James Franklin hasn’t played a lot, but when he has, he’s been good. Good enough that, for a lot of last season and most of this off season, there was speculation that several teams would be interested in him, either now via trade or after the 2017 season when he becomes a free agent.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders and Franklin’s former coach in Edmonton, Chris Jones, seem to be at the front of the line. Jones, now going into his second year as vice president, general manager and head coach of the Riders, liked Franklin while he was in Edmonton and chose him over Matt Nichols mid-season in 2015 and thought enough of him to start him in Calgary at the Labour Day Classic that season.
As he heads into the final year of his first CFL contract, Franklin is getting set to turn 26 in July and says he has also spent time wondering about his future
“There is so much that can happen. I have thought of 10 or 20 different scenarios,” the Missouri grad said. “It is tough at times to not think about, ‘What if this happens?’ or, ‘If I get traded there?’”
The Oklahoma City native is trying to focus more on where he is for 2017, rather than where he might be for 2018.
“The thing that I have been trying to do is the same as last year: make sure I know what I am doing, know my offence. That way, if I do go in, I can execute it and help the team have success. The rest of it will take care of itself after the season. Then, once the year’s over, we’ll see what happens.”
Over his two seasons in Edmonton, Franklin has dressed for 34 games, starting three and seeing action in a handful of others. His numbers are impressive: 103 completions in 157 attempts for 1,307 yards and 10 touchdown passes while being intercepted only once.
The biggest blemish on his resume with the Eskimos is that he plays behind Mike Reilly, the uncontested leader and most popular player this team has seen in many years.
Stranger things have happened (Google: Ricky Ray) but it’s easy to assume Reilly will be this team’s starting quarterback for several years to come.
That puts new Eskimos GM and vice president of football, Brock Sunderland, on the clock as Franklin moves closer to free agency next February, and it’s clear he wants Franklin to remain in Edmonton .
“That’s the goal,” said Sunderland, who won’t talk about any ongoing negations. “We think the world of him as both a person and a player. We know he is highly coveted and he has earned that. We are happy he is an Eskimo and we want him to be an Eskimo long term.”
Franklin decided in the off season to ask for some advice on his situation and he went to a pretty good source: a guy who knows football, quarterbacking and Edmonton. Via Twitter, Franklin reached out to and ended up having a conversation with Former Eskimos QB and Football Hall of Famer Warren Moon.
“He was really nice,” Franklin said of the conversation with the five-time Grey Cup Champion with the Eskimos. “I just wanted an opinion from someone who has had some success and has kind of been where I am right now. It meant a lot to get some advice from someone who has been there. I wanted to know some of his thoughts on where my head was at.”
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