The news is still somewhat unbelievable. Duron Carter, the Riders’ MOP nominee last season and one of the biggest natural talents in the CFL, is a free agent after being cut by Saskatchewan Saturday night.
So what comes next? If you looked at talent and on-field production alone, the league’s other eight teams would be lining up to make a play to pull in the 27-year-old receiver (and part-time defensive back).
Carter told Justin Dunk of 3 Down Nation that he’d be meeting with Montreal and that Toronto, BC and Hamilton had reached out to him.
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Those teams do so knowing that with Carter, the equation has never just been talent and on-field production. There are off-field issues, an ongoing legal issue and as we saw in Carter’s time spent in Montreal and Saskatchewan last year, the possibility of altercations in practice.
For what it’s worth, Carter has no problem playing through the noise that he creates, piling up 4,031 yards and 26 touchdowns over his 65 games played in the CFL. But noise is just that and while Carter can deal with it, it wears down those around you. Eventually those people will make changes, regardless of how many one-handed touchdown passes you can catch, or how many pick-sixes you can offer to a defence.
While the lineup for his services shrinks with each release, Carter’s talent will continue to draw people to him. The thought of one of the teams in pursuit of him is that being cut will provide extra motivation to show the Riders what they’re missing out on. While Carter could become problematic in the long-term, he’d likely sign a contract for the duration of this season and go into free-agency in 2019, with the team thinking they could work through any hiccups they might encounter through the rest of this season.
Each team interested in Carter provide unique opportunities for him.
Carter would be needed the most in Montreal or Toronto. Shortly after acquiring a veteran target in Adarius Bowman for QB Johnny Manziel, the Als would love to put an elite playmaking receiver like Carter on the field with him. This would be Carter’s second go-round in Montreal and it didn’t end well the first time. The Als also hold the league’s worst record, now at 1-7 after their Saturday loss to Ottawa. Good teams can roll with and work through distractions. Young, struggling teams can’t.
In Toronto, Carter would reunite with GM Jim Popp, who brought him into the CFL with the Als in 2013. The Argos would love to add some depth to their receiving corps. S.J. Green leads the team with 419 yards and has running back James Wilder Jr. behind him, with 322 yards. Adding Carter to that lineup could add some productivity and unpredictability to the offence of a team still misses Grey Cup MVP DeVier Posey.
The only West team in the mix for Carter, the Lions offer him the chance to play with a great quarterback in Travis Lulay and the presence of two CFL vets that could try to guide him to the next stage in his career, in Wally Buono and Ed Hervey. Staying in the West, Carter would face the Riders twice more this season (Aug. 25 in BC and Oct. 27 in Regina). If he could join the team without making waves, adding Carter could be a big boost for a team that’s trying to fight its way up the standings in the West.
As they showed in their pursuit of Johnny Manziel, the Ticats aren’t afraid to offer a player with a checkered past a chance at a clean slate. Carter could thrive in June Jones’ offence, which in just 10 games last year produced three 1,000-plus-yard receivers in Jalen Saunders, Luke Tasker and Brandon Banks. Carter as a piece of that type of high-octane offence would be fascinating to watch. Adding him could help jolt the Ticats out of the 3-5 start they’ve had to the season.
Laced throughout these what-ifs is the reality of the situation. Teams don’t drop a 1,000-yard receiver that can contribute in all three phases of the game without reason. Carter is one of the most interesting personalities and talents to ever play in the CFL. As Jamie Nye told CFL.ca Saturday night, Carter has NFL talent, but the negative extras that he brings to a team are still, four years in, outweighing that ability. The next team that takes him on could be providing him his last shot in the CFL.
