Ticat nemesis Harris heads West
After beating the Hamilton Tiger-Cats three times in the final five games of the 2018 season, quarterback Trevor Harris has vacated the eastern premises.
Harris, who threw a Canadian Football League post-season record six touchdown passes for Ottawa against the Tiger-Cats in the Eastern final, was signed on Tuesday’s first day of free agency by the Edmonton Eskimos in their sweeping and sudden remake.
And just one day after the Tiger-Cats had re-signed wildly popular Simoni Lawrence, they lost their other two starting linebackers to a ravenous free agency market.
Middle linebacker Larry Dean, the Eastern nominee for the CFL’s top defensive player in 2018, and league all-star cover linebacker Don Unamba left the Ticats for the Eskimos in Tuesday’s earliest hours of free agency.
The Tiger-Cats were relatively quiet on the open market, inking national receiver Brian Jones, who split last year between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Toronto Argonauts, and 23-year-old national defensive back Tunde Adelke, formerly of the Calgary Stampeders. Hamilton had retained two of its own potential free agents earlier in the day.
Just prior to free agency’s opening bell, the Tiger-Cats re-signed international defensive end Adrian Tracy and national wide receiver Mike Jones. With Lawrence and shutdown cornerback Delvin Breaux signed Monday, they’ve now re-signed 15 of their 34 players eligible for free agency.
The B.C. Lions and Eskimos have new marquee quarterbacks, while the Stampeders are keeping their star pivot.
The Lions announced the signing of quarterback Mike Reilly to a four-year, $2.9-million deal (average annual value $725,000) shortly after the market opened at noon EST on Tuesday. Reilly
was the CFL’s highest-paid player last year at over $500,000 with the Eskimos.
But following Reilly’s departure, Edmonton general manager Brock Sunderland went on the offensive. The Eskimos GM added Harris, receiver Greg Ellingson and offensive lineman Sir Vincent Rogers, all of the East Division-champion Ottawa Redblacks.
Just under four hours into free agency, Stampeders quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell agreed to a new deal with Calgary. Mitchell was the CFL’s most outstanding player last year, leading the Stamps to the Grey Cup.
Reilly, meanwhile, returns to the place where he started his CFL career in 2010.
“It’s an amazing feeling for me, my wife and our extended families to know I am back with the Lions,” Reilly said in a statement. “I am grateful for my time in Edmonton and it will always hold a very special place in my heart, but the opportunity to rejoin (GM) Ed (Hervey) and return to Vancouver to be part of what he is building was too good to pass up at this point in my career.”
Almost as stunning as the contract value was that the exact figures were even divulged. Traditionally, CFL contracts do not contain monetary details.
Hervey didn’t stop after inking Reilly. The Lions agreed to terms with Canadian offensive lineman Sukh Chungh, who spent the previous four seasons with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and Canadian receiver Lemar Durant, the former Stampeder who was the top Canadian in last year’s Grey Cup game.
Harris, 32, is coming off the best season of his CFL career. He completed 431-of-615 passes for 5,116 yards and 22 TDs. He had a league playoff-record six touchdown strikes in the East Division final before the Redblacks lost 27-16 to Calgary in the Grey Cup game.
“I’m excited to join the city of champions and Edmonton Eskimos led by Brock Sunderland and (head coach) Jason Maas,” Harris said after inking a two-year deal. “I’m very blessed to have their belief and I’m excited to get to work and start our pursuit to the Grey Cup with my teammates.”
Sunderland had a busy day, also adding Unamba, Dean and linebacker Jovan Santos-Knox, formerly of Winnipeg.
Ottawa also lost running back William Powell, a 1,000-yard rusher the past two seasons, to Saskatchewan.