This guy made huge strides last year, and was a CFL Wester All-Star. The Riders had some QB problems last year too, but he was far and away our best receiver. For comparison, he has better numbers, and is IMO a better receiver than Marc Boerigter (in KC this year but played for the Stampeders the year before.) It may take him a little time to adjust, but I predict he’ll be a starting WR for you at year’s end, and he could put up some impressive numbers. ARMSTRONG, Derick - 6 (Wide Receiver ) Derick Armstrong Height: 6’2 Weight: 195 Import: Arkansas-Monticello Born: April 2, 1979, Jasper, TX Yrs Pro: 2 Yrs CFL: 2 Yrs Rider: 2 How Acquired: Signed as free agent in June, 2001 Games Played: CFL: 10 2001: 10 PRO: * Second season with the Roughriders * Signed by Saskatchewan as a free agent in June 2001 2001: * Spent his first eight games on practice roster * Started final ten games at wide receiver * Made Roughrider debut in WEEK 9 * Had season high 100 yards receiving in WEEK 16 * SEASON STATS: 30 catches for 436 yards and one touchdown COLLEGE: * Played senior season with Arkansas-Monticello * Spent previous two seasons at Junior College in Tyler, TX * In final campaign with the Boll Weevils played 11 games, led squad in receiving with 65 catches for 1,200 yards and 10 touchdowns, added 68 yards on five kick returns and 42 rushing yards * Totaled 1,310 all-purpose yards, effort earned second team all-GSC honors Career Stats YEAR….TEAM……….GP..REC..YDS..LG..TD 2001…Saskatchewan…..10…..30…436…46…1 2002...Saskatchewan…...18….70…1104..100…5 (Bio courtesy of Riderville.com)
all i want to know is....can he get open and can he catch the ball? if he can do those things, he will be dramatically better than our current crop of WRs. thanks for the info, Grizzled!
Can he block at the line? Seriously, I hope he receives a hero's welcome of passes. Deep threat? Possession receiver? What?
Very good hands. (In 3 down ball drops really hurt, so having good hands is a big priority up here.) Runs very good routes and would also regularly out fight DBs for the ball. Makes a good last move to get in position to catch the ball. Very good vertical. Can go over top of guys to catch the ball, (although that won’t be quite as easy for him in the NFL.) Has speed, but our QBs last year had a lot of problems throwing deep, so most of his catches were on shorter patterns. Very good at getting yards after the catch. Played WR so didn’t make many blocks at the line, but would make blocks for other receivers down field. Smart player. He’s come a long way in a short time. He was very raw when he came and had the “deer caught in headlights” look. He’s much more polished and consistent now. I’ll see if I can find some articles on him when I get a chance.
This is good news, hopefully he pans out; but the most interesting tidbit in the article is that a) there is a University of Arkansas-Monticello; and b) their mascot is a boll weevil "Hold 'em, Weevils, Hold 'em!!!"
Hey, I’d love to go to Houston to see them! I’ve never been to your fair state. I hear it’s nice. Here’s a picture of him making a catch over the head of an arch rival Winnipeg Blue Bomber. Yeah!! (photo courtesy of the Saskatchewan Roughriders and www.Riderville.com)
Hey Grizzled do they still talk bad about Francis on the sports radio shows there? And how do you feel about him now?
Hmmm,...makes me think we will definitely trade down since this could figure we don't go for a WR in first round and add to that the line prospects are somewhat weak...
i doubt them signing a guy from the CFL has any bearing on their draft plans; it's not like the signed terrell owens.
I think some of you are overhyping this guy on the little info. that we have about him. As far as Im concerned, its like taking a receiver in the 5-6th round of the draft. He could be good, but at the same time, he could struggle a lot. We have to wait until camp starts before forming opinions.
