Elks’ Chris Jones on CFL’s new roster rules: ‘we just gotta be real careful … they’ll fine you’

The CFL’s new designated nationalized American rule has come under a fair bit of scrutiny the last few days after a number of teams began to use the rule for something other than its intended purpose.

Designated nationalized Americans are players with five or more years of CFL experience or have spent three years with their current team. Under the new rules, these players can replace any designated national (ie. Canadian) for up to 23 offensive or defensive snaps per game.

Both the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Calgary Stampeders have already attempted to take advantage of this new rule, with the Ticats making receiver Duke Williams a backup for the team’s Week 1 matchup with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the Stamps doing the same with last year’s leading rusher, running back Ka’Deem Carey, for their Thursday night opener against the B.C. Lions.

One would think these types of roster shenanigans would be right up Edmonton Elks’ head coach and general manager Chris Jones’ alley but he played it coy when asked about it this past week.

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“We just gotta be real careful because if you go over 23 (plays), they’ll fine you,” Jones told Edmonton media last week. “So figuring out exactly how to keep count, that type of thing, so that you play within the rules.”

When told by a reporter that the officials were supposed to warn teams when designated nationalized American players were approaching the 23-play limit, Jones gave a mischievous reply.

“Yeah, but, yeah. I’ll leave it at that right there,” Jones said with a grin and a laugh.

The 2018 CFL Coach of the Year is no stranger to rule-bending. He was famously fined twice while the head coach in Saskatchewan, the first time in 2016 for housing the infamous pre-practice roster players and a second time in 2017 for meeting with the publicist of quarterback Johnny Manziel while the former Heisman Trophy-winner was on the Hamilton Tiger-Cats’ negotiation list.

“It’s only the guys that have been in the league for a certain amount of time, so the Manny Arceneauxs and the Swerves (receiver Kyran Moore), those are the guys that give us the plays that we need,” said Jones.

“On the other side of the football, certainly (Ed) Gainey and those guys. It’s people that have been in the league; that’s where you gain your 23 plays.”

While Gainey and Arceneaux did not receive any new designation, the same cannot be said for Loucheiz Purifoy and Kyran Moore, both of whom were named designated nationalized Americans when the team published their opening-week roster on Saturday afternoon.

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Moore will back up big-money signee Steven Dunbar Jr. in the Elks’ receiving corps while Purifoy will start the game sitting behind second-year player Mark McLaurin.

Purifoy, who signed with the team in January after being released by the B.C. Lions less than a week earlier, cannot start against the Riders on Sunday but can replace McLaurin for an unlimited amount of snaps after the first play of the game as well as fill in for either strong-side linebacker Enoch Makonzo or his backup Jeremie Dominique.

The roster trickery did not pay dividends for either the Ticats or Stamps, as both teams lost by double digits in their respective season openers.

Perhaps it will work in the Elks’ favour on Sunday but even if it doesn’t, so long as this rule remains in place, coaches are going to keep finding a way to exploit it.