wbbfan

We have the dollars, but the only deals we'd entertain are high-value low-risk ones. The upcoming NFL cuts should be pretty alluring before and after their TCs, plus it's a deep draft and we have guys who could back to us. A lot of what is left in free agency is pretty fringe guys one way or another. Likely we will see them move between the draft and pre-season.

Soo strange that they report on it now. I think news broke like a month ago? Wonder if they just do it to keep up a quota.

I suspect the Europe deal is a much better quality of life than coaching here. Most cos or better at competitive programs from hs in the us on up live pretty rough lives during the season.

https://3downnation.com/2025/03/19/six-time-grey-cup-champion-adam-rita-hired-as-berlin-thunder-offensive-coordinator/ adam Rita is going to be the oc of the Berlin thunder. Europe seems to often have really really old cfl coaches

https://3downnation.com/2025/03/19/the-top-15-players-not-attending-the-2025-cfl-combine/

Those are the smart moves. AFL is still a thing, some semi pro too. And the worst move is to continue sitting waiting for a D1 deal with a big chunk of NIL, which seems to be what he keeps doing. Semi pro and CFL would allow him to still be drafted into the NFL. Wonder what he'd say if asked about the covid money the CFL requested lol.

He played juco but ya.

https://www.si.com/college/olemiss/football/top-ranked-juco-prospect-deion-smith-denied-eligibility-won-t-play-for-ole-miss-in-2024-01j6cyzejzs6 this is the type of guy I’d like to see get a look in the cfl. Soo many kids like this that need a look that isn’t grade reliant.

The lions can sell axe the sms tax stuff

Edmonton and Calgary try to leave the cfl as soon as they hear this news lol. No doubt publicity wise it’d be a huge splash.

https://3downnation.com/2025/03/17/canadian-lb-devin-veresuk-earns-nfl-attention-with-impressive-pro-day-numbers/ Extremely impressive pro day for veresuk. “Veresuk checked in at six-foot-two, 232 pounds then recorded a 36-inch vertical, 10-foot, four-inch broad jump and burned a 4.47-second 40-yard dash — as clocked by an NFL scout — along with a 4.47-second short shuttle and 7.19-second three-cone drill. He also repped 225 pounds on the bench press 27 times.”

I'm also optimistic that we will see considerable improvements this year here even with Kolo. Healthy Bryant, Neuf, Lofton should progress and pick up where he left off at worst, and Wallace could take a big step forward other wise and Randolph should be ready to take a job at Rt or RG if needed. I think Vanterpool could be a high-level starting guard this year if required as well. If we replace Kolo one way or another, we could have an elite OL by mid-season IMO. In Wallace and Randolph in particular, I see critical intangibles that Dobson never showed here.

I'll add, I don't think Dobson would've been in the elite of the top tier at guard if he had an elite C all year. It would have brought up his lowest level of play early in the season, But since dropping weight he hasn't had the same push/leg drive/ punch move. He used to be able to knock guys silly at 350. he was allegedly down to 315-320 last year, and certainly noticeably more trim. But he doesn't seem like he just lost sloppy weight. He is notably not the same guy he used to be. We seldom saw flashes of his potential, in the way of pancakes and downfield rumbling. He did the basic job of a guard but didn't show the upside of why we drafted him. I don't know if its a SnC issue, or diet, or what. But even the nastiness was gone. And that's why I wouldn't pay him what he got or close to it. I don't want to see a high-potential guy turn into a high-floor guy. If he struggled more with consistency and flashed more upside It would have been more tempting to keep him. Plus, every one not named desjarlais has struggled inside in pass pro here. Gray got it much worse than dobson with a much better RT beside him. His footwork was fine, his angles, hip drive, etc were not what you want. He'd try to lock up and counter with pure strength but just didn't have the explosion for that to work. Pass pro was a unit problem last year. Too many weak links, too many guys out of position too many guys hurt too much kola. Run pro is what concerns me with dobson. he should've been able to get down field more against the smaller 3 techs and didn't. OL play in general last year was junk league-wide. The continual allowance of holding to such an extreme degree removed the ability for guys to separate from the bottom half of the guards in the league. We can agree to disagree though, as he's gone and neither of us are sad to see him go for that payday he got.

He wasn't regularly or routinely lined up against the league's elite DTs Ceresna had his number last year. Ceresna also had all our interior OL's numbers. And if you are only struggling against the elite DTs in the league as a first-year starter, that does NOT make you over rated lol. That makes you one step away from an elite G. You haven't watched nearly enough interior line play then, because stove, sayles, brown and a ton of other guys have been that good or better just here over the past 25 years. Fact is, the elite rushing 3Techs win the battles one on one with guards and centres in this league. Think about it, the interior OL are almost never at the level of an elite import in terms of technique or athleticism. That is part of why teams always play Canadian guards and centres, but not tackles. You can slide and double the inside guys easily. You can't do that to cover up at the edge nearly soo easily or effectively. Normally, 2 average starting Canadian interior OL will handle an elite imp 3T 95% of the time. If you try to double an end with a guard, you open a huge pass rushing lane in side, with the fastest route to the QB possible. Guards cant get help from Ts when ends speed rush either, which teams did to us a lot last year as we struggled greatly with health at tackle, and speed off the edge. This is the crux of why Ceresna whipped us soo bad last year. We had no 2nd OL capable of aiding in the double. Neuf had some kind of awful injury and played his worst ball for 3/4 of the year, and Kola is a fringe PR guy. Dobson wasn't a star early, but mid season he was firmly in the 2nd tier of guards league wide.

Gonna need a serious defense fund should the 4 stripes learn the new commish was from here.