Courtesy Toronto Star:

Like a lot of high school students currently sweating over final exams, Thursday night’s pre-season game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats was pass or fail time for a number of would-be Argonauts.

The ones who got a D from head coach Rich Stubler flunked out yesterday when the Argos made their final cuts 36 hours before tonight’s midnight deadline when CFL teams must be down to 46 active players.

Argos still have 57 players on the roster, but all are expected to remain either on the five-man practice roster or the injured list.

The biggest surprise among the seven players released was import wide receiver Patrick Johnson.

Injured for much of last season, Johnson, who earned a Super Bowl ring with the Baltimore Ravens in 2001, was expected to step into the slotback position vacated by the off-season release of the Argos’ all-time leading receiver, Derrell (Mookie) Mitchell.

However, his ineffective play during training camp, the arrival of another ex-NFLer, David Boston, the acquisition of T.J. Acree and the emergence of rookie speedster James Robinson all led to Johnson’s departure.

“I don’t think he played very well (Thursday night) and I need great production out of that side because I’ve got a great receiver in Bethel Johnson,” said Stubler.

Read More…