After taking a beating in free agency the Ticats finally fight back by signing Cobourne.
Running back Avon Cobourne has signed with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
It is hardly a surprise, unless you weren’t seeing how things were developing with Bob Young’s bunch.
The Ticats have been getting hammered in free agency, losing offensive tackle Alexandre Gauthier, defensive tackle Jermaine Reid, receiver Chris Bauman, and defensive back Geoff Tisdale.
Ticats supporters must have been wondering what the hell was happening in Hamilton.
Then again, these same supporters were forced to endure months and months of a stadium soap opera that ended with the team staying at its current home, decrepit Ivor Wynne Stadium, which will be renovated for the 2015 Pan Am Games.
The Ticats had an average running game last year with DeAndre’ Cobb. Now with Cobourne, who is better running and catching the ball and is far more physical, Hamilton can now boast the threat of a serious ground game.
But why would the Ticats invest so heavily in a player, who is soon turning 32 and with a lot of miles on him?
Simple. The Cobourne signing is consistent with a pattern the Cats have continued for the last few years, inking a star free-agent player and hoping he takes the team to another level.
So far it hasn’t worked.
The list goes like this: Quarterback Jason Maas, running back Kenton Keith, quarterback Casey Printers, and rush end Stevie Baggs.
Maas, Printers and Keith bombed big time and aren’t with the club. Baggs, formerly with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, joined the club last September after failing to stick with the Arizona Cardinals. He showed hustle and enthusiasm and made some great plays initially, although he tapered off and wasn’t a factor in the Ticats’ upset loss at home to Toronto in the semi-finals.
The Cats seem to make these kinds of signings because they feel it’s important to create sizzle with the steak, even if they get burned.
General manager Bob O’Billovich has always been good at finding diamonds for little money. He is one of the best evaluators of young talent in the Canadian Football League.
With the Cats, in particular under the current regime of president Scott Mitchell, he’s gone in a different direction, paying largely for free agents instead of using his savvy to sign young, hungry players who prove their worth at reasonable salaries.
But that just won’t sell in Hamilton. Not now. The fans need something and getting a proven 1,000-yard plus running back, who can also catch passes and was named the Most Valuable Player in the 2009 Grey Cup addresses that.
Along with receiver Arland Bruce, the Cats have two terrific playmakers. Now it’s just a question of finding a way to distribute the ball.
They’ve also created addition by subtraction by removing a key part of Montreal’s offence, although the fact the Als were willing to let Cobourne walk indicates something. The Als don’t lose players they feel are integral to their success. GM Jim Popp is one of the best in the league.
Quarterback Kevin Glenn will probably benefit the most from the Cobourne signing. Glenn likes to pass the ball and is not much of a threat running the ball anymore, although he does it from time to time.
Cobourne will give the true threat of a run game, which can only help the aerial attack. And he can block, too. Cobourne played linebacker early in his CFL career, so that tells you something about his athleticism.
He is only 5-foot-8, 205 pounds, but collectively it’s a solid mass.
Whether his body can continue to take a pounding without it having an impact is the great unknown. He is at that age when the game takes a physical toll on running backs, and he has missed some games due to injuries in recent years.
In Montreal, he had a solid offensive line and was helped by the fact the Als’ offence made it hard to key on him.
In Hamilton, he won’t have nearly the same supporting cast, notwithstanding that Glenn is capable of throwing for 5,000 yards.
After spending the greater part of the last few months hearing about the Ticats’ pursuit of a new stadium, only to find out they were staying put, Hamilton fans were anxiously anticipating some on-field football news.
They sure have received in the last week.
Did the Ticats deliberately allow three Canadian starters – Gauthier, Reid and Chris Bauman – and an import starter in Tisdale to leave for other teams because they wanted to invest a good chunk of that money for Cobourne?
Collectively the four players were earning about $400,000 – or about one-sixth of each team’s salary cap. Cobourne will make about one-third of the money left over from the four lost free agents.
It’s believed Cobourne was making slightly more than $100,000 in Montreal with bonuses to push it up higher. He gets at least a $30,000 raise in year one of what is believed to be a three-year pact, and gets $55,000 in a signing bonus.
So that means the Cats have already invested a decent chuck in relative CFL terms in Cobourne.
Time will tell whether it was worth it.
