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I thought kramdi would test fa and maybe end up back home. Very busy december for walters so far

So with the extra $50,000 for Brady, what if they off set it by going American at C? A rookie american makes $80,000 versus Kolo's cost (pretty sure he was at least $130,000). Balances the $ and you're likely better too.

For some reason I understand his pain. I've been dealing with it for almost 20 years and yet somehow even if it's in control it still finds ways to flare up https://variety.com/2025/music/news/rolling-stones-cancel-2026-tour-1236609841/

Lawson I think will be in that status...already is and was one of the better interior guys in league in creating pressure and penetrating the pocket...now just imagine if ww would have actually let him have the lions share of the reps, and played him beside legit giys for those reps...as opposed to JT...and JT getting the big reps he got Yup....poor allocation of funds for sure....RB and DB...should never et up your SM...If we re-up all of Nichols..Kramdi and Holm...Plus BO and ZC...Thats gonna be like about 1.3 to 1.4 million on 5 guys....thats not good....2 of those DB spots can be had at a combined 200k and we be no worse for wear...we already have guys on even cheaper entry level deals already in house to cover that...Re-Up the vet Nichols....and go shopping, or scouting If anyone thinks 1.4 million to 5 guys isnt gonna cripple you elsewhere even with a SMS bump is kidding themselves...BO I can justify if he is on some marketing and gonna be the focus of what we do, and is given some help to do it.....But paying 2 DB's whats gonna prob cost us about 300k where we dont need to wont help in getting BO and ZC for that matter some help Gauthier is likely making a fair bit over 100k and for what he brings now...Shay..Smith...have that covered and I am sure we will find a draft pick or 2 who will contribute nicely on ST's But canning guys like Hallett..Gauthier...even tho not making huge money...but likely decent money as Canadian vets..Much like JA was making as a ST/backup before he left for Hamilton all helps when you can replace with entry lvel dals Same with Thomas..Kolo...who made 150k...Thomas not sure but I bet close to that...Vibert takes Kolo spot on entry...Bailey takes Thomas spot on global salary....that extra money would o long way just there in securing a legit FA olineman...or DT who will be a big impact...Bringing back vets like Hallett...Kolo...Thomas..Gauthier..who are not the futer...have zero upside and are all on decline serves no purpose other than block development and eat up more SMS than we need to pay out....hurting us elsewhere BO was hurt going into 2024 yr...and missed time...then strained a knee later in he yr and played less than 100 percent....Got banged up first game last yr and played less than 100 percent again for a lot of the yr....so sure that...and piss poor offensive game planning played a lot into his down yr...but also his style isnt conducive either to long term career either, so to me this is a risky investment especially being 29 already during the 2026 sesson...with 2 yrs beyond that at 300k....yikes Hopefully Osh has the sense in his head to deviate away from his iron clad ratio idea and allow for a fast/shifty RB who can make people miss, and runs a 4.4...4.5 40 to play in backfield at same time as BO to take focus away from him and limit his abuse.... yup....and alogns with my post and Osh's rigid use of ratio...he aint helping us in any way when guys get hurt and he just stays the course with a sub par Canadian....plus the act he feels this need to play more than he has to..which as well doesnt make sense agreed....I mentioned they were making north of 100k...Thomas who knows...but fact they not reported it anywhere that I have found says he is grossly overpayed..... Canadians get payed for sure...but you also have to look at where you can overpay and where you can get same bang for your buck on a lesser paid American...RB not being one...And if you choose to back him up with a Canadian...good luck finding one who gives the same production...and if you do...He's being payed premium as well...so you basically kick yourself in the nuts twice you can get tha same production...and likely a better homerun hitter with an American for less than half that cost....and if you are good in scouting at entry level And for what BO can do and really make hay...inside the 10...we almost everytime go away from him and someone else scavanges the TD....If you have a back making 300k and are 1st and 10 inside the 10...or 5 yard line then he should be able to hit paydirt repeatedly with 3 shots at it....and he rarely gets 3 shots at it...may times he doesnt even get 1....so all that money...and you dont use him...make that make sense thats exactly what we need...A violent....active and athletic dline that just gets after it...play after play....7 to 8 solid guys just goin to town...hmmmm sounds like 2019...2021....we won then eh? Look what Philly did to K,C last yr.....T.O to us in

I'd add to that list a stellar platinum level offensive line along with a violent effective dline to give us an identity as a team heading into 2026.

It's because he's Canadian

The reality with Brady’s deal is that you really need to know what the cap hit is in order to talk about whether the deal is good or not. In the new CFL, with the marketing money, I don’t think we’re really going to know that early on after a signing so you have to play a bit of a wait and see. That being said, there are two things that (imo) should be getting talked about more with regards to this deal. 1. This contract makes very little sense at the reported cost (even if you build in 100k of marketing money) if we still insist on playing more than the required amount of Canadians. We’re essentially paying him regardless of passport at that point, which makes this deal awful 2. Lots of people haven’t had their mindset catch up to the reality of the new CFL and the cap figures. The cap hasn’t just gone up, but teams are shifting more to youthful American OL which means less money is being tied up in unmentioned Canadian OL and more is being invested in big name splash Canadians. Everyone talks about Brady and his big deal, but nobody blinked twice 10 years ago when guys like Tyson Pencer and Chris Kowalczuk were making six figures as middling (that’s generous) Canadian OL. Canadian football is developing, which means more guys can play at premium positions, which means the “you gotta have 4-5 Canadian OL” mentality has kind of gone by the wayside. The money getting distributed has changed a bit as a result. (one last thing, anyone who thinks Gauthier or Hallett make near league minimum are WAY off)

I feel like the drop off from Brady to another decent back is probably small enough that we could have used that $150k somewhere else.

