CFL suspends Hagerty, Paredes makes kick, Kelly pauses negotiations

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1:00Learn more at Kia.com or visit your Southern California Kia dealer. Music, food, art. These things define and unite us and they come in colors that breathe culture. The colors that connect us with their variety and richness, you'll find that same variety in Valsbar Ultra paints. Red coverage and durability starting at $2,999 per gallon. Enjoy everyday protection against scuffs and wear with a smooth, washable finish. We're made of colors. And with Valsbar Ultra, you can reflect that pride of culture you have inside on every wall of your home. Available at Lowe's. Music, music, music. Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Three-Downation Podcast. I'm Justin Dunn joined by John Hodge and Jay C. Abbott.

2:03Fellas, I don't know about you, but for some reason I felt the need to put on a cup to tape this podcast. How about you two? I don't have a cup on, but my legs are crossed under the desk. I wear a cup every day, just in case. I'm always ready. You never know what's around the corner, especially when you're at Lions practice, apparently. Oh, geez. What a mess. Let's get into a fellas today. We're breaking down Renee Parrade as hitting a remarkable 62 yard walkoff field goal at McMahon Stadium. The Toronto Argonauts breaking a record in their win over Edmonton. A new stadium possibly being built in Halifax. The CFL touting is its recent quad header as a TV rating success without sharing the numbers, SMH.

3:03It's a sketch of a rough riders signing a rookie quarterback. An NFL commissioner Roger Gidell seemingly wanting a new stadium to be built in Toronto, but first. The CFL has suspended BC Lions defensive back Josh Hagerty, two games after he struck. Michelle Aloet's running back Liam Talbot twice during the WIFT 15 game between the two teams. Talbot sustained what sources close to the situation described to our Pablo Herrera Vargara as a quote, life altering, closed quote, injury as a result of the strikes and was forced to undergo emergency surgery which ended his 2026 season. What did you make of Hagerty's strikes? And do you think the CFL got the discipline right? I don't think they got the discipline right. I mean, this was a despicable act by Josh Hagerty.

4:05And it happened twice. We have the video where it appears to show is to low blow below the belt strikes to the groin from Hagerty delivered to Liam Talbot on separate special teams plays. The result of that interaction a few days later was a medical situation that required surgery and has lifelong consequences potentially for Talbot. And this is something that's not in the game of football. Let's be clear. Hagerty's not the first player ever to attempt a low blow blow to the groin. Right. This happens from time to time. But this is the most egregious example that I can possibly think of this ever happening. Certainly in my time watching football, a message needed to be sent. And I don't think that this message is clear enough.

5:05The CFL has never delivered a suspension of more than two games for an on field incident in their past, right? Even the Garrett Marineo suspension, which was Talga at the time as a record for game suspension was actually three separate suspensions that were served consecutively, not of which were longer than two games. So the precedent here, I don't think you're surprised that the CFL came out with a two game ruling. But never before in my time covering this league, have I seen such unanimous outcry that a suspension was not strong enough from players, from fans, from media. And I think that's a good indication that they needed to press beyond the precedent here because of the situation. Now I don't want to be in a situation where we are judging suspensions based on the degree of injury inflicted on an opponent, because I think that's a slippery slope.

6:11Injuries are locked, right? There can be a growing punch that doesn't result in this injury and still be equally as hangus. There can be acts that result in devastating injuries on the football field that aren't even illegal and should not be punished, right? That should not be our metric. But when something is outside the game and frankly might even verge into the criminal realm, I think that you have to be a lot harsher. And when you look at some of the punishments for off the field incidents, whether you think that's right or wrong, the difference is stark when you have something like this on the field being punished with just two games. And people have been banned from the league or suspended half a season for things they've done off the field. That leaves a lot of fans scratching their heads and that's not a situation you want to be in if you're the CFL. This has no place on a football field or really anywhere else in our society. Josh Hagerty, I can't understand why you would even think about potentially doing this to somebody not once, but twice.

7:26So let me make that very clear, despicable, awful, atrocious, that has no place in our society whatsoever. The tricky part for the Canadian football league in terms of discipline to try to add some context is that this is seemingly unprecedented. And there's also going to be the Canadian Football League Players Association having at least a say in this in terms of whether Hagerty potentially grieves the suspension. So perhaps the dialogue in this is pure speculation that went all behind the scenes landed on two games without Hagerty potentially grieving the suspension. Do I think it's enough upon further reflection? I do not think it's enough, but when you're the CFL, the disciplinary committee commissioner Stuart Johnston looking at this, there are other factors namely legal ones that come into play here.

8:26So I do think actually that more of the onus for this goes on the BC lines because there can be team discipline. We hear about it, you know, behind the scenes from time to time in the Canadian Football League. And I think Buck Pierce as the head coach in BC needs to be clear that that type of conduct is not tolerated on his team. And there is one way to do that. You release Josh Hagerty. This act or acts, I should say, are so despicable that I think you have to set that standard. That you don't get a second chance when you do this because you didn't do it just once you did it twice. Now to be fair, a little bit and some people might be shocked and odd by this, but perhaps there were some events that led to Hagerty feeling like he needed to up the level.

9:32So until he speaks or Buck Pierce talks about it, we might not know that. So I'll give them that little bit of grace. And I guess Hagerty I'm talking about when I say them, but I'm also talking about the BC lines as a whole here. But there is no place for this in the game at all. And the longer that I think about it, I don't think that you can have Hagerty on your team for the rest of the season. And this might be something that perhaps ends his career. I think it's that bad guys. This is absolutely atrocious and not only has no place in football to reiterate. This has no place in society. If that happened on a street corner and I know we were joking off the top about wearing cuffs, you could be arrested for assault causing bodily harm. Liam Talbot had to have, according to Pablo Herrera Vargarra, essentially an emergency surgery and operation.

10:33So you've caused harm to an individual in our society. Yes, it happened on the football field, but this is just so despicable in so many ways, the more that it sort of languishes, I guess, for lack of a better term in my mind. Yeah, I think football players all understand, right, when they step on the football field, they could suffer a very serious injury. And unfortunately, that is the worst part about this game we all love. The caveat usually is that the injury occurs as a result of physicality. That's within the rules. And there's times where, you know, it's like, ah, you know, I was aiming to deliver a hit here. I hit two inches high. I caught a little bit of the helmet. So it was an illegal hit, but like you can kind of see from just a human element, right, that okay, the defender probably didn't need to strike exactly there. It's a bang, bang, play, you know, you're trying to make these high speed adjustments in a tiny fraction of a second. And it's like, ah, okay, illegal hit, but you know, that's not dirty, right?

