Roughriders Free Agency 2020

After the "legal tampering period" of last week, Free Agency opened up Tuesday with a flurry of signings.  Some will say the LTP made Free Agency more exciting or in the very least more active.  All I know is that in it's first day (February 11th) ABC Rider Fans saw 42 posts of signings from all CFL teams...and that was just from one member posting.  It was hard to keep up and while day 2 of Free Agency was quieter there was still some activity.

Did the Toronto Argonauts leave anyone for other teams to sign?  Do they know there's a CFL cap?

I jest.

This post will review who the Saskatchewan Roughriders signed and re-signed, fans reaction and of course my opinion...if that counts for anything.

The entire time Chris Jones was Head Coach of the Roughriders it was said he wanted James Franklin at Quarterback but he was never signed.  I always said that if Jones wanted him here he'd be here.  Then Chris Jones exited Riderville and Jeremy O'Day brought in Cody Fajardo.  I thought we'd finally moved on from rumours.  That was until LTP opened the first week of February and speculation resurfaced about James Franklin coming to Saskatchewan.  *sigh*  Fans thought "why WHY?!"  2019 saw James Franklin as a Toronto Argonaut and while he looked somewhat promising as an Eskimo all that hype was distinguished when his play suffered setbacks as an Argo.  So you can imagine what we were all saying when news broke on Tuesday morning that the Roughriders had indeed signed James Franklin.  Pretty soon the media was putting their spin on it and talking about Franklin being a solid back up for Fajardo and quickly demoting Isaac Harker.  I think a lot of people forgot that the Riders actually already had 4 quarterbacks...Fajardo, Harker, Bennett and Hansen.  Harker was a capable backup against the Edmonton Eskimos in the final game of 2019 while Bryan Bennett became a really great special teams player.  Justice Hansen hails from Arkansas State and is a young 25 and if retained will be on the practice roster.  So where does James Franklin fit into things?  What we do know is that he worked under Riders new OC Jason Maas in Edmonton so there is chemistry as well as playbook knowledge there.  Franklin has said that he knows what his role is and that Cody is number one.  Isn't that what they all say?  We all know there is no one more popular than the back up Quarterback so I hope there is no controversy brewing here.

The next signing came in the form of Defensive Linemen Jordan Reaves.  He was signed to a one year extension.  His impact was mostly on special teams and according to his bio recorded 12 tackles in 2018.  This will be his third season in green and white after being injured at the 2019 training camp.  

Another Defensive signing came in the form of Linebacker Solomon Elimimian.  It was a little surprising that the Riders inked him because it was speculated that he'd be moving on.  While I still struggle with pronouncing his name, I know he is a valuable asset to the Riders.  He brings maturity and veteran presence at age 33.  I'm not going to list off his stats because that information is available everywhere...I just know that I'm pleased to have him back in green.

So that was the news on day one of Free Agency.  Some were critical that Jeremy O'Day didn't make a big splash but yet again in the media scrum February 10th he said they were mainly interested in bringing back the Riders own people.  He mentioned moving on from Naaman Roosevelt as well as Micah Johnson.  Those two big character names stir up all kinds of feelings among members of Rider Nation.  Micah ended up signing on with the BC Lions but as of the writing of this blog (Wednesday 2:10pm) Naaman is unsigned.  I think Naaman Roosevelt could be an entire blog topic on his own so I will leave it for another time.

Wednesday morning the Saskatchewan Roughriders announced the signing of Offensive Lineman Josiah St John.  Many may remember him as the hold out in the 2016 CFL Draft.  He was late to camp and many felt that because of these tactics never caught up with the team.  Then he was plagued with some injuries and the Riders moved on from him in 2019.  Before he was let go it did seem as though his play on the field improved and when I read his bio on the Riderville website he does sound impressive.  From all the things I listed above many Rider fans are left scratching their heads and mumbling things I can't post here.  After I put some thought into it and looked at what everyone else was saying I remembered that I myself saw his play improve when he was a Roughrider the first time but it was right at the end of his tenure.  This makes me believe that he can learn when given the time to prove himself.  In 2019 he worked under Jason Maas as an Edmonton Eskimo so there is some knowledge of scheme and playbook there with our new Offensive Coach.  I'd like to believe that the Riders GM wouldn't make a decision like this easily or lightly and he obviously knows a lot more than I do.  After all, JO get's paid the big bucks and...,well, I have this blog.

I love that Free Agency has everyone talking about football again.  We often say that there is no off season in Saskatchewan but interest does wain for sure.  If you are one of the people craving more football talk ABC Rider Fans is open for business 24/7.  Check out my About page to see where you can find all my social media outlets and don't forget to check out my new ABC Football YouTube Channel.  

Thanks for reading and as always... GO RIDERS.