The Montreal Alouettes have used Day 2 of training camp to create a CFL-wide free-agent frenzy.
The Monday morning release of all-star linebacker Bear Woods either has GMs across the league reaching for their phones or huddling with their staffs to see if they could afford to add a suddenly available elite player to their rosters.
A two-time winner of the East Division’s Most Outstanding Defensive Player (2014, 2016), the 30-year-old Woods is in his football-playing prime, coming off the best season of his career. He had 126 tackles, five quarterback sacks, two interceptions and forced three fumbles in 18 games last year. The six-foot, 245-pounder would be an immediate impact player for any team in the league.
While the Alouettes began to move forward, putting Anthony Sarao in the vacant middle linebacker spot, Woods’ search for his new CFL home begins.
Here’s a look at some of the top potential candidates for him:
TORONTO
The Argos are a fit, both in personnel and in their needs. Jim Popp signed Woods in Montreal in 2011, so there’s a familiarity there with both the GM and head coach Marc Trestman.
On the field, where the Argos had the worst run-defence in the league last season (2,074 yards allowed/115.2 yards per game) and were near the bottom of almost ever defensive category, Woods would be an energized addition that could get in the face of the league’s top running backs after they grew accustomed to galloping up and down the field against them.
Jim Popp confirms that he has already inquired about the possibility of Bear Woods coming to Toronto. Waiting for further talks. #Argos #CFL
— Mike Hogan (@tsnmikehogan) May 29, 2017
BC
BC Lions head coach and GM Wally Buono said after his team wrapped its first practice on Sunday that they’re not trying to find the next Adam Bighill; they’re just looking for the next great football player that can play that position.
Buono sounded happy with the young linebackers he has looking to fill Bighill’s spot, not to mention the Lions are blessed with another perennial all-star linebacker in Solomon Elimimian. Still, if the Lions could make it work financially, they’d be poised to have another tandem of linebackers that could combine for 200 tackles in a season again.
SASKATCHEWAN
If a Bear is released into the CFL wild and the Riders aren’t mentioned in a spec piece, is it even a spec piece?
That’s not a knock on Saskatchewan. Chris Jones is trying to build a winner and he’ll look at every option available to him in that process, which is what good GMs do. Much like the Argos, the Riders frequented the bottom half of the league’s defensive stats last season, with stopping the run being an especially tough area for them. Woods would be a tremendous pickup for a team that’s hungry to put an unenjoyable 2016 season behind it.
WINNIPEG
The middle linebacker spot is an open and ongoing battle at Bombers’ camp, after management let Khalil Bass walk in free agency this winter. While Kyle Walters & co. are excited about the players they have auditioning for that spot right now, Woods’ sudden availability could have them at least thinking about if a little roster juggling is possible.
Woods could thrive in Richie Hall’s system and play that quarterback-of-the-defence role to a tee, giving them as much or more production than Bass did in Winnipeg.
