First thing I'm doing is firing Tim Burke. I'm keeping Kyle Walters as the GM, because as much as I would love to hire a John Murphy instead, we know Walters isn't going anywhere and along with Miller and the new head coach that'll be far too many chefs in the kitchen for my liking. My next move is writing an open cheque to Dave Dickenson who narrowly beats out Chris Jones to be our head coach.
After that, I'm doing whatever it takes to swing a trade for Collaros. Something similar to the BC/Edmonton trade for Mike Reilly last year, but with this trade taking place in December instead of the end of January we'll have to give up a tad bit more. After this I'm making sure we start scouting for import defensive backs ASAP as that is our weakest spot on the defense. Next, I'm looking at who is available to trade/sign for Canadian O-linemen and I figure we'll need at least 2 guys with the ability to start.
In the expansion draft, I'm protecting Henoc, Kohlert, Greaves, Watson, Neufeld and Pencer, unless I'm able to dangle Watson for a 2nd round draft pick or something similar in which case I'll protect Jade Etienne instead of him. If Watson is protected, I'm thinking Etienne is the one picked if not it'll probably be Swiston or even Cauchy.
The imports I'm protecting are, Washington, Wild, Turner, January, Denmark, Dunn, Jarvis Jones, Stewart, Matthews, and I guess Sears or Anderson(although I really struggled to find talented players to protect after Dunn). Who Ottawa takes at this point is anyones guess, it could be a Terrance Edwards, Aaron Kelly, Will Ford, or even Jovon Johnson. In the next round, assuming we kept Watson and Etienne is selected, I'm protecting Swiston, Cauchy, Labbe, Sorenson, Poblah and Jake Thomas. Due to our horrific Canadian talent at this point in time, Ottawa will be forced to take someone such as Morely or Foster.
In my ideal world, we probably have two to three new starters on the O-Line next year with Greaves, Neufeld, Pencer, January and Jones being the returnees with a chance at starting next year. Our receivers would be, Matthews, Denmark, Kohlert, Etienne, with two of Edwards, Kelly and Miles as the 5th receiver and one of the designated imports. A new starting running back backed up by Will Ford would also be nice and Collaros would of course be the starting QB, backed up by Max Hall and a new developmental third stringer.
Defensively, maybe we're able to bring Jason Vega or Alex Hall back into the fold, but I wouldn't count on that. Turner and Anderson at DT with Jake Thomas subbing in works perfectly for me. While DE is a complete free for all, Mainor probably has the upper hand going into camp based on seniority, but both positions are completely up for grabs unless Hall or Vega returns.
Linebacker gets tough, as I don't want to take Parker or Ian Wild off of the field for any situation, I probably start Wild while Parker subs in as a DI and of course I still want Henoc and Dunn as my other linebackers
For the secondary, Washington has one half back spot locked down, while Sears and Stewart probably go into camp as the starting two corners but are definitely going to be pushed by some new players. I'm probably letting Suber walk and bringing in someone else to play halfback, safety is played by Jovon Johnson if hes willing to take a pay cut and if we can fit it in with the ratio. If not, we'll have to let Cauchy and Sherman battle it out, which would make safety the one position that isn't solidified
Renaud can come back to punt, but Sandra is another player I don't bring back next year. I'm asking Palardy to return before bringing Sandro back, but I'll at least bring him into TC just in case the new kicker craps the bed.
Last but certinaly not least, I do whatever it takes to make sure Wade Miller is handling the business side of things and NOT the football side of things. Unrealistic? Probably. But this is what would happen in my ideal world going into next year.