Our 2012 CFL season preview as here, as we are going to be taking a look at the CFL betting odds at the outset of the season on the road to the 100th Grey Cup! Join us for our initial Grey Cup predictions!

The team that we’ll start with is the defending Grey Cup champions, the BC Lions (Odds to Win Grey Cup: 4.60 to 1 at SportBet Sportsbook). Returning for the Grey Cup champs is QB Travis Lulay, who quietly had a great season last year. He doesn’t quite have the same type of talent at wide receiver this year, but with the new stadium at BC Place ready to go and the confidence of coming off of the Grey Cup victory, there is no doubt that this is going to be a team to watch out for.

However, in the West, it isn’t Head Coach Wally Buono and the gang that are favored to win the Grey Cup. Instead, those honors go to the Calgary Stampeders (Favorites To Win Grey Cup: 5 to 1 at BetOnline Sportsbook). With Henry Burris gone, the job belongs to QB Drew Tate, who took over last year and nearly got the Stamps into the Grey Cup. RB Jon Cornish is back for what should be another great season in the backfield, and an incredibly talented set of receivers is back as well. Expect to see a lot of points put on the board for Head Coach John Hufnagel and company this year. Calgary is the real deal, though it will have a difficult time here in the West.

The team at the bottom of the West this year might be the Edmonton Eskimos (100th Grey Cup Odds: 9 to 1 at SportBet Sportsbook). Of course, we really didn’t think all that much of the Eskies last year either, and QB Ricky Ray went on to put on a good show. Of course, the team fell apart down the stretch of the campaign, and in the end, Ray was shipped out on town. Now, it appears as though the starting QB job belongs to QB Steven Jyles who is ready to step in and prove that he can get the job done. That being said, there are a ton of other options for this team to use at quarterback, including Kerry Joseph, Matt Nichols, and Jeremiah Masoli. The offense added a huge star in WR Greg Carr, but there are definitely some holes elsewhere that need to be filled.

And that leaves the Saskatchewan Roughriders (Grey Cup Odds: 11 to 1 at SportBet Sportsbook). It is going to be an interesting season in Riderville after a lousy 2011 campaign. QB Darian Durant is still a turnover machine, and this year, he really has nothing but relatively inexperienced signal callers behind him, including Drew Willy and Levi Brown. This receiving crop awfully good with Weston Dressler, Chris Getzlaf, Rob Bagg, and the newly added Sinorice Moss and Dallas Baker amongst others, but there are still some major issues for this team to work out defensively.

In the East Division, the favorite is the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (2012 Grey Cup Lines: 4.75 to 1 at SportBet Sportsbook). We are always wary of backing the Tabbies, as they have been a team of late that has had a heck of a lot of issues living up to the hype. This year though, with the addition of QB Henry Burris and the return of RB Avon Cobourne, it really seems as though this team is set to make some real noise. There is a heck of a lot of confidence right now in the Ti-Cats with their new quarterback, as they had a defense that was most certainly good enough last year to be competitive. The beasts of the East, though? That might be a different question.

That’s especially true when you consider the veteran presence of the Montreal Alouettes (Odds To Win 100th Grey Cup: 5.75 to 1 at SportBet Sportsbook). QB Anthony Calvillo is back, and he is clearly one of the best that this league has ever seen. QB Adrian MacPherson remains a great backup plan just in case anything goes down. For the first time though, AC knows that he has to break in some new receivers, and that could prove to be difficult. The secondary still looks as strong as could be though, and that could make the difference. The feeling is that Montreal underachieved last year when it finished second in the East Division, but that could all change this year.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers (Grey Cup Gambling Lines: 5.75 to 1 at SportBet Sportsbook) were a bit of a surprise team last year, knowing that they were able to come from out of nowhere to win the East Division. QB Buck Pierce stayed healthy for the most part, and when he didn’t, QB Alex Brink picked up the slack and did well. The receiving corps is going to hurt a bit with some offseason departures, but SB Terrence Edwards is still one of the best at his trade in the game. With a new stadium opening up this year after a few games at Canad Inns Stadium, the effect could be the same that it was last year for the Lions after getting to open up their newly remodeled stadium.

Finally, we have the team that is hosting this year’s Grey Cup, the Toronto Argonauts (100th Grey Cup Betting Lines: 7.50 to 1 at Bovada Sportsbook). QB Ricky Ray is the man in town now, but there has to be a level of pessimism for sure for the Boatmen. Remember the last time that they made one of these splashy type of quarterback signings? QB Kerry Joseph came to Toronto and was absolutely atrocious. It was only a year ago that we were wondering if Ray wasn’t at the end of his career. Granted, it didn’t cost the Argos all that much to get Ray relatively speaking, but they are hitched to the CFL veteran now and will only go as far as he can take them.

