Old Man Ramblings On The 2023 BC Lions Offseason

The BC Lions have had to be busy this off-season. They lost one of the best QBs in the business to the NFL and one of the best receivers in the CFL retired. This left a gaping hole in the Lions’ offense. There were lots of rumours that free agency would fix the QB situation. Rumours of Cody Fajardo or Bo Levi swirled around. When Rourke went south all we heard from management was, “we are confident in Adams as our starter”.

Still, rumours continued, Feb 14th came and BC was quiet except for they signed free agent WR Justin McInnis. What about Bo? He went to the Ticats. Ok, Cody…. nope he went to Montreal. What the heck…… now what???? Oh, they were serious about starting the season with Vernon Adams Jr., OK well I guess they know more than I do.

Hold on, I get a text on Feb 23rd…. BC Lions sign Dane Evans. Oh OK so now we have 2 half-decent starters, and we have filled a major hole in our starting offence.

Then BLOCKBUSTER!

Feb 26th I get another text…. BC Lions have signed free agent Shawn Lemon! The Lemonator had a career-best 29 tackles and 14 sacks with the Calgary Stampeders in 2022. This is a major score for the Lions’ defence. Once again, our defence will be tops in the league. My only concern is can Lemon and Whitehead co-exist? Really the only huge hole left is WR after Bryn Burnham retired. The Lions did sign free agent WR Justin McInnis from the Saskatchewan Roughriders. McInnis played 13 games in 2022 for the Riders racking up 33 receptions and 2 TDs. Even though these numbers are not even close to what Burnham put up over his career, this is a step in the right direction. The Lions also signed 4 WR from America this off-season and hopefully, one of the 5 can step in and fill those massive shoes Burnham left behind.

So here we are 77 days before the official start of training camp and from what I can tell, the Lions are ready to once again be contenders for the top spot in the west. Training Camp starts on May 14th, what do the Lions have in store for us this year? We know the home opener will be HUGE. The new owner of the Lions, Amar Doman has promised an even BIGGER show than last year. I am hoping to be in BC for this one!