11:43And, and this is the exit. This is of that. This is not a football play. This is garbage. Like it's just garbage. And the CFL can dish out a suspension for as long as it wants, but there is also precedent. I think Justin did a good job of outlining that, right? Right, Khalif Mitchell for violently ripping semi-Simmian roadshares are back in 2012. Got two games. Garrett Marino, you know, going super low and throwing his body at Jeremiah Mussolini's shin got two games. So I think two is probably fair. But just like Khalif Mitchell back in 2012 with the BC Lions and just like Garrett Marino back with the Saskatchewan Rough Riders and I believe it was 2022. The right answer was obvious from the onset. These people just should be cut, right? Like Khalif Mitchell was a talented football player, but at the end of the day, he did not make the B's he lions better. He was a massive distraction and he played dirty as exhibited by the several times he received supplemental discipline in a relatively short career. And the same was true for Garrett Marino. Lots of talent, but made stupid decisions that were reckless and dangerous for the people around him. And this was the same. Now, this isn't a pattern with Josh Hagerty.

13:06He's a six year vet. And this is the first time I believe he's ever received any type of supplemental discipline that being said, there's no excuse for this. And he did it twice, right? As Justin laid it out, this wasn't a, oh, I got emotional. I let my my let that cloud my judgment and I made one stupid call. It happened two times. So the BC Lions in my opinion should have simply cut Josh Hagerty. As soon as this came to light, because the message that you send by keeping Josh Hagerty on your team is, you know, at the end of the day, we're fine with the player doing this. I'm not saying they like it. I'm not saying that they endorse it. But if a player doing that is not a deal breaker, and they can stay in your clubhouse, that is a weird message. I don't like that message. Josh Hagerty can be replaced. Every player can be replaced. And I think the better message would be, you know what? We love Josh is a dude. He's been a good player for us. But this was unacceptable. And we're going to move on. So from the CFL perspective, I would have liked a longer suspension. But I also get there's precedent to me, just like the previous instance in BC and the other in Saskatchewan.

14:23I think the better impetus would be as a team, just decide to move on because this is going to cloud over the rest of the season, right? As long as Josh Hagerty is there, people are going to be talking about this. Whereas if you release him now, it gives you a clean break. And you can have everybody just focus on the playoffs. And you can wash your hands of this. As long as he's there, this is going to stink up the locker room, I think. I don't disagree with that assessment from either of you that this mayor or release. And I think this will be a key moment in Buck Pierce's tenure as head coach, he hasn't necessarily faced this type of situation before where his feet have been pressed to the fire. And he's had to deal with this level of controversy. And I'll be intrigued to see how he handles the situation. Shortly after we finished recording this podcast, I will be at the BC line's first practice of the week. In the Surrey, the initial indications that I've been given by the club are that Josh Hagerty will not be in attendance at that practice session that he has gone home until I get there to the field.

15:39I can't be able to to confirm that, but it sounds like he will not be made available to the media at least at this point, which means this story in my mind will drag on until he speaks because you cannot silence your way out of this one. And I think we saw the Saskatchewan ruffrackers attempt the same thing a number of years ago with Garrett, where they said, okay, four games suspension, all the microscopes on him. Let's just keep him away from the media. He won't apologize until afterwards. And that just meant that the story about Garrett, Maringo, instead of lasting two weeks, lasted six or seven, right? Because until he was back from the suspension, he didn't get to speak to the media. And then he was under the microscope for every game after and ultimately it did lead to his release by the club. I think if you're smart, you let the player get out in front of this.

16:41He has to claim responsibility. I think he has to say firmly that he's not going to appeal the suspension that he's going to accept his punishment. And if you don't do that, you cast doubt about, you know, how seriously he's taking his own actions. I think you cast out about how seriously the club is taking his actions and you fuel this story for weeks to come. So hopefully we'll get a good summer and later, but until we get the complete picture of this story, we're going to keep covering it. And kudos to you, JC, for being on it and being fair with your coverage in BC in terms of the way that you approach your craftman, it bears knowing like how far you have come as a respected unbiased reporter, not only covering the BC Lions, but in the CFL has been unbelievable.

17:42So when stories break like this, it is critical that you are there to ask the fair, but questions that need to be asked questions that are being talked about by the fans who ultimately pay the salaries of the players of the coaches. And you know that even trickles down to us at three down nation with all the support that we get from the readers. I think there are some people in the Canadian football league that need to understand that when you are a professional, when you get paid, when you are in the public eye, it is fair to ask fair questions. I'm doing a lot of questions, ideally unbiased questions, and we do our best at three downation to do that every single day and beyond unbiased, excuse me, within our reporting, which brings me to a lot of the blowback that the Montreal allowets and possibly in particular Davis Alexander have received for their conduct in this football game.

18:48I'm not going to say that some of the stuff that happened was okay, but I think now people might be able to understand why the allowets had this kind of reaction, let's say, because they would have had an idea of what happened to Liam Talbot, right? iPads are readily available there to zoom in on these plays. It would have been communicated. I would imagine, and this is a guess and speculation, but from Liam Talbot to the rest of his teammates, what happened? So credit to the allowets for not retaliating in a way that was anywhere close to what Josh Heggardy did. And now we can understand why Davis Alexander, Jason Moss and the rest of his team teammates, the front office, the coaching staff, were as fired up as they were. Because a player essentially took two of the worst cheap shots you could ever imagine in pro sports. And again, not even just when you look at it being on a football field, you know, in society, this could potentially be viewed as an assault because it led to an injury and ultimately a surgery that you understand why the allowets were so upset and using a whole bunch of curse words.

20:10I imagine is that game went along. And one more note, as much as I think the VC line should cut Josh Heggardy, I also don't think it has to be a lifetime back, right? You could say to the to Josh, listen, we need to be all in on this playoff run. And we feel like what you did was unacceptable. So we're going to cut you. But first of all, people should know as a vested veteran, Josh Heggardy, if he's cut this late in the year, gets paid for the rest of the year. A lot of you obviously have to miss a couple game checks with the suspension, but he's going to get paid to go home if you cut him. And then you can say, but listen, we want you to take some time, focus on your mental health, because I'd imagine that seeing your name, drag through the mud internationally granted for something that is evident you did on video, I'm not saying it's wrongfully done, but that's got to be tough for somebody. That's something that I think most people would really struggle with. And just say, listen, go home for a few months, you're still going to get paid to the end of this year, minus the suspension, let us focus on this run. And then come January will reassess. And if you decide to sign Josh Heggardy back in January, you can say, listen, Josh has gone through therapy. He is a formerly apologized to Lee and Talbot, right? You can go through a process of rehabilitation.

