By Rob Vanstone 02-09-2009 COMMENTS(0) Rider Rumblings
On this blog over the weekend, it was speculated that linebacker Anton McKenzie is close to re-signing with the Roughriders.
The item prompted an e-mail from McKenzie's agent, Richard M. Bernstein, who was nice enough to clarify matters.
"Please just say in the blog that the rumour that he is close to signing is not true,'' Bernstein said via e-mail on Monday.
Riders head coach Ken Miller also addressed the McKenzie situation in a Monday media conference. Subsequently, Bernstein offered further comment on the situation.
In any event, here's an excerpt from a story in which I wrote about the Roughriders' prospective free agents, most notably McKenzie:
The Saskatchewan Roughriders are hoping to overcome a detour in contract negotiations with linebacker Anton McKenzie, who is poised to become a CFL free agent.“I understand that we made Anton an offer that he verbally accepted,’’ Roughriders head coach Ken Miller said. “Then when he received the paperwork, he rejected it. That’s something that I have to follow up and get more information on.
’’Miller’s quote, provided during a Monday media conference at which the re-signing of offensive lineman Gene Makowsky was announced, was relayed to McKenzie’s representative.
“What was reported earlier is true, albeit it occurred over six weeks ago,’’ Richard M. Bernstein said via e-mail. “Since the aforementioned incident took place, we have had amicable discussions with the Roughriders organization.“The current message that we have been given by the Riders can best be described as ‘wait and see.’ With the advent of the salary cap system, the club that a player signs with depends in large part on who else that club decides to keep or not re-sign.
Quantity of players at the player’s position, coupled with how much money the club has left to pay a prospective player under the system, seem to be the main factors at play.
Both parties seem to understand the business realities at play here, and we anticipate continued professional and amicable negotiations.
’’McKenzie, a CFL all-star in 2008, is under contract with the Roughriders until Feb. 15. The same applies to middle linebacker Maurice Lloyd (also an all-Canadian this past season) and outside linebacker Sean Lucas (whose 95 defensive tackles placed him second in the league last season).
Lloyd’s status remains uncertain. However, it appears that the re-signing of Lucas will soon be announced.“We’ve had substantive discussions with him over the last couple of weeks and we should have a positive announcement to make on him in the next week to 10 days,’’ Miller said
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