BT: lol! Those things sure have me scared. Weevils wobble but they don’t fall down? LF: No, and the Grizzlies are dropping from the radar too. The Canucks are doing well and they’re filling the void. I think Francis is a great talent, but his problem is his attitude, which doesn’t surprise me given what happened in Vancouver. Regarding Armstrong: This was reported in the papers up here, but only as an additional comment from another team’s columnist. This likely means it was a leak of some sort and hasn’t been officially announced. http://www.total-cfl.com/cgi-bin/ceilidh.exe/mainforum/?C318425e8e0H1-4757-675+07.htm We certainly believe he’s gone. As far as how good he is, he is definitely NOT just like some 6th round pick. The CFL is a very good pro league, whose players not only make, but can also become all-stars in the NFL. The first thing you need to consider is that the CFL game is different. The field is 65 yards wide. There are 12 men on (an extra DB and receiver). You have 3 downs to get a first down. There is unlimited motion in the offensive backfield. Stop clock timing in the last 3 min … and many more. The implications of this are many, but a big one is that the width of the means that speed and agility become more of a priority over size in many positions. Many of players in our league would be undersized for the NFL (some 215 lbs LBs) and many of your players wouldn’t be mobile enough to play in the CFL. The QB position transfers fairly well to the NFL because our guys tend to be scrabbles who learn how to roll out and wait for a man to come open, or run. (see Doug Flutie and Jeff Garcia. The last 20 minutes of the 49er-Giants was Jeff running a CFL offence. And these two have 4 pro-bowls between them, I should add). Wide receiver is another that can transfer well, and Armstrong is one of them. The guy I point to for comparison is Marc Boerigter. He’s a little heavier, but not as skilled and Armstrong had better numbers, but I think that’s a good comparison. (We also have a lot of average sized possession receivers here, guys who have great hands, can find the holes, can come back to the QB well. These wouldn’t transfer as well, but probably better than a lot of people think.) The reason you haven’t seen more guys like Armstrong and Boerigter and Joe Horn (although he took a little longer to adapt to the NFL) is, well there are several reasons actually. First, the CFL is only a 9 team league, so there aren’t that many players in the talent pool. Second, many of our star receivers are the possessions types listed above. Third, some of our top receivers make pretty good money (for the CFL that is), roughly equivalent to the low end of NFL salaries, but they have also formed business and other relationships in the community and chose not to try the NFL. These guys can have long careers here and set themselves up for life after football. Milt Stegall and Terry Vaughn fit this category. Fourth, it’s really only becoming recently understood by NFL people that experience in another pro league carries over to the NFL. The NFL just wouldn’t give many of these guys a shot in the past. Warner, Maddox, Garcia, Flutie are some QB examples. Doug Flutie didn’t improve much after his second or third year up here, but no one in the NFL was interested in him. When he finally got a shot, he went to the pro-bowl. Whoops! Other players are making it too. Juron Bolden was an all-star CB in the CFL last year. This year he started 6 games for the Falcons, and started the playoff game Saturday ahead of Ray Buchanan. (Unfortunately he blew out his knee early in the game.). So the CFL is a very good place to look for players, if you look at the right ones for the NFL. Others the Texans should consider are: Jason Tucker: Not a big star here but put up some nice numbers. He seemed to gain confidence and develop over the season. He is a former NFLer, and might be worth a look if you are short on receivers, but IMO he should stay and hone his game for another year. http://www.esks.com/players.asp?xnumber=83 http://rapids.canoe.ca/cgi-bin/cfl/cflrpt?report=pass_receiving&year=2002&season=REG And if you have a stomach for risk, Laurence Phillips. He had a couple of medium sized melt downs this year, but played well and has a game I think would transfer to the NFL. His agent ditched him mid season and apologised to the league and fans of the CFL (lol!!) and LP was a saint after that, although he refused to talk to the media until after the Grey Cup game. So if you think he’s really reformed, he’d be worth a look. http://rapids.canoe.ca/cgi-bin/cfl/cflrpt?report=rushing&year=2002&season=REG
man, i hate to burst your bubble, but these two points, #'s 3 and 4, are silly, silly, and more silly. there is no way -- NONE -- that a player in the CFL would choose to stay in an inferior league making roughly $.60 on the dollar when they could be playing in pro sports premiere league. that's absolutely, positively ludicrous. most of your players (the good ones) are americans, who played college football in america. going to canada is plan B, if not C, for most of them. not one player, with one small, notable exception, has ever been drafted by the NFL but thought better of it and headed north. it never, ever happens, and there's a reason. re: point #4, many, many, many players have given the NFL a shot after success in the CFL and they couldn't cut it. hell, the texans signed a leading rusher (michael jenkins) and one of it's top receivers last year (name already escapes me) and neither could make an expansion team. garcia, et al, are rare not because no one's thought to scout the CFL but because, more often than not, the talent isn't up to snuff across the board. i mean, NFL scouts have had their eye on the CFL forever. warren moon ring any bells? this guy, like the lot of them, will be lucky to stick with the team. so in that regard, you're right, he's not like a sixth round draft pick; instead, he's like an undrafted free agent... which, in fact, he is.
