Colin Unger

You would think there would be some level of understand in Nichols that Collaros literally won the Grey Cup as the starting QB. Its not like Nichols didn't have opportunities in previous years. Last year it wouldn't have taken much of a game at the QB position for us to get past Calgary but we didn't get a whole lot in the West final.

So the season may very well come down to the capability of Mcguire. We needed to pick a qb and go with them. It would have been great had there been assurances that Arbuckle or MBT were going to be available but ultimate we couldn't really consider one of those options as risk of losing both Nichols and Collaros.

Its often talked about how Zach Collaros missed the majority of this season. And in reality he did. But do we really know at what point he was healthy to play? It seems like if he stayed in Toronto they wouldn't have played him at all and were just sitting on him healthy in order to avoid his cap hit. Magically right when the bombers got him he was 100% ready to go and looked totally fine out there.

Well.. Im looking at two players in the same situation. If Toronto is going to prioritize Nichols over MBT then it would make sense for both team. However, I think Toronto would be foolish to do that.

Personally I would not pay him starters money if I’m Toronto. I would sign mbt and Nichols. But with feb 2nd (tampering window) coming up pretty soon here Toronto will also have the chance to speak to Arbuckle unless Ottawa signs him. If Ottawa misses out on Arbuckle I could see them actually spending quite a bit to get Nichols.

It’s unlikely to happen. But let’s say Toronto was interested in Nichols and wanted to get that done early so they can know where they are at heading into free agency it would make a degree of sense. But yeah it won’t happen. It wasn’t intended as an overly serious comment.

Let me know when your life no longer revolves around me. Getting more than a little creepy.

Not sure how much of a difference it makes in terms of the cap. I mean. If he gets a significant injury you put him on the extended injury list and save a bunch of cap space. The key is how much of it was paid out in a bonus. Let’s say he had signed and half was playtime bonus you’d still have to budget for that playtime bonus being paid out until such time as he got injured.

Good move. Now can we trade Nichols to Toronto for MBT and get him locked up as our backup?

I’m saying we will find out what he’s made of.

Im not looking at the person when I say he seems like the type. I'm looking at the big picture. He's a guy who spent significant time in the NFL and he was good enough to be an NFL return guy before he was met with misfortune. He's currently #2 or #3 on the returner depth chart in Winnipeg. That's all i'm looking at here. He's a candidate to give up. He will have to come into camp and show some things he wasn't capable of last year in order to have a chance to crack the roster. Save for an injury Grant is the primary return guy. Am I wrong?

Love to be proven wrong but Whitehead seems like the kind of guy who might not show up for camp. Guys with that kind of NFL pedigree come to the CFL thinking they will dominate immediately. When that doesn't happen and they see a growing competition for their roster spot they have to make a decision to either fully engage in the CFL in the offseason and train harder than they've ever trained and think of new ways to make things happen in training camp. Sometimes these guys decide it's not worth it them. I hope Whitehead has the right attitude about things and has a breakout season. I'm just not holding my breath right now.

As a punt returner I would prefer Nelson to Whitehead. I feel like Nelson has shown the ability to adapt to the CFL more quickly than Whitehead and one of the big adjustments for a returner is in the fielding of punt returns. In the NFL there's rarely a tricky bounce that you have to deal with. In the NFL if anything seems dangerous whatsoever they just let it go due to the field position being less of the game. In the CFL there is a lot to gain by running in to a collection of defenders and just getting your hands on it to draw the no yards call. In any event Nelson just seemed to be further along in his understanding of the CFL game. Whitehead still has upside but he's going to have to come to camp as a CFL vet this season with a full understanding of how to take advantage of the CFL game.

Charles Nelson has legit upside even if he isn't really needed in the return game anymore. He can always fill in on returns as needed and has the potential to be a pretty good starting receiver. Bringing him back is a no-brainer especially if the XFL is having a material impact on the quality of rookies that are available to CFL teams.

No.. Im fine with Hall. I do think that most of the changes that helped the defense to thrive came while Hall was away and were implemented by Glenn Young. I'm confident that Hall can continue the momentum the defense built last year. I'm just looking at a situation where Hall may very well be looking at retiring soon so I would have preferred to go with the younger Glenn Young who I have the utmost confidence in.