YOUNG STORY IS GETTING OLD
If QB is added to roster that includes Glenn, Roughriders could join a masters league
Robservations ...
The Saskatchewan Roughriders are apparently in negotiations with Leigh Steinberg, the high-powered agent for Vince Young. The former University of Texas Longhorns and NFL quarterback is hoping to resuscitate his football career, despite having announced his retirement from the sport in 2014.
Young is a legendary collegian — the Heisman Trophy winner in 2005 — but as an NFLer he threw more interceptions (51) than touchdown passes (46) and his completion percentage was an unsatisfactory 57.9. An apt description for his professional career is (wait for it) “moderately successful.”
The Roughriders do not need Young at quarterback. They need a young quarterback. John Murphy is reputedly a player-personnel guru, so why not lean on his expertise and find an up-andcoming passer who can become the next Darian Durant?
Too many of the younger pivots the Roughriders brought in last year proved to be duds. The fact the Roughriders are even considering a retread does not reflect positively on their ability to identify, recruit and develop a quarterback who is younger than, say, 33.
If Young is added to a roster that already includes 37-year-old quarterback Kevin Glenn (he turns 38 in June), perhaps the Roughriders could join a masters league.
Murphy and Roughriders head coach, general manager and vicepresident of football operations Chris Jones have done a tremendous job of stockpiling receivers. They added Duron Carter, Bakari Grant and Chad Owens to a nucleus that already included Naaman Roosevelt, Caleb Holley, Armanti Edwards, Rob Bagg and Ricky Collins Jr.
A wealth of gifted pass-catchers fosters suspicion that something has to give, possibly in the form of a trade. Could a receiver be part of a package Saskatchewan would offer to the Edmonton Eskimos for promising pivot James Franklin?
What would it take to entice Eskimos GM Ed Hervey to part with Franklin? Perhaps precedent can be a guide.
Leading up to the 2002 season, the Roughriders addressed a void at quarterback by acquiring Nealon Greene (along with fullback Simon Baffoe and a second-round draft pick) from Edmonton for a Canadian starter (offensive lineman Dan Comiskey), the Roughriders’ reigning nominee for the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player award (tailback Darren Davis) and a kicker (Mike O’Brien).
If that template were to be applied to 2017, could Roosevelt — the team’s most recent MOP — be trade bait? As for the Canadian component of such a copycat deal, the Riders would be hardpressed to part with a national starter, so could a preferred draft pick be part of such a package? Just speculating.
Another factor to consider: The Eskimos need a top-flight receiver to replace Derel Walker, now of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Word seeped out Friday that the Roughriders agreed to terms with linebacker/special-teamer Glenn Love. The deal was finally announced Tuesday. It just goes to show you can’t hurry Love.
So what can Roughriders fans expect when Love comes to town? A special-teams dynamo, for starters. Love registered 21 special-teams tackles — thirdbest in the league — in 2016 despite playing in only 10 regular season games with the Calgary Stampeders.
Legendary Regina Pats goaltender Ed Staniowski is one of those rare people who can make your day simply by being himself.
Pats head coach/GM John Paddock is a total pro. Too many hockey coaches — not to mention football coaches — are paranoiacs. Paddock, by contrast, gets it. He doesn’t play any games or robotically dispense eye-glazing clichés. Instead, he tells it like it is and treats the media (a conduit to the fans) with respect.
Many members of the national hockey media need to lighten up, the alternative being to render their audiences unconscious.
Very few of these learned hockey insiders look like they are having any fun at all while engaging in earnest discussions about “compete level.” The funereal, in-groupish yakking about which third-line left winger might be traded for which dump-the-puck-off-the-Plexiglas defenceman is excruciating. (Thank goodness for the levity provided by the incomparable James Duthie.)
The world needs more hockey outsiders.
Nice people who deserve a plug: Kelly Peterson, Celine Peterson, Ed Staniowski, Joy Becker, Jane Kish, Brent Sjoberg, Gareth Dillistone, Brad Burlock, Brett Burlock, Randa Burdeniuk, Dr. Kobus de Witt, Alan Millar, Henry Burris, Murray Pituley, Jack McNeill, Jay Dufour, Margo and Larry Huber, Sally Elliott and pianist/sportscaster Bianca Millions.