Final cut day comes around every year, but that doesn’t make it any easier for those involved.

Some are headed to the practice squat.

For some, this is the end of their football journey. 

For others, they will be staying in shape for opportunities down the road. 

You can find the full list of cuts here. 

The good part about the CFL’s final cut day is that it marks the official end of the preseason. That means we can all turn our focus towards the regular season. 

But, before we get into that, here’s a look at a few surprises and takeaways from the Calgary Stampeders’ cut day.

WRs

The wide receiver room featured a couple of surprising cuts. 

American receiver Cam Echols was the most surprising cut to me. 

First of all, he had a solid preseason (6 catches for 62 yards). 

Secondly, played well in 12 games for the Calgary Stampeders last season. In those games, he had 363 receiving yards and 4 touchdowns. He also contributed a combined 290 yards in the return game. 

Echols has a shot at catching on somewhere else later in the season if injuries add up. 

American receiver Terrell Vaughn was also cut. He’s not as big a surprise after only putting up 27 yards in the preseason. However, he displayed enough talent to make many sad to see him go. 

Vaughn and Echols join Ishmael Hyman on the list of good receivers getting cut. There are high expectations for the group coming into the season. If the team was comfortable cutting so many talented players, they must be happy with what they have. 

The receiver group will be under pressure to perform, considering they have a strong QB group to work with. 

QBs

American quarterback Logan Bonner was among the final cuts. 

Bonner’s preseason was a tale of two games. 

Game one highlighted his biggest deficiency (a bad int). 

Game two highlighted his biggest strength (short yardage). 

In the second preseason game, he ran the QB sneak with a 100% success rate. In 3 attempts, he scored 2 touchdowns and converted a first down. Unfortunately for Bonner, that wasn’t enough to make the final roster. 

Canadian Quincy Vaughn was probably part of the reason for that. Throughout his college career and first CFL preseason, he’s proven himself adept at short-yardage football. 

Having a Canadian you

can rely on in short yardage made it impractical to keep an American around for those situations. Vaughn also boasts an impressive amount of versatility. He lined up in the backfield several times this preseason and played TE in college. 

Following the last round of cuts, here’s what the Calgary Stampeders’ QB room looks like:

• Vernon Adam Jr. 
• PJ Walker
>Josh Love
• Quincy Vaughn

While Bonner did

n’t make the cut, another American, Josh Love, did. 

After failing to find a home in the NFL, Love spent the last several seasons playing spring football stateside. He played for 3 different spring football teams.

Love didn’t get a chance to do much in the preseason (5/6 for 37 yards passing). But he did enough to make the final roster. That gives him the opportunity to continue learning the Canadian game in the hopes of making this his home long term.