Odds and Ends

League-wide there have been some moves this week, but none of them really warranted their own post, so I've lumped everything in one convenient location.

First, we had the Blue Bombers sign Queen's WR Chris Ioannides. Normally I wouldn't comment on such a signing, but a co-worker of mine is a high school friend of Chris's, so I figured I'd give him a little publicity. My understanding is that Chris is a heck of a player and should fit in nicely with the Blue Bombers. I'm a little surprised that the Argos wouldn't try and target Ioannides for a couple of reasons. First, he's a local product. Second, the Argos signed his QB Danny Brannagan, and linking up the QB and WR from a Vanier Cup winning team only makes sense. I guess the Argos' loss is the Blue Bombers' gain.

Second, the Riders have inked 2010 first overall draft pick Shomari Williams (also from Queen's) to a contract. It's unlikely that Williams will play anything other than Special Teams to begin his CFL career, but he might see time on defense later in the season.

Third, the only piece of Tiger-Cat player news from this past week was the official signing of 2009 second-round draft pick Ryan Hinds. The term "ratio buster" is thrown around a lot when people talk about Hinds, since it is expected that once he cracks the lineup he will play the wide-side Corner position, which is a spot usually played by an American.

Next, we have the Stampeders getting their 2010 first-round draft pick Rob Maver signed on the dotted line. Maver now enters the Stampeders' training camp as the man to beat for the kicking job. Maver replaces Sandro DeAngelis, who signed with the Tiger-Cats this past winter.

Finally, we have two pieces of news from Montreal. First, Alouettes General Manager Jim Popp has received some interest from NFL teams, most notably the Washington Redskins. Popp has been the GM for the Als since they returned in 1996, and has been the best GM in the CFL since then. The Als have gone to seven Grey Cups in the last ten years, winning two. His player moves have the kept the Als at the top of the CFL for over a decade.

The other Als story is that Ben Cahoon has informed the team that he will be returning for the 2010 season. This is good news for Montreal fans, as the core from the 2009 Grey Cup Championship team is now intact. It would seem to me that this will be the proverbial "one last kick at the can" for some of these aging players. I still think Montreal is the team to beat, but age has to catch with these guys sooner or later, right? Right? RIGHT!?