016 revisited
The winner of last year’s free agent frenzy was the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, hands down. Before we look ahead at what we might see come Feb. 14, let’s take a look at how 2016’s busiest team went about its business.
We knew the Bombers were going to make a huge splash in free agency one year ago and they wasted no time in doing so. Winnipeg had a lot of cap room and a desire to turn things around on the field dramatically. As such, the Bombers signed added six new players on day one of 2016 free agency and transformed their team in the snap of a finger.
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Now, as has been proven many times, throwing balled up wads of cash at a bunch of players doesn’t always work as a strategy to improve your team. Luckily, Bombers general manager Kyle Walters went about his business a little more strategically and he knocked the ball out of the park.
Just how successful was Walters with his work in free agency? Well, five of the six players he signed started Winnipeg’s Western Semi-Final showdown with the BC Lions. Furthermore, the Bombers wouldn’t have been in that position had it not been for those new faces and the work they did all season long.
Running back Andrew Harris is the obvious player you turn your eye to when thinking about Winnipeg’s busy February. Harris did what we’ve come to expect from the outstanding Canadian: he was a force on the ground and a dangerous threat in the passing game. Harris finished the season with more than 1,500 total offensive yards for the fourth time in his career while only playing in 15 regular season games. Suffice to say, the Bombers got what they wanted from their native son.
It went beyond just Harris, though. The Bombers signed receiver Ryan Smith and he helped give the team a shot in the arm in the 11 games he played in. Oh, and if you’ve read this column before, you know how I feel about kicker Justin Medlock. Mr. Money led the CFL with 60 successful field goals in his first year with the Bombers, and at 88.2 per cent was the league’s second most accurate kicker. Had it not been for a rough first few games, that percentage would have been a whole lot higher.
Bombers running back Andrew Harris was a marquee signing this time last year (Jimmy Jeong/CFL.ca)
Don’t forget about the other side of the ball, though. Winnipeg’s signings of defensive tackles Keith Shologan and Euclid Cummings immediately and drastically improved their front four. Both players appeared in all 18 games for the Bombers and both players started the team’s most important game in years against the Lions.
As I mentioned earlier, free agency is no slam-dunk and 2016 was no different. Saskatchewan, for instance, didn’t get the return it was hoping for from big time signing Justin Capicciotti; in fact he didn’t even finish the season with the Riders. At least one team this month will spend a lot of money and get a whole lot less to show for it than desired.
The obvious and assumed risks of free agency don’t diminish what Winnipeg did one year ago, though. The Bombers had the room and had the cash and Walters made sure he made his shots count. There were a few different factors leading to their impressive 2016 turnaround and their work in free agency is absolutely one of them.
Strike two down
You can put a dash through a pair of big name free agent receivers prior to things opening up on Tuesday. First, it was Ottawa locking up one of its three potential studs at the position when it brought back Greg Ellingson. That was followed by BC’s important, but not overly surprising, re-signing of Bryan Burnham after his breakout campaign.
Amazingly, it looked like the REDBLACKS were going to enter free agency tomorrow with their three leading receivers from last year unsigned. Ellingson, Ernest Jackson, and Chris Williams, in that order, led Ottawa in receiving yards last season and all three of them were in the league’s top seven in the same category. Losing all three would have been a travesty so getting at least one of them locked up before the start of free agency was crucial for the REDBLACKS.
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Greg Ellingson (right) will be reunited with Brad Sinopoli (left) after signing a new deal (Johany Jutras/CFL.ca)
It could be argued Ellingson should have been Ottawa’s highest priority, too. While Jackson was the team’s, and East Division’s, nominee for Most Outstanding Player last season, Ellingson led the team in yards and is also the youngest of the trio. You can understand why the defending Grey Cup champs might have had him at the top of their re-signing list.
Burnham, on the other hand, is coming off one heck of a season where he helped make up the CFL’s second most dangerous receiving duo. Alongside Emmanuel Arceneaux, the pair combined for just under 3,000 receiving yards and finished third and fourth in the league in the same category individually.
2016 truly was a coming out party for Burnham as he established himself as one of the CFL’s most consistent big play threats. Burnham led the league averaging 17.6 yards per reception and did so while making himself a regular feature on weekly highlight reels.
Getting Burnham back is huge for the Lions and their offensive continuity and he’ll enter the season with more big things expected. With Derel Walker no longer in Edmonton, at least to start the season, Burnham and Arceneaux will enter the season as the league’s top duo at the position.
Airing it out
Even with Ellingson and Burnham off the market, we’re still talking about an absolute who’s who of elite receivers still available when free agency kicks off on Tuesday morning. I can’t remember any league, football or otherwise, having so many players in such a high profile position up for grabs like we’re seeing with free agent receivers this year, and I think teams are going to take full advantage.
I’ll use three examples to make my point. Jackson is the easy one, of course. As mentioned, he was the East Division’s Most Outstanding Player nominee and was one of only four receivers to finished with double digit touchdown catches at the end of the year. This guy is just sitting there ready for a team to make him an offer he can’t refuse!
Then there’s Williams, who was also one of those four receivers with 10 or more touchdowns last season. The explosive receiver likely would have led the REDBLACKS in receiving yards, too, had he not gone down with an injury late in the season. Heck, Marshall Ferguson argued (and won) against me early in the season when pitting Williams, his pick, against Adarius Bowman as to who is the league’s best receiver. This guy is free to sign with anyone come Tuesday!
Despite a late season-ending injury, Chris Williams is one of free agency’s big names (Johany Jutras/CFL.ca)
Let’s not forget about Marquay McDaniel, either. There are some who believe the shifty and ultra reliable slotback was Calgary’s most important offensive player not named Bo Levi Mitchell last season. Of course, the Stampeders only scored the 586 points last season, the most in the league, and one of their linchpins is also very likely to be totally up for grabs.
Jackson, Williams, and McDaniel lead the way in this stupidly talented class of free agent receivers, but they’re not the only talented names up for grabs. When you start throwing Diontae Spencer and Kenny Shaw into the mix, well, you’ve got the makings of an expensive few days.