21:33And I think the public will be accepting of that because it's like, yeah, the mistake that he made back in that Montreal game, he paid for it by having to sit at home while his team went on this playoff run. So even if you bring him back potentially, I think that could be a good story. And that could be something that, you know, we would save Heggardy from having to in just a couple weeks when he's back answer for it. He could answer for it. Monster now, once he's really had a chance to reflect, once he's really had an opportunity to digest this. So not even saying, you know, cut him forever. But I think releasing him right now would be the best decision for the reasons we've discussed. Had you bring up a great point, if I'm Josh Heggardy and I realize that this story and what I've done has gone viral, I don't even think it should take that for you to issue a statement and a public apology.

22:33But I hope that behind the scenes and we don't know this yet. So I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that there has been at least an apology because that does show some remorse in this situation. We have seen that in the past. So until we know the details, I won't come with judgment. But that to me could potentially show that did Josh Heggardy realize after the game, potentially before the story went viral and even now after that he is actually apologetic for what he did to Liam Talbot. And we should note that before Pablo's initial article went out, the BC lines declined comment. So granted that was the lions, but I would imagine part of their process internally was does Josh want to comment. So we did give him an opportunity to share his side through the team before the initial article went out and it's now been five days since then. So I'm not saying a statement's not coming.

23:36I agree that I think a statement and an apology would go a long way. But at least for the past five days, he's not said anything. It is possible that he's not saying anything for fear that legal litigation will come down the stretch. Right. If for some reason this were to result in criminal charges and I'm not a lawyer, I don't know if it will or it won't. But it's possible he's keeping silent to prevent you know, painting himself into a corner. I don't know. But we should just note that we did ask for a response. We were told no comment. So he has been given a chance to share his side already. He elected not to do that. And I for one look forward to hearing from him. When and if he's he's ready to eventually share because I don't think this has to be a career ender. But I do think it should probably be a season and providing him and the club with a lot more time to come back from this and do it at a time when you're not making a playoff run like at the lions win this week. They're number two in the West Division. And that should be your focus. Not a PR crisis.

24:42I think you touched on something important there. The only reason or the only valid justification that I could see for Liam Talbot not receiving an apology is if there is a fear of litigation or potential criminal action because an apology in that case could incriminate yourself and be used as evidence of guilt. Right. So if there is that concern that may alter the way in which Josh Hagerie is handling this situation or he's being advised to handle this situation. I think it's worth dogging that now we don't know if that conversation has or hasn't taken place. That's something that will be asked to the lions today and will be asked to Hagerie and Talbot in the future when they're made available to the media. But this is a sticky and complicated situation of Hagerie's own making. Right. And it's going to persist for weeks on end as a result.

25:47Renee Perry is set a new career long and week 16 when he hit a 62 yard game-winging field goal to beat the R.O.A. Red Lacks in walkoff fashion. The stampiers were relinquished to lead with a little over one minute left in the game when McLeod Bethel Thompson through his fifth touchdown pass of the game this one to Justin Harvey. It was the third longest field goal in CFL history and is unofficially the longest walkoff game-winging field goal in league history. Don't what did you take away from the massive kick? Renee Perry is at 41 years old bang in this thing through the uprights with the stampedeers season on the line unbelievable. That's what I took away from this kick and it made me think I couldn't help it. Why was Renee Perry does not on the roster earlier this season for the Calgary stampedeers Dave Dickinson make it make sense but you should get down on two knees and look up with your hands folded at Renee Perry does for saving your season and possibly possibly your job is GM and head coach with the stampedeers because that's how massive this kick was.

27:10You could see it in terms of the reaction from the stampedeers parades deserve to be carried off by his teammates and be as pumped up as he was for making that kick but I think the reaction which to me was playoff level showed you how much the stampedeers knew that they needed that kick it was spectacular theater to watch live full credit to the auto red blood. I think it was a great success and MacLeod Bethel Thompson who all three of us I believe said last week on the podcast shouldn't have even started that football game they should have gone younger and I still think that's up for debate but MacLeod Bethel Thompson did play well enough for Ottawa to win. I think it was in this absolute monster kick with literally the season on the line was awesome the Canadian football league at its best.

28:11I would like to set the records straight you are the one who said that MacLeod Bethel Thompson shouldn't even play this is a waste of their degree did we not. I said the red legs have to win a game and their best chance of doing that like I said give Bryson Barnes a package but I said give MBT a game and my boy MacLeod MacLeod John Balthazar Bethel Thompson went out there and through five tutties and now you're sitting here on the podcast but nobody nobody should play MBT and we all agree no that's not what the Hodg said. The Hodg said play MacLeod and MacLeod delivered and look MacLeod is peaks and valleys this was peak MacLeod Bethel Thompson and if he starts a lot more games inevitably we're going to see Valley MacLeod Bethel Thompson he is a loose cannon but when he's at his best MacLeod Bethel Thompson is awesome.

29:13Yes he missed a few deep shots in this game but he threw the ball to Justin Hardy 19 times which is insane by the way as the red black simply refused to run the ball even when they're doing it well Daniel Adam a boy it was picking up chunks of the yardage and they were like six carries is enough we don't need more than that which didn't make any sense but whatever Ryan did what he loves to throw the football he was throwing it all over the place look Bethel Thompson decide this is one of the best plays I've ever seen. The kick 62 yards I had my CFL connect open which is like the internal like league and media service where you can see the play by play and it was and it usually is about one play ahead of the TSN broadcast and so I was sitting there and my wife who does not care about sports at all has actually become kind of invested in the auto red blacks hoping that they get a win. She's not a fan of any particular team she just feels really badly that they've lost all these games in a row and so we're sitting there we're watching she's invested and I see on my play by play that the field goal is good and my immediate assumption is oh this is this is CFL stats obviously this can't be right there's no way that Renee Perry does hit a 62 yard game winner and then I look up at the TV and sure enough one moment later.

