Barely three weeks after Josiah St. John was telling reporters in a conference call how excited he was to be a Saskatchewan Roughrider, news broke that he demanded a trade after contract talks soured. While Rider head coach and general manager Chris Jones has stated several times that the team’s focus is on who is in camp, that hasn’t stopped Rider Nation on weighing in on what the team should do with their high profile hold out.
What Should the Riders do With Josiah St. John?
Make him sit
The popular consensus is that Riders should hold their ground and make him sit and sweat it out until St. John either fires his agent, Jonathan Hardaway, or they simply sign the contract offered.
While Jones and company would probably love it if St. John severed his ties with the Washington, D.C. based agent. It is probably not going to happen because Hardaway knows what he is doing – make money – and that makes him a pain in the neck for CFL general managers.
Rider fans only need to look back a few years ago to 2011 when Hardaway;s client, Matt O’Donnell, was doing everything he could to not sign with the team, including trying out for the Boston Celtics and Toronto Raptors of the NBA despite not playing basketball since high school. Hardaway was doing whatever he could to either force the Riders to increase their offer to get O’Donnell into the fold or get an NFL deal. The gamble eventually paid off, as O’Donnell signed with the Cincinnati Bengals practice roster. While O’Donnell never played an actual down of NFL football and came back to the CFL only after the Riders traded his rights to the Edmonton Eskimos, it set the standard for how Hardaway deals with CFL clubs.
The longer St. John remains unsigned by the Riders, the more time Hardaway has to find him another place to play. St. John could very well follow the O’Donnell pattern of sitting at home until Hardaway can find him an NFL roster spot or forcing a trade to another CFL club who, in their mind, will make St. John the highest paid CFL number one draft pick.
Trade him
If Jones was honest he would probably admit that he wishes he could have found a trade partner to take that first overall pick off the Riders hands. While this year’s draft was one of the deeper drafts in recent CFL history, there was no consensus number one pick that would play in the CFL. Who would have gone after a prospect with high salary demands anyways?
Consider that the other CFL teams have already signed most, if not all, of their draft picks and have a ton of new bodies in camp. Unless a team has an injury to a key National lineman and has ratio issues, most teams would try a cheaper American in that spot than gamble that much salary on an unproven Canadian.
Also, the size of the CFL doesn’t really allow for many trades when it comes to disputed situations like this. Word travels fast around the nine team league and if there is a trade demand or a general manager is looking at moving a player before a bonus is due the chances of a trade happening are slim to none. Most CFL general managers would wait and gamble on the open market when the player is released rather than giving up possible assets to a rival.
Sign him
The only other option the Riders have is to work through this impasse and sign him. Even if they do come to a number that is mutually beneficial, that does not mean everything is great in Rider Nation. First, St. John has missed most of training camp and doesn’t know the playbook, which means he has a steep learning curve. With Darian Durant having season ending injuries twice in the past two seasons, the Riders cannot risk protecting their franchise QB with a guy who is behind the rest of the pack. Secondly, if St. John gets the money he is asking for after holding out and demanding a trade, it sets a precedent for all future negotiations. While veterans like Durant have said they will welcome him with open arms if he gets signed, in the back of their minds they now also know how much rope they have in future dealings with the new front office.
If the Riders do bring him into the fold they have some decisions to make. Do they put him on the active roster with everyone else who had to go through the two-a-days and learn the play book? Do the Riders risk putting him on the practice roster so he can learn the system hands on, while hoping that another team doesn’t claim him off the PR? Or the most likely solution, do they do a move like they did 2009 with quarterback Graham Harrell? This would have St. John go down with an “injury” shortly after signing and be put on the six-game injured reserve. That move would allow St. John time to learn the playbook and his presumably larger salary would come off the books for a third of the season, while he would be protected from being claimed by another CFL team.
The Roughriders are in a tough position, if they make him sit they will most likely go through most of this season without three of their draft picks on the roster. If they try to trade him there probably won’t be a trade partner, and if there is, there will be no value given. If they sign him, they have to get him up to speed quickly while keeping the locker room morale in check. While right now no one knows for sure if Josiah St. John will ever suit up for the Green and White, however, there is no doubt he has impacted the club without even having to put on the uniform.
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