I didn't get around to commenting on the Saskatchewan Roughriders' last loss before its implications were overtaken by subsequent events. But with the 'Riders still having another week and a half before they play another game, let's note that the firings of Greg Marshall and Doug Berry deal at best with part of the 'Riders' problems - and that the 'Riders may miss a huge opportunity if they don't identify and deal with the other over the next few weeks.
To start with, let's take a quick stroll through the 'Riders' player acquisitions in recent seasons to see if we can identify a trend. The below is entirely subjective and possibly incomplete, but it's a rough look at the future CFL starters (projecting a few players to that role) the 'Riders have brought into the league over the past half dozen years...
2006: Andy Fantuz, Luca Congi, Lance Frazier, Sean Lucas, Maurice Lloyd, Anton McKenzie, James Johnson
2007: John Chick, Chris Best (previously drafted), Yanick Carter
2008: Weston Dressler, Adarius Bowman, Keith Shologan, Rob Bagg, James Patrick, Hugh Charles, Stu Foord
2009: Jerrell Freeman, Chris McKenzie, Kye Stewart, Bobby Harris
2010: Brent Hawkins, Shomari Williams, Jordan Sisco, Cary Koch, Nick Graham
2011: Terrence Nunn, Craig Butler, Chris Milo
Now, I'm open to corrections as to players missing from the above. But I'm not sure there's any escaping the trend that the 'Riders have been bringing in substantially less talent - in terms of both numbers and impact - since Eric Tillman stepped down from the GM position in early 2009.
Instead, Brendan Taman has generally patched over the 'Riders' roster needs with CFL veterans - meaning that the 'Riders' major additions have been players already deemed not good enough by the team's competitors. And that can work to fill some roles. But it doesn't get a team anywhere in building up the regular supply of cheap and developing talent that it needs to thrive in a hard-capped league.
Fortunately, this season offers an unusually strong opportunity to replenish the 'Riders complement of young players.
There's been plenty of talk about the NFL's truncated offseason from that league's perspective. But to the extent NFL teams haven't had the opportunity to instruct rookies in their systems throughout the offseason and don't have time to fully evaluate them in a shortened training camp, it also stands to reason that there should be more talent cut loose for CFL teams to snap up.
Which means that any team which can take advantage of the glut of NFL cuts should be able to keep itself stocked with talent for a long time to come. And no team figures to be better positioned to do that than one which has reason to overhaul its roster anyway.
Of course, the 'Riders should still do what they reasonably can to try to make the playoffs - and maybe Ken Miller's return as head coach will help on that front. But I'll argue that the lesson the team most needs to take from this season's dropoff is that an organization can't afford to consistently eschew young talent in favour of mediocre stopgaps. And the 'Riders' ability to recruit the best possible complement of NFL cuts out of the unusually strong harvest may make for the difference between a single disappointing season, and another run of futility of the type that 'Rider fans know all too well.
[Edit: fixed wording.]
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