Kevin Sousa/CFL.ca
A good general rule of thumb is to avoid anything that happened in 2020.
Day 1 of the 2024 edition of Free Agency stretched into the evening with an uncomfortably familiar feeling. The biggest name on the market remains unsigned, with Tim White — an immediate No. 1 option on any team in the league — still looking for a deal that appeals to him.
It was four years ago when we saw Derel Walker, a highly coveted free agent receiver, head down the same road. Reportedly the highest paid non-quarterback in the 2019 season, Walker hit the market with a hefty asking price and dug his heels in trying to have it met. Meanwhile, the Free Agency machine chugged forward and teams spent money building up their rosters. Walker ultimately went un-signed and while everyone from fans, players, coaches and league officials all missed out on the 2020 season thanks to the pandemic, Walker didn’t put his name to a contract until January, 2021. He ended up going back to the Edmonton Elks, where he started his career in 2015.
The hope (from this keyboard, specifically) is that White finds that sweet spot of getting what he wants in free agency and that he gets to go to his first choice of a team, for this year and beyond. Whenever White makes a decision about where he’ll be playing this season, it will be the biggest news of the day. Until then, we have an interesting opening day of Free Agency to break down.
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White is the third-ranked player in CFL.ca’s top 30 pending free agents list and while his fate is yet to be sorted, we did learn about the plans of the second-ranked player in that list.
#Lions signed LB Mathieu Betts.
— Detroit Lions (@Lions) February 13, 2024
Mathieu Betts heads into 2024 as a Lion, but he’s not in the CFL. The 2023 Most Outstanding Defensive Player has signed with the NFL’s Detroit Lions. The move comes on the heels of a history-making season that saw him net a record-setting 18 sacks, making him the most productive National in a single-season. Betts takes his second shot at the NFL, after he’d signed with the Chicago Bears in 2019. He heads back across the country and south of the border with some outstanding film and a great opportunity at fulfilling his NFL dream.
As we recap what happened on Tuesday, we’ll keep our focus on the teams that officially announced their signings. That means that we won’t get into a lot of deals that are reportedly in place, which makes for a relatively quiet Day 1 for teams like Ottawa, Hamilton, Winnipeg, Edmonton and BC.
Let’s dive in on the teams that made a little noise today.
We’ll start with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, who announced seven moves that help change the composition of the team. Running back AJ Ouellette, defensive back Jalon Edwards-Cooper, offensive tackle Jermarcus Hardrick, defensive end Malik Carney and linebackers Jordan and Justin Herdman-Reed (who doesn’t love a brother tandem on a team?) and Jameer Thurman all help GM Jeremy O’Day paint with broad strokes on the canvas that is the 2024 season. The Riders have missed the playoffs in consecutive seasons and have had the displeasure of closing out the last two years with seven-game losing streaks.
Envisioning a healthy Trevor Harris working with Ouellette and all of the help that Hardrick can bring to the run game, coupled with new head coach Corey Mace’s defence with the likes of Carney, Thurman, Edwards-Cooper and the Herdman-Reed brothers in it makes this a scary team on paper. In February, when that’s all we have, it’s something.
The Riders seem to be well on their way to the fresh start they’ve been after this off-season.
Matthew Shiltz brings a wealth of experience to Calgary as he heads into his seventh CFL season (Kevin Sousa/CFL.ca)
Moving one province west, we have the Calgary Stampeders. GM and head coach Dave Dickenson only added four players on Tuesday, but they could be difference makers for his roster. Demerio Houston had a league-leading seven interceptions in 2023, which should help a Calgary team that was in the middle of the pack in that category last year, with 17.
The addition of Matthew Shiltz into the Stamps’ QB stable is an interesting one. Jake Maier is the expected starter in Calgary, but Maier may find that Shiltz will push him through training camp and into the season. An experienced backup with time four years spent in Montreal before spending the last two seasons in Hamilton, Shiltz will be ready for anything that the game can throw at him. In each of his two years in Hamilton, he ended up as the quarterback on the field in the Ticats’ playoff games. Hungry to start in the CFL and now heading into his seventh season, Shiltz will be an interesting player to watch this year.
Dickenson also pulled Trevon Tate away from the Argos, adding a quality offensive lineman from a team that set the standard in QB protection last year. Finally, adding Micah Teitz is a solid move. Teitz contributes on special teams and filled in well for an injured Larry Dean in the 2021 season, where he posted a career-best 64 tackles and three sacks in 13 games.
Dickenson had said last month that his team’s lack of success — or at least the standard of it that he’s used to — would spur him into more activity than in past years this off-season. That’s proven true in his coaching staff hires as well. He added Ryan Williams as his quarterbacks coach, introducing him to the CFL after he’d spent the past six seasons at the University of Georgia.
Just a day into Free Agency, there’s still a lot of room for the Riders, Stamps and the other seven teams in the league to make significant improvements to their roster for the coming season.
The Argos were among the more quiet teams on Tuesday, but they also made an interesting signing in getting Tunde Adeleke to make the leap from Hamilton up the QEW. He was slowed by injury in 2023, but is a former All-Star and provides some ratio flexibility. Joining a team with fellow National DB Royce Metchie, the Argos could get creative with their lineup, depending where they might slot either player.
The Alouettes added to their defensive line by signing Derek Wiggan out of Calgary and made a very interesting move in getting former Roughrider Tevin Jones under contract. Jones had 882 receiving yards last year and three touchdowns. In the wake of losing star receiver Austin Mack to the Atlanta Falcons, Jones has a tremendous opportunity to build on the breakout season he had in Green and White last year.
While we wait for Ottawa and Winnipeg to jump into the mix, we know that both teams have been productive in the weeks leading into the market opening. The REDBLACKS traded for and extended Dru Brown. They signed linebacker Adarius Pickett after he got an early release by the Argos and did the same with receiver Dominique Rhymes after he parted ways with the Lions last month, while GM Shawn Burke was busy extending a number of his key players ahead of Free Agency.
The Bombers have checked off a number of key off-season objectives already, including extending the contract of GM Kyle Walters and his staff, then keeping Brady Oliveira and Dalton Schoen in Blue and Gold last week. Losing Hardrick and Houston will sting, but the coming days and weeks are where those roster holes can be addressed.
Day 1 can feel like a sprint to an outsider, but teams know that there is a marathon element to free agency.
