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Average league salary is pushing $130,000 with current cap number and the rookies still make under $90,000....significantly less for American rookies. These numbers aren't outlandish. Teams are ready to pay $250,000+ for decent Canadian OL and starters now. The "highest paid" whatever headlines today are kind of laughable considering 45% of the league are free agents. That's going to change by February.

Is now a bad time to mention that with my new deal, I am now among the highest paid posters on MBB?

Walters better not say he has no money to sign quality CFL free agents.

They have...by subtraction.

I don’t think this should be a surprise. If you lock up any young All star player, prior to free agency you already know they’re going to be getting compensated by choosing not to make it to free agency.

in the cfl and football in general, full on tear down rebuilds seldom work. You’ve got to identify in season some talent worth keeping and developing then add. I hope we get the add part right this off season. yep. But not with an army of fringe roster guys who don’t play, like we did last year at wr. You’re right on ksb, but i’d take that in a heartbeat as the 3rd ni wr on the roster. But upgrade over corcoran.

Cue the music from Deliverence.

don't need to pull a Reinebold. our 1996 team was clearly not good enough, but absolutely gutting the roster turned out to be ... not a great move in 1997.

Apparently Jovon Johnson hired as position coach for the Argos... From 3DN: "The Toronto Argonauts are set to hire former CFL standout Jovon Johnson as the team’s defensive backs coach, per sources. The 42-year-old has spent the last six years coaching at the high school and collegiate levels in the United States, most recently as the special teams coordinator and defensive backs coach at Gannon University."

Winnipeg Blue Bombers make Evan Holm CFL's highest-paid American DB - 3DownNation $180,000 in hard money in 2026 with up to $6k in bonuses. in 2027, he gets $185,000 in hard money with $55,000 being guaranteed.

And we haven't won a championship since. games are won on the LOS. That's something that never changes.

Clercius has been exceptional in his extremely limited role. I've got no concerns with him pencilled in as the last wr and 2nd Canadian for this year. Now we do certainly need to draft some Canadian WRs behind that, preferably guys who can outrun slow offensive linemen. I think we can address this either with quantity picks or a quality pick. We could also take some swings on guys in free agency, bumping Clercius to a rotational role. Guys like Brissett, Gittens, maybe Ungerer, or Nield. We could take a flyer on Baker for depth. He hasn't been healthy, but that means he should be dirt cheap, and as a last wr/back up thats great value. We could bring back Bolo, again a low-cost guy who could slide back and forth between the last wr and the backup. I'd love that. We could also jump into the full-on reclamation mode pile with Bruggeling. He still has a tremendous combination of size and athleticism. Didn't we just go through this discussion, too? Am I crazy? Way more guys succeed in coaching who failed at their positions than all-time greats. Jake also wasn't always some awful mess of a player. He was a very good rotational guy and fringe starter at one point. Being as effective as he was at bullrushing and playing the run, in his prime, requires a lot of technique. The problem has never been his trade craft. It's been that he is so slow for maybe 3 years now; he is lucky to get in contact with an OL on a deep pocket when pass rushing. He's not reggie white or von miller or some thing, but those guys seldom become great coaches at the position.

🕖 1900 📺 TSN3 Stats: 21-16-6 @ 15-21-5💩 Streaks: W1 @ L5💩 Last Ten: 6-4-0 @ 0-6-4💩 Oilers projected lineup Ryan Nugent-Hopkins -- Connor McDavid -- Zach Hyman Vasily Podkolzin -- Leon Draisaitl -- Kasperi Kapanen Isaac Howard -- Jack Roslovic -- Matt Savoie Mattias Janmark -- Curtis Lazar -- Trent Frederic Mattias Ekholm -- Evan Bouchard Darnell Nurse -- Spencer Stastney Riley Stillman -- Ty Emberson Calvin Pickard Connor Ingram Scratched: Andrew Mangiapane, Alec Regula Injured: Tristan Jarry (lower body), Kasperi Kapanen (knee), Jake Walman (undisclosed), Adam Henrique (undisclosed) Jets projected lineup Kyle Connor -- Mark Scheifele -- Alex Iafallo Cole Perfetti -- Jonathan Toews -- Gabriel Vilardi Morgan Barron -- Adam Lowry -- Nino Niederreiter Cole Koepke -- Danny Zhilkin -- Tanner Pearson Josh Morrissey -- Dylan DeMelo Dylan Samberg -- Neal Pionk Logan Stanley -- Luke Schenn Connor Hellebuyck Eric Comrie Scratched: Colin Miller, Gustav Nyquist, Vladislav Namestnikov Injured: Haydn Fleury (bruised back) Status report Henrique was placed on injured reserve Wednesday. The forward blocked a shot before leaving at 6:36 of the first period of a 6-2 win against the Predators on Tuesday. He is expected to return following the Olympic break. … Fleury was placed on injured reserve on Wednesday. After sliding backward and crashing into the end boards behind the Jets' net at 13:16 of the first period of a 4-3 overtime loss against the Golden Knights on Tuesday, Fleury was removed from the ice on a stretcher. Sustaining a bruised back and broken nose, Fleury was released from hospital late Tuesday night and was at the Jets practice facility on Wednesday. … Stanley returns to the lineup after serving a one-game suspension stemming from an incident in a 4-2 loss in Ottawa on Saturday. … Zhilkin was recalled from Manitoba of the American Hockey League on Wednesday, and is expected to make his NHL debut.

