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Moving on from Kola is another good move by Walters.

Kolankowski released, Schmeckel re-signed

Brady is the most complete running back in the CFL full stop. Rushing, receiving, blocking, no one does it all as well as he does. Now that doesn't automatically make the contract he got worth it, but there's worse guys to over pay than a home grown legit MOP candidate who can do it all at the position.

https://www.bluebombers.com/2026/01/06/blue-bombers-sign-all-cfl-halfback-evan-holm-to-two-year-contract-extension

Schmek, improved before his injury, as a back-up rotational piece with Lawson, combined with his play on Jumbo packages, he is a perfect fit IMO. I could be wrong but I don't think he will be ready for the start of the season anyway...... Kola moving on and Thomos transitioning into coaching, in conjunction with signing, mostly Canadian starters thus far has been IMO a great offseason start...

I admit to hating on the Rourke hype as much as anyone. When he tore into the new commish and the dumb rule changes… I liked Rourke the player quite a bit more.

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.

I think its time to move on from Jefferson. He's going to be 35, he's had declining production the past two seasons, he takes plays off and he costs too much money. Too be honest, he seems to get a pass from many here, while other players don't.

Holm is outstanding... A worthy All Star recipient. Stoked to have him back.

I love the Kramdi hate lol Dude is a very savvy player, he’s got some ball-in-the-air issues that I have seen him improve on but overall I’m happy to have him Also, he’s nowhere near the 2nd highest paid DB in the league lol

The dumb move was to sign him to a two year extension before the season had even begun. You could see the decline coming and it got worse this season. Even if sticking with him, they could have easily got him for a lot less if they waited until the end of the season to offer an extension, especially since they refuse to renegotiate contacts. Bombers have a history of tying themselves to extensions for QBs on their way down. They would have also had the time to see if Wilson or a prospect from another team may have been an option at the end of the season and could have begun a transition if that opportunity presented itself.

600k for Zach is too much. He’s had a good career and earned his fair share. I mean you only take what is offered but I would have liked to see us have more flexible for salary at the quarterback position. We’re still paying him like he’s 2022 Zach and not 2026. Not the end of the world but I would have liked to see a deal similar to what Harris is making.

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

If we don't allow players the chance to go south as soon as they're able, they just won't come here in the first place. So we're still ******.

I don't necessarily disagree with the allocation of money argument, I just laughed that immediately after it's the re-signing post. Like the Bombers are just watching and going "**** this guy in particular "

Great move! We’ve brought back all the right guys this off season.

I'd watch a show with Matty , Walby, and 2 other drunks gabbing about the CFL. Sign me up!!!

We needed to do something with that o-line. Hopefully Tui steps up.

Except that he wasn't. Brady finished with over 100 yards more on 82 less touches. This includes rushing and rec. The only metric that has Mills being better is TDs, but that doesn't really incorporate how the Bombers operate inside the 5.

Kramdi is real nice depth... now the argument starts about how much is that depth worth and is it worth him taking as many reps as he gets... Also, in case there was ever any doubt with Thomas retiring who was going to be #1 on the Booch **** list..... Kramdi ladies and gentlemen.

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

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.

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.

Its TSN. They gave Luke Wilson a show and kept Kate. They are clearly going for a Maple ESPN vibe.

I don't know why they don't just let Castillo do it all

I remember the last time we cheaped out on a place kicker and how that ended up... Castillo is far from being an easy cost cutting player.

Neither Jake nor Kola back? Has this regime actually learned something?

That just made my day! A nice late Christmas present from Walters!

I'd love to be a fly on the wall for convos about what the team wants the OL to look like this season. Still no word on Stan and Paddy is curious just because they're usually among the first to sign back on. I'm not sure a wholesale change on the line is a good thing, so ideally you'd like to see SOME continuity but we're off to a good start....

wooooooow! kola cut at last, happy days! I’m pretty stunned. Hopefully schmekel doesn’t take jake level snaps or top 4. With out a significant step forward. We’ve thrown too much money at a couple guys, but we’ve kept the main ones we need and gotten rid of the worst of the roster. That’s a big step up. If we can get 1-2 key free agent pick ups, we will be well situated for next year. Especially need another strong draft as well.

