....And so it begins

It's that time of year again. A time where CFL General Managers take a look at a group of players and deem which one is worthy of a LOT of cash.

The GM has the option to re-sign his current list of free agents or letting some of them go. He also has the option of waiting till February 9th to see if he can get a cool bargain on a potential upgrade over his current players. On our last show, Tony and I played Armchair GM. In this blog, I'm going to go way much more in depth and explore each team's wants and needs. This edition, I will cover the West division.

The B.C Lions

Going into last year, I would have though the biggest issues facing the Lions were the 5 guys up front protecting Lulay, and Jennings. To be quite honest, there is still an issue, however they were excellent in pass protection. As the days to February 9th get closer, you get the feeling that GM Wally Buono is prepared for life without Andrew Harris. Although he was really good stats wise last year, you just never felt that he was Andrew Harris of old. Now that could be because of the systems and schemes under George Cortez, but I can understand the sentiment that Buono does not want the all-star back in the fold.

Having said that they are thin at the running back position. I expect Buono to heavily scout, or maybe perhaps inquire about the possibilities of Kendial Lawrence or even Jerome Messam.

The Edmonton Eskimos

The defending Grey cup champions....Have a lot of work to do. You don't hear that often in pro sports. The issue at hand is that a lot of the pending free agents are more than likely going to follow Chris Jones to Saskatchewan. You're likely losing Stafford, Sherritt, and Shamawd Chambers. Receiver help for Bowman and Walker shouldn't be hard to find. After all, guys like Fantuz, Nic Moore and Courtney Taylor are and will be available.

The Calgary Stampeders

This is a team that loves to scout and recruit. Which is why this team will be really short to review. I don't expect Fuller to be back, and Eric Rogers is likely sticking with the 49ers for the entire CFL season. The Stamps have proved every year that Free Agency is about filling out holes that recruitment cannot. Which is why I fully expect Nic Moore to be a Stampeder come February 9th

The Saskatchewan Roughriders

I love John Murphy as much as the next guy, but the 2015 Rider team was full of holes that they have no choice but to have a huge turnover. Murphy is expected to recruit a few diamonds for this year, but let's face it....If the Riders expect to be somewhat respectable, they should be dipping into free agency and be aggressive with it at that. Switching Ted Laurent for Alex Hall would be a good option, and you can also expect a possible exodus of Eskimos to Saskatchewan. J.C Sherritt would fit with the schemes but not in the plans of getting younger. With that in mind, I expect this defence to be heavily filled with ex Eskimos. Ortha Foster, Aaron Grymes and even Ryan Hinds.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers

As my good buddy Tony would say..."Here comes the Bombers trying to win the offseason". Since Walters took over he has shown to be very aggressive with spending on free agents. The result is 0 Playoff games. Last year their holes were offensive line, offensive play calling, receivers and middle linebacker. They've already solved 3 of those holes with the signing of Weston Dressler and Paul Lapolice. Coach Lapo's schemes should make the offensive line a bit better than they were last year. I fully expect The Bombers to be in the mix for players like Winston Venable, JC Sherritt and Erik Harris. They may even go for Andrew Harris just for the fun of it.

That will do it for this week. Next week I'll cover the East.

#cflfreeagency2015bcedmontoncalgarysaskatchewanwinnipeghamiltontorontoottawamontreal