Ticats’ bottom line? The lines
Focus on the trenches is reflected in the signing of free agent defensive tackle Sayles
With full free agency opening Tuesday, what do we know about where the Hamilton Tiger-Cats sit?
Obviously not as much as we — particularly the most attentive segments of Ticat Nation — would like to know.
But, even in the fluidity of this week’s “legal-tampering” period, when teams can agree to sign free agents around the league but can’t officially confirm the deals, some things are certain about the 2023 Ticats.
One is that, beyond Bo Levi Mitchell, much of their financial investment will be in the trenches. The Ticats want to protect Mitchell; they and Winnipeg are the CFL teams who tend to spend the most on the offensive line.
The Cats also need to get the ball back for their quarterback more quickly than they did much of last season, so pass rushing is a priority. After reports elsewhere earlier in the day, league sources confirmed to The Spectator on Thursday that the Ticats have signed talented, and relatively young, Casey Sayles to line up at defensive tackle beside Dylan Wynn. Sayles, 27, who’s had two good seasons on Winnipeg’s stout line, will get a hefty $200,000 for each of his two years. And sources also said it’s down to the Ticats and the Toronto Argonauts for Calgary free agent defensive end Folarin Orimolade.
The Tiger-Cats have also signed Stampeders linebacker Jameer Thurman to a deal that’s friendly to the team, and that sounds like the gravitational pull of Mitchell involved there. He’ll be the middle linebacker, after all-star Jovan Santos-Knox agreed this week to sign with Ottawa.
The Ticats are among several teams hovering around B.C. running back James Butler.
But Hamilton won’t say any of that out loud. Its free agency M.O. is to not discuss any player negotiations. That includes those with their own pending free agents until deals are signed (as Sean Thomas Erlington’s and Matt Shiltz’s were this week) or with other teams’ free agents until the league allows full disclosure Tuesday.
“I understand the fans’ anxiousness,” Orlondo Steinauer told The Spectator. “I understand the questions, but free agency isn’t until February 14. No team ever remains the same from year to year.
“We’re grinding behind the scenes and we’re excited about where it’s heading.”
The Ticats have already made their biggest signing of a potential free agent in Mitchell, but that also means they’re paying about $90,000 more for quarterbacking than they did last year, which, under a hard salary cap, has to be made up elsewhere.
The team made offers to about half of its potential free agents, but won’t say which ones.
We’re grinding behind the scenes and we’re excited about where it’s heading.
ORLONDO STEINAUER TICATS PRESIDENT OF FOOTBALL OPERATIONS AND HEAD COACH
Two of them were clearly SantosKnox and punishing running back Wes Hills — both were key to the late drive into last season’s playoffs — but Ottawa general manager Shawn Burke, the former Ticat executive, plucked them away for more than Hamilton was offering.
Also gone is possession receiver Steven Dunbar Jr., about to become an Edmonton Elk.
Football website 3DownNation has suggested that dynamic receiver Tim White is seeking a $240,000 salary, so, with a limited budget outside the trenches, the team’s best receiver could soon be an ex-Ticat too, and that would really hurt. Mitchell specifically cited White when he agreed to forgo free agency and sign here for three years.
But one league source says the Ticats are trying to do whatever it takes to retain White.
There is also some speculation that Montreal receiver Geno Lewis is on the Hamilton radar, but he was the East’s top player last year and will command dollars that are likely too rich for Hamilton’s salary cap allotment to the receiving corps.
Sayles’ arrival will mean the departure of defensive tackle Micah Johnson and, quite possibly, Ted Laurent.
And, if Hamilton prevails in grabbing Orimolade, there would be no roster or salary room for talented and versatile defensive end Julian Howsare.
But the few days leading into formal free agency are built on shifting sands, so lots can happen before midday Tuesday.
Notes Hamilton has also made an offer to all-time Ticats great Simoni Lawrence but so have some other teams and the linebacker isn’t commenting publicly yet ... Because Trevor Harris has agreed to sign with Saskatchewan, and with his former team Montreal’s murky ownership situation hampering any Alouette moves, there are no trade talks yet for Dane Evans.