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Notable absences: how CFL teams are doing minus Hickman, Elimimian, Messam and Medlock

An ongoing storyline in the CFL is players rising to three-down stardom and then leaving for the brighter lights and bigger paycheques of the NFL; we've seen it with players like Cameron Wake, Brandon Browner, Stefan Logan and Emmanuel Arceneaux, and that's led to changes in the CFL's collective bargaining agreement. However, there are still plenty who test the NFL waters each year; this year saw several prominent players head south, including Hamilton defensive end (and co-CFL sack leader) Justin Hickman, Hamilton kicker/punter Justin Medlock, B.C. middle linebacker Solomon Elimimian and Edmonton running back Jerome Messam. Those players' old teams have had to try to fill the holes they left behind, and two weeks into the season, they've done so with varying success. While some teams still have notable gaps, there's been little to no dropoff with others.

The biggest struggle may be replacing Hickman in Hamilton. He was the most crucial piece of the Tiger-Cats' pass rush last season, racking up 13 sacks (tied with Odell Willis for the league lead) and forcing teams to come up with elaborate plans to shut him down. Quarterback pressure's vital in this league, and although the Tiger-Cats' defence wasn't consistently solid in 2011 (the 478 points Hamilton conceded, 26.6 per game, was ahead of only basement-dwellers Toronto and Saskatchewan), its better moments came when Hickman was terrorizing opposing quarterbacks. The defence is looking way worse this year, allowing a league-high 82 points thus far (41 per game), and as Frank Zicarelli of The Toronto Sun writes, a large part of that may be thanks to the difficulty they've had generating a pass rush following Hickman's departure. New defensive end Kevin Basped, a player with NFL experience who was just added to the practice roster, might be able to help the team out after he adjusts to the CFL game, but that could take time, and the team clearly needs something quickly; the Tiger-Cats have just one sack through two weeks, and that came on a blitz from linebacker Rey Williams. This team needs more pressure from their defensive front, and they need someone to step up and fill the void Hickman left.

On paper, Elimimian's loss would seem likely to be just as massive. The CFL's most outstanding rookie in 2010 became known for his thunderous hits during his time with B.C. and was voted the league's hardest hitter by his peers in 2011, but also displayed remarkable all-around ability, recording 98 tackles, 4 sacks and 2 interceptions last season. The middle linebacker role in the defensive scheme devised by Mike Benevides and Rich Stubler isn't easy, either, as the Lions often play a nickel back on one side instead of a true linebacker, which puts even more pressure on the MLB to stop the run.Thus, it looked like B.C.'s defence might take a bit of a step back in the linebacking corps following Elimimian's departure.

The results have been pretty positive for the Lions so far, though. Adam Bighill won the MLB job over James Yurichuk late in camp, and was named the CFL's Gibson's Finest Defensive Player of the Week for Week Two following a stunning performance in B.C.'s victory over Hamilton that saw him record nine tackles, a forced fumble and a sack. Elimimian left big shoes to fill, but Bighill is fitting into them nicely to date, and the 52 points the Lions have allowed thus far are third-best in the league.

The story isn't all that different in Edmonton. Messam had a tremendous season last year before he was hurt in the playoffs, picking up 1,057 rushing yards (third in the league) and six touchdowns. Although his 5.4 yards per carry average was more solid than spectacular and he might not have been the best choice as the league's top Canadian, he still proved to be an impressive running back and one who could consistently gut out tough yards. Those guys aren't easy to find, so the Eskimos' running game seemed likely to struggle in his absence. Former Saskatchewan running back Hugh Charles has filled in pretty well, though, collecting 100 yards on 20 carries (5.0 yards per attempt), including a eight-carry, 56-yard showing that was about the only bright spot for the Edmonton offence in last week's 17-1 loss to the Riders. He's an import, so he's not as helpful as Messam was from a ratio standpoint, and his production isn't quite at Messam's level yet, but the drop-off hasn't been as steep as it could have been.

Medlock's a similar story, too. He was remarkably effective as a kicker last year, converting 49 of his 55 field-goal attempts (89.1 per cent), but wasn't as dominant in the punting game, averaging just 41.6 yards per punt. The Tiger-Cats have replaced him with a pair of non-imports, Canadian kicker Luca Congi and Australian punter Josh Bartel, and there hasn't been a huge dropoff thus far; Congi's made all three of his field-goal attempts, while Bartel's punting average of 41.4 yards isn't much below where Medlock's was. Their non-import status gives the team more ratio flexibility, too (although using two guys does take up an extra roster spot), so if they can perform close to Medlock's level, the Tiger-Cats haven't lost much. Thus far, they've managed to do so; the kicking stats to date are a very small sample size, so that could change quickly, though, and the team may in fact wind up missing Medlock.

Losing players to the NFL can certainly hurt CFL teams, and that's been evident with the Tiger-Cats and Hickman. However, the losses aren't always as enormous as one might think, and that can be at least partially chalked up to some personnel departments' remarkable jobs of finding replacements, part of why losses to the NFL aren't always a crisis. Talented players will always be missed, but one player's departure represents another's opportunity, and the team's only really hurt when no one steps up and seizes that. That's the issue with the Tiger-Cats' defensive line thus far; we'll see if that changes as the season goes on, or if Hickman will continue to remain notable by his absence.