Colin Unger

How good is the global DE we acquired in the Global draft? He should help us with the issue we had last year of almost literally running out of defensive lineman as a global roster spot is basically additive to the Canadians and Americans. This is likely why they made the trade. With the new Canadian linebacker talent we have we are probably in a position to carry fewer American DI's at linebacker and more on the defensive line now which really mitigates some of the concerns i had last year. I think we'll be able to dress 4 import defensive lineman, 3 Canadians, and 1 global week in week out this season.

I think Streveler might be in trouble. At his size Elgersma can fill the role of short yardage QB for this season and that gives us a significant cap savings vs one of our american vets. So Streveler is going to have to demonstrate he's the best option at QB1 if Zach goes down. Personally, I think Patterson is a better passer than Streveler. And then there's the injury history of Streveler. If he get injured again then it's basically just Zach and the canadian kid and whatever is available on the free agent market at the time. I imagine they might consider healthy scratching Elgersma this season unless needed or sending him back to college for more seasoning after getting a training camp under his belt. But, i just don't think they drafted him not to have him on the roster this season. Thoughts?

First, Rod Black's son is a major league now this??

Just my perspective but we could be transitioning to being a team that generally starts 3 american offensive lineman. The amount of money canadian offensive lineman are getting paid it outrageous in free agency. Desjarlais and Dobson come to mind. And Canadian offensive linemen tend do prefer to return home and play in Ontario. Perhaps we're better off starting a stud American guard for sub 100k and draft more canadians with starting ability elsewhere. Also this seemed like a weak draft for OL.

Its a missed opportunity for some fan engagement. Perhaps all the teams that didn't go over the cap should go into a draw for this selection.

Looks like Gaulden is there to potentially provide another American option for safety. I think there will be some change in how the ratio is used but that will be determined in training camp with plenty of options and flexibility.

Did something happen with McEwen. Calgary didn't even offer him close to 150k? He was a perennial all-star until recently and is only 31.

I view him as a guy being brought in to create depth. When he and Dolegala get cut we have a couple guys who won’t find work elsewhere who know our system if we face and injury later on in the season.

We should really assume a minimum salary for the practice roster players and calculate the average salary of a rostered player.

So this team is paying 500k or so for 2 Canadian starters on defense? What a dumpster fire.

Like ive been saying. You guys took my extremely casual comment way too seriously.

There's also Samson who was one of our 2nd round picks last season. I would think that we will add a bunch of rookie imports before camp. Plenty of time for that.

Similar level of experience and stats the year before we signed them. But mainly the Montreal connection. We fleeced them once we can do it again.

What's the relevance. Since that time we've been fairly consistent in finding receivers. Bailey, Schoen, Lawler, Wilson. Wheatfall has potential as well.

The last time we signed a free-agent receiver with a similar profile to White Jr it worked out pretty well. In fact White Jr. was more productive in Montreal than Terrance Edwards was when we signed him. All some guys need sometimes in the CFL is to take the experience they already have and get a fresh opportunity and role.

I'd love to know what type of insanity we are dealing with? DM me if it isn't suitable for public consumption.

I'm by no means the eternal optimist i used to be. However, the team does look alright compared to last year's team that was headed into camp. The bigger issue is that it seems like other teams in our division are clearly better than they were heading into camp last year. Arguably every one of them seems more imposing on paper. I'm using a bit of a cheat code in that I'm coming into this basically saying that Schoen and Lawson are new additions because they hardly played last season. Defensive line is in a much better position. Vaughters and Lawson being added and our American defensive tackles having a year under their belts and ditto for a couple of our young Canadian DT's. We are just looking for rotationary pieces from rookies this season rather than key cogs. Secondary is probably in a pretty similar position. We didn't know Ford could play last camp and we were looking for a strongside corner as well. We have a bunch of Canadians battling for the safety spot, Parker as a dime, and we are gong to have to find a fieldside corner. Linebackers. Clearly superior. Do i need to do a writeup? Ayers NFL deadline passed, Biggie replaced already. Ect. Overall on defensive we are in a better position right now than we were last season at this time. If our defense is at the same level as last season we'll be highly competitive with an average offence. Receiving core of Mitchell, Schoen, Demski, Clercius, White Jr, and Sterns/Wheatfall as other options. Vs Unproven rookie, Unproven rookie, Wolitarsky, Lawler, And Demski. Upgrade at returner and runningback with the addition of Lopan. Offensive line. Strikingly similar to last season. Tackles the same one a year old the other a year better. Nuefeld and Kowalchuck the same. Wallace vs Dobsen last year I call a saw off. Tui and a new draft pick incoming for depth. Randolph also an option to start. Starting a Canadian safety allows us to make a ratio change if need be. Wilson as a 2nd year pivot, Streveler with more experience, additions of Dolagala and Patterson make the QB position better. Overall the team is in a much better position and won't have to start a bunch of rookies this year. We can get them ready to contribute and give them chances later in the season.

He doesn't call it like he sees it. He very clearly looks for negativity and always has. Not to see that there isn't genuine negativity to be had right now. But he keeps beating the dead horse on how the bombers should have spent the new cap when basically all teams are in a holding pattern with it. With what?

Curious what is the concept behind Oshea being the reason for free agent losses?

The way i view it Chris Streveler was given a chance to showcase a skillset that he was born with at the CFL level. He's never demonstrated that he's developed into an adequate passer at the CFL level. At the time he signed in the NFL a few NFL teams were enamored by what the Saints were doing with a chance of pace QB and saw some footage of what Steveler could do with his legs. Somehow Streveler was able to squeeze enough juice out of that situation to earn himself an NFL pension and good for him. I'm happy he was able to do that. By no means is he some kind of testament to our QB developmental skills. When he comes an adequate passer at the CFL level I will change my tune on him in terms of being impressed by our QB development skills.

I think they got more out of a first and second year QB in Dukes than i've seen us do. I'm taking more of a longer term view. In the past 15 years is there a team that has developed more QB's than Toronto? Our one example is with Brown. Even the current regime has struggled with any other qb than Brown that it has tried to develop from rookie.

"IF you aren't going to put arbuckle in in a situation like that, why have him on your roster?" Same way I feel about Dolegala (over Wilson) in the Grey Cup. I still believe firmly we should have been the team to trade for Maier. He's was the most reasonable option to take over for Zach next season if Zach retires.

Toronto's offensive coaching and QB development is so much better than ours that I have to agree with this. If they've chosen Arbuckle twice over Dukes—especially since Arbuckle is older and has no upside—then something must be off with Dukes. If they couldn’t get more out of him, why do we think we could?

Strategy might be to have Patterson and Dolegala learn the system through camp. Then we cut them both and there are a couple options out there who are a phone call away when Streveler gets hurt again. based on what I see of Streveler on IG I can’t imagine he won’t be healthy for training camp.

Some of it is probably just training camp fodder. Do you see Josh Johnson having a role on that team?