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For the Edmonton Eskimos, it was as much about getting their roster down to the quantity required ahead of this week’s season-opener, as the quality.

While last year’s squad was to be commended for leading the Canadian Football League in passing, there was also a real and definite problem that also existed, which led to the Eskimos missing the playoffs for the first time in five years

The issue was enough to negate the positive effects of having the league’s top passing-yards leader in Mike Reilly, now with the B.C. Lions, and receiving-yards leader in Duke Williams, now with the National Football League’s Buffalo Bills, as well as C.J. Gable becoming Edmonton’s first 1,000-yard rusher in seven seasons.

And it all had to do with cohesiveness in the locker-room, according to one veteran member of the team.

“Yeah, I think the cancer that was in the locker-room is gone,” said Eskimos kicker Sean Whyte, who is entering his 13th CFL season after joining the Eskimos mid-way through 2015. “I think Brock (Sunderland, general manager) has done an unbelievable job doing that and he knows no jerks are going to be on this team. It doesn’t matter how good you are, if you don’t fit in with this crew, you’re not going to be here.