Arash Madani ‏@ArashMadani  8m8 minutes ago

Per @JDunk12: Esks, Riders talking trade. EDM wants No. 1 pick Josiah St. John AND a first for QB James Franklin. SSK, coherently, declined.

Ed Hervey vs. Chris Jones is going to be a real thing to keep your eye on over the coming weeks and months.

To reach for two first round picks, including No. 1 overall, in return for a back-up QB with a handful of pro starts is... hilarious, really

it sounds like most teams do this but the Riders have gone over the line here. I would imagin every team would have 4-5 guys around like that but to have as many as the Riders have that will be a issue. Jones got greedy and will now ruin it for the rest of the teams. 

Pre Practice squad? Jones... what a great choice to manage & coach the Riders.

Rod Pedersen mentioned to H & Lawless that he sees many players at Rider practice who he doesn't recognize, and who seem anxious to hit the field post-practice. Jones told him that he frequently holds "open practices" and that there is no rule against this. (No one stated that these could be pre-practice or chicken squad players).

1 minute ago, iso_55 said:

Pre Practice squad? Jones... what a great choice to manage & coach the Riders.

Ummmm. our choices for GM and head coaches, not to mention assistant coaches haven`t been beyond questioning for while, either.

 

4 minutes ago, Jpan85 said:

 

Awfully decent of them to take in the homeless and indigent.

5 minutes ago, tracker said:

Ummmm. our choices for GM and head coaches, not to mention assistant coaches haven`t been beyond questioning for while, either.

Our guys have been incompetent which is bad enough. Not incompetent AND cheaters. If they have a name for these guys then you know it's deliberate.

5 minutes ago, Jpan85 said:

 

Well, there you go Ripper. Investigate away.

I'm not saying we don't do it, because I don't really know. However, this seems different than us keeping Cole around.  Cole was injured and may have stuck around for treatment. Where we signed him when he was healthy.

The Riders are apparently housing a group of players and feeding them, as well as finding them "jobs" around the city.

If they are bending the rules more than other teams, I hope the league punishes them big time (Draft Pick).

8 minutes ago, iso_55 said:

Well, there you go Ripper. Investigate away.

Scott Mitchell further states that his sources have told him that the Riders have two houses where these types of players are being housed.

This is all the more funny considering how Riders fans were saying that it would be no problem to find talent with their 20 scouts and when Jones claimed they worked out 2000 players this offseason. 

I think the difference between the Riders and us (and every other team) is the sheer volume of players they're keeping around. This is ridiculous...

http://www.tsn.ca/talent/integrity-the-issue-in-roster-allegations-against-roughriders-1.543182

 

From Lawless:

"For the second straight week there are allegations of roster impropriety in Regina. This is no longer about Riders general manager/coach Chris Jones and his staff. They’re the tail. And as we all know in pro sports, the tail can get clipped pretty quickly. They come and go. No, this is about the dog: the Canadian Football League and its integrity.

This is an issue that must receive the attention and voice of CFL commissioner Jeffrey Orridge.

Sometime in the next day or so, if it hasn’t already happened, Orridge needs to pick up the phone and get Roughriders president Craig Reynolds on the other end. Orridge needs to tell Reynolds that he doesn’t care whether the Riders have done anything wrong. The people in football operations, both at the league and Riders level, can sort that out. What Orridge must demand is that he doesn’t hear another peep about the perception, right or wrong, that one team in the CFL is contravening roster and salary cap rules.

Call it whatever you want. Say it’s bending the rules. Say it’s pushing the boundaries. It doesn’t matter. Some are going to say it’s cheating, and Orridge can’t have that said about his league.

Following his chat with Reynolds, Orridge needs to get out his commissioner’s gavel and rap it sharply to send a very public message to fans and the entire league. Fudging with the ratio and league roster rules won’t be tolerated.

Orridge’s league must provide a trust between its fans and partners. The games must be viewed as having complete competitive integrity. End of story.

One team source said to me on Wednesday: “If this is true and they’re hiding players in Regina, someone needs to get fired tomorrow. It’s cheating. It’s having extra guys around and immersing them in your system and playbook and preparing to be ready if someone gets hurt. It’s unfair advantage over the rest of the league.”

The first allegation against the Roughriders resulted in a $15,000 fine for breaking ratio regulations.

Then, on Tuesday night, Calgary Stampeders quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell accused the Riders of hiding non-roster players in Regina and having ineligible players take part in practice and meetings.

The whispers surrounding the Riders have gotten louder. When the league’s best player jumps on Twitter and fires off a salvo of accusatory tweets the commissioner needs to act.

The league’s response on Wednesday to Mitchell’s tweet was short: “We’re aware of it, and we’re looking into it.”

Jones gets paid to win football games. Some will buy into the old saw, “If you’re not cheating, you’re not trying.”

I’m not here to say Jones is a cheater. I don’t know that to be true. What we all know is there have been very public allegations. It may turn out that there’s nothing to this and it won’t look bad on Jones and the Riders. But that’s tomorrow. The reality is these accusations look bad on the league. True or not, Orridge needs to quell them."

Edited August 10, 20169 yr by Noeller

Saska-cheat-wan RoughRiders ?

Sources saying up to 95 players!?! That's like having a second team just "hanging around" and they still don't have enough depth to field a competent team. Ouch. 

 

#housinggate

2016 Saskatchewan Rough Riders are reminding me a lot of the 2009 Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Arrogant head coach, constant revolving door in players, and a new controversy every week. At least Mike Kelly's 09 squad won 7 games. I don't see the Riders winning that many 

How do these players get into the country without a contract.

Wouldn't this make them in the country illegally?

 

If the team has extra bodies hanging around, putting in real time, working real jobs, and getting paid a job appropriate wage with no other reimbursements from the team, I have no issue with this.  

If the team is subsidizing housing, subsidizing the food, and/or getting club boosters to pay guys for hanging out, I have a problem with this.

 

At the end of the day, these players should be able to be scouted by competing teams, and contractually, are free agents and can sign anywhere.  

Players gotta eat too.

 

1 minute ago, Rich said:

How do these players get into the country without a contract.

Wouldn't this make them in the country illegally?

 

Especially if they are getting them other jobs around town.

I have a real big issue with the Riders having 96 extra guys being prepped every single day, in case of injury. Other teams have a few guys around town, I'm sure, but the Riders apparently have a humongous number of people that are being prepped so they can step in at a moments notice. That's not cool...

Time for the CFL to step up and slap Jones on the pecker again. 

Why do I think Jeff Orridge will show his weakness here. I think Jones is doing this because he has no respect for the CFL Commissioner. There should be suspensions & firings.

Maybe he should concentrate on the players that are playing THIS week.  Spreading himself too thin and sending the message that half the team are rent-a-players. No wonder they don't play better.

1 minute ago, iso_55 said:

Why do I think Jeff Orridge will show his weakness here. I think Jones is doing this because he has no respect for the CFL Commissioner. There should be suspensions & firings.

It's an interesting point, what recourse does the CFL have? The Riders have already shown they don't care and will happily pay fines to cheat, can the CFL escalate the punishment? Can they suspend Jones and make him stay away from the team on game day? Can they go further and forfeit games for them? That would get more attention than simply letting the Riders spend their way out of their issues.