Ticat Salary Cap Implications of Linden Gaydosh and Spencer Watt Achilles Injuries

Obviously have two good Canadian players lost for the whole season before training camp even starts isn't a good thing for the Ticats. Spencer Watt as a receiver being injured presents more of a problem. One assumes that Watt would take over from Sam Giguere as the second starting Canadian receiver after Andy Fantuz and would also likely start in the case of any Fantuz injuries (which certainly existed last season). After Watt (a former Argo), for Canadian receivers the Ticats have former Hamilton Hurricane Matt Coates who caught a few catches last year and likely will get a lot bigger of an opportunity.

Gaydosh's injury effects on the team is more muted, simply because the Ticats have two excellent Canadian defensive tackles in Brian Bulcke and Ted Laurent plus an awesome import in Bryan Hall. If the Cats were to sit Hall and go with Bulcke and Laurent as starters, Gaydosh (a first overall CFL draft pick in 2013) would have been a very useful backup. However the Cats likely will start Hall, so Gaydosh would have less playing time barring injuries. The Cats just have a lot of non-import defensive tackle talent and if they don't start two Canadians, it is pretty crowded. I was curious about what the Cats were going to do about the situation, but with Gaydosh now gone, it is now a non-issue.

With both players being out for the season, their salaries won't count against the salary cap. I don't know what Gaydosh signed for, but being on the second year of his first CFL contract, it probably wasn't a huge amount. Watt as a talented import receiver likely did receive a fair amount of money by CFL standards (although if I had to guess, slightly less than what Giguere got). The Gaydosh and Watt money is now available for other players, but since most of the free agents are picked over, there's not any obvious places to now spend it, as the new imports coming to camp usually have pretty small first contracts. The Cats now have some room to take on salary as part of a trade, although meaningful trades are rare in the CFL. Potentially the Cats will be in a position to sign some players that end up getting cut from other teams in training camp, especially if those players were cut because of another team's salary cap problems.

Hamilton Tiger-Cats Sign Argo Receiver Spence Watt At The Start Of Free Agency, Probably Bye Bye to Giguere

Well it looks extremely unlikely that the Cats will resign non-import receiver Samuel Giguere with the free agent signing of Spencer Watt.

Watt had 35 catches for 356 yards in 2014 for the Argos, his fifth year with the team and in the CFL. He also had three TDs.

Will the Ticats play two Canadian starting receivers with five and six receiver sets with Watt? I think so, pairing him with fellow Canuck Andy Fantuz. That leaves space for three or four import receivers in those situations with one also being recently resigned Luke Tasker and also Brandon Banks. In four receiver sets with a fullback, Watt likely comes out for Prime.

One danger is what do the Cats do when Fantuz is injured. The Cats offense was actually decent with Giguere in for Fantuz. After Fantuz and Watt, the Cats are pretty thin at Canadian receiver (although most team's third non-import receiver is quite mediocre).

With the Cats likely playing with three Canadian offensive linemen with Dyakowski returning, that would mean the Cats would be playing five Canadian starters on offense. Considering the Ticats Canadian defensive line strength, the Ticats are well set for Canadian talent next year.