HANDFUL OF VETS CUT AT CAMP
Charland, Jensen, Cohen among players Redblacks release as evaluations continue
With plenty of tough decisions still to make in the next two weeks, the Ottawa Redblacks said goodbye to five veterans, including two former second-round draft picks, on Monday.
The release of defensive back Mikael Charland, punter Ronnie Pfeffer, receiver Scott Macdonell and quarterback Brock Jensen was announced Monday afternoon.
Coinciding with the Jensen move, expect the arrival of 25-year-old quarterback Austin Trainor, whose agency tweeted Sunday that he had signed with the Redblacks. Trainor recently attended a rookie camp for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League, got a look from the Buffalo Bills last year and played U.S college football at both Florida A&M and West Georgia.
The Redblacks announced earlier in the day they had released defensive lineman Landon Cohen, who played seven games in 2016, offensive lineman Kadeem Adams and defensive back Kenneth Penny.
“It’s the least fun part of the job, but it’s part of the reality of the situation that we’re going to have to cut down the numbers as the days go by,” Redblacks head coach Rick Campbell said. “It never gets easy. The thing about football is, if you’re in this business long enough, you’re going to get cut or fired at some point.”
“They’re all difficult decisions for different reasons,” general manager Marcel Desjardins said. “You’re dealing with people’s personal lives. But we have to do what we feel is best for us at this point. That involves moving on from some players we just don’t feel are going to be making our team and giving them an early opportunity to find something somewhere else.
“Some guys take it better than others. They’re all disappointed. There were a couple of guys who might have had a sense that something was happening and in some other instances, they’re just, ‘Already?’ A lot of people think we’re going to let camp play out, then make all these decisions at the end of camp. That’s just not how we want to operate. If it’s obvious at this point, then why waste their time and our time?”
Charland, from Gatineau, was selected in the second round (16th overall) of the 2016 Canadian Football League college draft, but missed most of the season with a groin injury.
“We signed Adam Berger, so that put (Charland) even further behind,” Desjardins said. “We feel we’re very good with our Canadian depth across the board. As much as we would have liked for things to play out differently, they didn’t.”
Macdonell was taken in the second round (13th overall) in 2014. In three years as a Redblack, he caught 16 passes for 221 yards.
Said Desjardins: “We like some of the younger Canadians we have, not only as receivers, but we feel they’ll be able to do a lot for special teams.”
Pfeffer was brought in during the 2015 season, but didn’t play in the 2016 regular season after having surgery on an ankle that was injured in the first pre-season contest. The Redblacks will go with a combination of Canadian Zack Medeiros and American Ray Early as kickers.
“It was a function of the three guys. Ronnie was third,” Desjardins said. “Not his fault, but we didn’t want to get into a position again where we were paying him a whole season not to play. That came into the equation as well.”
Jensen, who was forced into action following an injury to starting QB Trevor Harris in a 30-29 loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Regina last July, completed 29 of 43 passes for 330 yards in 2016. In training camp this year, Jensen fell behind Harris, Drew Tate and Ryan Lindley.
“Look, he’s fourth of the guys that are here now,” Desjardins said. “Could we have waited to see if it played out any differently the rest of camp? Yes. There’s a track record there and we just felt at this point that wasn’t going to materialize. To allow him to go somewhere else is part of the equation, to protect ourselves versus him playing in a pre-season game, getting hurt and then we have to pay him. That plays into the equation as well.”
Four of the players released Monday were Canadians.
“It does speak well to our depth. We actually let go of a couple of Canadians, which is pretty rare,” Campbell said.
The Redblacks, who had a mock intrasquad game on Saturday, play their first pre-season game Thursday at TD Place stadium against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. On June 15, the Redblacks will be in Montreal for their final pre-season tune-up against the Alouettes, and then they kick off the regular season June 23 at home against the Calgary Stampeders.
“We’ll make some additions here and there,” Desjardins said. “I guess we’re operating probably a little more lean than we need to based on the fact we want to give everybody ample reps. If you have too many people, it’s hard to give everybody the proper amount of reps. For that reason, we just felt we would move on from the guys we moved on from.
“I feel we’re in a better place than we were at this point last year. Let’s hope that stays the same in the next two weeks before the regular season starts.” THE END AROUND: Defensive back Jerrell Gavins developed a cramp during practice Monday, but Campbell said Gavins would be OK. As for receiver Kenny Shaw, who came up limping a few days earlier, Campbell said: “He’s actually doing well. He’s day to day, but he’s progressing well. I can’t say if he’ll play Thursday or not, but I expect him back very soon.” … When asked about the running back situation, with veteran CFLers William Powell, Mossis Madu Jr. and Shakir Bell battling for jobs, Desjardins said: “Our hope is to have all three, but we’ll see how that plays out.”