Bombers Swap SAM: Jaylen Smith to 1-Game IL, Lane Novak Promoted Off PR
Winnipeg's depth chart for Friday's trip to Edmonton carries exactly one change, and it lands at the strong-side linebacker spot. Canadian DB Jaylen Smith — the 2025 second-round pick out of North Texas — goes to the one-game injured list with a hip issue sustained last week against Calgary. He didn
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Jaylen Smith's hip injury costs Winnipeg its most productive SAM linebacker, not just a national starter
Smith has 46 defensive tackles in seven starts at strong-side linebacker — 6.6 per game — while replacement Michael Griffin II has 39 tackles in nine starts, or 4.3 per game. The 2025 second-round pick's absence is a real production downgrade even though Griffin is a 51-game CFL veteran with 139 career defensive tackles.
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Ottawa's QB Switch Is a Locker-Room Powder Keg
The Redblacks are 0-16, and on Oct. 16 against Toronto they're starting Bryson Barnes over McLeod Bethel-Thompson. That's not a football decision; that's a CYA move. I'm hearing MBT was told after last week's loss that he'd finish the season as the starter. Then Tuesday, Bob Dyce and Shawn Burke flipped. Bethel-Thompson found out in a position meeting, not from the head coach. Veterans are livid. Justin Hardy — who's been the only reliable target — is out of the lineup, and Grant DuBose, a former NFL guy who's been here five minutes, gets the start. Hardy didn't hide his frustration in the receiver room. The young guys want Barnes; the vets think they're being sacrificed to avoid a win that would cost them the No. 1 draft pick. Meanwhile, Dyce is coaching like a man who knows his office is