wbbfan

I don't think the injuries limited his effectiveness, it's just that you can't build around a guy who misses 10 games a year. When he was on the roster, he was a menace. I hate moving on from a guy like that, but I do get it. I don't think WJ is far off in terms of contribution tbh. WJ stays healthy, but he has huge streaks of zero effect in the pass rush while being a huge liability in the run game. At least with JJ, if he was on the GDR, you knew what you were getting. With WJ, you could get the MODP (which is all too rare these days) or a guy who is only visible when he's getting his lunch eaten in the run game. The number of times teams abuse him on read plays is absurd. I love Willy, and I get why he struggles and coasts at times. He gets slapped next to fellow linemen who can't create enough pressure to squish a Kraft cheese slice. He and our D are hooked on playing his spot for PKD. But the WJ of 17-21 is not gonna come back. The best we can hope for is a stretch like the first 7 games of 23, where he had 8 sacks, 15 tackles, a couple of fumbles, and PKD. Unless he is surrounded by all-star DL and rotated heavily, I don't think he can sustain that for most of a season anymore. I will always prefer to spend the money on the line rather than WRs. Especially in the CFL, where you instantly have room and the ability to create space for guys with the waggle. I love Lawler, Schoen, Demski, etc. But give me dominant line play any day of the week, and twice on game day.

The candor that WJ talks about his failures to execute and close out plays at times is refreshing. He chalked it up to "rust", which doesn't really fit as we've seen him falter late into the year. Though he did play his best game last year in the GC. But you seldom see that kind of honesty and self-criticism from athletes, especially top stars in any league. Apparently, James Evans, the rookie punter from the global draft, was booming some punts today. Mos redirected after complimenting his leg to say both guys were struggling to get the ball to turn over in the wind and get the placement they both were looking for. But he just landed here yesterday, too.

He's a front-runner for the Tony Ortiz TC MVP trophy. Idk what was better, the claims by the fake camp reporter that he was killing it, or the fact that the media had no clue till halfway through camp, he never showed up.

Calgary picked him up late last year, where some thought we might see him get some burn at the end of the year, but not much came of it. He is about as experienced as it gets for NFL QBs making their way up here these days. He's got a tool set that should work well up here, too. He isn't young, but he is a high upside guy and should be a high floor passer. And in a league that still sees guys who can't play, cycle through jobs for years, that is a great luxury to have. In general, the CFL to NFL pipeline for QBs is pretty much dead. We are both looking at the same qualities for QBs now, but the extended camp and PR sizes just vacuum prospects up till they burn out. It's wild that the era of "spread offence isn't pro/NFL viable (Unless it's the 9ers)" led to far more QBs going from here to the NFL. Rourke has all the tools in the world and is young, but they spit him out in short order. If he weren't a CFL QB, I feel like he would've gotten a longer look. Instead of the overlap in QB tool sets deepening the developmental roots from here to the NFL, the pay gap and time range have killed the grounds. So, most teams settle for guys who transferred once or twice as high-star recruits out of high school who struggled to find sustained success in college. Or guys who played in the basement levels of the NCAA. Which has left CFL teams fighting over the long-since-expired careers of has-beens and never-will-bes. (off season mode rant, over)

Yeah, BA was a huge part of the culture and a pivotal leader on the D. I know we have JY, plus Hall as an assistant on D, but BA is a guy worth having involved any way we can get him in. Of all our defensive players from 19 to date, he's the best candidate to coach. And we had a good few guys who likely have careers in coaching if they choose. Ba is a great student of the game, a tremendous leader, and a character guy. I have to say, this is going to be an extremely hard camp to iron out the WRs in. The system change, the established top-tier secondary with an unreal depth of talent, the need to get Strevy ready for week 1, but going forward with Zach, and the turnover in WR positions from this time last year. With Schoen out and the departures, it's Demski and a bunch of new guys to us. Anyone who succeeds early may benefit from strong early chemistry, but comes crashing back to earth once things even out and Schoen is healthy. And some guys might struggle to fit in because the whole unit is trying to fit in. I'd temper expectations for the WR battle until the end of camp/start of the last preseason game. At that point, we need to have some answers figured out one way or another.

