Sun reporting that we tried to swipe Beaulieu-Richard off Ham's PR to no avail...  game three and still haven't found the NI LB/DL.

 

So many chances to draft/pick up NI depth - and yes Stephan could be a good player but we knew he was out of football and had an injury history...  I would trade our 'futures picks' for NI ST depth right now.

 

Labbe as our backup cost us big time - he was abused.  He used to be 'almost fast enough' now he is just slow.

 

We use up 7 NI roster spots on OL, two NI RBs and a fullback and use our DI at RB...  honestly, does anyone see us starting Volny or Woodson ever?

 

Its time to put all our DIs back on Defence (as only D will win us games this year)... why not look at Markett as a return guy?

 

And, of course - (broken record alert) - is the drop from Boatman to Swiston really enough to justify using an import at RT???  I mean, c'mon - I know we're goo-goo about Pencer but Swiston has just as much potential to be a ratio-breaker...  6 sacks, a bunch of hurries and only two big running plays - what do we have to lose?  At least, he would free up ratio space.

It's not possible to dress a strong backup at every single position. You're basically afforded the ability to dress a "strong" backup at 3 spots plus whatever good Canadians you happen to have as backups and there aren't many of those around the league.

 

As far as upside goes, I'd rather have guys like Hurl or Edem than Labbe. No doubt. As a gameday backup at this point? Not so sure. Edem and Hurl will bring rookie mistakes. Labbe may not be the most athletic or physically capable but he's responsible out there and if he's called upon in a bind, he knows his assignments.

 

I don't think your opinion of Labbe is very accurate, to be honest. He's not spectacular but that's why he's a Canadian backup. He's able to fill multiple positions if necessary. Could any of those other guys you mentioned fill the middle if called upon and still be able to do everything expected of that position as far as calling out assignments, etc? Labbe can. Not so sure those guys would be able to do that.

 

I think it's a case where you've seen Labbe on this roster for so long and he's so mediocre that unless he's making a mistake, he's not standing out so all you remember are the bad things he's done.

 

Um Brouillette can play MLB, S and OLB... but anyway...

 

I was cheering for Labbe in 2011, honest.  But he just doesn't have it - we now know this...   this season, so far he looks like he's lost a step.  I would have bought your Labbe argument in 2012... maybe.

 

I could handle Labbe being on the roster as ST but to have him as our main LB backup when its not even a matter of ratio on the field...?  Crazy.

 

How can anyone argue that MLB is not our KEY ratio position...?  I mean our best backups are at Slotback, Right Guard and Defensive Tackle.

 

Then again, if Watson goes down, we're still screwed, replace Morley tomorrow and no one will even blink and Thomas is great except Turner and Anderson are 100x better.

 

Muamba goes down - our defence is finished.

And last year it was Terrell Parker who rarely played on the active roster. This year it is Ian Wild. Same deal.

 

I would argue that Washington was our defacto go to backup everything when there was no active WIl on the roster...  

 

Either way Merrill Johnson then Doe and then Parker... were all 'backup WIL' on the roster - and if Stephan was healthy, he would be our backup WIL on the roster.

Just curious, but is all this labbe hate because on one play he over ran the angle on Burris? Cause you know what, Labbe was hardly only on the night having burris change direction enough to make the tackler miss him. Every linemen and most of the linebackers probably had it happen to them at least once. I think some people are just too comfortable with Labbe as a scapegoat.

Poor Labbe, even from the bench he gets no respect when in fact it was the golden boy Henoc who missed the tackle on the biggest play of the game allowing Hank to scramble for 13 and a first down. Ratio changer my butt, when he starts making plays in crunch time he will have earned that label.

how about the fact we are only finishing getting out of Canuck hell after previous regimes brutalized the depth, the development and the quality overall of our Canadian content?

it want like we have have stellar talent all along.. we NOW have a canadian receiving core to boast about, legit ratio breakers and a decent building up of depth on the lines..

love the madden mentality.. should be able to just create-a-player and fix all holes without any fuss.