Well, I think you don’t know much about the CFL, so I’ll be easy on you. First point, when I said that some players make what would be the low end of the NFL scale I was including exchange rate, so the $0.65 dollar isn’t an issue. I could also point out that it’s cheaper to live up here, but I think I’ve made my point on that item. Second, quite a few players have decided to come here after being drafted. Tom Cusineau (sp?) was a first overall that came here. Rocket Ismail came here first. Aside from these more high profile cases, with admittedly some special circumstances attached, there have been a number of cases of players, especially QBs who were later round draft picks and came here to play and develop. Crouch talked about doing this after he quit the Rams this year. More typically they come here after they’ve been cut, or if they haven’t been drafted, or if they got kicked out of school, and develop into good players here before going back to the NFL, or choosing to stay. Third, once here many MANY players have decided to stay up here when they would have had a good shot at the NFL. Doug Flutie even talks about possibly coming back. Almost invariably player love playing in the CFL. It’s much more laid back than the NFL and it’s a very exciting brand of football, to watch and to play. The atmosphere is a bit like college ball I’m told. Almost all ex-CFLers love the league and go out of their way to praise it. Warren Moon comes back every chance he gets for benefits, ceremonies, charities, you name it. You may say his case was different, and it was, but Garcia comes back to Calgary every summer and does they same kinds of things Moon does. Flutie raves about it. Theismann used to rave about it as well, but his time here is getting to be a while ago now, like 30 years? Players like it here and they decide to stay. Many become Canadian citizens, and stay to make a life here. Many get involved in businesses like restaurants or bars, or take other opportunities that their profile here affords them when their careers are over. Moon had a company here that sold chocolate chip cookies in the West Edmonton Mall. Garcia owned a restaurant. It happens ALL THE TIME. Sorry to burst your bubble. We’ve had ex-NFLers tryout for CFL teams and not make it. Does that mean the NFL is crap? That’s a silly comment. Jenkins had a good year, but was never really a great back here. He’s also a smaller quick cut back/ad lib type back, which is very suited to the CFL with its wider field, but not as suited to the NFL. Our top two backs last year were John Avery (former Miami 1st rounder) and Charles Roberts. Avery is 5’9” 180 and Roberts is smaller. These guys are phenomenal athletes, but not as suited to the NFL game because there is less room to move and make moves. They both considerably out performed Laurence Phillips, btw, who is supposed to be (and probably is) a great NFL type talent. You also had a CFL QB in camp. Ben Sankey, (who’s mentioned in an above article btw) was never even a regular starter in the CFL, let alone a star. (And didn’t become one when he came back..) The fact that some marginal FAs decide to take a shot at the NFL and fail doesn’t say anything about the quality of the league. And again there is the difference between leagues and just different situation. David Patton was cut by Edmonton in training camp, so he had to settle for being a starter in New England. I notice you avoid the best comparison available, Boerigter. He’s another anomaly I suppose? As was Joe Horn, Juron Bolden, Shelton Quarles, Mike Vanderjagt, etc, etc, etc. I bet most teams have an ex-CFLer on them. And yet many who should have been given a chance over the years weren’t. This was only due, I suggest, to the very NFL snobbery you are displaying now. To call the CFL an inferior league shows that you don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s a significantly different game in many ways. I would bet that say 30% of NFL players couldn’t make the CFL, because they don’t have the right kind of game. And only roughly 15% to 20% could be stars in the CFL, IMO. (Although some would be very big stars indeed. I’d like to see Vick on the man sized field. ) So anyway, I love football and I watch all kinds, including the NFL, but some of the fans who wear the NFL issue rose coloured glasses can be a little annoying at times. No offence. Oh, and I bet Armstrong will be a starter for you by mid to end of next season, and will continue to improve from there.
