Argos trade for Roughriders’ DB Dwight Anderson: will they get an all-star, or a problem?

Dwight Anderson, one of the CFL's most fascinating and controversial players, will be taking his talents to yet another new city. The Saskatchewan Roughriders announced Monday that they'd shipped Anderson out, with a one-sentence release saying just "The Saskatchewan Roughriders announced today they have traded international defensive back Dwight Anderson to the Toronto Argonauts in exchange for a conditional pick in the 2015 CFL Canadian Draft." It's pretty remarkable to see a trade after just two weeks of the CFL season, and it's even more remarkable to see a four-time division all-star and one-time league all-star who was crucial to Saskatchewan's playoff run last year shipped off for a conditional draft pick. It's easy to understand why Toronto general manager Jim Barker pulled the trigger here, as his comments about Anderson are all very positive:

It's a little tougher to understand this from Saskatchewan's side. Yes, the Roughriders were just beaten 48-15 by the Argonauts on Saturday, and yes, Anderson didn't look good in that game, but the entire Roughriders' secondary had problems against Toronto, allowing Ricky Ray to complete 78 per cent of his passes and throw for 407 yards and three touchdowns. However, a trade this soon would seem like an overreaction if it was only about Anderson's play in this game. That may not be the case, however.

There have been rumours floating around that Anderson got in a confrontation with teammate John Chick during Saturday's game. Arguments between players during a blowout loss aren't exactly uncommon, but we don't know the severity of this one, and if it came to a choice between the two, the Riders are always going to choose Chick (who's 31 versus Anderson's 33, plus was the CFL's 2009 top defensive player and came back to the Riders last year after several years in the NFL). That may or may not have proven a factor here, but it's worth noting that Anderson's behaviour in Regina hasn't been exemplary.

On the field, Anderson delivered a throat-slashing gesture last year that got him fined by the league (and then gave a bizarre interview about it); off the field, he was one of three Roughriders charged with aggravated assault for an incident outside a nightclub in August. Charges against Anderson and receiver Eron Riley were later dropped (receiver Taj Smith is still facing charges), with judge Barbara Tomkins ruling there wasn't enough evidence for Anderson to stand trial, but that incident may have played a role here too. Add that up, plus Anderson's likely-high salary and the Riders' potential desire to send a message and wake their team up after that blowout loss to Toronto, and it starts to make sense why they might move him for so little return. They have options to replace him on defence, too, including moving existing players around or going after someone new, potentially Korey Banks (a four-time CFL all-star released by Winnipeg last week).

The question for Toronto is which version of Anderson they'll get. He's now on his fifth CFL team, and his performance in each city has been rather different. He didn't last long in Hamilton after starting his CFL career there in 2007, but in Calgary from 2008-10, he won a Grey Cup in 2008, was a league all-star in 2010 (and a divisional one in 2009 and 2010) and paired with Brandon Browner (now in the NFL) to form perhaps the CFL's most-feared cornerback tandem. That led to a big free agent deal with Montreal, but that didn't work out well at first.

The 2011 season saw accusations Anderson spit on a fan in Hamilton, and he also underperformed on the field. He was almost dumped by the Alouettes after a falling-out late in the year before then-head coach Marc Trestman managed to get him back on board ahead of the 2012 season. Anderson played better that year and largely stayed out of trouble (except for a diving incident) and earned a league all-star nod. That led to him signing with Saskatchewan in 2013, and his year with the Riders had both highs and lows. We'll see which version of him shows up in Toronto, and that could well determine whether this is an important addition for the Argos or a problematic move.