The Hamilton Tiger-Cats made a series of roster moves on Monday, including adding prized free-agent acquisition receiver Lemar Durant to the six-game injured list.
The 29-year-old signed with the Ticats in January after being released by the B.C. Lions in a salary cap-clearing move earlier that month.
The six-foot-two, 218-pound native of Vancouver, B.C., has played 74 games over six seasons in the CFL with the Lions (2019-2021) and Calgary Stampeders (2015-2018), registering 183 receptions for 2,353 yards and 13 touchdown receptions. He was a member of Calgary’s Grey Cup championship team in 2018 and was named the game’s Most Valuable Canadian.
The Tiger-Cats also placed Canadian offensive lineman Coulter Woodmansey and Canadian receiver Tyler Ternowski on the six-game injured list.
Prior to his injury, Woodmansey had been taking reps as the Ticats’ starting centre, while Ternowski had been having an incredible camp and seemed to be in line for a bigger role in the offence in his second professional season.
With both Durant and Ternowski hitting the injured list that leaves David Ungerer III as the lone Canadian receiver on the roster with any CFL experience. The Ticats have a pair of rookie Canadian receivers in Tyler Turner and 2022 CFL Draft pick Kiondre Smith on the roster as well.
For most of training camp, the Tabbies had been going with two Canadian receivers in the starting offence, usually Durant and Ungerer. Now with two veteran Canadian receivers hitting the shelf for a few weeks, one has to wonder if that may force the team to adjust their ratio.
Perhaps this means a player like American Anthony Johnson, who started in the team’s first preseason game on Saturday night, might not only make the active roster but be one of the starting receivers for the Ticats when the regular season begins.
The Tiger-Cats also added Chris Van Zeyl back to the active roster. Van Zeyl had been sitting out all of training camp up to this point with an undisclosed injury. Given the uncertainty surrounding Canadian offensive lineman Kyle Saxelid after he left Saturday’s game with an apparent back injury, getting Van Zeyl back is a big boost to the offensive line.
The Tabbies also released four players in compliance with the CFL’s roster deadline, American defensive back Traveon Beck, American defensive lineman Justus Reed, American linebacker Ezekiel Barnett and Global defensive lineman David Izinyon.
The Tiger-Cats had to get their roster down to 75 players plus non-counters by midnight last night but did not announce their moves until Monday morning.
