Insider Talk: CFL free agency, tampering, Marcel Desjardins’ ‘blatant mismanagement’

Photo courtesy: Scott Grant/CFLPhotoArchive.com

It’s Wednesday morning, which means it’s time for another edition of Insider Talk.

This weekly feature on 3DownNation includes anonymous quotes from people around the CFL regarding the latest news across the league.

There was no shortage of conversation this week with the quarterback shuffle in Ottawa and Toronto and free agency on the horizon.

Enjoy this week’s quotes and come back next week for another edition of Insider Talk.

Editor’s note: due to free agency opening on Tuesday, February 9, next week’s edition of Insider Talk may be pushed to Thursday or Friday.

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Marcel Desjardins hasn’t built a good culture in Ottawa, which is why they struggle to recruit free agents. How he handled the Nick Arbuckle situation was blatant mismanagement.

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I don’t think Calgary signs (national linebacker) Cory Greenwood if Shane Bergman doesn’t retire. They might play three Americans along the offensive line now, so Greenwood would have to start to offset that.

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I don’t care what anyone says — teams will be active (in free agency). Prices are down and most guys aren’t getting signing bonuses, so the contracts are risk-free. Who wouldn’t want to go out and sign a bunch of free agents with the way the market is right now?

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(Saskatchewan Roughriders’ linebacker) Solomon Elimimian could end up with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

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The Bombers definitely wanted (Bryan) Burnham, but you know who was a real dark horse for him? Calgary. They know they need help after losing (Reggie) Begelton (to the NFL) and (Eric) Rogers and (DaVaris) Daniels (to the Argonauts).

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Saskatchewan is going hard after (Ottawa Redblacks’ offensive lineman) Evan Johnson. He played with the (University of Saskatchewan) Huskies and he’s from Regina, so he’s local and fits their need in the trenches.

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I don’t think Toronto has a lot of competition for these guys who have gotten in trouble in the NFL (Martavis Bryant, Karlos Williams) because some teams have internal rules against signing them.

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The market is down for everyone, but I think the position getting hit the hardest is DB. A lot of guys were earning $140,000 or $150,000 (before COVID-19) but most top guys are going to have to settle for $100,000 or $110,000 now.

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How many teams wait until the negotiation period to start tampering? (laughs) Zero.