The Saskatchewan Roughriders’ big three seem confident and happy heading into next week’s CFL Draft. General manager Brendan Taman, head coach Corey Chamblin, and new team president and CEO Craig Reynolds sound excited about the challenges the 2015 season will bring.
On the inaugural 2015 CFL Season Preview Media Teleconference Series, Corey Chamblin and Brendan Taman give some hints about who might end up where on this year’s team.
Defence
The Riders are going to have a productive offence, but the defence will have to be their money maker after improving the linebacking corps in the off-season, mostly through trades.
We saw what happens when you can’t stop the run with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers last season. The Bombers ended up with a 7-11 record, out of the playoffs, and in last place in their return to the western division.
When asked about the loss of Ben Heenan and if the ratio may require two national starters on defence, head coach Corey Chamblin responded, “We have three different ratios set up. There are some things I think we could do, wether it’s through the draft or how we set our roster which has flexibility. There may be two, sometimes it may be three, it all depends on what it is and there could be six on offence. There are a lot of different things we can do to make sure we have our ratio squared away. That’s what we are trying to fix here in the next couple of days.”
When asked about newcomers and where they fit into the team, Chamblin said, “I always tell the guys, starting is just the first play. So I don’t get caught up in who wants their name on a piece of paper that says they’re a starter. If you just want to play and help this team, then great.”
Incumbents likely to retain spots:
DE – John Chick I
DT – Tearrius George I
DT – Derek Walker I
SSLB – Weldon Brown I
HB – Terrell Maze I
CB – Tristan Jackson I
S – Tyron Brackenridge I
Projected starters for 2015:
MLB – Shea Emry N
WSLB – Keenan McDougall N
HB – Mark Legree I
That leaves the Riders with a couple of holes left to fill. They will look to the draft and to a number of training camp invitees to establish who will play the other cornerback and defensive end spots. You can bet they will consider playing a national defensive back, despite their previous scheme excluding any. They also have established veterans Macho Harris and Marshay Green looking for playing time.
Offence
The Riders have assembled a great group of players on offence. There is continuity in receivers and quarterback, and they have a fresh offensive coordinator, Jacques Chapdelaine, who loves to put the ball in the air.
Quarterback Darian Durant has announced his mission theme for this season: Mission6k, the goal for Durant to have 6000 yards passing.
However, to hit that mark, the team’s running game must be solid. When asked about the development of running back Anthony Allen, Chamblin said, “He’s changed his body. He’s changed a lot of his habits because he’s mentally ready for what the CFL brings. I think you’ll definitely see that Kory Sheets-type change. Will he have as great a year [as Sheets had in the 2013 sophomore season]? I don’t know that, but training camp and the season will tell us.”
Can Durant make good on the prediction that he’ll have a 2011 Travis Lulay-like year, where he conducts an air raid on opposing defences? Yes. Have a look at his arsenal.
Incumbents likely to retain spots:
QB – Darian Durant
SB – Chris Getzlaf N
SB – Weston Dressler I
WR – Rob Bagg N
G – Brendon LaBatte N
G – Chris Best N
T – Xavier Fulton I
Projected starters for 2015:
RB – Anthony Allen I
SB – Cory Watson N
WR – Korey Williams I
T – Levi Adcock I
In camp all of the positions will be challenged by the players next-up, but the clear hole on offence for the Riders is at the Centre position where it has been speculated that nationals Corey Watman and, former Edmonton Eskimo, Gord Hinse will compete for the job.
There also appear to be three or four CFL-ready offensive linemen available in the draft, two of them centres, if the NFL clubs decide to leave any behind for the CFL GMs.
When asked about positional needs, Brendan Taman said, “Hopefully you don’t have a lot of them on your team because that means you’re decent.”
While Taman would not state any names or positions, he did say, “A lot of it will depend on what happens before, specifically with the sixth pick. We’ll have to wait and see how the five picks ahead of us go, and then we can adjust accordingly. We have identified a few spots.”
Overall
All of this means there will be some changes for the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 2015, but mostly on the depth chart and on the sidelines.
Let the speculation begin, or in this case, end. The selections will be made next Tuesday, 8PM ET on TSN/RDS2, at the annual CFL draft.
Time to gather as men both working toward a common goal, and competing against one another to hold each other accountable.
Bookmark us, to follow as the LWOS CFL department reports on the 2015 Season Preview Media Teleconference Series. Each team will be represented by the head coach, GM, and Executive.
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