30:39The day paradas up and through unbelievable kick credit to Dave Dickinson for passing on a chance to receive in the third quarter intending to take the win in the fourth we've been critical to stamp eaters for lousy game management at times this was brilliant game management taking the wind now it was terrible game management to take a penalty right before this field goal happened and make it 10 yards longer but with the wind they have the leg and this is maybe my favorite quote ever this was Dave Dickinson post game when asked about the kick quote I wasn't sure Renee had 62 in his leg he did which was nice close quote that is an amazing quote and I got a little bit of pushback when we put out that the kick saved the stamp eaters see some people saying oh I didn't the save nothing well here's another quote from Dave Dickinson he said quote we should be playing stay in alive by the Bee Gees seriously it was desperation mode we're not going to get to where we want to go if we lose that game so it gives us a chance translation he's saying Renee Parrot is just saved our season he saved our bacon and we should be playing the Bee Gees in the locker room because we are staying alive with that win and Dave Dickinson credit to him

31:59credit to him for his candidness yes if you lose this game you are still four points behind Winnipeg and BC for third place or I guess fourth place in the west division and you now have you know you have one fewer game left than those clubs like you're just not catching them this was a must win game they needed the win they got it my heart shatters for red blacks fans like they've lost 19 games on a row and they're still finding more and more create more creative and heartbreaking ways to lose which sucks it sucks but man this was an unbelievable play for Renee Parrot is one of the best place I've ever seen I don't think this was the greatest kick in the CFL history like your mind immediately goes to Louis Passeglia in the 1994 break up you know Dave Ridgeway in 1989 to give the riders that victory but it may have been the most in the past. I think it's a massive kick in CFL history because even though it's only the third longest the guys in front of Parregas on that list Paul McCallum and Sergio Castillo were known as big leg kickers like they had a history of

33:15absurd distances and well renegade parades has hit his share of 50 yarrers in his you know illustrious career he's more of an accuracy guy and at this stage of his life I don't think anyone expected him to be able to line up a 62 yarrer and not get through with the game on the line it was as shocking a moment as I've ever seen watching the CFL and and who goes to Parregas I mean this might be his last year with the Calgary stamp he goes he struggled with injury earlier in the year he had to ride the pine as they went with the global Jude McAtamney for for much of the season until he got back to full strength that he has been excellent since returning and that is as good a play as I've ever seen from a kicker it should be one we remember for a long long time more so even than the kicks a heck of it. On the all time yardage. Lists now as for the point on MacLeod Bethel Thompson I mean I'll stand up and say sorry MacLeod I thought you were done clearly I was unfamiliar with your game because that was tremendous tremendous play by MBT I think he's probably bought himself with that performance at least another season in the CFL if he wants to continue to play.

34:36But it was still the wrong decision by the other red lacks to start him because the motivation to go after the victory and get that one win I understand it like you're a football team you don't want to go winless yaga yaga yaga make yourself feel good with the meaningless victory I understand it. It's not the important thing going forward the important thing is a value in your car backs you know what MacLeod Bethel Thompson is already and he's going to be 39 years old next year very impressive performance for him kugos adds to his legacy all of those things but I don't think it helps the other one red blacks one I only moving forward and this is a team that needs to figure out the future more than they need to win right now which is a strange thing to say can say. They need to win right now because they haven't won one but their future is bleak right now because they don't know what the quarterback is I don't know that this helps you at all moving forward or do they JC.

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37:10submit your lineup then sweat it out as you watch your picks play out live it's the best way to get more locked in on game day make all the picks you want this football season all in the same at also price picks is going crazy with the deals to start the football season giving users a new promo every day during

38:28stack September and now price picks is available nationwide so what are you waiting for lock in for kickoff because everyone and everything is on price picks what you want download the app today and use code at large to get one of your $50 instantly in line ups if you win your first $5 line up price picks run your game oooh that's a bit of a tease look I'll just we keep talking about how it's meaningless if auto wins a game it's not try telling that to the good people of Ottawa like the difference between finishing with five wins or six wins I agree is meaningless if you missed the play off side their way the difference between zero and one is monumental they need a win they need to win a game they have lost 19 games in a row they are one game short of matching the worst start in CFL history at o14 with the Shreve Port Pirates team that was a

39:32travesty even by the remarkably low standards of American CFL teams they need to win a game and do not tell me that a win would be meaningless it is extraordinarily meaningful to just get one you try asking red blacks fan hey if they won next week would that be meaningful or meaningless to you I guarantee you they're going to say meaningful they want to win they deserve to win don't tell me it's meaningless they need to win they need it they need it hodge did somebody knock you in the testicles because you're fired up I will counter your question with one of my own because instead of asking red blacks fans we'll get be meaningful to you if you won a game next week I would like to ask them will get be meaningful to you if you discover a franchise quarterback

40:38because that's the question that needs to be asked because that's one JC and are you saying I'll play that was out of the franchise quarterback going forward no I know Justin is talking about Chad Kelly but listen Maccawd Bethel Thompson has led the CFL and touchdown passes before he's led the CFL and pass the yards before he's willing to play for not lucrative contract and everybody and their uncle is going Trevor Harris is playing the best ball of his career at age 40 ages just a number for Trevor Harris Trevor Harris is in the best shape of his life Trevor Harris it doesn't matter if he's got grandkids he's still youthful and he's and then Maccawd Bethel Thompson who's younger than Trevor Harris it's like oh how was he not in a retirement home he's the most ancient person a lot it's like why can't he go be start games at 39 next year he looked great at 38 this past week like why are why are we insisting that Trevor Harris is like you know has found the fountain of view with the Maccawd Bethel

41:42Thompson is as old as my great grandmother like this doesn't make sense to be there like Maccawd is a year younger and their career stats like yes Trevor Harris is the better player but they're not crazy far off Maccawd has played good football he's won games and y'all are just out of your disrespect to him even though he's younger than Trevor Harris okay I get that point but flipping on to the other side we talk about how Zach Collaris is done and probably should retire and he's a year younger than Maccawd Bethel Thompson so it's a case by case basis yeah like it depends on the player themselves and what we saw from MBT last year was much different than what we saw in this game and maybe this game is more representative of what he can be going forward I don't deny that but even if it is I still don't think that a 39 year old franchise quarterback solves your your problems in the long term right like can MBT be the guy to push you into the playoffs to make

42:46you a great captain contender is he your long term solution the answer to that is no so why are you wasting time with trying to find stopgaps when you should be investing those time and that resources the luxury of these meaningless games to find somebody who can be a long term solution maybe that's not Bryson Barnes but I would start a number of guys like Brad Pitt as many as you possibly get get Jack Jake Plummer up here or is it Jack Plummer Jack Plummer the UFL MVP that you just neglected right get him up here starter couple games at the end of the year let's let's get eyes on him I want to get eyes on as many Korgobaks as physically possible over this stretch to try and find somebody that I can invest in over the offseason and going forward into next year if Chad Kelly ends up going elsewhere or staying in Toronto.

43:50JC I think it's simple at this point the red blocks are trying to get a wing and then perhaps we would see Bryson Barnes or some of these other quarterbacks we've talked about I totally agree with you for what it's worth to add some context to Renee Parradez in his 62 yard field goal there was some wind behind him I don't want to take that away from him but I feel like we should say that on the podcast as great as that kick was and I would like Josh Hagerty to take some notes because I'm going to admit my mistake Hodge I am sorry for speaking for you and using a catch all phrase to say that you are in on McCloud Bethel Thompson not starting clearly that was my mistake and I have realized it in short order and issued a direct apology. JC Well thank you and as a result of your apology I will no longer punch you in the testicles the next time we see each other in person. I would like to have the opportunity to reproduce if I so choose so thank you.

