Arthur Ward/CFL.ca
It’s finally here! The pre-season is done and the 2018 season is upon us. We’ve seen all kinds of movement over the winter, which leaves us with just as many questions to start the season. For this week’s MMQB, though, we’ve narrowed it down to the most pressing question for each team entering the 2018 campaign.
Toronto Argonauts: Is this the last hurrah?
Quarterback Ricky Ray had the chance to author the perfect storybook ending after leading the Argos to victory in the 105th Grey Cup. However, a fairytale ending can’t be in the cards if the main character isn’t on board. Ray still has the desire and motivation to compete at the highest level, so he’s coming back for a 15th CFL season.
So is this Ray’s last stand? It would be easy to say yes as the future Hall of Famer will be 39 at the end of the season. Then again, most of us didn’t think he’d be coming back for 2018. As the reigning East Division Most Outstanding Player, we know Ray can still play at an elite level. Coming off his first healthy season in ages, I’m not ready to bank on this year being Ray’s last.
RELATED:
» Making Moves: A team-by-team look at roster cuts
» 11 moves from cutdown day and what they could mean
» Jones: Riders’ starting QB still undetermined
Bakari Grant was one of a handful of surprise cuts before Sunday’s roster deadline (Johany Jutras/CFL.ca)
Calgary Stampeders: Can Williams take the handoff?
It has been a long time since the Stamps have entered a season without a bona fide star running back. Technically, you have to go back to the 2005 season when a young Joffrey Reynolds won the starting job out of training camp and would start a run of six years with at least 1,200 rushing yards. Then came the incredible four-year run of Jon Cornish before he handed off to Jerome Messam for a few years.
Well, with Messam’s off-season departure, Calgary will enter the season without an established CFL tailback for the first time in more than a decade. But can Terry Williams keep the trend going? If his one start in 2017 is any indication, the Stamps are in pretty good shape; Williams ran for 156 yards and three touchdowns week 16 vs. Montreal. Entering year two of his pro career, Williams looks like he has the tools, so we’ll see if he can be the guy all year long.
Saskatchewan Roughriders: Change of scenery, change of fortune?
The Riders were one of the winter’s busiest teams after finishing 2017 a drive away from the Grey Cup game. Names like the aforementioned Messam and Charleston Hughes have joined Rider Nation, but the biggest addition of them all came in early January. Saskatchewan’s addition of quarterback Zach Collaros was one of the biggest moves of the off-season, and now we get to find out if it’ll pay off.
As we know, Collaros had a miserable 2017 season with Hamilton and lost his starting job midway through the season. He was frustrated, the team was frustrated, and it seemed like it was time to for both sides to go in different directions. A change of scenery can be a powerful thing, but only if the player in question still has it. We’ll find out soon if new digs can help Collaros turn back the clock.
Edmonton Eskimos: Is this the CFL’s top offence?
The Eskimos have possessed the league’s top aerial attack for the last two years running and, with Mike Reilly at the helm, I don’t see anything changing in that regard this year. The real question for me is whether or not Edmonton is ready to take on the mantle of the CFL’s most terrifying offence overall. They definitely have the personnel to make it so.
With Reilly at quarterback, you can be pretty sure the Esks will be deadly through the air, even with the departures of Brandon Zylstra and Adarius Bowman. Reilly is still passing to guys like Derel Walker, Duke Williams, and Bryant Mitchell after all. But it’s the fact CJ Gable is in the fold all year long that really intrigues me. The Esks were a totally different offence following Gable’s acquisition from Hamilton and having him for the entire year makes this team even scarier.
Esks QB Mike Reilly is looking to repeat as the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player (Jason Halstead/CFL.ca)
Ottawa REDBLACKS: Are we adding another name to the list of elite quarterbacks?
Ricky Ray. Bo Levi Mitchell. Mike Reilly. These are the three guys who have occupied consistent spots when talking about the CFL’s “elite” group of quarterbacks. There’s one guy who I believe is pretty close to being in the group, though, if he’s not there already. Ottawa’s Trevor Harris has been nothing but consistent in recent years and 2018 might be the year he truly gets appreciated.
Since signing with the REDBLACKS for the 2016 season, Harris has been ridiculously effective. He’s thrown 46 touchdowns against just 15 interceptions, a ratio no other pivot can touch during that span. Harris is accurate, efficient, and finishes drives with touchdowns and I think is poised for a star-making 2018 season.
Winnipeg Blue Bombers: Can they get over the hump?
The Bombers looked to be lost in the wilderness as the 2016 season got underway. The team had missed the playoffs for four straight seasons and six of the last seven, and was off to a 1-4 start. But head coach Mike O’Shea’s decision to install Matt Nichols at quarterback helped turned things around and ushered in a new era in Winnipeg. Now it’s time for this team to get over the next hurdle.
The Bombers have put together two consecutive playoff seasons and were deserving of their spots both years. But they haven’t won a playoff game. Winnipeg has gone out in the Western Semi-Final in tough fashion the last two years, so is this the year they finally get over? They’ll have to withstand an injury to Nichols in the early going, but they’ve got the playmakers on both sides of the ball for the answer to be yes.
BC Lions: Is Jonathon Jennings for real?
Jennings looked like he was on the cusp of becoming a star at the end of the 2016 season. BC’s hotshot quarterback had engineered an incredible final drive to beat the Bombers in that year’s Western Semi-Final and things looked to be pointed in the right direction. But 2017 was tough for Jennings and it leaves us wondering what we’ll see in year three as a number one.
Jennings was off to a decent enough start before going down with injury in Week 4 of last season, but he just wasn’t very good upon his return a few weeks later. In his final 11 appearances, Jennings threw 17 interceptions against just 14 touchdowns as the Lions limped to a 7-11 finish. This guy has all the tools you could ask for: a strong arm, quick feet, confidence, and vision. But can he put it all together in 2018?
Jonathon Jennings is looking to bounce back from the first big snag of his career (Jimmy Jeong/CFL.ca)
Hamilton Tiger-Cats: Is it Masoli time?
EVERYONE is talking about Johnny Manziel right now, but Jeremiah Masoli is Hamilton’s starting quarterback starting the 2018 season. The Tiger-Cats felt comfortable trading Zach Collaros to the Riders thanks almost entirely to what Masoli accomplished in the second half of last season. This guy has worked hard, earned his stripes (excuse the pun), and has been rewarded with a number one job. Can he make the most of it?
Masoli went 6-4 as a starter upon taking over for Collaros and played the best football of his professional career. In those 10 starts, he threw just four interceptions and went over 300 yards in his last five games. Masoli showed me he was finally ready for a starting gig in this league, but 10 games is not a whole season. I’m quite confident he can get the job done, but until he does, Masoli is still Hamilton’s biggest question mark.
Montreal Alouettes: How long will it take for things to come together?
There are some things to like about Montreal’s off-season after a disastrous 2017 season, especially on the defensive side of the ball. They’ve added big name players like Henoc Muamba, Tommie Campbell, and Joe Burnett and, once again, their defensive group looks like it should be the strength of their team. But how long will it take for this group to gel?
Due to some unfortunate circumstances, the Alouettes lost defensive coordinator Kahlil Carter last month. Luckily, CFL veteran Rich Stubler was there to step in and we know he can get the job done, but that’s still a really late change. Add that to the departures of Kyries Hebert and Jonathon Mincy and I wonder if it might take a few weeks for this Montreal defence to find their groove.
