Barker Staying in Steeltown

The Tiger-Cats announced today that they have signed Safety Dylan Barker to a contract extension that will keep him in Hamilton through the 2012 season.

This is great news. Barker is a fantastic Special Teams player, and is undoubtedly the future for the Ti-Cats at the Safety position. Getting Barker locked up for the long haul provides the Tabbies with some stability at a position which has been somewhat lackluster. With all due respect to Sandy Beveridge, he gets beat too much, and he is clearly not the answer at Safety. Perhaps we could see Barker and Beveridge switch roles. Beveridge is still an asset, but I think Barker is the player that the Cats should move forward with.

Last season, Barker tied the CFL record for Special Team tackles with 37 and was the team's nominee for Most Outstanding Special Teams Player. Barker was inserted into the starting lineup for the final three regular-season games and the East Division Semi-Final and played very well. It would seem that Barker and Beveridge will be in a tight battle for the starting Safety spot in training camp.

The future looks bright for Barker and for the Tiger-Cats. Every move the team has made so far this off-season looks to be the right one. I think we Ti-Cat fans might have to start a new saying: "In Obie We Trust."