Nick Moore Archives | BC Lions Football

BC Lions Free Agency Report – Day One

February 9, 2016 By Brian Wawryshyn

Traditionally Wally Buono has never been big on building his team through free agency. But after four years of a declining on field product and with the man himself returning to the sidelines, Buono signed three players on day one of CFL free agency. There is also the change of landscape that Buono has spoken of, where turnover of players is much greater with the elimination of option years for veteran players, meaning free agency has become a more valid route for the Lions GM.

The Lions day began with speculation that the club had signed Edmonton running back John White, thanks to tweets by News 1130 sports that White was on the way to Vancouver to take a physical. This tweet made no sense since White had tweeted weeks ago that he would be back in Edmonton. Yours truly questioned that report, but when Dave Campbell of 650 CHED in Edmonton seemed to confirm that White was signing with the Lions, myself and other Lions fans got pretty excited.

Hearing #BCLions are flying EDM running back John White into Vancouver for a physical.

— NEWS 1130 Sports (@NEWS1130Sports) February 9, 2016

Looks like RB John White will indeed sign with the B.C. Lions. #Eskimos #CFL

— Dave Campbell (@Dave_CHED) February 9, 2016

Alas, it wasn’t to be and the Eskimos officially announced he had re-signed later in the day.

The Lions also made an offer to offensive lineman Corey Watman, but lost out to the Argos for his services who also plucked Josh Bourke out of Montreal to beef up their offensive line.

It’s also been reported that BC has made an offer to Canadian defensive lineman Justin Capiciotti but with Ted Laurent re-signing later in the day in Hamilton and setting the bar, the Lions will have to wait and see what it will take to get him and whether their offer can lure the Simon Fraser product out West.

Now for the players the Lions did snag on day one.

Nick Moore – Wide Receiver – International (Winnipeg)

This one came out of the blue, but I guess it’s true that you can come home again. After a two-year stint with the Bombers in Winnipeg, Nick Moore returns to the Lions on a one year deal that will pay him considerably less than the $185,000 he left BC for when he was last a free agent.

Wally Buono said that both Khari Jones and new addition Marcel Bellefeuille pushed hard to bring the former Leo in. Moore is of course familiar with BC and Wally Buono and should give another deep threat for the Lions offence. He runs excellent routes and has a penchant for making the big catch.

The knock on Moore is his ability to stay healthy, but even with missing considerable time last season, he still finished with 889 yards of receiving.

Mike Edem – Defensive Back – National (Hamilton)

During the 2013 draft the Lions tried to move up to select Mike Edem, but were unable to do so. He was an all-star in his first CFL season and the Lions are thrilled to get him into the den. Edem is big, physical and a solid contributor on special teams as well. He should plug a hole in the secondary after the departures of Steven Clarke and Josh Johnson to the NFL and has the right amount of youth, experience and potential growth to make Lions fans excited about this signing.

The Lions now have two possible Canadian starters in the secondary after re-signing safety Eric Fraser earlier this off-season.

Brandon Stewart – Defensive Back – International (Hamilton)

The Lions added some solid CFL experience to their secondary when they inked Brandon Stewart. The veteran defensive back will be entering his 10^th CFL season when he suits up for the Lions. A versatile player, Stewart has played for Calgary, Winnipeg and Hamilton over his nine CFL seasons. The Lion feel he can play corner or nickleback and will try to use his experience and big play ability to solidify their secondary.

Who the Lions Lost

The club announced prior to the start of free agency that several players would either not be offered contracts or would be free to test the market and three players found new homes on day one.

It was no surprise that Andrew Harris landed with the Bombers, who were throwing out money like they printed it. Pascal Lochard followed Harris to the Bombers, while Alex Hoffman-Ellis found a home in Hamilton with the Ticats.

CFL.ca Free Agent Tracker | @BCLionsDen #CFLFA Twitter List | TSN.ca CFL Page

Free agency misses are just a minor setback for Buono and the Lions

February 12, 2014 By Brian Wawryshyn

The BC Lions haven’t had much success this off-season in getting their man. It started in the off-season when they courted the likes of Paul LaPolice and George Cortez for their offensive coordinator positions and were declined on both fronts.

Then came free agency, where the club was bold and aggressive in its pursuit of some of the big names, only to get none of them. For fans who were hoping some solid editions to the 2014 team that has brought a lot of disappointment and in some cases frustration.

Thankfully, Wally Buono has been around long enough to know that consistently competitive teams are not built through free agency, but through the draft and finding players through free agent camps and development.