Read an article today he would be open to a change of scenery.

He actually got a pretty good deal offered by the Rider's...but he didnt wanna play anywhere else so hung em up...I think an Eastern team as well did but my mind is slipping on that one We bungled that bigtime and we payed and payed well for other injury issue guys, and for guys who..well just couldnt cut it....I'd take his 13..14 games over several of the pylons we dressed....and he always showed up come playoffs....in a huge way Bud Grant was a phenomenal player by the way....go revisit history not just soft...pointless and pre-determined with who is playing...so almost useless he's a eye test star...Looks the part...but isnt what you think Horrible route runner...questionable hands....injury issues...Looks like Tarzan but plays like Jane If he gets over 145k per...thats a gift and he should be thankful Ajou was eye test only, as in looked the part....even had horrible measurables too for a guy of his build...he's a worse version of KSB....But both have the same ability in being douchewhistles on the field tho

ahhh....gotcha....but none the less a players career and his talent level has really no bearing on anything....as well as if never played...Some giys are just made to be able to coach, get points and strategy accross, and to actually demonstrate....and most hone that craft over yrs...and it's a rarity to just plop a gy into the pro coaching ranks with zero experience...and or zero idea if they can do the job....other than we really liked hi as a player...he so smart..etc...etc I would want the best players and coaches available on my team, not some gifted placement....

First of all Riderfans wouldn't know what tampering means and second of all if you're not related to any of them biologically you're safe in what they would want to do with you.

related: I'm committed to exploring the open market but there is no truth to the reports that Riderfans has been tampering with me.

I mean, I am only surprised we didn't lock him in before the year-end and use up cap space from last year. It's a wild time. I think teams are going to over spend projections before free agency starts, making it more affordable and competitive. It's crazy how we went from a team that didn't pay DBs, to having one of the most expensive secondaries in the league. (We were pretty high on that list last year too) QFT

A coach needs to be a good communicator, know how to get the best from his players, and get 100% buy in. What you did on the field is irrelevant. There are very few guys who come in that require extensive coaching in technique. If you got a guy on your team that lacking in technique it's because he's a beast, so you let him be a beast. Guys lacking in tech are shown the door fast unless they are a Stove type of player.

Yeah, I think they still are but bringing in more Americans is lowering the pay scale. These guys had it so easy money wise for thirty years. All becauase coaches didn't want Americans playing on the OL. They wanted them at skill positions. However, it took years to build an All canadian OL. The Bombers never could do it under Osh though they came close. Things started turning around for the line in 2014/5 when they signed that huge American Guard who was 300 lbs plus. Yeah, talking to former players would certainly be sour grapes.

Agreed. they do that with kids today. The practices are soft. Kids go thud in practice learning to tackle which is unrealistic. Which may be safer at practice but games are full speed. I see 11 & 12 year olds all the way to high school age kids getting injured because suddenly they're going full speed when they never did in practice. Injuries happen. The games now are tougherthan practice. I've talked to guys I used to coach with telling me that today some kids don't quit after practice but after a game. They're scared.

Previous camps were soft, this one was certainly more competitive. It’s also a general issue, that practices are glorified walk through. TC isn’t what it used to be, two a days with high levels of contact. But that is progress, tcs used to be horror shows. Maybe the only good thing to come from chris jones. We need more meaningful practices with pads etc. I see that complaint about having to be in camp and wearing pads every day as soft af. I hope we keep bringing the score up.

I'd take KSB in a heartbeat. Especially if the price is right. Signing here would blow Rider fans minds. It would be sweet. Just an adendum, the loss of Donte Meyers may bring KSB's value up unless the Riders target another team's free agent receiver.

he got tons of talent, but he didn’t push any one to a higher level then when they came in. We just had great talent on the dl at that point. 100-135k ish is pretty cheap for a starting ni wr who isn’t the wide side guy who blocks as many plays as he runs. But since his break out year, he’s played just 28 games in 3 years. He hasn’t come close to the same level of production since then, and never broken 1k yards never had 70 or more catches and only 5 tds once. He’s a perfect candidate for an incentive laden deal with a low base structure.

