As we await to see the Tiger-Cats play their 2nd pre-season game of 2022, Tonight at 7:30 pm vs. the Toronto Argonauts, it is important to remember the important implications of this game. At first glance this is a rivalry game that will be played several times this season, but this game is different from the 4 match-ups that we will see in the 4 regular season match-ups that we will see between the Tiger-Cats and Argonauts.
By 10 pm Saturday night on June 4th, the Tiger-Cats will have to cut their current roster of 82 players down to 45 active roster players and 15 practice squad players. If you do the math, that means a 22 players will be cut from this current roster and we will released back into the wilderness of CFL free-agency. It is important to note that the CFL has several roster requirements that make it unique from other North American professional football leagues.
The first roster restriction is that the Tiger-Cats can only have a maximum of 20 American players on their active roster. Currently, they have 42 American players and 4 of those American players are quarterbacks. Also, the Tiger-Cats have only have a maximum of 17 American players identified starters on offence and defence. Going into this pre-season game the Tiger-Cats show 17 American starters. I predict that when the final roster is released this weekend we will see those 17 starters plus 1 additional American and 1 additional American running back.
Another restriction is that the Tiger-Cats will need to keep 1 Global player, and they currently have 2 Global players on their roster. I predict that back-up defensive lineman Chris Mulumba will be the Global player that remains on the Tiger-Cats 2022 roster.
This leaves 24 active roster spots open for Canadian National players. The strategy used by the Tiger-Cats to fill these 24 active roster spots, and who they use to complete the practice roster will be the big questions that are answered based on the outcomes of tonight’s game at Guelph. It will be interesting to see how things play out both with regards to tonight’s match-up between the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Toronto Argonauts, but also to see which players are able to earn their roster spot on the 2022 edition of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
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