wbbfan

ni db is a rare ratio breaker especially out side of S. But you can always get canadians at other positions. Or going down to regular roster usage. Last year was not a great ni fa period out side of our guys. That’s pretty interesting. Kinda lazy on their end imo. Hamilton is gonna end up filling the spot with a guy no one else would have doing that job otherwise.

and who knows maybe he will toss away a ton of value on a bad trade to us again

Yep. Won’t be enough for every guy to get a premium deal. Could easily be more guys looking for elite money than elite money is left to pay. could be a big levelling of the free agents playing field.

Yeah, I agree. dumb money is probably going to be the main theme of the off season. I’d rather not throw the dumb money deal at rb. We certainly need to save the money from some place and it’s hard to see improving and not using stupid money on either line. Yeah, we really need to remove some of the existing dumb money. I’ll be really interested to see what dbs get in this market. Qb, Wr and line. That’s where it’s easiest to excuse making dumb payments. Rb lber and db are the hardest. I wonder if a lot more premium free agents go to market this year now that we’ve seen some crazy spending out of the salary increase. Could be a wild year

100%. This is the best contract situation he's been in in ages, and very, very likely his last ever contract. But I don't think he will end up with a stupid deal. This whole off-season is gonna end up like the wild west anyway. Montreal is maybe the most frugal of the successful teams today, and they just spent like drunk sailors. I think every premium FA that hits the market is going to get silly money, and every team will likely have a none qb earning nonesensical money. I don't know why I ever thought teams would do anything different with the cap increase. It's the CFL, of course, they are going to spend like drunk sailors on leave. Previously, I thought Brady should be under 220k-ish. Maybe a bit of incentive money on top of that. I'm starting to think that line should be around 235-245k, maybe 250k. Still much more than I'd like to pay for an RB, even if he ends up being the best Canadian back ever (and I think he will.) But I think the market for guys like that is going to jump. If Philpot, etc, reset the market with the increased cap, someone may well offer Brady 280-320k. If he hits free agency, I don't think he will be back. Really makes me curious to what guys like demski, kramdi and allen will get.

Having just won a ring, I kind of doubt he's giving the team handouts. Idr, has he ever renegotiated to a smaller deal? I don't feel like he has, or has taken a team-friendly deal when in a good position him self. That said, I think his deal is gonna be good value no matter what. With guys setting the pace for contracts right now, and with how this off-season has already started, $550k for Harris would be tremendous for them.

I would think he’s 500-600k. 4 I think. He also lead the backs in total yards despite the dip in carries.

run pro almost always does exceed pass pro. The izr scheme we run also means if the inside is shut down he can speed cut to the tackle. His vision while running has been a major part of his growth. It allows him to press the line but still pivot on a slight hesitation or over pursuit by the edge. I didn’t see nearly as much ol effectively blocking at the second level, or the classic down field scrum with our ol driving our ball carrier further for added yardage. But guys did get the opportunity, they just struggled getting on a guy and kicking him out or mowing him down. Kola was also the guy heading down field more than the guards which creates a gap but doesn’t get you a seal at the second level. With teams shifting to line up in a 0 or 1 tech on kola that creates the situation where the guard carries the play side or head up dl and he slides off the double team down field. pass pro and ol play isn’t all time good, but with the way holding is being called, it has a massive advantage in pass pro. especially on the ends. All our ol has to play with inside leverage though to help compensate for our inability to seal the a gaps / nose lane. so our Ts give up too many rushes on looping routes to the qb with speed. Does stan still have it to play head up on a guy and win the battle around the edge? Idk, i would rather see him kick in side. Every one gets better if the hole up the middle is slammed shut though. It was painful watching him cruise for a guy and not find any one. Even more painful when the broadcasters would try to make excuses. When you’re the guy who will be doubling then heading down field, you should have an eye on the guy at the 2nd level who you want to hit the whole time. getting to the point and being all alone is such a red flag for awareness. even if a guy falls down at the second level you should be able to get the 2nd a gap defender.

Not really a natural centre, but proficient enough at C that it doesn’t matter imo. He could easily be a starter in this league sooner rather than later at either g spot or c. I’d add, no guard has looked terribly great next to kola. Eli has excelled in heavy sets on the edge including in pass pro and inside. I have no question that eli, and any ar ni C in the league would be an upgrade over kola. he’s that bad. It is very hard to properly identify how good an ol is/can be when next to a turn style. The insertion of bond at G and hardrick kicking out to rt took us from a team giving up among the most hits/pressures/sacks to the best ol in the league. Id sure like to see how wallace, neuf, eli, vibert and/or vanterpool play with out kola giving up instant disruption and pressure as fast as the qb gets the ball. I mean the Ts will play better too. Rando and vanterpool are serious contenders for all kinds of awards if c is fixed.

