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Duane Forde discusses expansion draft loopholes that may make things tough for Ottawa

andrew bucholtz

The Ottawa Redblacks appear to have the pieces in place for the Dec. 16 expansion draft with this week's reported hiring of Rick Campbell as head coach. Campbell should be able to work with the existing front-office team of GM Marcel Desjardins, AGM Brock Sunderland, Canadian scout Miles Gorrell and US pro/college scout Jeremy Snyder to craft a roster strategy ahead of the draft, and the expansion draft is set up in a way that should let them get plenty of solid players. However, the Redblacks' options may be reduced thanks to the way existing teams have handled free agency this year; there are tons of pending free agents out there, likely thanks to teams wanting to wait to register contracts until after the expansion draft. TSN's Duane Forde has been discussing that strategy and other potential loopholes in the draft with CFL fans on Twitter this week, and he's had some interesting things to say. Here are some of the questions he's been fielding and some of his tweets on the matter:

A lot of that's been covered in the initial look at pending free agents I took back at the start of November, but it's still interesting to see some of the details Forde mentions here. The salary cap implications of signing a deal in 2013 rather than 2014 are particularly notable, as is the report that these loopholes were mentioned, but kept in by an 8-1 vote (with Ottawa presumably the lone voice of dissent). It's understandable that the current teams don't want to be hurt too much by the expansion draft, but they have to keep the health of the league in mind as well. Things have to work in Ottawa this time, and giving the expansion franchise a chance to have a decent team right away is crucial towards that effort. The draft rules are promising on that front, but the loopholes are less so.

It all leads to a massive challenge for Desjardins, Campbell and the rest of the Redblacks' management team, and an intriguing question. Do they risk drafting high-upside pending free agents with the belief that they can do enough of a sales job to convince them to actually come to Ottawa (and perhaps dump previous unsigned or undated agreements with their team), or do they play it safe and only take players under contract? That's a tough one to answer, as each approach carries massive potential pitfalls. It will be fascinating to see what Desjardins and his team do on December 16.