Hall victim of Calgary’s depth at defensive line
By all accounts, the Calgary Stampeders fully expect Bryan Hall to be wearing another CFL uniform sometime soon.
The Stamps cut the defensive tackle Wednesday morning, but the decision didn’t come down to Hall’s ability to play at the CFL level.
If anything, cutting Hall is a better indicator of the tremendous depth the Stampeders currently have at their disposal on the defensive line than it is of the 28-yearold’s talent.
“You know what? We got caught in some ratio problems at other positions and we just felt like our defensive tackle (position) is solid with Canadian talent where he plays,” said Stampeders head coach Dave Dickenson. “I think he should be playing in the league somewhere else — no reason to just hide him here.”
The Stampeders cut three players Wednesday morning, but Hall was the one who had contributed most this season.
Aston Whiteside came to the team with an impressive CFL pedigree, but he was injured in his first game with the team. At the time, he was just the latest defensive end to get hurt during a bizarre stretch in which every man who stepped into the position seemed to come down with a serious injury.
Marvin Ross, meanwhile, was in his first-year with the team, but recorded no stats in two games at defensive back.
Hall, on the other hand, was a major contributor through the early weeks of the season, suiting up in five games and recording three defensive tackles and one sack.
He tweeted a quick thank you to the organization after being released and seemed to leave a good impression on the coaching staff.
“Good guy — I enjoyed having him here,” Dickenson said. “Obviously he didn’t leave the way he wanted, but he helped us and he’s a good football player.”
BAD NEWS
The Stampeders are going to be without Spencer Wilson for a while. The offensive lineman has appeared in every game the Stampeders have played this season, but will be out of action for an extended period after injuring his hand in last weekend’s victory over the Toronto Argonauts.
“Spence, he went in and he’s going to be in trouble this week,” Dickenson said. “He had some surgery on his thumb — he’ll be on the six-game (injury list). Unfortunately for Spence, he’s been our iron man, but he couldn’t overcome this one.”
The Stampeders were already fielding a beat-up offensive line against the Argos, but there appears to be relief on the way.
Dan Federkeil was back with his teammates at Wednesday’s practice and further Canadian reinforcements could be available for the Labour Day Classic against the Edmonton Eskimos Monday at McMahon Stadium (1 p.m., TSN/ News Talk 770).
“We’re hoping to get some of our guys back,” Dickenson said. "Dan was back practising, (Shane Bergman and Cam Thorn too) hopefully. We still used all three Americans last week, so we’ve got that flexibility, but we’ll see how it plays out for the week.
“Quinn Smith has been getting valuable reps inside. It’s certainly going to be a huge challenge and we’ll have a good group out there.”
As for the rest of the Stampeders team, there were a couple players missing from action Wednesday, but it was hard to draw any conclusions about their availability for Monday’s game.
The Stamps have a longer than usual week of practice ahead of them. That allowed the team’s coaching staff to get a better look at some of the younger players who are still figuring out the CFL game.
“It’s important for everybody to feel like they’re learning our stuff, not running scout team,” Dickenson said. “Plus as a coach, you can evaluate guys and if they’re not studying and doing the things you want, then you move on to the next people.”
WAITING GAME
When Cordarro Law injured his right leg in pre-season, it seemed likely he would be out for the rest of the year.
The defensive end was around McMahon Stadium this week, though, and according to Dickenson it’s possible that he could be back before the end of the year.