This week’s Insider Talk is full of discussion about how many CFL players are vaccinated, the 2021 schedule, and how the league can promote itself to NCAA programs.
Insider Talk includes anonymous quotes from people around the CFL — players, coaches, personnel experts, and agents — regarding the latest news around the league. It’s a combination of insight, analysis, rumours, and friendly gossip.
Enjoy this week’s quotes and come back next Wednesday for another edition of Insider Talk.
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There are teams with less than half of their players vaccinated and they’re struggling to convince some of them they should get it. I’m no doctor, but if most of the guys in your locker room aren’t vaccinated that tells me you’re going to have a COVID outbreak.
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Jean-Philippe Bolduc was just the first — there are a lot of retirements coming. With that said, I suspect some teams will try to convince players to sit on the suspended list rather than retire outright provided they’re in shape. If a team runs into COVID trouble it could be really handy to have a few guys in the city who won’t need to quarantine.
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I don’t think many people have realized that Saskatchewan, Calgary or Winnipeg is probably going to end up hosting an outdoor football game on December 5. I’m glad I don’t coach in the West.
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Ottawa didn’t have enough weapons on offence even with Jalen Saunders.
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Saying who voted to play and who voted against playing in 2020 it is tricky because there were multiple votes with different parameters regarding who would have funded the bubble season. I can tell you there were certain proposals that lots of teams voted ‘no’ for other than just Montreal and Toronto.
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The Bombers really need a young receiver to step up. They made pushes for Derel Walker and Bryan Burnham before signing Bryant Mitchell, who’s since retired. They know they need to give Zach (Collaros) another target.
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I don’t know why my team pays me. I don’t think they did anything with my notes for the draft.
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I do 25-30 NCAA visits per year and I don’t see CFL stuff anywhere I go. All these schools have jerseys or helmets from the NFL teams their alumni have played for — even if the guy was just in a camp or something — but they don’t have CFL gear. I’m sure they’d proudly display it if they had it. There’s just a disconnect. I wish we’d do more of that because it would be a great way to promote our league to college players and let them know that they can make a good living playing in Canada.