Nye: A team-by-team look at 2019 free agency in the West

Jamie Nye

CFL.ca

@jamienye

With the market set to open on February 12, fans and media alike are buzzing over the possibilities of 2019 Free Agency.

CFL.ca’s Jamie Nye takes an early look at each team’s pending free agents in the West Division.

WINNIPEG (32 free agents)

OFFENCE

Matt Nichols and Chris Streveler are under contract. Andrew Harris is signed. Then the bad news; two-time top offensive lineman Stanley Bryant as well as centre Matthias Goossen, Sukh Chungh and Michael Couture are all pending free agents with Weston Dressler, Nic Demski joining them. It’s not by any means the worst situation but Kyle Walters to be true to his ‘Canadian mafia’ persona has to be putting those national offensive linemen high on the priority list.

DEFENCE

Will the Bombers re-sign 2018’s Most Outstanding Defensive Player? (Dave Chidley/CFL.ca)

Now things get interesting. Adam Bighill, Jovan Santos-Knox, Ian Wild, Kyrie Wilson is an incredibly group of linebackers that are all pending free agents. Then you have Jackson Jeffcoat, Tristan Okpalaugo and Drake Nevis that are starting defensive linemen heading to free agency with Kevin Fogg, Brandon Alexander and Taylor Loffler big names in the secondary that could come free in February.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Kicker Justin Medlock, long snapper Chad Rempel and returner Fogg are all on the Bombers list as well.

OVERALL

Kyle Walters has his work cut out for him. And some of it is his national depth being tested, with the offensive line as well as Taylor Loffler, make them must signs for Walters this off-season. There are plenty of other depth Canadians I haven’t mentioned that Walters has to lock up. The decision at linebacker starts at Adam Bighill and then he can go from there. Bighill was such a major impact on the defence that Walters should be able to spend money there and if need be fill with younger and less expensive players.

SASKATCHEWAN (26 free agents)

OFFENCE

The big story for the Riders will be who plays quarterback next year. David Watford is the only quarterback under contract with Zach Collaros, Brandon Bridge and Drew Tate are pending free agents. Naaman Roosevelt and Patrick Lavoie are veteran receivers who clearly helped the group around them develop, though Lavoie was a late addition. The best thing Chris Jones has done is lock up his offensive line. Only Josiah St. John is a pending free agent.

DEFENCE

Can the Riders strike a deal with defensive end Willie Jefferson? (Arthur Ward/CFL.ca)

Chris Jones’ bread and butter is a fast aggressive defence and the list is full of players who helped Jones get just that this season. Willie Jefferson is where it starts, then moves to Samuel Eguavoen to Mike Edem, Louchiez Purifoy and Tobi Antigha. From there you see Zack Evans and Sam Hurl as more nationals that helped contribute this season, though Hurl started losing time to sophomore Cameron Judge. Evans heads a group of defensive tackles in Mic’hael Brooks, Makana Henry, Eddie Steele and Cory Johnson that Jones will be looking at signing.

OVERALL

Quarterback! Chris Jones has to make the decision because what he does there may impact how he can budget to sign others. There are a lot of priority guys on defence but that may depend on NFL opportunities more than it does on if they want to return to Saskatchewan. Jones has built a winning a player friendly culture that should help in bringing the players back that he wants.

CALGARY (37 free agents)

OFFENCE

Will Bo Levi Mitchell head south to pursue NFL opportunities? (Johany Jutras/CFL.ca)

Bo Levi Mitchell. Say no more than that. Stampeder fans have to be nervous with the NFL teams lining up to work out the two-time Grey Cup champion. The Stamps may not have much control on this crucial piece to the puzzle to try and repeat. From there you see the receivers Marken Michel, Eric Rogers, Kamar Jorden, DaVaris Daniels, Lemar Durant and Juwan Brescacin. We saw how the injured to many of these players impacted the offence so John Hufnagel is sure to bring some of them back, especially the two Canadians Durant and Brescacin. Hufnagel also has priorities on the offensive line with Shane Bergman, Brad Erdos, Spencer Wilson, Ucambre Williams and Randy Richards all pending free agents.