Surely Buono would have liked to have kept Nick Moore. A player that they found through free agent camps and developed while he learned from the best, Geroy Simon. Last year Buono had seen enough to move Simon to Saskatchewan and Moore into the starting role created by his departure.

Moore took advantage of his opportunity, leading the Lions in receiving and putting up his first 1000 yard season as a pro. In a perfect scenario, he would have remained here and built on that success but the business side of football came calling from the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the numbers were high enough that Buono was willing to say goodbye to the player he helped mould.

“When you go about building your team you do have to maintain a vision of two to three years down the road,” said Buono on BCLions.com. “We’re not going mortgage long-term competitiveness simply to make a splash in February with one or two players. We owe our fans a team that’s stable over the long haul.”

And that’s what Buono has done his whole career. He’s separated himself from the players so that he can be objective when it comes to the business side of the game. Players don’t always like that, and the fans get upset when their favourite player leaves. But all will be forgotten if Buono can find more diamonds in the rough like Cord Parks.

Things don’t always work out the way you plan of course. The Lions record in recent drafts have been hit and miss at best and they will certainly want to find some quality in this year’s selections, but it’s all part of the process. You win some and you lose some.

So while fans express their frustrations at being shutout through free agency, those who have been around a while will know that’s just a small part of building a winning football club. Not just for this year, but for the long term future. It would be good advice to look at things from the business side from time to time and realize that the days when a player plays for one team his entire career are extremely rare in today’s age of salary management systems and free agency.

“The one thought I kept saying to myself over and over again was that our philosophy is not to buy players but find players,” Buono said. “When we’ve taken that approach we’ve always gotten better.”

Buono has done it many times, and given a little patience, he’s likely to do it again even if he has to do it the old fashioned way.

The BCLionsDen.ca Pawdcast – Episode 21

November 8, 2013 By Brian Wawryshyn

In Episode 21 we are joined by former BC Lion and Saskatchewan Roughrider Jason Clermont, BC Lions linebacker Adam Bighill and the leading receiver on this year’s edition of the Lions, Nick Moore. We also talk about the Lions and Riders as they head towards their Western semi-final clash this weekend.

To stay up to date with our podcasts, blogs and other Lions news, follow us on Twitter @BCLionsDen

Please leave us a comment on the site and let us know how we’re doing. You can also leave us a ranking and a review on iTunes, we would really appreciate it!

Listen:

Listen and Subscribe on iTunes

Training Camp Day 6: Morning observations, from the stands.

June 7, 2013 By Brian Wawryshyn

With just two practices to go by, here are a couple of observations so far as we report from training camp in Kamloops.

Careful what you wish for.

The weather up in Kamloops is summer like and the morning Friday practice was very warm. Another practice goes this afternoon at 3:00, but players will not be wearing pads for this session. We were pining for some nice weather prior to coming up and we got it but a few degrees cooler would be preferable to the players.

Moore to come.

I’m very impressed with what I’ve seen from Nick Moore in the two practices I’ve seen. He is very quick and his stride seems long and effortless out there. He is a long target and I think he’s going to have a great year. He knows that with Geroy gone, it’s his time to shine and it looks like he’s up to the challenge.

Teaching the new.

Angus Reid returned to the field this morning, but not participate except for snapping in skully drills. He was however spotted tutoring 2013 draft pick Matthew Albright. It’s sad to see the career of Reid winding down, but there’s no doubt having him as an inspiration and a teacher to the next generation is going to be a valuable asset. Reid’s replacement at the moment is 2nd year Matt Norman who I thought has a great session Friday morning. He’s taking a ton of snaps in all situations and did well in 1 on 1 drills too.

Noticable

New running back Andre Dixon caught my eye in the morning session. He had some nice carries, but had my attention for his work ethic as well. At the end of every play he ran back to the huddle, showing all he’s taking this tryout seriously.

On defence Josh Bell had a nice day in the secondary, picking off a deep throw to Ernest Jackson. The defence are clearly the more in sync unit at the moment and they haven’t been shy about letting everyone know about it either.

Free agent signing Julius Williams sat out for the second straight practice. Not that big a concern and he doesn’t look badly hurt, but one of the reasons the Eskimos let him go was he fact he was often hurt.

Jabar Westerman is taking starting reps on the inside of the d-line and had a noticeably dominant morning, especially in 1 on 1 drills where on one rep he just steamrolled tackle Tavaris Jeffries.

The injury to Julius Williams has Keron Williams moving back to the outside.

Solomon Elimimian was back practicing after nursing a sore hamstring the last two practices.

Back again at 3:00pm today. Hopefully it’s a little cooler!