Start of CFL season sees plenty of old faces in new places

Changing faces and changing places is nothing out of the ordinary in the CFL. Through the years, there have been plenty of players who've ended their careers having worn almost every jersey in the league.

But adding an entire new team to the league has put a lot of old faces in new places this season. An expansion draft, free agency and a few trades have given the moving companies a lot of business this year.

As always, some of the free agents will make a big difference. Others will fall flat on their faces and give the general managers who signed them a few more grey hairs.

Here's a rundown on the most prominent new faces and what they could mean to their new teams.

Kevin Glenn, B.C. Lions: Glenn is either the most unwanted player in the CFL, or the most wanted. He could even be both.

He begins this season with his sixth CFL team, though to be fair he never played a down with two of them (the Toronto Argonauts and Ottawa RedBlacks.) The Lions are also his fourth team in six seasons.

No matter where he plays or how well he plays, Glenn just can't seem to get any respect. Maybe it's his cologne, because it surely can't be his performance. He's tenth on the CFL all-time passing list with 39,418 yards and 222 touchdown passes, though his critics will always point out that his record in big games isn't all that impressive.

Wherever Glenn has gone on his tour of Canada, he's almost always been considered the No. 2 guy. After five mostly solid seasons in Winnipeg, which saw him lead the Blue Bombers to the Grey Cup, he was shunted aside in favour of Ryan Dinwiddie -- yes, Ryan Dinwiddie! Adding insult to insult, he was then released when the Bombers acquired Stefan LeFors -- yes Stefan LeFors!

He surfaced in Hamilton where, not surprisingly, he started as the back-up to Quinton Porter -- yes, Quinton Porter! Despite claiming the starting job and taking the Ticats to the playoffs three straight years, Glenn was shipped to Calgary where he was to back up the untested Drew Tate.

Glenn once again took over the No. 1 spot and led the Stamps to the Grey Cup. He lost that one but the next year took the Stamps to a first-place finish. When he flopped in the Western final, the Stamps did the natural thing and left him unprotected in the expansion draft.

Even though the RedBlacks made him their first choice, they decided it was a better idea to get Henry Burris to lead the offence and Glenn demanded a trade. You'd have thought he'd be used to this by now.

The Lions came calling, ostensibly adding him as a back-up to Travis Lulay. But with Lulay slow to recover from shoulder surgery, Glenn is now the starter for a contending team.

At 35, he's shown no signs of slowing down and looked impressive in the pre-season. It says here that he'll lose his starting job when Lulay returns but somewhere along the line will make the Lions very happy they traded for him.

Henry Burris, Ottawa RedBlacks: Okay, they're mostly old faces in a new place in Ottawa, but at 39 Burris is definitely the oldest. And the most important.

He gives the RedBlacks something no expansion team has ever had: instant credibility at the quarterbacks position. One of the most prolific passers in league history is showing no signs of slowing down.

But there is the matter of that Good-Hank-Bad-Hank thing and without a proven back-up things could get pretty chilly in Ottawa when Burris goes through one of his customary cold spells.

Still, if the RedBlacks can contend for a playoff spot in their first season, he would be the main reason.

Shea Emry, Toronto Argonauts: The B.C. native gives the Argos something CFL teams dream about: a non-import starting middle linebacker. (Sorry, a "national" starting middle linebacker.) But Emry's more than a ratio-buster.

He brings some nastiness to the Argos' defence and while he has a tendency to overdo the nasty thing, he can be an intimidating presence. By signing the 27-year-old as a free agent, the Argos reunited him with Tim Burke, who was Emry's defensive co-ordinator on the championship Alouettes teams.

Having a guy with a Grey Cup ring and plenty of playoff experience can't hurt in rebuilding a Toronto defence that has been decimated by defections to other CFL teams and the NFL.

Drew Willy, Winnipeg Blue Bombers: Willy isn't exactly an old face—he's only started four games in the CFL—but he's key to the Bombers' hopes of reviving a franchise that has fallen on hard times.

Willy cut his CFL teeth in Saskatchewan, where the provincial sport is calling for the head of any starting quarterback not named Ron Lancaster. When Darian Durant stumbled from time to time, the fans called on the Riders to free Willy and now he's getting that chance in the uniform of his former team's biggest rival.

Willy looked good in the pre-season, but whether he can run a consistent offence against CFL veterans is another matter. It's a lot of pressure to put on an untested 27-year-old, especially with no experienced back-up on the sidelines. How Willy handles that pressure will say a lot about whether this is the summer of hope or another summer of despair in Winnipeg.

Patrick Watkins, Edmonton Eskimos: When Chris Jones gave up his job as defensive co-ordinator for the Toronto Argonauts to become head coach of the Eskimos, one of his first moves was to sign free agent cornerback Patrick Watkins off the Argo roster. The pair spent the past two years together and Jones knows what such an oversized defensive back can do to opposing offences.

Under Jones, Watkins was an all-star both years and at 6-foot-5 and 205 pounds he can be an intimidating presence. He has also shown he has a nose for the ball, picking off 10 passes in two years.

Watkins is still young at 31 and could be a key player in shoring up what was one of the weakest defences in the league last season.

Larry Taylor, Montreal Alouettes: When the Als traded Taylor to Calgary in 2011, they thought they'd have no trouble replacing an undersized and possibly injury-prone kick returner. Three years of trying to find someone to fill his small shoes convinced them to give the 5-foot-6 speedster another try.

At 28, Taylor has shown that he still has what it takes to be an intimidating presence on special teams. That's something the team lacked last year and Taylor exhibited flashes of brilliance during the pre-season.

He also has enough versatility to give them another option at wide receiver.

Until quarterback Troy Smith establishes more consistency, the Als offence will live or die with the field position that Taylor gives them.

Craig Butler, Hamilton Tiger-Cats: Butler is another one of those ratio-changers that CFL teams covet, a starting defensive back with a Canadian pedigree (in other words, a national.) If the Ticats can add fellow non-import (all right, national) Courtney Stephen to their starting backfield, things can only improve on their spotty defence and allow them to beef up their receiving corps.

Butler led the Roughriders in tackles last season before taking the free-agent route and was a big contributor on special teams.

Jock Sanders, Calgary Stampeders: The Stampeders saw enough of Sanders in a Saskatchewan uniform to jettison Larry Taylor and sign the former Mississippi State running back to a big free-agent deal. Sanders was third in return yardage last season with 1,292 yards—about 700 fewer than Taylor.

But Sanders gives the Stamps more versatility with his abilities to run out of the backfield and catch passes. With Jon Cornish handling most of the ground game, it's Sanders' abilities on special teams that will determine whether the Stamps made the right move.

Josh Bartel, Saskatchewan Roughriders: By letting kicker Ricky Schmitt go to B.C. as a free agent, the Riders moved to get themselves a non-import (not again, national) to handle the punting. The Aussie—don't ask how this qualifies him as a "national"—averaged 43.7 yards per punt with Hamilton last year and was named an East Division all-star.

In addition to improving the Riders' ratio situation, Bartel has the ability to hit some booming punts—a 69-yarder last year—and could make life easier for the Saskatchewan defence.