Courtesy Edmonton Journal:

The way the talent has been coming and going over there at Commonwealth Stadium lately, you hope they installed swinging saloon doors on the Edmonton Eskimos locker-room in the off-season.

Sure, all is in flux when you’re the Eskimos and you have missed the CFL playoffs two straight years. Or so it has seemed, at any rate. But that impression is more apparent than real.

On Monday, out went a pair of receivers and an offensive lineman, in came a trio of import pass catchers.

On Tuesday, a kicker, a running back and a defensive lineman checked in; out went a running back, a defensive back and an offensive lineman.

On Thursday, here came a pair of import running backs named Jason Marshall and Chris Ciezki and a brace of defensive linemen, Tyler Clutts and Jim Davis, by name.

Saying bye were defensive ends Tim Cheatwood and Zach Anderson and linebacker Antico Dalton, all imports.

At a cursory glance, the great roster transformation is afoot. Not so, said Danny Maciocia, the Eskimos head coach and director of football operations.

Still, as the dust settles on the off-season manouevres, Steven Jyles, A.J. Gass, Charles Alston, Trevor Gaylor, Tony Tompkins, Michael Botterill, Chris Thompson, Tyler Ebell, T.J. Acree, Pat Woodcock, Omarr Morgan, Rob Brown, Rhett McLane, J.F. Romeo, Raleigh Roundtree, Rob Hitchcock, Jason Flowers, Jared Winkel, Cheatwood, Anderson, Mike Bradley and Dalton all are history, either released, traded or retired.

And yet, the Eskimos roster for training camp, which opens June 1, remains lousy with incumbents at most positions. It’s also freighted with newcomers expected to push the incumbents — and hard — for jobs that are available.

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