It's a long, hard change for people like that. And it almost always requires some serious bottoming out before they put in the work on themselves. I think it will be interesting, though, to see if the Argos try to keep him contained. Used to be the norm, especially down south, to pair guys like him with a few people who can corral him off the field. I think many people would be surprised at how much time Ast coaches / team vets have spent keeping a very small number of guys out of serious trouble. HS, Juco, And Ncaa, a lot of coaches (QB coaches especially) are full time kid wranglers and part time coaches.

A great interview with Brady here. Some great comments about Hogan, and getting on the same page with Bolduc. I especially like his comment about how he doesn't need to be ego lifting 600+ lbs anymore, and that at this point in his career, he is focusing on mobility and durability-type lifts. Seen so many Rbs chase strength at the cost of quickness going into the late 20s and 30s, and it seldom works out.

Now I'm almost pulling for him NOT to work out. Constantly hearing those earworms blare out mid-game after he makes a play is only excusable with a Grey Cup ring.

I love what ayers brings, he's like an elite athlete version of Hansen (and IMP) Makonzo played at a good school to in coastal Carolina, just practicing against that offence is a huge advantage. Jones was extremely high on him but those crazy TC drills beat him up pretty good, It was a camp interview on the YT page. I think it was this one below.

Yeah, I wouldn't gamble much in that position. You stand to lose a lot by rushing a guy back, but lose nearly as much waiting a couple of weeks. If he was a better man I'd wish him luck in recovery, but tbh if he never plays again I wouldn't be disappointed. I'm still not in the boat for Arbuckle, but I do think he can be a matt nichols type if needed. No chance.

Yeah, Strevs' endorsement of Gowan spoke volumes about him. The secondary is gonna be a real dog fight. We have so much quality available to us, and I don't think JY will play favorites. Bridges did improve with time last year, but he looks like a non-gambling Houston to me. Might be good, but we've got guys who might be great. Hope we don't settle in the secondary. Having guys like Shay, Smith, Makonzo, Kelly, Ayers, Even Gauthier, and probably Bailey, as our depth is wild. That is so much talent, athletics, and upside on the bench. We could run teams off the field nonstop with a unit like that. Can't wait to see these guys fly around. I'm looking to be out Wednesday and probably 1 other day this week.

I am excited to see Jonahton jones from TO. I think him a lot more than Tony. He has the same ability to gap fill, but is much more rangy. Tony was a liability in pass pro a bunch of times last year. Maybe he puts it together and improves but going into camp, I have J jones well ahead of T jones. Makonzo is a low key steal pick up too. Having a guy like him on the back end of the roster gives us a lot of versatility. He could end up saving us a DI, which would be huge. I love his physicality and fit with what we do. Smith and shay I am intrigued to see if a full camp and rookie camp ends up putting Smith ahead of Shay. Or if they flip one to S. Both guys have such a great tool set and athleticism. The tweener build is really a huge luxury in that package. Both guys could replace the tired old NI LBer pack and give us a package S or 2nd S, a pass rusher, run stopper, or mid zone wall guy. It's going to be exciting to see how both get mixed in. Rotating Lbers, might be the new rotating DL of 2019/21. Bailey could do some similar tweener stuff too, though he has such a nice, polished pass rush move set to go with excellent athleticism, he could just be a package nightmare. The Als used to do that with Menard and others. Have a guy who is just a killer edge rusher, send him in for a few plays each game but having him at 100% and going 100% for each of those snaps. I really hope we don't stick to 2-3 NI DTs and lose one of woods or adams. Woods was soo good as a nose last year, I really want to see him start this year beside lawson. Adams has such insane athleticism and versatility he can be a real game changer with some polish and cardio. If we dress Woods, adams, wj, Vaughters, lawson and bailey, we are going to have a pressure front with out blitzing like we haven't seen since peak stove.