riiiiiight, ok. and i'll do likewise, re: the NFL, since it's obvious you don't know much about it. yes, and what a point it is! you're not really arguing that players are content making what amounts to the low end of the NFL pay structure while playing in a lesser league, are you? ah, yes... ignoring the fact you had to travel all the way back to 1978 to find a pertinent example.... here's a selection from a "where are they now" piece on cousineau, and yes, it certainly sounds like he had little CFL footballs dancing in his head as a youth: "The NFL took notice of Cousineau. The Buffalo Bills selected him with the first pick of the 1979 NFL Draft, but the Ohio State star would never suit up for the Bills. Owner Ralph Wilson played hardball with the rookie and Cousineau held out. "It was the most disappointing thing about my NFL career," Cousineau says. With no leverage except a trip north of the border, Cousineau went to Montreal to play in the CFL. While he was paid well and treated with respect by Canadian management, the talent level could not compare to what his friends were seeing each Sunday in the NFL. In 1982, Cousineau came out of exile and allowed to negotiate with any NFL team, although the Bills still had the right to match any offer sheet. Cousineau signed a deal with the Houston Oilers, but the Bills matched it and sent him packing to his hometown Browns." http://espn.go.com/abcsports/bcs/s/where/tomcousineau.html my favorite part was terming his stint in the CFL an "exile." as for ismail, he was the lone exception i mentioned.... and where is he now? oh, that's right, the NFL. uhm, grizzled, they "love" it there because it's the only league that'll let 'em play. flutie was an abject failure as an NFL QB. he went to canada, made a name for himself and john butler fell in love with him. few teams would waste their time on flutie, and, yeah, i bet he would go back... because there, he could get some playing time. he caught 20 passes this year -- quick! somebody call canton and have them start to work on his hall of fame bust! take away his 99-yarder, and no one, short of CFL fans, would have any clue who he is. he's a third or fourth WR, at best, and only saw the light of day after KC suffered several injuries at the position. if your argument is that the CFL occassionally produces mediocre NFL players.... i have no beef. but if marc freaking boerighter is your shining example of the CFL's dominance... grizzled, please stop; i'm begging you. the CFL is inferior is every single conceivable way except, maybe, in the number of players who end sentences with "eh." and that's irrefutable. again, when you can name one player that's ever shunned the NFL in favor of the CFL, i'll grant you that the league has chops (again, excepting ismail). but it's never happened, it never will happen and there's a definitive reason why: the NFL is superior in every, single, last facet. and there's no snobbery at all involved in saying that. look, if these guys had the chops to make it in the NFL, scouts would be all over them, believe me. winning is the one and only bottom line in the NFL (except in cincinnati and arizona); they'd sign players from a ymca pick-up league if they thought they could make it. the talent-level is below NFL standards. jeez, you guys can't even spell "offense" properly and you think your league is on the same level as the NFL? you wanna brag about hockey, or... mountie riding, OK. but, i'm really sorry to be the one to piss in your punch bowl, the league isn't even on the same planet as the NFL. it's like comparing the CBA to the NBA. in fact, it's EXACTLY like comparing those two. i will GLADLY take that bet; anything you want with limited conditions (ie if every single other receiver in camp is lost at sea, or something, and he's the only option available kind of thing, the bet's off). he'll be lucky to make the team.
