The 2017 Hamilton Tiger-Cats have a solid contingent of Canadian talent heading into this year’s training camp. The problem won’t be the scarcity of home grown talent in camp, but how the team chooses to deploy that talent with so many possibilities in terms of the ratio. Truth be told, it’s one of the better problems to have.
The Tiger-Cats are going into camp with more uncertainly concerning the Canadian ratio than other seasons in recent memory. Contributing another question mark to the host of unknowns, is the late-season injury to Andy Fantuz and the implications associated with recent international additions to the Tiger-Cats’ receiving corps. Entering camp, many questions are left unanswered.
It’s always entertaining to speculate from the comfort of an armchair, but before we get to the fun stuff, it might help to power through some CFL rulebook particulars. Bear with me.
The CFL denotes a player national if they are Canadian citizens at the time of signing with a CFL team, or were physically a resident of Canada for an aggregate period of five years prior to attaining the age of 18. If a player does not meet these requirements, they are termed international. International in the CFL context essentially means, but is not restricted to, a player of American descent.
The CFL mandates that teams pare their training camp contingent down to a 44-man active roster by the end of the preseason. This roster includes 41 players, of which a minimum 21 must be nationals and a maximum 20 are permitted to be internationals. Quarterbacks are considered separate entities entirely and three roster spots are committed to passers. There are no restrictions placed on the QB roster spots. In addition to these 44 roster spots there are two reserve spots.
The Seattle Seahawks of the NFL claim to have a 12th man – a tip of the neon-green hat to the rowdy fan-base that floods CenturyLink Field at least 8 times a season. In the CFL, every team boasts 12 men on either side of the ball (rowdy fans excluded) contributing to a 24-man starting roster. It is mandated that a minimum of seven starting players must be nationals. The difficulty for CFL teams, and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, is dividing their talent between those seven spots.
The question of where the Canadian chips will fall is a major storyline as training camp approaches kickoff.
Now for the fun stuff.
Offensive Line:
The Tiger-Cats OL is ripe with incumbent studs. Big man Mike Filer is a veritable lock up the middle. Flanking him are two national guards, Ryan Bomben and last year’s breakout starter, Brandon Revenberg. The third overall 2016 draft pick Revenberg won the starting spot at left guard over long-time Ticat Peter Dyakowski during the 2016 campaign. With Dyakowski, Canada’s Smartest Person (true story), moving on to the division rival Argos in February, Revenberg appears to be locked in as a starter in 2017.
Left tackle Xavier Fulton is returning to Hamilton and is the most likely candidate to be protecting Collaros’ blind side on opening day. However, Jake Olson, who missed the entire 2016 season due to injury, is also in mix and could very well re-claim a starting role this season. Brian Simmons, who dressed in 11 games for Hamilton at left tackle last season, was traded to Montreal in February.
Uncertainty on the right side of the O-line is something the Ticats will look to address during training camp. There are numerous internationals coming to camp that could win the job, but the team could also employ a Canadian at right tackle. The versatile national right guard, Bomben, is a potential swing option and might be able to fill in at the position. Landon Rice could potentially step in at the would-be vacant right guard spot. Revenberg is another candidate to shift to the outside and even saw action in a couple games at right tackle in 2016.
Depending how the team handles the situation at right tackle, Hamilton will enter the season with either three or four nationals on the OL, leaving no more than four additional starting roster spots available to Canadians. In the CFL, this concentration of Canadian talent on the OL is not a foreign prospect. Mark Trestman’s Alouettes had tremendous success running an all-national OL, starting five Canadians in front of Anthony Calvillo.
Receiving Corps:
With last year’s East Division’s Most Outstanding Canadian, Andy Fantuz, set to miss significant time due to injury in 2017, the Tiger-Cats are staring down the barrel of a fully-international receiving corps. The good news is, Fantuz will serve as the team’s Coordinator of Player Development during his recovery and his wealth of Canadian football expertise may help ease the transition for players new, or relatively new, to the CFL game.
Luke Tasker doesn’t fall into that category as the surefire starter has significant CFL experience on his resume. Tasker’s output has remained consistent each season with the Ticats despite appearing in fewer games each successive campaign. Can he continue his statistical ascent in 2017?
Terrence Toliver spent the offseason inking a fresh deal with the Ticats, good through 2018. He was a 1,000-yard receiver in 2016 despite playing in only 13 games. With a healthy Zach Collaros behind center it will be interesting to see the numbers Toliver generates in a full complement of games this season.
After a multi-year career with the New England Patriots, Brian Tyms, who was on Hamilton’s negotiation list for quite some time, made his CFL debut late in 2016. He made just two appearances with the Tabbies but started in the team’s lone playoff game. Reunited with Florida A&M teammate Kevin Elliot, who will likely also factor into the mix this season at receiver, Tyms appears primed for a breakout CFL season.
It’s easy to imagine Tasker, Toliver, Elliot and Tyms starting at receiver once camp breaks. This scenario, although pure speculation at this point, leaves only one spot open at receiver on the depth chart. Brandon Banks traditionally serves as the team’s primary returner and a back-up at the position. Junior Collins has some CFL experience and there are some exciting international prospects coming to camp as well, but the team could decide to start a national as the fifth receiver. Mike Jones and Giovanni Aprile figure to head the list of possible candidates if the team were to go this route.
Quarterbacks and the backfield
The three quarterback roster spots are not subject to international/national restrictions. Needless to say, ratio implications are not a concern at QB for the Ticats, and there are numerous strong international QBs on the Ticats depth chart. It could be argued that there hasn’t been a true Canadian starter in the CFL since Russ Jackson’s hallowed career in the 1950s and 1960s.
Bona fide number one QB Zach Collaros is entering the 2017 campaign in full health after being sidelined for 11 months with a torn ACL to close out the 2015 season and open 2016. Prior to the injury in 2015, Collaros was arguably on his way to Most Outstanding Player honours. Tiger-Cats fans are certainly excited about the prospect of what a healthy Collaros can do this season.
Jeremiah Masoli performed admirably in Collaros’ absence last season and he rounds out a QB duo that contends for best in the league. In 10 games played, the San Francisco native put up 2,695 yards and threw for 15 touchdowns.
Quarterback depth at camp is supplied by Everett Golson who dressed in five games last season. The former Notre Dame and Florida State star suffered a concussion following an undefeated start to the 2015 Seminole season that derailed his NCAA career. Golson would go undrafted by NFL teams but came to Hamilton last June. Golson’s experience with the Tiger-Cats system may give him a leg up on the third QB spot. As of today, Matt Johnson, former Bowling Green starter, will provide his competition.
In the backfield, C.J. Gable is coming off a solid season in 2016 that included Divisional All-Star honours and will likely enter camp as the every-down back. Also competing for a spot is second-year player Ross Scheuerman and newly signed former NFLer Alex Green.
If the Ticats want to flesh out the backfield with a Canadian player at running back, former Dino, Mercer Timmis, is at their disposal. However, after Anthony Woodson’s departure following the 2016 season, Timmis appears to be in line primarily for work as a backup to the team’s international starter. National fullback Carl-Olivier Prime is a lock to serve in the same role this season. The former Wagner University star has played in all 18 regular season games for the Tiger-Cats in three-consecutive seasons.
When all is said and done on the offensive side of the ball, it appears only the three interior offensive line positions are a lock for a national starter. However, there is certainly some flexibility at the team’s disposal at numerous positions and only time will tell to sort things out.