The first big CFL trade of the 2016 off-season happened today, as the Ottawa REDBLACKS and Saskatchewan Roughriders made a trade involving wide receiver Maurice Price and draft picks.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders acquired receiver Maurice Price and Ottawa’s 6th round pick for Saskatchewan’s 6th and 7th round draft picks in this upcoming CFL draft. This is considered a salary dump to many around the CFL for Ottawa.
Saskatchewan picks up a very fast receiver in Maurice Price, who just couldn’t get it going in Ottawa behind the likes of Chris Williams, Brad Sinopoli, Ernest Jackson and Greg Ellingson. Those four, like Price, were all brought in by Ottawa last off-season. Price had a very good second half and ended up finishing the season with 58 receptions good for 603 yards and a lone touchdown which came against the Saskatchewan Roughriders. The Calgary Sun’s Scott Mitchell tweets, “Easy to sum up #Riders trade. Give up a 7th in exchange for a few months of trying to renegotiate Price’s deal and close camp look. #CFL” He also later tweets “Mo Price, takes criticism for a lot of things, but he brings speed that teams have to respect on wide side. Not a spot for big number. #CFL” It is believed if Saskatchewan can’t get Price to take a pay cut he will be cut.
It was thought on Ottawa’s side that they were going to release Maurice Price today or tomorrow for salary space. This trade is a smart move for Ottawa as instead of releasing him they move up from 8 to 1 in the 6th round and gain the 1st pick in the 7th round. Maurice Price frankly didn’t cut it in Ottawa, as he was the 2nd highest paid receiver on the Redblacks and put up the 5th best stats on the receiving core. For Ottawa in that 5th spot they can use Canadian Jake Harty and Canadian Scott MacDonell if they need help on the ratio. They can also use Khalil Paden, an American, or a mixture of all three.
Finally, the extra cap space Ottawa saves they can use to re-sign key players like, defensive back Jovon Johnson, linebacker Damaso Munoz and defensive back Brandyn Thompson. Also two key Canadian defensive linemen in Keith Shologan and Justin Capicciotti.