44:51JC I'm just kidding but it all serious this I just don't under like red blacks fans know they're not going to the playoffs and I think Ryan Dinwitty who's been asked about this many times including once by myself has made it very clear they do not want to throw Bryson Barnes to the wolf so you guys keep saying play by play Bryson Barnes play Bryson Barnes well what if he goes out and in the first quarter takes three sacks and throws two picks and he's just never able to build confidence in this league like that is the situation they're trying to avoid which is why my solution is start MBT who has seen every defense that you could possibly throw at him in the CFL and just put in a package for Bryson Barnes. Here is your five plays we're going to get you in the third quarter at some point maximize those five plays and slowly build confidence to the point that maybe by the end of the year he's able to start again but the situation they want to avoid is going okay our offensive line is shaky we don't really have a run game so we're not going to give you a tough receiving course

45:56but you're not going to have a ton of support but go out there and do it against Clarence Hicks and Jalen Hutchings and all the like like that's a really good front in Calgary so that's why to the red black's credit in my opinion they are handling the situation correctly the only exception is I would like to see Bryson Barnes get in there a little bit and slowly work up to maybe a start in the last week of the season because the worst thing you can do for your franchise is kill his confidence and the phrase rinds in what he has used multiple times is throw to the wolves they do not want to throw Bryson Barnes to the wolves and I would say the same thing is true for whether it's Jack plumber any other quarterback they bring in you don't want to throw them to the wolves Trevor Harris was a backup in this league for multiple years before he was a starter Cody Fajardo was a backup for multiple years Bolivim Mitchell was a backup for multiple years like I don't think that throwing guys to the wolves early in their careers is a smart move that's my that's part of auto

46:56law's master plan here signed Chad Kelly in the off season resigned McLeod Bethel Thompson as your veteran backup and have Bryson Barnes continue to develop we have obviously talked a lot negatively about the red black season and rightfully so with their record now at 0 and 13 but if that's their plan at quarterback going forward it would seem to be a pretty good one and to your point hodge McLeod Bethel Thompson has the mental fortitude to be able to go through the ups and more specifically a lot of the downs that the red blacks have its experience this season and not let it affect him because you know this guy's played like essentially all over the map but I just think because he's a veteran he can do that if your Bryson Barnes to balance out the conversation and he comes into the game and he gets beat around there by the opposing teams perhaps that does hinder his development so if that is auto as planned and it's a possibility that in the facility

48:03that has at least been talked about because that wouldn't be tampering I think that would be decent Chad Kelly McLeod Bethel Thompson and then Bryson Barnes perhaps you have some other guys competing for that third spot or perhaps a practice roster quarterback which brings me to another point like I don't understand why teams in the CFL wouldn't have more quarterbacks on the practice roster or try to stash some guys because it is the most important position a lot of our conversation around the red blacks last couple weeks on the podcast has focused around Bryson Barnes but if I'm Ottawa and it's not certain that you're going to be able to even have the opportunity to sign Chad Kelly in the offseason as much as Jim pop had a zero at the end of that game at BMO field then don't you want to have multiple young quarterbacks in your building learning Ryan didn't what he's offensive system essentially you just have more shots to win the lottery so to speak

49:03if you're trying to find that franchise guys so that's one thing you know what the Canadian football you can particularly and even some of the teams in the NFL that I'll never understand if we talk about it as the most important position in football the might of some NFL teams only have like two guys on the active roster and maybe one on the practice roster why do you not have more guys around in developing and potential to hit that lottery ticket like Montreal has done so well with Davis Alexander another guy who was a backup for multiple years before he was thrown to the wolves the Toronto Argonaut set a new CFL record and came close to breaking another in their 2419 win over the Edmonton Elks Hodge what did you see in the performance from the double blue this game was wild like this game was absolutely wild so much so that I reached out to CFL statistician Steve Daniel who was kind enough to confirm a couple of things for me and one of

50:05them is that this game has actually broken in all time CFL record for fewest or I should say least time of possession in a victory the Argonauts only had the ball for 21 minutes and 15 seconds of this game and that is because in order to win with such little type of possession basically your game has to boil down to we had a ton of deep shots and scored super quickly while the other team right had slower grinding drives that chewed up time of possession and then failed to score right and that is exactly what happened in this game the Elks went one for six in the red zone they had two interceptions thrown by Cody Fajardo into the end zone and the the Argonauts were able to win despite having the ball for barely more than one third of the game for context the previous low for time of possession in a win was 23 minutes and two seconds which was set by the BC Lions

51:05in last year's regular season finale against Saskatchewan a game that didn't mean anything for I don't think either team and that game looking at that stat sheet was very similar to this one the Lions hit a ton of deep shots whereas Saskatchewan played a ball control offense and then turned the ball over in the red zone the other one here is that the Argonauts won despite having negative one rushing yard Isaiah Smith their starter ran the ball three times for minus eight yards Quailin Jones rushed twice for one yard and Chad Kelly rushed once for six yards for a con a combined total of six carries for minus one yards that is a new second all time low the lowest being the Birmingham Barakudas rushing for minus two yards in a 29 28 victory over the Shreveport pirates in 1995 so though this is an unofficial record the Argonauts set a new record

52:07for fewest rushing yards in a win by a non American CFL team so when you talk about the fundamentals of football right time of possession running the football every now and again there's an exception to the rule where you can just throw all common sense and logic out and you just win the game anyways to me this was this game for the Trotto Argonauts and it came at a super key time as it secured a home playoff game for the boatman which I do think we should give the Matana credit for this is a team that had to play 12 road games this year because of the displacement hold on hold on well okay maybe it shows to play 12 road games hot fair enough fair enough good caveat but they still had they did it I won't say they had to do it they still the players and the coaches did it the players and the coaches did it and their head coach Mike Miller is a first year head coach right that's not an easy thing to do and so this is a team that I

53:09think a lot of people projected to either miss the playoffs or if they were to make the playoffs they maybe sneak in as the third seed in the east division I think we should take our hats off to them it wasn't the the conventional like fundamental win that maybe they envisioned during the week but they got the win Chad Kelly had four completions in this game of 48 plus yards and when you're hitting deep shots like that getting yards after the catch like that you're obviously doing something right especially because ebidton I think their second areas is really good so good for the Argonauts getting the win and good for the fans of the boatman who only got six home games in the regular season but they're going to get a home game come playoff time this was an impressive result against a legitimate opponent and it sends the Argonauts back to the postseason which is huge I mean to your point Hodge I picked the Argos to finish dead last in the east division this year because of the amount of question marks that they had and they've clearly proved

