Argos should keep Kerry Joseph: McManus

Danny McManus has some advice for Jim Barker in his return to the CFL head-coaching ranks: Make sure Kerry Joseph remains a Toronto Argonaut.

The retired quarterback believes Joseph could flourish under Barker, who was partly responsible for Anthony Calvillo's success at the position when he ran the Montreal Alouettes offence in their 2002 Grey Cup-winning season.

Calvillo was named East Division player of the year that season after throwing for 5,000 yards, a feat he would achieve in each of the next three seasons and again in 2008.

"He knows that position and how important it is in the CFL," said McManus of Barker, who last coached in the league with Calgary in 2003 but has more than 30 years of experience on the sideline at various levels. "I guarantee his quarterback will be ready to throw the ball up and down the field."

Joseph, 36, is coming off his least productive CFL campaign, having accumulated just 2,244 yards through the air on 185 completions — the lowest in his seven years in the league — under CFL rookie head coach Bart Andrus.

The Argos have also ranked last in points scored and at or near the bottom of most offensive categories in each of Joseph's two seasons with the team.

"It's not a possession-type guy that needs to be back there but a guy that can throw it and take a couple of chances," McManus, now a scout with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, said in an interview with CBCSports.ca.

Barker, 53, couldn't give a straight answer at his introductory news conference on Tuesday when the subject turned to Joseph, who is slated to make a reported $300,000 in 2010.

'Get a staff in order'

"We're going to evaluate the entire roster," said Barker, who takes over an Argos outfit with a 7-29 record the past two seasons. "My first order of business will be to get a staff in order."

Neither Cody Pickett nor Stephen Reaves appear to be a long-term solution for Toronto's quarterbacking woes, so one of Barker's big challenges will be finding someone to get the job done.

Joseph, despite throwing a combined 30 interceptions in two seasons, still has something to offer, McManus said.

He noted Joseph's Grey Cup win with the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 2007, the same year he was named the league's most outstanding player. He was picked off only eight times that season and tossed 24 touchdown passes.

"Kerry's got all the tools for a Jim Barker offence," said McManus, who was second in all-time CFL passing yards with 53,255 when he retired in 2007. "He's got the arm you need, he can move around and make yards for you with his legs. It's just a matter of fitting into a system that works best for him.

"Anthony Calvillo has found a great system in Montreal and that's worked out tremendous for him. It took me to get to [former head coach] Ron Lancaster in Edmonton [in 1996] to find the right system."

The Argos open the 2010 exhibition season on June 15 against Hamilton.