Atomic

Awesome stuff today guys, thanks

As mentioned, Neufeld and Harris were sitting out today. The first-team offence was : Matthews-Washington-Adams-Demski-Wolitarsky Bryant-Desjarlais-Couture-Gray-Hardrick Nichols at QB, Augustine at RB. I had a tougher time nailing down the second team offence, but it definitely had OIiveira at RB, Streveler at QB, Simonise and Petermann as receivers. Looked like the other receiver spots were Rasheed Bailey, Kenny Lawler, and Tim Wilson but I'm not 100% sure on those ones... I think they might have switched it up a couple times. The OL looked like Speller at centre, Koczwara at guard, and Briggs/Baker on at the tackle spots... couldn't see who else was at guard. I can't give you the defence at the moment, I was locked in on the offence most of the time. Derek Jones was definitely the #1 safety and he is looking slim, trim and healthy. Great to see. One thing I can say for certain is that we are going to be absolutely deadly in the redzone with both Darvin Adams and Chris Matthews. Already some chemistry developing between Nichols and Matthews. Wolitarsky looked great as well, Bauming tweeted out his huge catch to start off the practice. Hardrick grabbed the ball right after and tried to punt it into the crowd but it went straight up instead... that got a big laugh from everyone. Love that guy. I'm interested to see if we can find room for one of Larry Rose III or John Santiago... both looked really quick but they were not getting reps in the first two offence units. Rose III in particular I thought looked pretty dangerous. As expected, Bennett was running with the third team offence but surrendered some reps to McGuire as well. Sawyer Buettner actually got one rep which I was surprised to see. It was an overthrow that almost got picked but good for the kid getting some action in. Should be lots of good competition at returner and the hands team gets a boost with the additions of Chris Matthews and Willie Jefferson... yes Willie Jefferson. 6'6" with receiver experence and he was getting some reps in on specials. The returner competition looked like it involves Charles Nelson, Lucky Whitehead, and John Santiago.... definitely a few other guys back there too but it was hard to see exactly who. Nic Demski is still involved as well. Overall it was very much a "day 1" outing... hard to get a good read on anyone and it's wise not to jump to any conclusions. The starters looked best.... Wolitarsky, Nichols, Matthews, Adams. Augustine looked comfortable at RB and Oliveira is going to have to win that backup job from him... don't see Augustine letting go without a fight. If I had to pick one new receiver who showed well it would be Kenny Lawler... looks like he has pretty good hands and I like his build as well... looks like a pro receiver to me. Nice day for some football. Noticed they have ripped all the seats out in the northeast and southeast corners in the lower bowl. Not sure what that's all about.

I should add that Santiago has return experience and I would expect him to get a look there as well, so that could help his chances.

Pretty neat to have both Santiago and Oliveira up here. Santiago had an insane freshman year in 2015 with 1459 rush yards and 16 TDs but then his numbers came down over the next few years as Oliveira took more and more reps. The unfortunate thing for Santiago now is that he would have to be absolutely phenomenal to make the team as there isn't really room for an American RB. Meanwhile Oliveira is all but guaranteed a spot.

Perhaps. Boundary CB is a pretty crucial spot and I'd argue you try to fill that one before field HB. But you may be right.

Yeah but when is the last time you tipped me for my great content???

I used to work in the restaurant industry and there would be the odd regular customer who would come in and complain about everything and tip nothing or close to it. We couldn't ban them because they weren't breaking any rules but all the servers and bartenders hated them. We couldn't ban them but it was also like, man if all you do is complain, why do you keep coming back? I never really understood.

That's an interesting scenario. I am going to head out to the forest and consider it among the trees and wildlife. I'll get back to you with my conclusion when I return.

Had to go to their roster page to check out who they got right now and I am struggling to come up with a frontrunner for the job. Worst QB situation in the league by a mile. I actually like Vernon Adams but damn... I wouldn't go into the season counting on him as the starter. And I feel like they are probably leaning towards Pipkin which I am almost positive would be a disaster. Honestly I think Jeff Mathews might be the best QB they have but I don't see that happening.

You think a Canadian is going to sign up to start and then fake an injury? Seems pretty gutless.

I just don't see any real viable way out of it. If you want someone to take on that contract you have to be offering serious assets along with it... high picks, star players. If I am the GM of Edmonton I'm doing everything I can to just get some value out of Lucic. Private trainer, sports psychologist, whatever it takes. He was a good player at one point and I think he still could be, with a lot of work. He will never be worth 6M but maybe you can get the production of a 4M player out of him... 40 points in a third line role... it's still not ideal but I think you can work around that. Not that I give a **** about the Oilers but I like a good redemption story and I find their current situation intriguing.

Such an interesting situation last year going into the season with Fenner/Leggett at SAM, two legit starters up to that point, and then Gaitor ends up taking and holding onto the job. I posted my projection in a different thread but I could see Gaitor keeping the SAM job, Fenner taking over at field HB and Sayles taking one of the cornerback spots.

Not surprised... it's a wacky idea that will only lead to complication.

CBA not finalized.... talks re-open...

I expect Fenner to be a starter. Not sure what position. Circumstances ended up preventing him from starting last year but I don't see how you can pay an American that much to just be a DI.

And then he won Most Valuable Canadian in the Grey Cup

There was hype?

My darkhorse for the open receiver spot is Garrett Johnson. He has the characteristics of a speedy possession type receiver and has great credentials coming from the University of Kentucky. Hoping to get out and watch some football Sunday or Monday and I'll be watching the receivers and defensive backs closest... some interesting battles there. Lots of people penciling Humes and Rose in at the cornerback spots but I also wouldn't be surprised if we saw at least one raw rookie taking a spot there. Exciting times, football is back...

I think we'll see big changes if we have another good regular season and bomb in the playoffs. I don't see how you can keep everyone together after anything less than a Grey Cup appearance, if not a victory. Pressure is on!

Not sure Dylan Schrot will get a real chance but he is a legit star for the Bisons. Hope he gets some game reps in preseason.

Generally it seems like when we decide that all three of our rostered QBs are so good they are above competition is when everything comes crashing down. Remember going into 2012 we re-signed Pierce, Brink, and Elliott and apparently our QB depth was the best it had been in decades. Again in 2017 when we had Nichols, Lefevour and Dom Davis. Best QB depth in decades. Both years turned out our QB depth was a joke. I don't mean to be overly negative but I just get a bad feeling... if Nichols has another year like last year and Streveler has a sophomore slump........

Jones didn't get hurt til game 3 and didn't see the field on defence at all so I really don't think he won the safety job. I believe that he had a good camp but there was never any doubt who would be starting at safety.

Essentially the entire defence, IMO. Definitely got some talent on offence but I don't see anything at DE or LB worth getting excited about. Your secondary is a who's who of "who?"

I'd be shocked if Eli plays this year... I'm still looking at him like a bonus if he ever works out. But the potential is certainly there.