Lions unlikely to roar

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This article was published 05/07/2021 (1532 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Mike Reilly experiment went much worse than expected for the B.C. Lions in 2019. After inking the veteran quarterback and former CFL most outstanding player to a four-year, $2.9-million deal, Reilly — who goes by Michael now, to honour a request from his late mother — was beat up all over the field in his first season in orange, white and black.

The Lions finished the year 5-13, opening the 2019 campaign with losses in 10 of their first 11 games. Needless to say, B.C. will waste little time dwelling on the past and instead focus on a future that includes a new head coach in Rick Campbell and a number of new players on the roster.

It will be another tough go in the West Division, and the Lions aren’t being viewed by many as heavy hitters. But with some key moves made in the lineup, and with Reilly behind centre for another year, there’s certainly potential for B.C. to surprise a lot of people.

Here is an early season preview of the Lions, in what is the fifth installment of a Free Press series titled, Around the CFL.

Three training camp stories

O-LINE OVERHAUL: A big reason for why Reilly had one of the worst seasons of his career, including a pedestrian 20:15 touchdown-interception ratio, was because he was constantly getting hit. The Lions, particularly its O-line, were responsible for a league-most 58 sacks against.

In order to fix the issue, B.C. did a major overhaul to its front-five, including moving on from Brett Boyko, Justin Renfrew and David Foucault. They brought in Ryker Matthews to play the right edge, creating a formidable duo of offensive tackles with Joel Figuerora on the other side.

Hunter Steward and Sukh Chungh, both of whom battled injuries in 2019, are back at their respective guard position and Phillip Norman, another American, is set to play centre. It’s an improved group from two years ago, but with no preseason games, the sooner they can gel in training camp the better.

CANADIAN CONTENT: Not many teams have three Americans playing on the O-line, just like few clubs have Canadians playing weakside and middle linebacker. Such is life with the Lions, who seemed destined in that direction.

Few have the kind of Canadian depth at the positions, and therefore it seems to work with B.C. Bo Lokombo returns to the Lions, where he had a breakout season in 2018 before moving on to Montreal the following year. He spent a lot of time with the Alouettes playing safety, covering for an injured Taylor Loffler, but is an extremely hard hitter and would be a valuable piece at either the weakside or middle.

Already on the roster are Canadians Isaiah Guzylak-Messam and Adam Konar, both of whom played weakside in 2019, as well as Noah Robinson, who adds depth at middle linebacker. Then there’s Jordan L. Williams, the first overall pick from the 2020 CFL draft, that could carve out a starting role down the middle. Damian Jamieson and Ben Hladik will add more depth. There are a fair number of options, so it will be about chemistry and finding it quickly.

KICKING COMPETITION: Some teams covet a sure foot, knowing how important a kicker can be in determining the result of a game. Then there’s the Lions, who will have three kickers from three different countries attend camp, none of which have CFL experience.

Indeed, it will be up to Jake Ford, a punter from Australia taken in this year’s Global Draft; Takeru Yamasaki, a kicker out of Japan’s X-league that was also drafted; and free-agent punter Stefan Flintoft, out of UCLA.

All have interesting backgrounds, and all have enjoyed success at their craft. Yamasaki is the only true place kicker of the trio, with Ford and Flintoft battling it out for punting duties.

THREE PLAYERS TO WATCH

1) WR Bryan Burnham — among the best receivers in the CFL, he’s coming off a 2019 season where he set personal highs in receptions (100), yards (1,492) and touchdowns (11). At 31, Burnham should still have plenty left in the tank and with an expected improvement on the O-line, it could be another massive season for the seven-year Lion.

2) RB Shaq Cooper — if Reilly and the O-line are going to keep opposing defences guessing, they’ll need to establish an effective run game. With John White, along with his 1,004 yards rushing yards in 2019, gone to Toronto, it’s now up to Cooper to fill the void. Cooper played in just seven games over two seasons in Edmonton, but he averaged 5.5 yards per carry and at age 28, is looking for his first chance in the spotlight.

3) DB Marcus Sayles — in two seasons with the Blue Bombers, Sayles developed into one of the CFL’s premier shutdown boundary halfbacks. When his shot at the NFL didn’t pan out, he opted to sign with the Lions. He’ll be sorely missed in Winnipeg but is a significant add to a B.C. secondary that also signed Anthony Cioffi and Kenny Ladler in the offseason.

X-FACTOR: Michael Reilly

The Lions will need to squeeze everything they can out of Reilly if they hope to compete this season. Because of Reilly’s massive paycheque, there’s a shortage of cash for other areas of the roster. He’s also working with a familiar face in offensive co-ordinator Jordan Maksymic. The two worked together in Edmonton, where Maksymic was quarterback’s coach the same season, in 2015, Reilly was named the league’s most outstanding player. If B.C. don’t get what it paid for from their best player, expect another playoff-less season for the Lions.

FINAL WORD

“Part of the attraction to this job was I thought there was a group of guys here that are still here that are very good football players. With Michael on the call and our O-line and Burnham and TJ Lee and Gary Peters, and guys that have won a lot of football games in this league. So, there’s a good core of guys…we’ll build the team around what our players are good at and go from there.”

— Head coach Rick Campbell

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

twitter: @jeffkhamilton