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How about this, we know in 24 we used the 30 front more than anyone in recent history. North of 60% useage as our base. In 24, our DTs played almost 900 fewer snaps than our Ends. Last year, this gap was 370. Our 30 front usage last year was easily under 15%, with the 4-2 back to being our base.

sorta like our QB who os paid a bloated and unnecessary salary when he is played with talent he plays well....he needs that...as do many players Once Stove....Nevis...Jeffcoat...Sayles left and were never replaced...and we didnt have rotational guys like Kongbo and Hansen....well the high end WJ kinda morphed into what we see, and some of it was forced on him WJ even in his best...was the best when rotated and put in situational situations to do his things he does best...why we went away with that is beyond me....but do it again....vast difference And how many plays was he out there with one of Schmeck of Korn on the nose with JT on the other end??...1 time was too many but it was a lot....and wtf is the thiking with that scheme?....So easy to scheme him out of anything Basically any play with Thomas on the nose had WJ and or Vaufgters having to deal with 2...3 guys plus any help by skilled position blockers Teams would let JT engage with one guy and happily let him do his "bullrush" knowing he couldnt disengage or if he got real close to the QB not be able to finish....That or they would just wash him left....or right.....to clear a path....or simply spin him around so his back was to play and again....render that spot useless for us No player really could find a lot of success with that interior help And then we would also us Scmeck or Korn on that role....and have 2 of the 3 on field in same set....totally crippling us.... I agree....not as he was for sure....but also can be real usefull and that on the coaches as to actually implementing it....and not handcuffing the dline with a collection of guys who basically were worst in league and likely hard pressed to make a roster anywhere else...but got elite player reps

100%. The fact is, he doesn't play smart/disciplined. And he doesn't play relentlessly. On top of that, he's lost a step, and the league knows how to block him. You don't see anyone else play for pass knockdowns on the edge. Either in the cfl, nfl or ncaa. If it were an effective means of disruption, it would be happening elsewhere. Especially in the ncaa/nfl where they have far better athletic/size outliers. We gotta hope for the best and prepare for the worst. I'm not sure the team or WJ are really prepared to do what needs to be done in any circumstance. The contract size will speak volumes to that though.

We will agree to disagree

Wj and vaughters were 4th and 6th in the league in pass rush attempts last year. We basically need to cut WJ's snaps in half, and more so on running downs vs running teams. Then we need to replace Vaughters with someone who can play the same volume of snaps at a higher level. Meanwhile, we also need a starting 3-tech. If we are lucky, we will get one of those 2 as a rookie, but almost certainly not the full-time end. So we'd need to sign 2 of the top 5-ish DL FAs, maybe less than that now. And sign another guy to compete with a rookie we would hope wins. If we don't spend a lot, and extremely well, and hit a ROTY type on the dl, the dl will be more of the same. Bringing back WJ isn't awful if he's cheap. if hes back for that big payday again, we are basically screwed short of winning the lotto.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/583371/study-casts-doubt-on-potential-for-life-on-jupiter-s-moon-europa

Rotating Willie is key....Let's face it, biggest part of his game is knock downs...Can he/us live on that?? He's getting long in the tooth, and if he doesn't pick up all aspects of his game, the money we just doled out is questionable for sure...

F1? 😂

Sometimes i feel it’s excuse after excuse for WJ’s decrease in productivity. The system, being double teamed, the DC etc etc. Simplify his role, his responsibilities rotate him in as a rushing DE on pass plays and see what happens. I’m hoping for the best obviously.

If they rotate him, it might be OK but right now he's overrated and living on past glory.

He isnt. And its not the system. But we better hope he still can be good.

You are disclosing your age. These days its Sydney Sweeny who is hot.

