Wilder’s status with Argos still shrouded in mystery

Struggling running back returns to practice after roster scratch, writes Frank Zicarelli.

TORONTO One voice, one message, one of those moments in the Toronto Argonauts’ one-win season when head coach Corey Chamblin needed to take control.

Amid talk and conjecture that James Wilder Jr., a non-factor all season who has missed the team’s past four games, would be released, the running back was at practice on Monday.

There was a meeting over the weekend to address the Wilder Jr. situation following his unexpected last-minute scratch from the game roster Friday night when Toronto played host to the Edmonton Eskimos.

By all accounts, the get together went well, but all is not well when a player such as Wilder Jr. has underachieved, while a backfield of Brandon Burks and Chris Rainey performs well.

For all anyone knows, Wilder Jr. could be released as early as Tuesday, an off day for the Argos before they return to the practice field Wednesday.

For all anyone knows, Wilder Jr. will be uniform this Sunday afternoon when the Argos play a home game in Moncton, N.B., against a surging Montreal Alouettes team and starting quarterback Vernon Adams Jr.

Montreal sits at 4-4 and is coming off one of those season-changing comeback wins in Calgary.

This is the same Als team that fired its head coach on the eve of the regular season. The same team that parted ways with its general manager.

Chamblin is now trying to set the tone.

“We’re just trying to put a little protocol, a little order in the house,” said Chamblin. “If the message is being sent about the team, it’s going to be said by myself first, and that way, if there are any questions or answers about it, it’s there. That’s the biggest thing.”

There appears to be no market for Wilder Jr. if the Argos try to trade him. But the way Burks and Rainey have played, there’s no room for Wilder Jr. in the backfield.