The Canadian Football League's free agency starts at 11:00 AM CST today. This means that teams are looking to make their teams better by adding the guys they think can make an impact on their club. I have ideas about it that are going to be hot takes.
If you have followed any part of the CFL the last few years, you have probably noticed one thing, and that one thing is the number of times that big-name players change teams. It has been a trend over the last few years that big-name CFL free agents sign one-year deals when they are unsure if they want to stay on a team that they sign with and/or if they want to make big money and are betting on themselves. This has worked for many big-name players, but it causes a lot of movement in the league. This is a trend that I do not like. This creates a lot of headaches for the front offices of the league and also for fans. It is not good for a team to put a lot of stock into a player if he is not going to stay long term, almost regardless of skill level (there are a few players that transcend that line and can have stock put into them regardless of how long they stay, ie. Willie Jefferson in Winnipeg). This is also problematic in that fans do not want to buy gear of players they know are leaving their team after one season. It doesn't help them create bonds to players if they are leaving. A player can make big plays and spark a stadium, but anyone can really do that, but to do that over a few seasons for one team is what wins a player over to a fan base enough that a team can make economic investments into this player and creating merchandise to the public, which is huge in the CFL.
With all that negativity, let's move to positivity. One of my favourite things about the CFL free agency is the inevitability of players moving from one rival to another. There is always at least one big-name that goes to the team that the fans hate to see them go to. Last year we saw Willie Jefferson go from Saskatchewan to Winnipeg, Justin Tuggle going from Toronto to Hamilton, Mercer Timmis going from Hamilton to Toronto, and DaVaris Daniels from Calgary to Edmonton. These are the exciting moves and the ones that help shape rivalries and add gasoline to the fires that are the classic sports rivalries in Canadian Football: the Calgary Stampeders and the Edmonton Eskimos, the Toronto Argonauts and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
What should we watch for in CFL Free Agency in 2020? Look for big player movement, and the splashes, but also, take note of teams standing pat. I'm calling it now, the Tabbies will not make many moves, and they will be better for doing that. Ottawa, Toronto, and BC will be in trouble if they stand pat. Watch for them to make big moves the make noise.
Stay tuned to CFL.ca and their Facebook page, as well as tsn.ca for all info on the player movement.
La Cheeserie, Littles
Fight On, Sleepers
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