Alex’s CFL Tuesday Takes – April 24, 2018

Alex’s CFL Tuesday Takes – April 24, 2018

Published: Tuesday, Apr 24th 2018, 2:04pm

by Alex Dormuth (@RealAlexD)

The weather is FINALLY nice, Spring is here and MINI-CAMPS ARE UNDERWAY!! FOOTBALL IS BACK!

We are now less than a month until Training Camps and under 5 weeks from the first Preseason game and I couldn’t be happier! Well, I will be when the season actually starts, but I’m ready to go now!

Today started off with a bang as the Saskatchewan Roughiders have made a few cuts. OL Peter Dyakowski and Eddie Meredith, S Jeff Hecht and DB Taylor Mays were all let go. The big question here is where does this leave the O-Line in Dyakowski’s absence? Does Dariusz Bladek step in and start? Does Brendan Labatte move there and Travis Bond goes to Left Guard?

***Spoiler Alert***

Bladek will start. The O-Line will shake down like this:
Travis Bond – Brendan Labatte – Dan Clark – Dariusz Bladek – Thaddeus Coleman

But, the more I think about it, the more I question the Bond signing. Not because of his talent, but because of the fit in Saskatchewan. Can he be an outstanding left tackle? He really hasn’t played there before. Unless he moves to guard and the Riders go with 3 Internationals on the O-Line, I really don’t see a spot for him. The ratio and whether or not the Riders make Jerome Messam the full time starter will determine what happens here. Chris Jones has an interesting decision to make here.

Speaking of interesting decisions, the Riders will have a few of them to make at receiver. I said it last year and they made it work, but I’ll say it again this year… I’m just not sure how they can keep them all. Duron Carter, Namaan Roosevelt, Bakari Grant, Chad Owens, Caleb Holley, Rob Bagg, Devon Bailey, Jake Harty, you can add Antwane Grant in there too. The salary “cap” has to come in to factor here sometime, no?

Hamilton Tiger-Cats legend DE Joe Montford is FINALLY getting his name on the Ticats Ring of Honour. HOW THE HELL WAS HE NOT ALREADY ON THERE?? Montford was an absolute BEAST and should have been there years ago. I’m not sure he gets the praise he truly deserves.

Bo Levi Mitchell says his shoulder is almost 100% ready to go. Great for the league, they need all their stars healthy and it’s fun to watch Mitchell play (especially when he loses… #ABC). I guess I was wrong, he isn’t Andrew Luck 2.0 after all.

Duron Carter says he better be top 10 in the CFL on TSN Top 50 Players poll. Since he mentioned it, fans of all other teams have been going off on him. I congratulated Bo Levi Mitchell on his trolling game last season getting Rider fans riled up… looks like Duron has taken on this role since Mitchell deleted his Twitter account. I personally love it, it’s great fun for the league!

The CFL will FINALLY announce the 2019 being awarded to the city of Calgary. Worst. Kept. Secret. Can’t wait though, other than… that thing that happened… 2009 was easily one of my favourite Grey Cups. Calgary is a good host city for the event, even though their stadium is… not good.

Finally, the bad news just keeps coming. Saskatchewan Roughriders legend and Canadian Football Hall of Famer Don Narcisse announced that his last day in Canada will be next Saturday, May 5^th. As we know, he was diagnosed with cancer not too long ago and it wouldn’t be fair of me to speculate, but you can’t help but wonder how things are going if he is going back home for good. We’re cheering you on Mr. Narcisse, you are a strong man and you’ll beat this!

*** Piffles Podcast is heading to the Banjo Bowl! Join us on the trip and let’s paint Winnipeg green! We will leave the Saturday morning of the game, tailgate at IGF for a little bit, watch the Riders beat the Bombers and then we will stay overnight in Winnipeg and come back to Regina on Sunday afternoon. LESS THAN 10 TICKETS REMAINING!! If this is of interest to you, let us know ASAP!

It promises to be a fun time and we have some great prizes lined up to giveaway ***