DEFENCE

Like Mitchell on offence, Alex Singleton’s NFL opportunities likely impact the Stampeders more than other CFL teams. The Stampeders entire defence has major players on their free agent list. Micah Johnson, Ja’Gared Davis, Jameer Thurman, Jamar Wall, Ciante Evans, Tunde Adeleke and Brandon Smith are among the biggest names that could sign elsewhere. That is a big corps of the group that led the best defence in the league to a Grey Cup.

OVERALL

With a Grey Cup win comes players who want more money and we’ve seen Calgary and John Hufnagel survive by picking out the aging veterans and moving on. However, this core group in Calgary is among the youngest it may have ever been under Hufnagel so it’ll be interesting to see what he does. Of course, they’ll await NFL teams saying yes or no to their quarterbacks; Mitchell on offence and Singleton on defence. It could be a major shift in the West Division if the ball doesn’t bounce their way this off-season.

EDMONTON (36 free agents)

OFFENCE

Where will Mike Reilly end up in 2019? (Johany Jutras/CFL.ca)

Like their neighbours to the south, it starts at quarterback. Mike Reilly’s choice on what to do with his career could impact where the careers of Jason Maas and Brock Sunderland go as a head coach and general manager. Along with Reilly, the Eskimos have big names in the receiving corps that are pending with Duke Williams and Derel Walker headlining the group that also includes Kenny Stafford, Bryant Mitchell, Sam Giguere and Nate Behar. Like Saskatchewan, the Eskimos have done a good job locking up offensive linemen with Justin Sorenson and Travis Bond the biggest name offensive linemen on their list.

DEFENCE

Kwaku Boateng, Jake Ceresna, Aaron Grymes, Forest Hightower, Chris Edwards and Brandyn Thompson are the big names facing Sunderland this winter. Which, in reality, is one of the best situations for a general manager when he looks at his defensive depth chart.

OVERALL

It’s all about Mike Reilly to start. If Sunderland doesn’t get Reilly to paper before February, he has to start looking at what his plan B is. However, if Reilly doesn’t sign it’ll allow Sunderland to spread money around. We know Sunderland doesn’t want to see plan B. Aside from Reilly, I like where Sunderland sits going into free agency. He has a clear Canadian to sign in Kwaku Boateng and some receivers to lock up but overall, despite the amount of free agents, it could be a lot worse for the Eskimos.

BC (37 free agents)

OFFENCE

Will the Lions lock up veteran quarterback Travis Lulay? (Johany Jutras/CFL.ca)

This may be one of the worst offensive situations for a team to deal with going into the off-season in terms of pending free agents. The Lions have Travis Lulay and Jonathon Jennings as pending free agents. They have Emmanuel Arceneaux, Bryan Burnham, DeVier Posey, Shaq Johnson, Cory Watson and Ricky Collins Jr. as receivers heading to free agency. Then you add running backs Jeremiah Johnson, Chris Rainey and Tyrell Sutton to that. Oh and don’t forget about the offensive linemen; Jovon Olafioye, Joel Figueroa, Hunter Steward, and Cody Husband. Ed Hervey is going to be tested.

DEFENCE

It doesn’t get much better, especially in the secondary. T.J. Lee, Anthony Orange, Otha Foster, Winston Rose, Garry Peters and Anthony Thompson are all pending free agents. National Bo Lokombo, Micah Awe and Shawn Lemon are the big names in the front seven that Hervey will be paying attention to.

SPECIAL TEAMS

The team’s MOP, Ty Long is a pending free agent as well.

OVERALL

It appears every one in the West, except Winnipeg has quarterback as priority No. 1 to figure out. Hervey then needs to continue to keep solidifying his offensive line. He did well last year but work needs to be done. He will have tough decisions to make across the offence and defence with veterans and internationals to boot. These are the players that you see hit the open market due to salary cap reasons more than anything. I’d think Hervey would want to lock up a large majority of the secondary as the group really started to gel later in the season. What he does in the receiving corps will be intriguing as Hervey, being a former receiver, knows exactly what he wants in that group.

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