Yeah, seems like we are committed to shedding the old guard, a few guys at a time each off-season. At this rate, it might take another 2 years to be fully over the long-in-the-tooth gang. I think the hardest spot to cut rookies is going to be the secondary. We have a ton of blue chippers and 2 openings with a vet or two going after those spots. That and Lber. JY is going to have fun at this camp. It'll be interesting to see how much the COs shape their rosters. In the draft video, both Mos and Walters talked about meeting the wants of Mike Miller for young athletic teams' guys.

Yuup. I am mainly concerned about losing a guy like ayers/Jjones for kyrie. But I'm preparing for it, I know there is gonna be at least one guy let go that would be better to keep. I hope it isn't too brutal.

Both off-season threads are rando free-for-alls. This one is more than most. That Tib and fib bust is ugly as it gets. If they say he is 50-50 for the start of the year, it is more likely he might be game-ready by week 4. And even at that, it's a crap shoot come back.

We cut two of his interviews from last year lmao. I'm not gonna waste time going into the point by point, because when most of the TC roster is just a pile of names to you, it's easy to understand why you don't care who is cut. Not everyone on the TC roster is just a name to every poster here. It's kinda strange the way they did it with him, but glad he's getting a deal. It's too bad he just missed Tom Clements as the QB coach with the Packers.

I'm 100% ready for us to have some really painful cuts. 1 of Woods/Adams, any of Person, Ayers, Jonathon Jones, Eli, Randolph, Terry Wilson, and Vanterpool, I could see being cut. Woods, Adams, Ayers, Eli, and Randolph would really hurt. I think there is even a small chance that Lawson could be cut if he isn't 100% ready to go and comes out slow in camp. The thought of cutting guys like that for Kyrie, Patterson, kola, jake, schmekel etc is just awful. But it's likely we let go of some one with lament.

https://3downnation.com/2025/05/11/leaner-wiser-gabe-wallace-wants-starting-job-really-badly-with-winnipeg-blue-bombers/ Gotta love this kid. Spent the whole off season here training and working on him self. He’s got all the tangible and intangibles to be the next desjarlais level ol.

A lot to like with him, especially his fit in our system.

Yep. The step forward for JY is going to be seeing how he can create pressure with 3-4 rushers. We don’t need that hit the qb before the intended throwing window type pressure. We just need the ability to push the pocket onto the QBs lap, and close out plays with sacks when the coverage is blanketing WRs for 4-5 seconds. Having hall who has done this masterfully in the past with rotations, multiple front looks, adjustments and varied rush lanes etc. If/when JY takes that step he’s off into the stratosphere as a coach.

Our depth is going to be soo young and athletic. We are gonna have an army of guys like Ayers to float around. Maybe bridges takes a step forward as a year two guy. We seem to always have that guy on the team for a 2nd year in the secondary that makes you go “but why?” Seldom seems to hurt us though. This off season hasn’t added or replaced stars, but boy our depth and roster flexibility are looking really good. If we can develop a guy or two into stars it’s gonna be a great year.

If Parker is back to full health and able to stay health he is a tremendous option at S. Very much like a young ba. The versatility, the physicality, the speed/athleticism. Not soo crazy on bridges. I hope to see griffins on the first team squad. gonna be a shuttle of guys at cb s and both lber spots in camp and pre season. We got more bodies than openings. Plus every year we find a stud db, and this is maybe our most impressive crop of dbs in recent memory. Tons of nfl experience, size and top tier athleticism.

Looks like the jets signed two other udfa tweener lbers and I don’t see any thing from them in news about Shay other than that he attended rookie camp. Similar with the packers camp news. So I bet Shay signs with in a week here.

From what I see he accepted mini camp with the jets, which wraps up today. The packers ended on the 3rd, the bills on the 10th. So I would expect either he gets an ota/tc deal or he probably signs with us this week. Elgersma was rumoured to be getting a full tc deal, then it was him going for a final set of interviews that could yield the deal but that hasn’t been finalized yet either. Hopefully the nfl delays won’t lead to kids like them sitting hoping for some thing that doesn’t come.

Go figure. Hope he enjoyed his fractional pay down there.