I love Tait, but that article is insanely disjointed from reality. WJ hasn't been that guy since JJ last played here. If you include his sacks, he made 1 stop per game last year. This includes not recording a stat for 4 weeks in a row and 6 weeks in total. Despite that, he still didn't put up more than 2 tackles in a game. In the last 3 seasons, he has 4 games with 3 tackles or more, and 17 games without a stat recorded. It's not just that he disappears in the run game; he is actively attacked and exploited by other teams in read option plays. He isn't a force, and hasn't been for a long time. Sacks are down, yes, but everything is in the toilet for wj outside of pkds. His "Highly Decorated" achievements are all from years ago. He hasn't been close to that level of play or accomplishment since then. He isn't that leader. That was always the other guys. Look at the continual errors and poor discipline on the DL. It's not just that he isn't correcting it in others; he is a big part of that issue himself. The entertainer? It's just clowning around when you continually underachieve as a team, unit, and player. We didn't use the 30 front remotely as much as we used it in 24. And front alignment is separate from pressure. The most disruptive teams in football use fronts interchangeably. They break the play down by front alignment, pressure package, and cover package. And teams don't sit there and double wj a lot any more. They don't have to. He is going to coast and play for the PKD. PKDs, are the only consistent direct value he brings to the field. He does it at the expense of not just his pressure but the entire line's ability to disrupt. When you line up in a 40, and 1 guy is going to play rover looking for knockdowns, you aren't going to get pressure. Nichols was 2nd in the league in PKDs, with 13. While still doing his primary job of covering as well as anyone in the league, and playing a gap in the run fits. Our Defence saw 574 passing attempts. 357 of those were completed. That means 217 plays where the pass was not completed; of those 217 plays, WJ had 16 knockdowns. That means 7% of our pass incompletion success came from WJ. Tait mentions Betts in and the drop in sack production. Lets compare impact but instead, lets compare with Hicks. And lets say Hicks only won 10% snaps than WJ, lets ignore sacks, and count PKDs but only WJs. WJ had more snaps than hicks, so lets also give him that and reduce hicks effectiveness by going by WJs 529 passing snaps. If WJ won 10% of his snaps, that would be 52 disruptions, plus 16 PKDs, for 68. If Hicks won 20%, thats 104 disruptions. But then, if we go back to reality, Hicks had 28 tackles with 12 sacks in 465 passing plays. On a 20% win rate he is having a significant impact on 93 plays. Vs 15 tackles and 3 sacks in 529 passing plays. In reality, with PKDs we are lucky if WJ impact 10% total of all passing plays against us last year. Significantly more snaps, significantly less total impact. 30 alignment doesn't mean we only rushed 3. Jones and Kyrie tied WJ for sacks, plus another lber and db with a sack.

i agree 100 percent and I agree here too...lets see what 2026 is scheme and personnel wise before we judge....He is far from finished and was a victim of scheme and guys he played with. In his prime he was never a run stopping specialist and had his moments of WTF....But it was more than balanced out from the other stuff he did, and attention he took to allow others to eat. If used in a role like he was in 2019 to 2023 but in a bit more limited amount of reps...I'm all for it as he does bring lot yup....and yu can bet he wants to erase that bad taste of 2025 outta his mouth and show he still has game....and in all honesty, he's not a fool and likely knew he wouldnt get a big bag of money elsewhere in FA anyway

Good, I'm glad he is back and I hope we use him better

YEAH from what I knew was basically just an announcement tobe made...but the basis was done

Willie J is still a very good DE. The system takes him out of a traditional DE role.

This is going to be a thoroughly unpopular take here, but I think that Elgersma may even be lucky to be a CFL starter and that may never happen. I want to sign him, but for the life of me I don't think anyone should be thinking he's a shoe in for anything. He will need a ton of development. When I used to coach I went to several coaching clinics down in Texas and California. I got to see the QB factories up close. The kids at these "factories" begin development at age 8. By the time they are in high school they are technically better than any QB in the CIS. They get top notch development by ex pro coaches and players and even their schooling is formatted around their QB development. It's a different world of football in the US compared to Canada. Not comparable in any way. That was just one of many 'QB factories" around the USA

And how much of it is marketing money. Willie does a ton off the field for the club so if they want to load guys like him up with non-cap money, I'm good with that.

The second the CFL starts marketing what coaches/players in the NFL are saying about the CFL is the second the NFL sends out a memo to all teams to tell all personnel to shut up about the CFL while throwing out a press release saying that the CFL is not comparable. The NFL has spent billions and billions of dollars on maintaining their elite and untouchable status. They aren't going to let another league suggest that they are even close in level of play. even if it is the truth. I have zero issues with any person pursuing their dream even if it is a pipe dream. At the end of the day you don't want to be 50 years old wondering if you could have made it. He will be here eventually.

I need to see numbers before I pass judgment.

I was hoping we'd move on from WIlly J.

I'm not so optimistic. Love the energy he brings, how he markets the team and the City of Winnipeg and agree with the experts he's better suited for a rotational role as a true DE rushing four (please for the love of gawd get away from this three man rush while the opposing QB picks us apart) but knowing MOS's philosophy on certain players (e.g., JT) to going out on their own terms I hope it's another year of watching him drop back while watching the play go by him or playing bump belly with a couple of olineman because we rush three or watching him freelance around doing absoutely nothing all while being masked by a few knowckdowns. Oh on an unrelated note, didn't sleep well last night, mood is a bit off.

well now I've heard everything

What kind of article were you expecting from Tait? He’s a team employee.