Colin Unger

Ottawa is a very well run organization and with good coaching. Jennings isn't that bad. I just see Toronto as a gong show at this point. Ottawa has a history now of replacing the previous QB and continuing to win. They still have a lot of talent. Good receivers and a good offensive line. If Toronto couldn't get it done with Trestman as their coach how is hiring Chamblin going to improve their offense?

I still think playoffs easier in the West for the bombers than playoffs in the east for Toronto.. Hamilton and Ottawa are locks and after that it will be a crossover again.

Sask wants Roosevelt back but i honestly think he's the kind of guy who may want to switch teams to try and re-ignite his career.

I agree. Obviously the fact that Toronto is a gong show and Franklin hasn’t performed as a starter would factor in. I imagine that Toronto is offering the most money and the only reason he’s considering it.

The best way to soften that blow is to have good replacements for them. Time will tell on how good the replacements are but I do know that a good organization will replace players as they leave and not notice much of a difference. I remember a couple years back Calgary lost a lot of offensive lineman due to injury and they were still able to keep it together pretty good. Much more difficult of a situation than losing two interior offensive linemen in the offseason. I view Winnipeg as an organization that is basically at the Stampeders level now. In the past, you lose Nichols in training camp and Durant retires right before the season it would have been a gong show. They devised a gameplan that was successful in giving the team a chance to win until Nichols got back. Winnipeg definitely needs to add at least one proven receiver. Obviously, it doesn't have to be Walker. There's also something to be said for waiting to see how much of an improvement we get from young players like Wolitarsky, Simonise, Petermann, Nelson, Washington, or Thompkins. The CFL is a different beast than other pro football leagues. You can lose an allstar like TJ Heath and find a cheap replacement in Marcus Sayles who arguably ends up being a better player.

Vaughters as well.

I think you’re basing this on an emotional reaction. Winnipeg already did throw big money at Bighill and Jefferson. Each team is working with the same cap. Edmonton signed some guys sure but they also downgraded at quarterback and receiver. BC threw around some big money but they also have a long list a veterans who were there last year and who won’t be back. They have to make decisions based on what’s realistic. Nobody besides BC was going to sign Reilly and nobody besides Calgary was going to sign Bo. That much is evident. There are still a lot of good players out there and we will see what Winnipeg ends up adding to the roster. Calgary lost more talent than Winnipeg and I don’t see them going on a bender at the Casino over it.

Holley has upside and a lot younger than Grant. All Rider receivers were affected by the qb play behind them. He’s a low risk high potential reward guy.

I’d like to see us sign one key proven receiver and then a couple of promising unproven guys like Rhymes and maybe Holley.

That one depends on what they plan to do with Canadians. He may be the odd man out if they are keeping their option open to starting a Canadian on the offensive line. Bryant younger and cheaper for the import spot.

Spooner has signed with the eskimos. He just never went from being a project to a player. Was still behind Speller and Couture by a country mile.

If you want to suggest the organization is poorly run I’m all ears for any points that stand up to logical scrutiny. It’s just that some people are never happy or just make red herring arguments like a pre-existing Grey Cup drought.

Darren Bauming was just on am1290 and shared some interesting thoughts. - bombers are talking to Derel Walker but doesn’t think they will be willing to pay 275 to a receiver. - bombers will be in on Chris Ackie but he still is checking out some nfl opportunities. He said he may be someone the bombers go hard after on day 3 or 4 of free agency. - Chung is a good Canadian guard however he and at least half of the blue bombers media didn’t have him on their all star ballot. He was voted in by voters from the east who were basically just rewarding the bombers offensive line for being great overall. He believes of the two Goosen is the bigger loss. Bombers are high on Cody Speller and Couture probably has the inside edge at center. The wildcard at this point is Geoff Gray who has great tools and some nfl experience. Bauming believes Gray factors in more as a guard than tackle in the cfl but does have the ability to play tackle. - this year’s draft is defensive line heavy. He expects the bombers to draft a defensive lineman and an offensive lineman in the first round. But that could change a if a certain stud receiver or player at another position falls to 4.

Last time I checked we lost a guard and a center and we still have the best offensive lineman in the league at left tackle. Outside of picking up Jefferson who's one of the best defensive players in the league and better than any defensive player we've lost, Winnipeg had a very Calgary Stampeder like day one of free agency. It's all about maximizing the return on what you spend. All teams in the CFL pretty much end up spending the same amount. Until recently Winnipeg didn't have enough talent to have to worry about losing anybody. Now they are at a point where they don't have to make foolish desperate moves and overpay for a guard just because they don't have a backup plan in place. I mean 250k is a lot of money to spend on a Canadian isn't at a ratio breaker position and it would cost them something somewhere else.

When you look around the league there are very few teams who won't be losing players of this caliber. What remains to be seen is how much Winnipeg adds. There are a lot of free agents still available and I'd say that BC and Edmonton have gotta be running out of cap space if they haven't already. I'm expecting at least 3 or 4 more veterans to be added to this team via free agency.

Im surprised the Riders wouldn't have gone after Lulay or Jennings instead. Lulay because he's better when he plays than Collaros and Jennings because he's still got upside and can do some things physically that would add to thier offense. Certainly the addition of William Powell will help. The riders need their D to be just as good as last year and add a strong running attack to take the pressure off Collaros. They don't strike me as a bad team at this point but I just feel like they are a big question mark especially with the loss of their head coach.

What may have made is close is that the Riders were offering more money. At the end of the day I think the Riders deserve the "take one for the team" award. They weakened Calgary by driving up the price on Bo Levi Mitchell and took away their most disrupted defensive player in Micah Johnson. I swear Calgary was the only team we really struggled to run the ball against last year and it had a lot to do with the presence of Johnson IMO. With Micah gone, Vaughters, Thurman, and Singleton I am really looking forward to seeing what Winnipeg can do against them offensively.

He would receive quite a downgrade in offensive coaching. I think he's just trying to get Calgary to pay him what he's worth. Playing a game of chicken.

Looks like Montreal was once again the only team willing to give him a contract.

Its really going to be a joke once the east coast team is in the league and has to fill out half a roster with XFL AAF leftovers.

Ticats have basically clinched a home playoff game today.

There was a tweet about an hour ago stating it was down to BC or Winnipeg. Im hoping he comes here obviously. As things stand right now he'd face a lot more double teams playing in BC. Him and a bunch of rookies on D

Not wrong.. But Winnipeg isn't too far behind. Winnipeg had one of best defenses and led the league in offensive points and offensive touchdowns.

To me Harris is not at the same level as the other two. He had probably the best offence around him in the league. Star studded receiving core and top notch receivers. Despite this he struggled mightely at times and even got yanked. What won Calgary the cup was their defense against Winnipeg and Ottawa. You still need a competent offense but i think winnipeg can have that with the qb's they have under contract if they add the right pieces around them.

In terms of passing yardage last season Reilly and Masoli were 1 and 2. Reilly missed the playoffs and Masoli was eliminated when the ticats D gave up 46 points.