I know it's off season but is it time for this?

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.

Personally I wouldn't be as critical hiring any existing coach but sitting through a season with an unqualified OC is currently affecting my opinion on inexperienced coaches. If Thomas had retired and coached at a lower level for a season or two before getting the position, i would have zero issues with it but I also can appreciate that a DL coach is nowhere near as impactful as an OC so it's not an apples to apples comparison.

The Stamps in one day lost DL Jaylon Hutchings, Rec Mario Alford & LB Jason Roberts to the NFL. That's brutal. I don't care what people say about how great it is for our players to make an NFL team, this just kills interest in the CFL. And really hurts a team like the Stamps struggling to find relevancy in a local market where barely anyone cares anymore. It's like the Stamps are perpetually rebuilding. NFL teams need to compensate CFL teams if they sign anyone under a valid CFL contract. This system is unfair the way it is. It could be us next time. Hate it.

I just think we need waaaay more from our Dline including our Defensive ends. Way more if we want to change the narrative to how we want to be known as a D coming into 2026.

Imagine this crew as the CFL panel. You could rotate the two drunks every week to ensure you're getting fan representation from all CFL teams. The panel would be moderated by Bob Irving and Luke Wilson to help fuel the fireworks. TSN has no idea what it's doing.

I remember when Holm was one of Booch’s original whipping boys.

Noeller and I call dibs.

I love the timing of this post after booch questions if we're moving on from him.

Bo Levi has the gift of the gab and comes across very well on the tube....He'll be a good one....As far as Matty being let go...there were whispers about his imbibing ...Now I don't know if that was factual or just an excuse to dump him....Dunnigan had his share of noggin knockers in his time and maybe it was starting to tell in his speech...can't say for sure, but after listening to Kate over the past while, she is starting to make me year for the days of Matty....At any rate IF it wasn't his choice to move on, I think that was pretty piss poor treatment of one of the stars of this league....That still sticks in my craw

With Kolankowski gone and Thomas sorta gone, O'Shea will be dangerously low on pets, so Kramdi is golden.

Liegghio was lucky that kick was blocked in the 2022 Grey Cup because he missed it anyway. It saved him the embarrassment of having to explain that he choked once more under pressure. Castillo has been money for us since & now some fans think he's just some kind of overpriced kicker that should be replaced by some random rookie player. From a place like Italy or Japan because he costs too much. The guy has kicked 3 field goals of 60 yards or more.

To me, releasing Kola is a pretty obvious sign to the pending free agents that we are going to either a) put work in to pay one of them to play center or b) all of a sudden decide Tui can do the job and it’s not B

Happy he's gone, but its pretty sad that it took this long for the team to finally move on from a guy that even the most casual fan could see was garbage for years now.

And his mom probably bakes pie. Pie.

It doesn't fit the narrative that Mills is the best back in the league. I won't bring up the fact that BO had a better YPC average either, cause he won't care about that stat.

still....people here say playoffs is a success...so if a success....does that not mean a "crap" team as per OP? Just going off narrative here that peole claimed we were sucessfull last several yrs due to the playoff thing...when people were discussing ridding ourselves of Osh dont think he will be heathy and ready to start the yr....Hopefully we learned from the Schoen fiasco of rushing a guy back...especially an interior lineman who will be in constant threat of getting his knee crashed down on in the melee that is line play yeah....if/when healthy he will be a key piece for rotation and jumbo packages both sides of the ball.....shedding Kolo and Thomas also frees up close to 300k used elsewhere...I know Kolo made 150k lastt yr...I sure thomas wasnt below 120k

Offseason or not that gif is always relevant around here.

Alford's red-zone pick saves Falcons' 19-17 win over Saints, giving NFC South title to Panthers https://thescore.com/nfl/news/3445882