Colin Unger

https://3downnation.com/2024/02/22/antonio-simmons-looking-to-make-cfl-comeback-after-mental-health-break/ bombers apparently expressed interest in him. Potential defensive end replacement at a discount.

They did make a coaching change on special teams. Hopefully there will be an impact from that. The lack of depth last year stems largely from probably the weakest recruitment class we've had under this regime. I'm hopeful things will be back to normal in that regard this year with half as many jobs available in the USFL/XFL.

I imagine we’ll get back into the habit of drafting an offensive lineman early who can at the very least provide instant depth and then draft another developmental guy later on in the draft who will go back to school. We’ve discovered quite a few starting calibre lineman outside of the first round. Wouldn’t be surprised if we drafted an offensive lineman, wr, and linebacker with our three picks in the first two rounds. It’s crazy to think that we could have 10 Canadian starters if Ford ends up starting at corner.

https://3downnation.com/2023/07/20/winnipeg-blue-bombers-flex-late-on-winless-edmonton-elks-12-other-thoughts/ I was able to find verification of it. It wasn’t reflected in the bombers depth charts. Scroll down to the segment called hog shuffle.

I remember during the season they gave Dobson a start for Gray for one game. I think he made a couple of mental mistakes early in the game and was pretty solid as the game went on.

Without seeing salary demands it’s hard to comment. Also perhaps Gray after being here this long was told he would have to compete for a starting job here and decided to move on based on that alone. All other things being equal Gray might have made more sense then kola.

I would count him. He was released because they had cheaper alternatives. Most of whom are not as good as a healthy Rhymes.

Lawson/Thomas/Bennett and Haba who looked decent as a pass rusher. My point though is the Defense hasn’t really lost a lot of key talent from last season and last year they ranked 1st against the run and 1st against the pass. Montreal’s d was the only one that really gave them a run for their money statistically. They need to improve their pass rush this offseason. They’ll probably sign a free agent or two. But the real talent that this team keeps acquiring is through its American scouting. You have to be able to rely on that or else you end up overpaying for high priced free agents. Everyone keeps talking about how bad Bighill looked last season. You guys should have told opposing offensive coordinators because they sure didn’t take advantage of it in any meaningful enough way. Whether it’s elite coaching or elite talent it doesn’t matter to me how they keep getting it done. And I fully expect that to continue.

When it comes to me you just make these weak little one liners without any substance. Like the time you came after me for suggesting there "might" be a role for the global kickers the teams drafted last year.

Typically the improvements come from the recruiting department. A lot of the top players on this team are guys we've recruited and often they had instant impact. When you're a top team you will never improve on paper before factoring in your American recruits and your Canadian draft class. The game is all about minimize the drain in free agency and then recruiting as well as you can. I don't see a large set of needs especially in a year where so much new American talent was made available with half of the USFL/XFL folding.

Do you care to expand on the skeleton of what it used to be comment? The way i see it our secondary is "essentially" unchanged. Winnipeg didn't seriously go after Houston because besides costing us the Grey Cup he isn't anything special. He lead the team in interceptions because he was the most targeted defensive back on the team. As it stands right now we have a differences makers re-signed in the secondary and will need to find one corner and a couple backups. We've never really had trouble finding DB's. There's a reason why the top corner's in this league are making chicken scratch compared to other positions but the two halfbacks (Nichols and Holm) we have coming back are special players in this league. Linebacking core is unchanged. Healthy Wilson could make an impact. Defensive line is the only area really deserving comment. It looks like Jeffcoat's time was up in the CFL. Its easy to argue that the entire league viewed his performance last year as essentially replacement level based on the lack of offers. That leaves us with losing Ricky Walker.... This is what makes the bombers D a skeleton? Ricky Walker? I mean he was decent for us but by no means was he at the level we had been accustomed to in years past. With the alternative leagues down south cutting half of the jobs this offseason and reducing salaries on the rest of them I think Winnipeg can easily find a DT and a Corner. Keeeeeeeep dreaming!

Speaking of top DB's today is the day that the NFL option window closes. I guess Holm is officially coming back?

There is already an article on 3rddownnation about this. Its 100% financial. He threatened to retired if he didn't get a raise. The team was willing to negotiate with him but they never ended up agreeing to terms so her retired. I'm not convinced this isn't a negotiating ploy. Have to wait and see if one side caves. Im going to assume that the bombers won't cake in this situation. He would still need to come to camp and earn a starting job vs competition. And the competition is going to be playing more likely for league minimum. There's a lot of tackles with at least one year of pro experience who just came available when the XFL/USFL merged.

Don’t want to be that guy but do we have a kicker?

I wouldn’t see a reason for Richmond to get much above the minimum. I would think he won’t be gautenteed the job but he will have a leg up. There will be competition I would think.