For one week in late January this off-season, the Toronto Argonauts faced the prospect of playing the 2018 season without arguably the two biggest offensive stars of their Grey Cup-winning squad.
Veteran quarterback Ricky Ray had yet to sign his one-year extension when breakout star running back James Wilder announced on January 24 that he planned on sitting out the 2018 season, citing insufficient salary and a desire to pursue NFL opportunities.
Ray signed in early February, solving one half of the team’s problems, but the Wilder drama took longer to figure out. The Argos didn’t grant Wilder his release, but did eventually sign him to a new deal that reportedly paid him on par with the top running backs in the league and it was water under the bridge come training camp.
“Everything is behind us now,” Wilder told TSN Football Insider Dave Naylor. “We can focus on the season and what our team goal is.”
And Wilder has big goals to focus on this season. Last year’s Most Outstanding Rookie and Winnipeg Blue Bombers running back Andrew Harris are both aiming to become the first CFLers to finish with 1,000 yards rushing and 1,000 yards receiving.
“It’s a goal that I have,” Wilder said. “You always have the team goals first – we want to get the Grey Cup – but just as a personal goal, what I’ve always done is put pressure on myself.
“If that happens it helps the team, so it’s a win-win for everybody.”
While the Argos sorted things out with Wilder, the same didn’t happen with Victor Butler, who had similar contact concerns as Wilder and filed his retirement papers ahead of training camp with no resolution.
Other players the Argos lost from their Grey Cup winning squad include Grey Cup MVP DeVier Posey, who signed with the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens, and defensive backs Rico Murray and Mitchell White, who signed with the Ottawa Redblacks and Montreal Alouettes respectively. The team added DBs T.J. Heath and Ronnie Yell, and potential quarterback of the future James Franklin.
Turning the page
Even though 21 of the team’s starters from their Grey Cup win over the Calgary Stampeders last November are returning, Argos head coach Marc Trestman said this year’s squad is an entirely different entity.
“I don’t look at it like we’re the defending Grey Cup champions. We’re the 2018 Toronto Argonauts; that’s the way we approach it,” Trestman said before camp. “We can’t defend our championship because we’re not the same team that we were a year ago. Our team can’t go back-to-back, it’s impossible. Our organization can, but our team can’t.”
Key returnees not named Ray and Wilder include the revitalized S.J. Green, CFL All-Star offensive linemen Sean McEwen and Chris Van Zeyl, and defensive stars Dylan Wynn, Cleyon Laing, Marcus Ball, and Cassius Vaughn, all East Division All-Stars a year ago.
The Argos’ brass did concede planning for this season has been easier with a full off-season after general manager Jim Popp and Trestman were hired in late February last year and a larger core of players in place, but the message through training camp and the preseason has been to not rest on last year’s laurels.
“We understand that the media is going to say that we’re defending Grey Cup champions,” Trestman said. “But we’re not. And that’s our approach starting next week.”
Appreciating Ray
"Ricky Ray will go down as one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play in the CFL, but we are thrilled he’s not done adding to his historic career just yet."
Those were Popp’s fitting words in the Argos’ release announcing Ray would be back for a 16th season in the CFL and seventh with the Double Blue.
Ray proved he still has gas in the tank last season, his first fully healthy campaign since 2014, by throwing for 5,546 yards, second in the league behind only Mike Reilly, and 28 touchdown passes, third behind Reilly and Trevor Harris.
The future Hall of Famer is fourth all-time in passing yards with 60,429 and fifth all-time in passing touchdowns with 324. One of the men he’s chasing in both categories is his new quarterbacks coach, Anthony Calvillo.
“I would never have thought that Anthony Calvillo would ever be coaching me just from our past, playing against each other throughout the years, but I’m definitely looking forward to it,” Ray said.
“He’s not only one of the greatest quarterbacks – probably the greatest quarterback – to play in the CFL; he’s played in [Trestman’s offence]. Hopefully he’ll help me grow as a player.”