54:11me very wrong with the way that they've turned things around and they should be given a ton of craggett for that but you're bearing the lead here the story of the week for the Toronto Argonauts has nothing to do with their result against ebidton no matter how impactful it may have been it's the news that came out before that game that Chad Kelly has pressed pause on contract extension negotiations with the Toronto Argonauts in order to focus on the remainder of the 2026 season saying that he has tried to engage with or that he has camp I should say has tried to engage with the Toronto Argonauts in these discussions they have not been met with the response that they had hoped and therefore they are not going to continue until the season is over to me this is a massive announcement and a peek behind the curtain as it will as to the situation that's going to play out

55:13and be I will argue the number one storyline as we go into the offseason because Chad Kelly is an elite franchise quarterback regardless of his flaws he is that guy he may be the only one available this offseason with multiple sugars we've already alluded to it earlier in the show the Awele Red Black should be very interested there could also be quarterback vacancies in places like Saskatchewan and Winnipeg depending how those the decisions made by Trevor Harris and Zach Calaros which means that there is a potential for Chad Kelly to jack up he is asking price if he handles this correctly and I think this is the first step in that direction dunk what did you make of the announcement by Chad Kelly's camp it's part of what goes on in some of these contract negotiations

56:15but what stands out most to me is the fact that there is a lot of talk and league circles that the salary cap is going to take a big jump in CFL terms in 2028 when the new broadcast deal money kicks in which has made it tricky for teams to potentially resign some of their star players for that season and beyond case in point Kevin Mattel who signed an extension with Toronto but that's only through the 2027 CFL season because if you're a player and their representation or in other words their agents it would not be smart to sign in 2028 until you know what the cap is you can project it and if a team is willing to go above and beyond that projection or at least potentially meet it then perhaps you do sign for 2028 and beyond but I think if you're a quarterback

57:17in this situation such as Chad Kelly let's say then you're probably smart to just sign either one your extension in Toronto or somewhere else for one year and then maximize your value when that new money kicks in like a lot of other players are going to attempt at least to do around the Canadian football league so in terms of him hitting pause I think it is part of the back and fourth leverage that goes on in the Canadian football league but if you're the Toronto organics and you are not doing every single thing that you can do to resign Chad Kelly with all his flaws and we've talked about them on and off the field of this podcast over the years then you need to look no further than the Ottawa Red Blacks to understand what that decision might cost you in terms of on field ramifications for not just potentially a couple years but for a lot of years

58:21and yes we're going back to 2018 but Ottawa made the decision after Trevor Harris threw for over 5,000 yards which Chad Kelly is going to do in 2026 he might even throw for 6,000 and Harris that year had led the Red Blacks to the grey cup did they win no they lost to Boliv I Mitchell the Calgary Stampeaters that's actually the last playoff game the stamps of one if you can believe it but Marcel Desjardins didn't want to pay Trevor Harris the requisite signing bonus to have him re up in Ottawa so if you're Toronto how do you not look at that and then also how bad the Red Blacks are in 2026 and not understand that they might come after Chad Kelly obviously with the connection to Ryan Dinwitty with all that they can in the off season and if you're Chad Kelly in his representation you're looking at the situation and really all you need in the Canadian football but really in any other situation where there are no negotiations it's just one other interested

59:27party to drive that price up so I actually think it's very smart from Chad Kelly and his agent in this regard Chris Lambeuris to have Kelly continue to play high level football that's what he's going to be confident in doing he's betting on himself throw for five or potentially 6,000 yards possibly lead the Canadian football league in passing yards possibly lead the Canadian football league in passing touchdowns yes he could lead the Canadian football league in interceptions as well he's thrown eight more than any other quarterback but he has helped this team in Toronto be able to clinch a playoff spot in a home playoff game and we know what that means to the bottom lines for various CFL teams so if I'm Chad Kelly I'm gonna say hey I'm gonna keep winning doing my thing producing on the field and the more that he does the more that his price gets driven up because when you look around the Canadian football league it's easy to see what might happen in the quarterback market now

1:00:32sometimes there are surprises in a CFL offseason but it's obvious Montreal it's going to be Davis Alexander Boliv I Mitchell you would expect to come back not wanting to end his career on a major injury and continue to prove he could play at a high level with the Hamilton Tiger Cats in that offense with Scott Mulanovich Zach Larris I would say TBD to be fair Trevor Harris has said he's year to year but he doesn't want to play for another play caller he's gone on the record and said this other than Mark Mueller though there could be a wrench thrown in that plan if Dave Dickinson is fired and Mark Mueller ends up possibly becoming the head coach in Calgary Edmonton it would seem would like to continue to go with Cody Fajardo as a franchise guy and I think if Fajardo is getting paid that kind of money he likely stays there in Edmonton you obviously have Nathan Rork and BC and Vernon Adams Jr. in Calgary though there can be things that change but when you look at it Ottawa's desperate for a quarterback and if you're Toronto let's say Chad Kelly does walk in the

1:01:32offseason who are you going to get who's your franchise guy do you go back to Nick Arbuckle he did throw for 5,000 yards in 2025 under Ryan Dindwoody and Mike Miller was there but people would have questioned Marks about that I don't think that's an awful option if that's a direction perhaps that the Argos decide to go and spend less money at the quarterback position and invest it elsewhere but this is a major decision staring the Boltman in the face and I think they should be doing all they can to sign Chad Kelly unless they're confident in another plan that we don't yet know about I think that's a smart breakdown and look there's only one reason why the party for Chad Kelly would choose to release this information to the media and that's to provide public pressure right I think these types of conversations happen all the time right oh we're going to press pause

1:02:34to laugh to the season fair enough and we just never learned about them publicly so the thought that Chad Kelly's representation in September right two months before a breakup has gone public with this means in my mind that they are leveraging the public pressure of what Chad Kelly means to the Argonauts whether they want to move Chad or not right it's entirely possible they're going we're not leaving Toronto we're just trying to maximize our dollar it's also possible that they're going you know what we're leaving Toronto so let's start kind of choreographing that in the media I don't know I'm not speculating either way I'm just saying that behind closed doors they're having conversations somewhere on that spectrum and the only thing we know for sure is they have gone public which to me means they want the pressure right of fans going to management in Toronto go take it to social media go like come on get this done we can't lose Chad he's thrown for you know