Oh hell yeah....If we draft good...recruit and use FA effectively Corcorran shouldnt make it outta camp

these all sounds like positives, lol

Maybe a new tablet for the bench? Sorry I'm being much too harsh, he did just recently score his first goal in his last 7,789 games played. 🙂

That looks like a pretty solid move.

To me the issue is once again we are spending all this money to retain players on a team that wasnt good enough last year We need to improve our core

If anyone wants the full report (at least what was released): https://cflpa.com/club-reportcards-2025

Interesting comments about tc given the opinions of some here that our camp is too soft.

So...yes?

It was Darryl Patterson who did a very good job when Osh & Walters gave him decent players to coach. Our DL in 2021 & 22 was excellent. .

Whether or not Willie takes a big pay cut likely depends on what other options he has.

Maybe this is the beginning of the end, i.e., we're all in on getting Gavin McKenna.

I'm thinking that given another shot and what he's learned as a coach he would be a more improved coach. Continous improvement kind of thing.

Dave Dickenson, Mike Oshea.... but yeah being a good player isn't a prerequisite for being a good coach.

Oshea was pretty good.

lol. Name one. Honestly. One. Just one cuz I can name 50 who weren’t. including some of the greatest coaches of all time like bud grant John madden and some dude named Vince Lombardi who played never played pro football. I mean really. Buck. Dinwiddie. Steinhauer millanovich macoica. I mean 90 percent of the coaches In both pro football leagues were just average to below average players or not at all even. Andy Reid sure was a hell of a player eh, I mean really.

First question, that's why I think we are in this situation where he hasn't resigned. I think he will need to go to free agency to see, teams are willing to overspend on ends coming off career years, not ones off multi-year career slumps. Now, he and his family are deeply entrenched in Winnipeg. I don't think they want to leave. The initial knee-jerk reaction of "I'm not taking a pay cut!" gives way to the reality that his career is soon to end, and his family is cemented in this area. He likely has some cushy post-playing gigs lined up here, leaving now to chase some cash could really cost him in his post-playing life.\ We did the exact same thing to Jeffcoat. He thought he would get much better offers and didn't, despite coming off a strong year; his limited games scared teams off. He chose to retire rather than play for cheap. We also played hardball with key DL free agents like Sayles, Nevis, Stove, Kongbo, etc. I would take any of those guys and Jeffcoat at the point we let them go, over WJ today. I'd pay more for those other guys than WJ, and WJ earned more than any of those guys would get. For the 2nd, I can't say for sure, as much as I would love to know the answer to that. Previous to this year, the thought of us walking from Jake and Kola was a pipe dream. The DL is on a rebuild, we need to bring in an outside FA, and we have some hungry young talents. Also, when our D was at its best, WJ was on limited reps. 19/21, we rotated the DL more than anyone does currently. We carried essentially 2 full DLs, and they all played meaningful snaps. And that is how the rest of the league runs their DL now. We built the paradigm, then lost the keys. Really, we lost the bodies, and our staff decided it's better to carry 7ol and a FB for short yardage sets that we never struggled with, rather than carry a full DL and rotate those guys in to take meaningful snaps.

Flat out, does anybody here seriously think that WJ is going to take a cut from $200,000 to say $120,000-$140,000? Secondly does anybody see the club actually limiting him to 50% of the snaps if here?

Sure, but that wasn't the argument being made. Tracker said they were good at their positions. Danny M never even played pro.

Dinwiddie is well known for being an elite CFL quarterback of course. And lets not forget the incredible play of Danny Maciocia, who's play undoubtably propelled him to his first CFL HC gig. I won't even begin to mention Scott Milanovichs fantastic career as an NFL QB where he completed 66.6 percent of his passes for a total of 9 yards.

He might want to tell them his slump schedule.

Yeah, you're right. Thomas isn't going to be a make-or-break for us at Dl coach. Howard was very solid here, though he had spectacular results a bunch of other places. Young too. But in general, we have really struggled to take talented kids and turn them into highly effective DL. And this is over a long period of time with many coaches. We've never gotten back close to having what Richard Harris brought. Jake won't be any significant down grade over the past couple years.

And how JY chooses to implement them. Jake is going to be an X's and O's guy, explaining the CFL game to players who maybe don't know much about it. Apparently Jake is one of the smartest guys when it comes to the film room, so I'm actually intrigued to see what he can do in that regard. Let's be honest, the Americans, they don't need someone to teach them the basics of playing DL... They probably learned more in NCAA than they would here... But what they could use, is a guy who knows the intricacies of CFL football and can explain what they're seeing on tape... Which I'm sure looks way different with an extra man and motion in the backfield and all that. It's a basic position coach gig... Way too much stress being used on this.

Actual photo of 17to85, Coorsman and I with another one of our buddies at Tav U.....