Photo: Ben Grant
On Sunday, in order to meet the league’s roster requirements, the Toronto Argonauts parted ways with the following ten players:
QB Antonio Pipkin, DB Treston Decoud, OL Jake Foshee, LB Solomon Ajayi, LB Brady Sheldon, WR Chandler Worthy, WR Dres Anderson, DL Kendall Futrell, K Toshiki Sato, and FB Asnnel Robo.
The release of Pipkin is perhaps the most surprising given that McLeod Bethel-Thompson is now the only quarterback on the roster with CFL experience. There’s always a chance the team will bring in another quarterback, but this move speaks to the faith the Toronto coaching staff has in rookie Chad Kelly. His stat line didn’t explode off the page against Ottawa on Friday, but he looked like he belonged and he’s only going to get better.
Treston Decoud is also a surprising cut given that he saw so much playing time last year in the Argos secondary. He’s a good player who can line up in any position in the defensive backfield. His play on Friday wasn’t up to his usual standard with a few missed tackles, and with so many new American DBs impressing in camp like Tarvaris McFadden, Maurice Carnell IV, and the Amos brothers, the team clearly felt they could move on. Both Decoud and Pipkin should get picked up by other teams.
Chandler Worthy has been a fan-favourite since arriving on the scene in spectacular fashion in 2017, and he’s survived being released by the club several times already. He’s still one of the fastest players in the CFL, but that hasn’t translated into on-field production. The team had hoped he’d grab the punt and kick return roles by the horns, or turn into a rotational deep threat, but that never materialized. Now, with so many quality options at receiver and in the return game, keeping Worthy was made more difficult. He and McLeod Bethel-Thompson have a great relationship on and off the field, so it’s possible this isn’t the end for Worthy in Toronto.
Saying goodbye to Global players Toshiki Sato and Asnnel Robo is tough. They’re both well-liked players in the locker room and they’ve endeared themselves to the fans and media alike. Toronto drafted themselves into a situation where they had a full house of Global talent they simply couldn’t keep. Rookie punter John Haggerty all but guaranteed himself a roster spot on Friday, and the team is still evaluating fellow Global draft picks OL Otavio Amorim and DL Simeon Okonta-Wariso, while Global DB Tigie Sankoh has shown he can be a contributor.
As difficult as these transactions are to stomach, this is the nature of roster movement on championship-contending teams. The fact that six of these players took meaningful snaps last season for Toronto shows how much the team has improved in preparation for another run at the Grey Cup.