2012 CFL Grey Cup Odds @ SportBet Sportsbook (as of 6/13/12):
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Calgary Stampeders 4 to 1
BC Lions 4.60 to 1
Hamilton Tiger-Cats 4.75 to 1
Montreal Alouettes 5.75 to 1
Winnipeg Blue Bombers 5.75 to 1
Toronto Argonauts 7.25 to 1
Edmonton Eskimos 9 to 1
Saskatchewan Roughriders 11 to 1

Odds to Win 2012 CFL Championship @ Bovada Sportsbook (as of 6/13/12):
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BC Lions 9 to 2
Calgary Stampeders 9 to 2
Hamilton Tiger-Cats 9 to 2
Winnipeg Blue Bombers 5 to 1
Montreal Alouettes 11 to 2
Toronto Argonauts 13 to 2
Edmonton Eskimos 8 to 1
Saskatchewan Roughriders 9 to 1

Grey Cup 2012 Odds @ BetOnline Sportsbook (as of 6/13/12):
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BC Lions 4 to 1
Hamilton Tiger-Cats 4 to 1
Montreal Alouettes 5 to 1
Winnipeg Blue Bombers 5 to 1
Calgary Stampeders 5 to 1
Toronto Argonauts 7 to 1
Edmonton Eskimos 8 to 1
Saskatchewan Roughriders 10 to 1

If You Are Looking For More Information & Details on the NFL Supplemental Draft (Such As How Does The Supplemental Draft Work & When it Takes Place, Scroll To The Bottom of This Post For More Info

The Ohio State Buckeyes have been through quite a bit in this offseason. Before their bowl game, word broke that they were losing some of their star players to a five game suspension for this upcoming NCAA football betting season thanks to their connection with selling autographs and memorabilia while under scholarship at the university. Later on, it was determined that Head Coach Jim Tressel knew of these violations, and he was suspended by the university as well.

However, after a long offseason filled with tons of questions such as, “Why is Terrelle Pryor driving around in this luxury sports car?” Tressel resigned two weeks ago and stepped away from the university. The next shoe, likely not the last, came in the form of Pryor leaving the university after three years in Columbus.

The career for Pryor was always a high profile one. He was the top rated recruit in the country four years ago, and he was drawing the same type of attention that Tim Tebow did when he was with the Florida Gators. Instead of picking the Michigan Wolverines or the Oregon Ducks, Pryor decided to become a Buckeye and to play under the more pro-style system that Tressel had in place in Columbus.

Pryor won games — make no mistake about that. No, he never did win the Heisman Trophy, and no, he never went on to lead Ohio State to a National Championship, but he was a proven winner, and he has the skills to be a deadly quarterback professionally.

The question is where he’ll end up going. Pryor has a slew of options right now at his disposal, but none of them are remarkable. One of his options would be to go to the Canadian Football League, where the Saskatchewan Roughriders have claimed his negotiating rights. However, CFL training camps have already started, and the season starts in just three weeks. Pryor would also be battling with a proven quarterback in Darian Durant, who has the promise to take the Riders to the Grey Cup title after coming up just short in back to back seasons. Aside from that, the rules and quirks of the CFL take time to adjust to, and Pryor has had no experience whatsoever with anything anywhere near these rules in his football playing career.

The UFL is also a possibility. This is a league that has already drafted though, and all of the teams know who their quarterbacks are going to be. The pro to that is that Pryor would get to work on his NFL game, as the rules in this league are awfully similar to those of the NFL.

However, the most likely choice for Pryor at this point is to join the NFL’s Supplemental Draft, which typically is held right around this time each year.

Of course, the problem with doing any business right now with the NFL is that there are no operations going on at this point for the teams. There is no date set for a Supplemental Draft, and players that end up getting drafted from this day don’t typically end up ever making a roster.

How Does The NFL Supplemental Draft Work?

If you are wondering; What is the NFL Supplemental Draft?…and are curious as to how it works, here’s a brief crash course on how the NFL Supplemental Draft has worked in years past…

Players that did not file to be in the main NFL Draft can try to enter into the NFL Supplemental Draft the year in which they leave college. The reasons that players typically join the Supplemental Draft is because they had eligibility issues in college. Last year, Harvey Unga was the only player that was picked in the Supplemental Draft, and the only reason in which he joined was because the BYU Cougars kicked him out of school after the NFL Draft was already completed.  Normally, there are no big name players like Terrelle Pryor in the Supplemental Draft.

There are typically only a handful of players that are eligible to be drafted in the Supplemental Draft. This year, Janoris Jenkins of the Florida Gators is also likely going to be on the board for the Supplemental Draft, and both he and Pryor are likely to be picked at some point.

Teams are lined up in draft order as they were in the NFL Draft, and there are seven full rounds. You don’t have to make a selection. The mass majority of picks are passed. If you take a player when it’s your turn to draft, you lose that corresponding draft pick next year. In other words, if a player were to be taken in the fourth round of the Supplemental Draft, the team that drafted him would forfeit their fourth round draft pick in the next year’s draft.

There is no way that anyone would spend earlier than a third round pick on Pryor in all likelihood. Even if the Supplemental Draft does take place in the near future and the NFL season is played as scheduled, Pryor holds virtually no chance whatsoever at being able to get on the field. Not only does he clearly have some character issues and off the field problems, but he would have not picked up a football in over nine months. He’d have to adjust to the speed of the game and would need to get in line with his receivers.

It almost seems like the best case scenario for Pryor would be to take the entire year off, work with some trainers, and to get ready for the 2012 NFL Draft, where he can go through a regular combine and workout and be compared to the rest of the players that will be in his draft class.