I'm a broken record about this but RB's are about 7th to 9th in terms of average salary paid by position in the NFL due to availability of replacement level talent and overall impact. Why are we going against a trend run by much smarter and wealthier football organizations? Don't tell me it's because he's Canadian. Yes Canadians get a premium in terms of salary, but a smart team should still be paying that premium at the impact positions based on the bigger, smarter NFL - Dline; WR's; all star OL; QB's if you have a unicorn Canadian star (hopefully we might). This was a decision to appease the fans who value the local community impact over good cap management.

To be fair there are 45 starting receivers and 9 starting RBs. About 18 starting Cdn receivers, vs really just 1 starting Cdn RB. Cdns get paid in the CFL

Any other RB's getting 290K? Nope, not even close. Any other receivers getting 270K? Yup.

your right, the thing that makes ths contract palatable is that having a cdn starting rb allows us to have an import elsewhere. If we were to use a 3rd import on oline it would easily save us 100k or more for a free agent cdn. We have to get away from just pegging in cdns at traditional spots and utilizing cap money by looking at the forest and not just the trees. The best way to get around this is to draft effectively and actually play the younger (cheaper) talent

If the team is paying Brady this much then they need to lean into an offense focused through him and take advantage of having a Cdn RB by playing another American on offense. Either go three American Olineman or play 4 American receivers. No need to trot out a crappy Cdn centre/guard or Cdn receiver that is no threat to do anything.

Disagree. The bombers hired a social media engagement consultant. They developed a word cloud to visualize fan engagement. Thomas appeared as one of the largest words in the cloud. The consultant thus confirmed the fan base is incredibly engaged with Thomas and highly recommended his resigning him based on projected additional revenue driven by fan engagement. Other words that popped Hogan, MOS and Rum hut. So the course of the team has been set in the CFL version of Moneyball based on social media engagement instead of, checks notes, getting on base.

Edit, double post

Such a raise off a down year is pretty wild. His production has been going straight down the last 2 years as well. And again, Hogan plus the last year of Buck was brutal. Our ol the year before last was brutal too. Our passing game was atrocious. I don't blame Brady for the drop-off. Paying him an increase after 2 drop-off years is something that almost never happens. A good part of that is the appearance that teams will use the cap increase to fatten the biggest contracts. Part of that is desperation on our end. At the end of the day, we've overpaid a RB, one of the last positions you overpay, when he's coming off an injury and 2 down years, when he is 28 and will be 29 before the end of next year, and yeah, given a rb qb money. Part of me is happy that Brady will be here for the future. Another part of me is happy for him; he's a great person as well as a player, and all the local kid stuff. A lot of dirtbags have made bank in this league, and are currently. Brady is a great ambassador of our game, league, city/province. It would really suck to see him in another jersey. Harris was bad enough, but he was never the guy Brady is. Another part of me is saying, OK, Walters better find a way to dig our ass out of the hole this deal puts us in. I've been the biggest defender of Walters lately. He needs to have one of the best league free agency periods of his career this year. He needs to churn out another ROTY-calibre kid this year, and he needs the guys poised for progress to take the next step forward.

100% agree that deal screwed the market big time.

I would say they stand out because they're not out standinding. Koaaala, You missed rebusrankin's point entirely. All he's saying is the Als are paying top dollar for Tyson Philpott who is a receiver who never stays healthy & is on the IR list for a big chunk of games every season. Maybe he's thrown to 5 or 6 times a game on average yet he's the highest paid Canadian receiver in the CFL who has never been a thousand yard receiver. Oliveira is a stud running back with over 5000 career rushing yards who has also spent time on the IR but he has proven his worth 10 times over as he handles the ball 10-20 times a game. That's what ol' Reebus is talking about. Doesn't matter if you're talking receiver or running back. It's the overall worth of a player to his team.

The market is adjusting. You amateur GMs who think you know the way the money is doled out really know nothing. Although you think you do. I think half you guys are still living in 2019 pre pandemic. when the salary cap was at $5 million. That receivers & running backs should only be paid $100,000 a year. Defensive Ends $80-90,000 etc. We don't know what the market is for older free agents like Jefferson or Gauthier yet until they hit the street running with their agents checking out offers from other teams. We also don't know what the new salary cap will be. However, I think with the deals being handed out to Philpott, Alexander, Oliveira, Hatcher & the majority of players eligible to switch teams in February as free agents with their contracts expired, I believe we may have another off season where the cap rises significantly. Until all these things fall into place, the angst some of you show about overpaying players may be unnecessary.

Hanging onto aging vets kills our game day roster, bad contracts kill our overall roster. SMS mismanagement will kill a team faster than anything. Gauthier, Hallett, did zero damage to our roster. Do they need to be replaced? Yea probably but they were STs toiling at near league mins. The only time they impacted us negatively was when we were forced to start them. Jefferson at 200k is another huge overpay. Good teams can't overpay like this. We have a million dollars standing in two spots behind centre, that is not good SMS management.

I did not know Tyson Philpot was a RB. You are comparing apples to oranges. Might as well have said that Rourke makes 800k so BO's contract is a bargain.

Some .might say that Jake and koala are just out standing there doing nothing...

Brady and Demski are our only Canadians who are outstanding.