Fun, Fun, Fun

I thought I'd start a new post to keep talking about the Riders. I didn't want that last one to keep dragging on and on.

It's been an exciting off season, that's for sure. When was the last time that the Riders made so many moves? Shivers was better at finding talent and developing it, perhaps out of necessity since he had a lot of enemies due to his outspoken personality.

It's been an off season of change. We've said goodbye to Davin Bush, Omarr Morgan, Nate Davis, Jackie Mitchell, Rocky Butler, Jamel Richardson, Andrew Greene and Fred Childress. These are all long-time Riders and a lot of them can expect to be future Plaza of Honour inductees (Omarr, Nate and Andrew for sure). Also, we may have seen the last of Kenton Keith if he manages to stick on with the NFL's Colts. The earliest we'll see him back is Labour Day, if ever.

Despite seeing all of these guys leave, we've brought in a lot of new, great talent. We managed to rob Hamilton in the Rocky trade, bringing in a starting Canadian OL in Wayne Smith and a great speed receiver in DJ Flick. We also signed Mike Abou-Mechrek and Marc Parenteau, making an all-Canadian OL possible (which opens up A LOT of possibilities for using import receivers - see last post).

This is going to be a season of rookies stepping up and filling in the voids left by our departing veterans. In the days of Danny and Roy, it seemed as though there was an "old boys club" attitude preventing rookies from starting unless injuries forced them into play. Now, expect to see Rontarius Robinson, Luc Mullinder, Dwan Epps and a bunch of others ACTUALLY HAVE A CHANCE to compete for a job at training camp.

I really don't know what to expect next season. On paper, I think Tillman has improved our team. The biggest question mark will be our defence. With veterans Mitchell, Bush and Morgan all gone, it will be an inexperienced group back there. Hopefully Eddie Davis can step up and lead by example like he did last year. Either way, I'll be in the stands with my Aldag jersey cheering them on.