1:03:36more yards than anybody else in the Canadian football league I believe he's still on pace to potentially even hit 6000 though with the way the East Division standings are shaping up I think it's probable he's going to sit for at least a game before the year is done but regardless I can't wait to see what happens here with Kelly with the Yarr goes possibly the red blacks or even other teams that could potentially have franchise openings is just and laid out the reading between the lines here in the statement when they say that there have been conversations but they have not necessarily gotten the response from the Argonauts that they were looking for at this stage to me that's an indication that the opening number from Kelly's camp was likely pretty high and was probably reaching into that territory of the unknown or Toronto's was low I mean that's that's entirely possible I think the the two is probably cymbalteously true right that one is going high and one is

1:04:39going low and with that looming unknown of 2028 that throws a red shit to it right because we have we've talked in the past when we discussed the new TV deal and what that could mean for the CFL salary cap of okay how close are we to the first one million dollar CFL quarterback in the salary cap era I think we we talked about that with Nathan Roark right that we're maybe it's not right away but you can sort of see it from here if you're Chad Kelly are you pushing towards that number because of the leverage that you have I mean you're the second highest paid quarterback in the league right now behind Roark you're a pending free agent you know there's going to be a big more certainly in 2027 you're looking for a pay raise to reset the market you're looking to go go up and above that and then if you're going to stick around for multiple years if you're not going to go through this process again next season I think your expectation is to be if not

1:05:41at one million you know up closer above 800,000 in that range expecting the salary cap to go up now that's going to make teams bulk initially because they don't know what that structure is going to look like and I'm not going to judge a team for doing that but Chad Kelly has all the leverage here right and as much as you know we can criticize him for other things I don't think it's wrong for him to use that leverage to his own advantage and get whatever he thinks he can get knowing that he could play multiple teams against each other here that he can set the asking price and that there are really no other options available as the market looks right now knowing that things could always change but he has all the power in his hands and he's using it right now. Despite a late comeback bid from the Tiger Cats the allowats improved 11 and three in week 16 the team cannot clinch first

1:06:44place in the East Division in week 17 though the owls do have a six point lead on the Toronto Argonauts with four games left to play will Montreal clinch first place and if so how soon they will clinch first place and I'm going to say it's going to be a week 18 I think it's going to be as soon as humanly possible this allowats team is legitimate we've said it in the past you know it has to go right with Toronto to extend that lead but I see them doing it at the earliest opportunity because they are by far the best team in the East Division with all due respect to the Argonauts who we've just talked about I think there is a wide gap between those two teams and you can argue that the allowats are the best team in the CFL as well with the ebentanelks in that conversation raising their hands I would not be shocked if that by week 18 the end of it we have that playoff race wrapped up and it's just about how the allowats will manage their personnel

1:07:49going forward giving guys appropriate rest will not letting rust develop that will be a challenge that Jason Moss is of course familiar with and I think he's got a better formula than he has in the past it seems like as JC said Montreal is going to clinch as soon as they can and you know JC I would caution you that we have seen Toronto be a much better team than Montreal in the past but the playoffs prove anything can happen I do agree with you that there is a wide gap there but in a one game postseason situation you'd never know what can happen it does seem like the tiger catch season is all but over and again on the topics of quarterback again if you're the Toronto organotes looking at these Chad Kelly negotiations just look at the difference in Boliview Mitchell starting for the Hamilton Tiger cats and the difference in the other options that they have run out there essentially trade forward and Harrison Frost and I suppose Jake Dologala did start

1:08:51a game for Hamilton as well like I don't understand if you're Toronto how you're not doing again everything in your power when you look at Ottawa when you look at the difference in the Hamilton Tiger cats if Boliview Mitchell is healthy the Tiger cats are arguably a great cup favorite competing for top spot in the East Division as for the Owl wets this team has looked really good but there have been some offenses that have had success against no Thorpe no Thorpe's defenses excuse me or no Thorpe's defense I should say in terms of exploiting some of the pressure looks and getting big plays on the back end against the man coverage that I think in a one game postseason scenario for talking about the Toronto against Montreal let's say in a potential East final could be exploited by Chad Kelly who can throw the football down the field and spot it with perfection especially against man coverage so much else been a great football team I don't necessarily think as fun as

1:09:57it was all season to have that on pace number for Tyson Philpot that he's actually going to set the single season CFL receiving yardage record the major reason that I think that is because the Owl wets as JC alluded to seem like they're going to clinch first place somewhat soon and are going to be able to pick and choose how they run out their lineups and rest some of their star players for the final stretch of the regular season going into the playoffs so it was an awesome storyline he still could have some big games and get there I would personally like to see it would be cool to have a Canadian hold that record but it just seems like the way that the season is going that Philpots not possibly going to get there though I think there is still an outside chance. Yeah Philpots on pace right now for 1,965 yards which would only put him about 40 behind the record from Alan Pitts it's not far but regardless it is it's a great story and I'm glad

1:11:01that we have it because yeah as mentioned it's I think only a matter of a week or two before the alowets clinch first place and I think it's only a matter of a week or two before the tiger cats are officially out if my math is correct the tiger cats can actually be officially eliminated this upcoming week if the BC lions and Winnipeg blue bombers win and the Hamilton tiger cats lose I believe they can no longer prevent across over mathematically though I will need confirmation from the league before I officially report anything. The Halifax wanders have proposed a new permanent stadium at the site of their current temporary facility which is housed at the wanders grounds the Canadian Prem Year League team and yes we're talking about a soccer franchise is self-funding the project which is expected to cost around 100 million the final product could seat about 10,500 for sports and 17,500 for concerts included in the announcement was a note specifying the stadium

1:12:07could be used for professional Canadian football games. Hodg is this a positive step towards possibly if ever getting an expansion CFL team in Atlanta Canada. Look, here's my take and people are not going to like it. I actually think this is a step away from a Canadian football league team go to the Maritimes. The Halifax wanders credit to them this would be a great facility for them in the Canadian Premier League and despite middleing on field results the wanders have had at or very close to the best attendance in the CPL year over year which is awesome for them and I've been to the wanders grounds not for a game but I toured in 2023 when we were out there for the touchdown Atlantic game that was held at that point in time between the Rough Riders and Argonauts and though the stadium lacks amenities right there's no running

1:13:11water to this site so people have to use portapoddies instead of proper washrooms the locker rooms are housed in decommission shipping containers and fans have to sit in uncovered aluminum bleachers like there is nothing ritzy or fancy whatsoever about the venue but it is in an amazing location and it is obviously a positive game to experience with so many locals coming out to enjoy soccer there's a nearby green space surrounded by cool bars and restaurants called the commons like I've had knife boots on the ground in Halifax it was amazing the problem with the wanders grounds as a location is that it's a relatively small footprint that is next to a lawn bowling center and an equestrian center it's very close to a hospital and so the footprint is just too small for a 20,000 plus seat stadium which is why they've proposed a 10,000 seat stadium and I've seen

