CFL Fantasy Podcast, Ep. 31: The future is now

CFL.ca Staff

TORONTO — Riders and Alouettes fans will see another glimpse of their future this weekend, as Cody Fajardo and Vernon Adams Jr. take to the field with something to prove.

While Fajardo leaps off the Fantasy radar as the most-picked quarterback entering Week 3, Adams isn’t quite garnering the same attention as he takes over for the injured Antonio Pipkin.

For Hannah Nordman and Jeff Krever, however, both pivots offer low-salary, high-upside potential worth considering.

“I want in on the whole exciting, young quarterback game that’s been going on,” said Nordman, who’s buying hype on Fajardo. “I feel like I missed out last week, I didn’t take a chance and I want to roll the dice a little bit. I’m actually reassured to see how many people are on the same wavelength as me.”

Fajardo threw for 360 yards and two touchdowns in his first career start, adding a third major on the ground. Adams played in Week 1 and threw for for 134 yards and a touchdown on 7-of-10 passing.

“This is an opportunity for Vernon Adams to take the starting job and run with it,” said Krever. “I think that means something going into this week. I think he plays with that chip on his shoulder and hey, this might be the last and best opportunity he’s had to say ‘I’m the starter for this football team, I’m a full-time CFL starting quarterback and I’m never going to be on the bench again’.”

You can hear the entire debate in this week’s CFL Fantasy Podcast presented by LeoVegas:

For the Riders, Fajardo offers hope for the future. Fans didn’t know what they had in Fajardo, who’s on his third CFL team and is known first and foremost for his scrambling ability. But last week the 27-year-old did much of the work with his arm, helping the Riders put up 41 points in a close loss to the REDBLACKS.

“He almost got pulled from that game,” said Nordman. “He was one series away from getting pulled. Harker was warming up. A three-play drive kept him in that game and he never looked back. It was exciting. There are points to be had there, and he is cheap. The world is your oyster when your quarterback is under $7,000.”

The public is leaning heavily on the Riders going into Week 3. Six of the 20 most-chosen players in Fantasy line up for Saskatchewan, including Fajardo, William Powell and receivers Kyran Moore and Naaman Roosevelt. The Riders are challenging an Argos team coming off a 50-point loss to the Ticats, in which they surrendered a total of 64 points.

Even after the one-sided loss, Steinberg isn’t quite ready to pick on the Argos just yet.

“I think that there’s a lot of people who see the Argos gave up 64 points against Hamilton last week and are ready to pick on them,” he said. “I get it. I’m interested to see how the Argos bounce back. That is not going to sit well with that defence, a defensive group that has some pretty proud and impressive playmakers on it.

“Going on the road against a Saskatchewan team that is feeling pretty good about their offence, I wonder if we don’t see a completely different looking Toronto defence this week.”

In Montreal, the Alouettes are a forgotten team in Fantasy this week. Not one of their players has cracked the 20 most chosen, making for an interesting contrarian play in Week 3.

“If the Ticats are putting up points, the Als are going to put the ball in the air,” said Krever. “VA is going to throw a lot, he’s going to go vertical, he’s going to run. At that price I think it’s a risk worth taking.

“The Alouettes’ receivers are still underrated, good playmakers there. I think there’s a chance Adams does something big this week. It’s time. It’s big play VA and he’s ready to get that Alouettes offence flying.”

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