Another week of CFL Football is through and there is lots of movement in the Power Rankings this week! Let's discuss recovered kickoffs, trade announcements, Power Rankings, and more in this week's write-up;
Kickers
As I said, there was lots of movement this week. The kickers in the CFL attempted 21 field goals and made 17 of them. This is roughly 81%, which is the best field goal percentage we've seen in 3 weeks. Kickers also made 100% of their 14 PATs, which is nice to see considering they've been such a problem this year. Let's discuss how the players performed with a look at my (un)Official Week 7 CFL Kicker Power Rankings;
Working top-down;
Rene Paredes (CGY) had another Bye Week this week but has performed well enough to remain at the top of the Power Rankings.
David Côté (MTL) continues his perfect streak after missing an easy field goal back in Week 2. He has now gone 9/9 on field goals and 12/12 on PATs. He is 1 field goal behind Rene Paredes and that is enough to jump him into the Second Position. He also hit a new season long of 49 yards!
Sean Whyte (BC) continues his Mr. Perfect streak after hitting his only field goal, and both Point After Attempts. While he might not be on track to break the single season PAT record anymore, he is still having an amazing year!
Brett Lauther (SSK) remains in the Fourth Position after completing all 3 of his field goals this week. However, he only had a long of 28 yards which is why he will not jump a position. Lauther needs to become more consistent between 40-49 yards if he wants to get into the top 3.
Marc Liegghio (WPG) will jump to the Fifth Position after going 1/1 on his field goals and 3/3 on his PATs this week against the Elks to help the Bombers get to 7-0. He has been defying expectations across the league but still needs to get more consistent on PATs or it will come back to haunt him.
Lewis Ward (OTT) went 3/4 this week after missing an opening 40 yard field goal. He has been having a down start to his year, making just 80% of his kicks. He has struggled from over 40 yards, which is not something we are used to seeing from him. I expect he will overcome whatever obstacles are holding him back in the coming weeks.
Boris Bede (TOR) will also jump a Position this week after hitting 3 of his 4 field goal attempts. His 1 miss came from 61 yards out which was an interesting kick. With 00:26 left in the first half, down 15-11, HC Ryan Dinwiddie told Bede to take the field for, what would be, a career-long 61 yard field goal. He missed that field goal wide right but looked to have the leg to get it there. Bede was able to redeem himself with just 00:46 left in the game when he kicked a 29 yard, game-winning field goal to put the Argos up 24-21 on the Roughriders!
Sergio Castillo had a decent statistic line this week, going 3/4 on field goal attempts. While he is now 4 weeks without hitting 100%, he did manage to hit a season-long 52 yard field goal! He is taking the Bye Week in stride and looks to be enjoying a vacation with his family.
Seth Small (HAM) may have been ranked too high last week, I'll admit it. I was excited that a kicker I am high on performed well in his first week of action. He drops into Ninth Position after going 2/3 on field goals this week. I want to see him make a field goal from 40+ next week.
Punters
This week was interesting for Punters throughout the league, but Hamilton and Edmonton both stole the show. After signing legendary Punter Jon Ryan in Week 5, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats sat him for 2 weeks, instead giving Domagala another chance to remain on the Roster as a Punter. I wrote this article on why Ryan wasn't playing for the Cats (Which is my most viewed article ever! Thank you all so much!). Well, news came out of Edmonton this week that they have traded an 8th round pick to Hamilton for the rights to Jon Ryan. I have some strong opinions about this that I will discuss when I discuss Edmonton this week. Let's discuss how the players performed with a look at my (un)Official Week 7 CFL Punter Power Rankings;
Working top-down;
Richie Leone (OTT) began the week the right way by recovering his own kickoff to start the Game! He finished the game punting 5 times with a Net Avg. of 46.8 yards per punt. He also hit 40% of those punts inside the 20 yard line and had 2 punts over 50 yards. An impressive showing for the Best Punter in the League!
Marc Liegghio (WPG) not only impressed as a kicker, but he is also playing incredibly well as a Punter. This week he punted 5 times for a Net Avg. of 42.8 yards per punt. He is pinning his opponents inside their 20-yard line almost 1/3 of the time and is showing time and time again why the Bombers' front office is putting their trust in him. He jumps Zema into the Second Position.
Joseph Zema (MTL) had an average week during Week 7, punting 4 times for 36 Net Yards per punt. He is still one of the better punters in the CFL but his coverage team needs to figure it out if he wants to push back into the Top 2.
Kaare Vedvik (SSK) had yet another big game this week. He punted a season-high 9 times, for 437 yards and a Net Avg. of 41.6 Net yards per punt. He continues to improve his craft and I am getting more and more excited every time he takes the field.
Stefan Flintoft (BC) also had a good showing this week after punting 6 times for 232 Net Yards. 33% of his punts were inside the 20 yard line and he is returning to his 2021 form. He will jump 2 positions, breaking into the Top 5.
John Haggerty (TOR) had the best game in his short CFL Career this past week. He punted 4 times for 40 Net Yards per punt, with 50% of his punts inside the 20-yard line. I hope this continues for the Argos. I always like to see my favourite kickers do well in the CFL.
Matt Mengel (EDM) will drop 3 spots this week but let me preface this by saying it wasn't his fault. For whatever reason, HC Chris Jones only let Mengel punt 1-time last week and put Sergio Castillo onto the field. After this game, Edmonton announced that they have acquired Punter Jon Ryan in a trade with Hamilton. I am a big Mengel fan and have been following him since he played in the USFL this past season. He is playing well this year and his stat line doesn't show the whole picture. He has probably one of the biggest legs in the CFL but his coverage team is not playing well at all. I like seeing Ryan back in the league but hope that he isn't starting next week, as I don't think he is that much of an upgrade over Mengel. The Canadian Ratio might screw over Matt.
Michael Domagala (HAM) is wiping the sweat off his brow after securing a roster spot in the CFL. I hate to say it but I was wrong on Domagala. He punted 4 times for a Net Avg. of 47.3 yards per punt. While I am upset with the whole Hamilton/Edmonton situation, I hope Domagala continues to play well.
Cody Grace (CGY) will drop into last place after having another Bye Week. He has only played 2 games though, so hopefully, he can have a comeback over the next couple of weeks.
Thank you for making it this far in my article! Please let me know what you think about the article through the contact page! Have a good day everyone :)