The CFL announced today that after an extensive auditing process that seven of the league's eight teams were under the $4.25 million salary cap for 2010. The outlier is the Saskatchewan Roughriders, who were over the cap by $26,677 (probably thanks to midseason signings like kicker Warren Kean and punter/holder Eddie Johnson, pictured above in the 2010 Grey Cup). Of course, that could pave the way for plenty of jokes about how Saskatchewan's a big-market team (which in the CFL, they are), but the key point here is that the league's cap seems to actually be doing what it's intended to accomplish; allowing teams to compete on a relatively equal playing field with regard to salaries. From that perspective, it may be the most effective salary cap out there.

For reference, take a look at the history of the CFL's current cap system, which dates back to 2006 and was brought in during Tom Wright's time as commissioner. There was a cap before that, but it was loosely monitored and didn't

It's good to hear that Doug Brown and other CFL players aren't just talking about the shocking information they recently received on the long-term impact of concussions and the extremely low life expectancy of football players , but also proposing ways to try and address the situation. Allan Maki has a great piece in today's Globe and Mail on the CFLPA's response to that data, which wasn't extensively discussed in the original piece Brown (pictured above trying to bring down Darian Durant last year) wrote Tuesday. Here's the key part of Maki's story:

The data was so compelling that the CFLPA's board spent hours discussing player safety and expressed an interest in adopting an NFL proposal for dealing with dangerous hits. The membership needs to agree to stiffer fines and suspensions for dangerous high-impact hits before its player safety and welfare committee can make a recommendation to the league. CFL commissioner Mark Cohon and chief operating officer Michael Copeland were in Las

The CFL has unveiled the latest (and last pre-draft) edition of its scouting rankings, and there's a new face atop the list. Rice offensive tackle Scott Mitchell (no, not the Hamilton Tiger-Cats' president or the former Ticats' receiver) has been anointed as the new top Canadian prospect out there, taking over from Baylor lineman Philip Blake (who seems to be dropping more thanks to concerns about him potentially following fellow Baylor graduate and B.C. Lions' 2010 draft pick Danny Watkins to the NFL rather than pure athletic considerations). Mitchell (pictured at right) turned in a strong performance at the league's evaluation camp, he's shown plenty of interest in the CFL (and seemingly hasn't received a lot of attention from the NFL), he was second in both the September and December rankings, he plays an important position (solid tackles can be critical to CFL success), and he seems well-positioned to help a team right away, so there are plenty of good reasons why he's on top of

According to Winnipeg Blue Bombers' defensive tackle Doug Brown, CFL players were shown a study at the recent Players Association annual general meeting that suggests the average life expectancy of professional football players is only 55, 26 years below the Canadian average. There's been a lot of research on concussions and studies of their devastating long-term effects on particular players, but the life expectancy data is particularly disturbing, as it points out that early deaths among former football players are the norm, not anomalies. That's got Brown, a 15-year CFL veteran, worrying about making his will and debating if he'd play football again (or let his kids play) if he knew what he does now.

Brown's comments (which came in his latest column for the Winnipeg Free Press, titled "Players slowly killing themselves,") are among the boldest statements any active football player has made on concussions, as much of the reaction to date has been along the lines of players like

There are obviously a lot of things that can happen before the 2011 Grey Cup, as we're still several months away from the start of the CFL season. Teams' rosters aren't completely set yet, and even the 2011 draft is still almost a month away. Still, the majority of free agents have found homes, and we should have a pretty good idea of what each team's 2011 roster is going to look like, so predictions at this point aren't completely ridiculous if they're based off teams' performances last year and offseason moves. Interestingly enough, though, the latest Las Vegas odds for the 2011 Grey Cup (as posted by Rob Vanstone) don't seem to have a lot of correlation to either, at least in reference to Saskatchewan.

The Roughriders are coming off back-to-back trips to the Grey Cup, both of which they narrowly lost to Montreal (by one point in 2009 and three points in 2010, a game they might have won with some different third-down playcalling). Their regular-season showing last year wasn't

The Saskatchewan Roughriders made an interesting move Friday, signing veteran import defensive tackle Dario Romero only days after releasing Marcus "Chunky" Adams, an import who plays the same position. Often when you see a team let go of one guy and bring in another, the rationale is the standard "we're trying to get younger," but that doesn't apply in this case; Romero (pictured at right celebrating an Aug. 28 sack against the Riders) is 32, while Adams is only 31.

By the statistics, both players are reasonably similar. In fact, Adams' 2010 season was slightly better by the numbers, as he recorded 26 tackles on defence and two sacks, while Romero put up 24 and one. Both recorded one fumble. Romero has the advantage in physical dimensions, though (he's 6'3'' and 300 pounds, while Adams is 5'11'' and 285), and even the supposed disadvantage of his age may prove to be anything but.

The Regina Leader-Post's Rob Vanstone noted that the Riders have 17 players aged 30 or older on their

Former NFL and CFL quarterback Warren Moon is back in the spotlight this week, thanks to comments he made to CBS Sports' Mike Freeman about perceived racial bias affecting the way NFL draft prospect Cam Newton (pictured at left above with Moon during a Feb. 10 workout) has been viewed. In particular, Moon appeared to be referencing this report by Pro Football Weekly's Nolan Nawrocki, which caused quite the stir when it came out, thanks to comments like "Very disingenuous - has a fake smile, comes off as very scripted and has a selfish, me-first makeup. Always knows where the cameras are and plays to them. Has an enormous ego with a sense of entitlement that continually invites trouble and makes him believe he is above the law - does not command respect from teammates and will always struggle to win a locker room." (For the record, Nawrocki has adamantly denied that race was a factor in his report.) Moon's comments will undoubtedly prove quite polarizing, and as Yahoo!'s Dan Wetzel

One of the most bizarre stories of the CFL offseason emerged today over at Drew Edwards' Hamilton Spectator blog, The Scratching Post. Edwards wrote an interesting analysis of the potential impact the trade of Steven Jyles (pictured, right) could have on Hamilton yesterday, but the really notable part came this morning, and it came thanks to a comment. Edwards received a comment on that post signed by "Scott McNaughton" (for those who don't know, McNaughton is the Tiger-Cats' director of communications), but which had plenty of indications it wasn't what it claimed to be. Here's the comment in full:

Your third and fourth point sort of contradict each other... First you say Joe Mack could end up blowing his two picks and even if he does draft well, they won't help right away...(fair point) Then you say, Toronto is in tight cuz they needed that draft pick to help their canadian content - especially since the draft is always top heavy...but if its top heavy, then Winnipeg having two