1:14:14lots of people suggest online well this is great start at 10,000 and then expand it for more and the answer I'm sorry is just there's no physical place to expand this stadium once it's built and I'm not a stadium architect but the only way in my view to get more seating would be to build up and to build up then well not you're demolishing a bunch of the seating that's even there to build extra like it I don't think you can expand this beyond 10,000 and yes it's true that some CFL crowds have waned in recent years but even in places like Toronto and Ottawa where crowds of 12 or 13,000 are not super uncommon the economics of a CFL team I'm sorry can't possibly work with fewer than 20,000 seats available the smallest current facility in the league is Percival Moulson in Montreal which seats 23,000 like we cannot have a CFL building out east that seats less than half the number of folks that Montreal currently has like that's just not possible and the issue I think is if

1:15:20this stadium is built and it's being totally privately funded assuming that this goes ahead is that there's now no reason for the public dollar to ever go towards a facility that would suit the wanderers as well as a CFL team right if if the private sector is building an awesome soccer stadium I think the government would be foolish to then say well now let's spend a boat with a money building a football stadium like that's just not going to happen you would need the public support to to build something that matches both teams and as much as Canadian football is in this release I almost wonder if the the thing they were going for was well maybe once in a blue moon we'll get a neutral site game out here for the CFL there was no mention of a CFL expansion team and I don't think a CFL team could ever operate in this building I just don't and I think the best thing to do if you were in Halifax would be to say well let's spend a 150 to 200 million dollars

1:16:21building a shared-use stadium in the commons where there's a ton of green space available and then we can reuse the wanderers grounds which currently has the temporary facility to kind of reclaim some of that green space we're losing in the commons but as illustrated in this release the Halifax regional municipality is spending a ton of money on their other sports infrastructure including the hockey arena where the mousseheads play and if there's no public dollars for a stadium then I just don't know how you get a CFL team in Halifax so I hope I'm wrong and I hope that there is a CFL team in Halifax someday but this release to me does not bode well for CFL fans it bodes great for Halifax you're you know you're maybe getting a great 10,000 seat soccer stadium and they also had a ton of stuff in their plan about how the artificial turf is going to allow for 5,000 more community hours a year of community usage and all of that is wonderful for Halifax I'm not anti-socker and Halifax is

1:17:25an awesome city they deserve a stadium but to me this stadium being built I would say is actually more of an inhibitor for Canadian football league coming to Halifax than a plus just because it eliminates seemingly in my opinion any future where the government ponies up some money to build a shared venue why because why build a shared venue when you've already got the perfect venue for a soccer team let's go to Hodges heritage moment on this day in 2019 three-down nation published an article simply titled aloe wets tommy Campbell makes terrible attempts to tackle Andrew Harris the video embedded in the article shows Darwin Adams yes Darwin Adams hitting Andrew Harris deep down the field and Campbell making a truly awful attempt at tackling him Harris was tackled at the one yardline and Chris Treviler punched the ball in for a touchdown to give Winnipeg a 28 10 lead though the aloe wets eventually came storming all the way back to win the game 38 37 thanks to a last minute

1:18:29touchdown pass from Vernon Adams junior to Jake Winnekey let's go to the three-minute drill to see if I'll tell it its first quad header since 1995 is a rating success on TV do you believe the league I mean I think it's great if the ratings are strong they didn't give us numbers I will also say they touted the banjo ball as part of the success and it's like well the banjo ball is all things is a super highly rated game so to me the interesting part of the disclosure from the league was that the late night game the Lions aloe wets game was a top three game this season that was really interesting because typically those late pacific time starts kind of kill your eastern television audience that was not the case so hey if it was a success by all means continue with the quad headers I just think touting the banjo ball is a little silly considering that I think you could schedule the banjo ball on its own as part of a double header triple header quadruple who cares it's gonna do great it's one of the top games of the regular season every single year

1:19:31the Minnesota Vikings have signed former CFL global player maceo beard a grit what do you make of that it's certainly a weird situation this is a guy who was in training camp with this is gatuan ruff rags in 2022 originally made the team but elected that he didn't want to stick around on the practice roster and went back to europe beg on himself has had a couple of kicks at the top tire from the NFL and the uofl and has now landed an NFL practice roster contract you could say that his bet on himself worked out pretty well the Saskatchewan ruff riders have signed qb eggy lee marburger do you think he could be the air apparent to Trevor Harris there's a long way to go before he earns that tag and he's gonna have to deal with the aloha kid braiden shagger to leapfrog him if he wants to be the air apparent in Saskatchewan intriguing signing however the blue bombers have brought back global defensive lineman theadre

1:20:33canton do you think he has any juice left i mean he's 33 years old and he hasn't been on a roster all season so i'm a little skeptical on the other hand handsome was an absolute beast before he tore his achilles in 2022 and at the very least i think he could be a good ad on specialties NFL commissioner roger godel told tsn 1050 that the key to future games in the city of Toronto is a proper stadium what did you make of that it's what we've already known all along like Toronto does not check the boxes for an NFL showcase game like a log its own franchise and it's a long way away from ever doing so the Toronto Argonauts and now it's the signing of ufl standout cubie louis paris but he wasn't on their roster for their game in week 16 why was that he's not even on the team's official roster on the website he's not on the suspended list so that makes me

1:21:36wonder what's going on here behind the scenes the Hamilton tiger cats officially finally ruled out vetson quarterback bolivimichal for the rest of the 2026 regular season why do you think it took so long i'm speculating but part of me almost wonders if they intentionally didn't make this announcement to try to save some late season ticket sales but again that speculation what i will say is that scott maland of it's the team's head coach seemed really annoyed about getting asked about bolivimichal and i credit the local reporters there i think it was scott radley who pushed a little bit last week on this because like there's an easy way to get reporters to stop asking about bolivimichal which is to say he's out for the year and though maland of it's kind of like hinted around that or like beat around the bush about it a little bit he never came out and said he's done for the year he kind of inferred it or said well i'd be tough for him to come back but he never clarified that so as a reporter your job is to ask the questions and get the follow-ups and if you want to

1:22:44avoid getting those you have to just answer the question what so the tiger cats have now done that and theoretically bokeh could be available for a playoff game possibly is what maland of it's said but obviously at this point the tiger cats are an extreme long shot to make the playoffs in 2026 for just in dunk and jc abit i'm john hodge we thank you as always for listening to the three-down nation podcast be sure to subscribe to the three-down nation news letter all the latest news insight and analysis in your inbox every single day and it costs you zero dollars and zero cents it's the best deal you could ever get totally free so sign up today on our homepage and check back later this week for our picks with jc and myself