Commonwealth change

Enlarge Image

Nathan Denette / The Canadian Press Archives Former Toronto Argonauts (and Blue Bombers) quarterback Steven Jyles will be pitching pigskins in Edmonton this season. (CP)

The CFL is conducting a series of team preview conference calls in the weeks leading up to training camp. Today, the Eskimos. Next week, Calgary.

Eric Tillman believes it might take some time before the biggest trade this CFL off-season produces results for the Edmonton Eskimos.

Until then, he'll take the shots, bullets, grenades and anything else you want to throw at him.

"For the past 4-5 months the critics have had the chalk and I think it's fair to say that we've been questioned, we've been doubted, we've even been ridiculed," the general manager told a conference call audience Thursday.

"But in less than two weeks we take the field (for training camp) and we get the chalk and we start writing the story that matters."

The story that matters concerning the Eskimos -- the one that received front-page treatment over the winter -- was the trade that saw quarterback Ricky Ray shipped to Toronto for the enigmatic Steven Jyles and a couple of prospects.

Ray for Jyles. It still doesn't sound right.

No matter. The reasons for the deal on Tillman's end were sound: Clear some valuable cap room and start the transition to the next generation of Eskimos quarterbacks. But in a QB-dependent league, where much of the success hinges on who leads the huddle, the swap drew its fair share of blank stares, disbelief, and, yes, even laughter.

Ray has thrown for over 40,000 yards in nine CFL seasons and a career completion rate of just under 67 per cent. Jyles, on the other hand, has been in the league for six years now, has just 20 starts, and completes less than 60 per cent of his throws.

Last season with the Argos, Jyles threw for 1,430 yards and seven touchdowns in eight games (he missed the first nine due to a shoulder injury suffered at the end of the 2010 season).

"Are there some questions about this team?" Tillman asked. "Without question."

All clubs have an element of uncertainty going into camp, but Edmonton's quarterback situation is the great unknown. The position is a combination of mystery and hope, one that sees a battle looming between Jyles (who is on his fourth team in four years), 38-year-old Kerry Joseph, and three youngsters -- Jeremiah Masoli, Matt Nichols, and Eric Ward.

The best quarterback in camp will play, the Eskimos say.

While the GM might get burned with his latest gamble, the belief is Jyles will benefit from having familiar faces around him in Edmonton. Tillman worked with the 29-year-old in Saskatchewan (2007-08), as did offensive co-ordinator Marcus Crandell, and head coach Kavis Reed spent a year in Winnipeg with the former Bomber.

The coach said Crandell, an up-and-coming O.C. in the CFL, could be the key for Jyles, thanks to his ability to see the game in "snapshots."

"That's a very special skill as a coach," he said. "To be able to see things and almost freeze-frame the game and analyze it from that perspective. That's almost a forensic-type skill he has, and given the speed of our game, you have to be able to do that."

To this reunion, the Eskimos added receivers Greg Carr and Aaron Hargreaves in free agency. Like Reed, the two were with Jyles in Winnipeg in 2010.

Will this support system be enough to comfort everyone should the Commonwealth crowd start to pine for the way things used to be? Again, there are some questions about this team.

"We don't operate out of fear. If you operate out of fear you're in the wrong business," Tillman said. "We expect to be successful. ... the answer will present itself in October and November."

In fairness to Tillman, his recent track record of turning over a high-priced pivot in favour of developing younger arms is solid as a football in an outdoor game in November. He was the GM who moved Joseph off to Toronto after Saskatchewan won the Grey Cup in 2007, opening the door for youngsters Darian Durant and Drew Tate to get in those valuable extra reps in practice.

It took some time, but the move worked out pretty well for the pivots. Durant has led the Riders to a pair of Grey Cup appearances and Tate is the starting quarterback in Calgary.

The third young arm with Saskatchewan during that 2008 season: Steven Jyles.

adam.wazny@freepress.mb.ca

EDMONTON finished one win shy of a Grey Cup appearance last season. Not too shabby for a team many thought would be near the bottom of the CFL standings. This year, more change for GM Eric Tillman and coach Kavis Reed:

With Most Outstanding Canadian Jerome Messam gone to Miami, who will run the ball? The team signed former Baltimore Raven Cory Ross Thursday, giving them four backs on the roster. CFL veterans Hugh Charles and Calvin McCarty appear to have the inside track, but don't count out John Goebel. The club is high on the Cincinnati product's ability to catch passes out of the backfield.

Defence remains Reed's first love and he's absolutely smitten with his defensive line -- a group that includes imports Marcus Howard, Rashad Jeanty and Julius Williams. With the secondary in flux, the coach is counting on his front seven to make more plays at the line of scrimmage. Mark Nelson, the former Winnipeg defensive co-ordinator (2009), takes over the same job in Edmonton.

Though both players had NFL aspirations, Edmonton gambled on OL Austin Pasztor (4th overall) and WR Shamawd Chambers (6th) in the CFL draft. It looks like one of them might pay off. Chambers worked out in Philadelphia but didn't get a contract. He could be in Alberta soon. Pasztor is still under contract with Minnesota.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 18, 2012 C4