2005 CFL PREVIEWFive
Canadians to watch for this season
If there's one lesson Canadian Football League general managers learn quickly, it's when you have talented, Canadian-born players, you do your best to hang onto them.
CFL teams are only allowed 40 players on their rosters, 13 fewer than NFL teams. Topping it off, of those 40 players, 19 must be Canadian-born. Having high-quality Canadians can make or break a team.
Here are five players looking to follow – or continue to follow
– in the footsteps of other Canadian-born CFL greats as Ray Elgaard
(Saskatchewan), Tony Gabriel (Ottawa/Hamilton), Russ Jackson (Ottawa)
and Normie Kwong (Edmonton).
Jason Clermont was the game's outstanding Canadian last season.
Although he has only been in the league three years, Regina native Jason Clermont has already had a decorated career.
He was named the league's Outstanding Rookie in 2002 thanks to a 46-catch,
six-touchdown campaign. Although he missed games due to injury in
2003 Clermont still put up decent numbers, setting the stage for a
great 2004 season.
Clermont did not disappoint, grabbing 83 passes for 1,220 yards and scoring seven touchdowns. The numbers were good enough for him to be named the league’s Outstanding Canadian, and were a big part of the team’s surge to the Grey Cup game. In the Grey Cup, Clermont caught the Lions’s only touchdown pass and was named the game*s top Canadian in a losing cause.
With David Dickenson and Casey Printers at quarterback, there is no reason to expect Clermont to falter in 2005.
Ben Cahoon's 112 catches in 2003 were the most ever by a Canadian in a single season.
A Utah native who spent part of his childhood in Canada, Ben Cahoon is one of the best receivers in the CFL and a two-time winner of the Outstanding Canadian award.
Cahoon has also been one of the leagues most durable players. The two games he missed in 2004 marked the first time he had been knocked out of action in his seven-year CFL career.
In spite of only playing in 16 games, Cahoon still led the Alouettes with 93 catches for 1,183 yards and six touchdowns. It was the sixth consecutive year that Cahoon led the team in receptions.
Although the Alouettes lost two talented receivers in the off-season, Cahoon is part of a solid offensive corps. The Als, of course, took care of the most important factor in Cahoon’s future success by signing quarterback Anthony Calvillo to a multi-year extension.
The Argos Kevin Eiben led the league in defensive tackles last season with 110.
2004 was a big year for Delta, B.C. native Kevin Eiben. He was the East Division Nominee for Outstanding Canadian, beating out Ben Cahoon, who had won the award the previous two years. Eiben was also voted the Most Outstanding Defensive Player and Most Outstanding Player for the Grey Cup winning Argonauts.
It is easy to see how Eiben, who re-signed with Toronto during the off-season, earned these honours. He was a consistent force for the Argonauts throughout the year, leading the league with 110 defensive tackles.
Eiben was the first non-import to record 100 or more defensive tackles in a season for the Argos. He continued his strong play in the playoffs, recording a combined nine defensive tackles in the East final and Grey Cup game.
With essentially the same team returning in 2005, the Argonauts will likely need another good year from Eiben if they hope to repeat as Grey Cup Champions.
Ben Cahoon's 112 catches in 2003 were the most ever by a Canadian
in a single season.
A recent article on CBC
Sports Online quoted CFL on CBC analysts Greg Frers and Sean
Millington as calling the Tiger-Cats addition of Chris Brazzell the
"worst off-season signing" in the CFL. Frers's reasoning was that
Brazzell was a deep threat who is unwilling or unable to make the
tough catches over the middle.
When the Tiger-Cats do need someone to make a tough catch over the
middle, they will likely turn to Hamilton native Mike Morreale.
Morreale was reliable enough as the team’s main possession receiver
in 2004 for the Tiger-Cats to have the third-ranked offence in the
league, and the addition of Brazzell makes the offence look more talented
on paper. However, while the Tiger-Cats might look to stretch defences
with long bombs, the team’s ability to sustain long drives should
depend a lot on Morreale’s ability to make the tough catches.
Even if Morreale is not a starter, a possibility given the presence
of Brazzell, Archie Amerson, D.J. Flick and Craig Yeast, he should
still see enough action to make an impact. On an offence that features
deep threats like Brazzell and Yeast, not to mention the reigning
CFL rushing leader Troy Davis, Morreale might not get much attention,
but he should make his share of big catches in 2005.
Adriano Belli is now the main man on the Ti-Cats defensive line.
When Adriano Belli signed
with the Tiger-Cats prior to the 2004 season, the Toronto native became
part of arguably the most talented defensive line in the CFL. The
unit lived up to its potential, leading the league with 49 quarterback
sacks, including 14 and 13 from Tim Cheatwood and Joe Montford, the
two best totals in the league.
A year later, Cheatwood has left for the NFL, Montford was traded
to Edmonton, and Johnny Scott was released. The only returning player
from that great defensive line is Belli, who will be relied on to
replace the production of his departed teammates.
The Tiger-Cats did bring in a couple of veterans to help out in Roger
Dunbrack and James Cotton, but it should still take a big year from
Belli to keep Hamilton's defensive line amongst the league's most
dangerous.