Really a monster final year, first year post transfer is pretty meh. The film in that article is interesting. The good, extremely successful position change, very productive final year, better runner than you’d expect, big lean interior dl, has great instincts ability to read the play and gets off the line fast, has good hands too. The bad, he wins battles from the nose with finesse not power. He often used the same rip/swim into the A gap and just walked by a c and a guard. Mostly relies on shoulder check hits not good form tackles. The ugly, the level of competition on those ols looks real bad. He doesn’t look explosive or use power much. He looks like a big hs senior playing a bad jv team. Even for a d3 conference, it looks bad. I can see the fit as a guy who rushes the passer from a 3 tech spot (he’s not a cfl nose) if his slippery play and violent hands are as effective up here.

I wonder if they are front loading parts of the contract with excess space this year. Or maybe they just intend to go over the cap again as much as they feel like.

Yeah, the staff for both. Dinwiddie will likely have play calling in ottawa as well, but both will be looking to lock up the candidates for OC into positional jobs with an extra title.

Canadians, and who our outlier contracts are. You will always have a few guys earning a premium, but you can only afford so many. Also depends on how many rookie-scale overachievers you have. I see a very good chance that we will go with no premium pay DL other than Lawson. For Canadians, Lawson at dt, 1 lber, 1 db, 2 wrs, minimum 2 on ol. If they hit the free agent market, I would prioritize a guy who is a significant positional upgrade and a ratio win, especially guys like Allen and Woodmansey.

We should have our OC in place before Ott or Tor announces theirs. If we fail that, we are in big trouble. Early January should be the goal. Talk to guys, conduct interviews, take the holidays to think about it, and make the offer right after. Then announce it by the week of the 9th.

I mean, every back we've plugged in has had success. That is the tendency with zone systems as well. If you can identify/coach backs into pressuring the gap while also doing a good job of reading the blocking, you will succeed. Remember the broncos sticking random FA FBs in at tail back and having them average 5+ yards a pop and enough yards a game to get 1200-1500 a year? The point of tangibles is worth looking at. Brady is a fantastic blocker. But he also crafted him self into that role. Harris was too, but Augustine did a massive amount of work to go from terrible to pretty good at pass blocking, and MCI has taken huge leaps and bounds blocking too. Now, it is a far cry from being the lone back pass blocker in games during the regular season. But you only gain that final step by doing it. I am pretty confident that with marty, brady and the rest of the guys in the RB room that will hold over that we can coach guys up to be atleast good enough in pass blocking.

Imo, 20% chance we announce the OC before january.

I do love him in that role. I wish they’d make him a permanent fixture in the booth/panel for each game.

You’re right, dl in general but disruptive inside especially.

If you're gonna gamble on positions to overpay in the CFL, its QB, OL, and WR. I mean that was really hamiltons off season last year and while they didnt win it all it worked out very well for them.

It really is a strange usage. But usually when you have an outlier on the edge like WJ, it's generally some young guy trying to cut his teeth. No matter the level or league. So that guy would be in their prime athletically, and you'd use them in a lot of ways. For a guy like WJ to play this late into his athletic prime is extremely rare. I think his step has diminished, but he can still turn in on. I really think the majority of his dip has come because he has been getting physically battered for a long time. After all, teams can double him and have figured out that if you out-physical him, he will coast. Some guys don't relish the physical punishing side of the game. Even at DL. Even at his best, WJ has been a terrible tackler in the back field. From an offensive standpoint, I'd be happy to see any DE roaming on the edge looking for PKDs. I love DL getting organic PKDs, but their value isn't remotely comparable to a sack imo. Tips still gets caught sometimes, but he is very seldom batting balls up to get picked. A PKD on 2nd down means you're punting unless it's a very short distance to the first. But even sacks on first down that get converted bring tremendous value. When you stack up physical hits on a QB, you drastically change the game. Ages ago, Football Outsiders I believe it was, had an article on QBR after hits/sacks and hurries. As you would expect, QBs that took 5-10 QB hits/sacks/hurries in a game saw drastic dips in production. Hurries don't have as much impact, especially without the hits, but you change the game when you disrupt the QB. PKDs slow the drive but don't have that compounding.

Have to clarify, WJ didn't play a Lber hybrid or jack role. He hasn't had a straight drop back to even shallow LBer depth in many years here. (Remember when he used to do that and really disrupt passing lanes?) He's basically been spying the QB on inside pass lanes. Idk if that has ever in football been a thing out side of the last few years with WJ. He doesn't spy qb for contain, and he doesn't play both passing lanes. Like a man-to-man shot blocker in basketball. Not the weak side guy rotating over to get a block, he gets tall keeps his feet and tries to get in the way of the ball going right at him. If he could do a lot more with any kind of regularity, we would see him jumping pass lanes from the back side of pursuit on roll outs, getting to the outside shoulder of his ol and batting down backfield pass attempts from the pocket, and frankly getting off the initial block significantly more. Even when he turns it on in the games he excels in now, he is beating his blocker with moves and cuts. He isn't blowing by guys around the edge or any thing.

I would strongly consider Khari as a QB coach and a guy to help a new CO, like what Hall has done for JY. But I wouldn't go to him directly for an OC. Same role Jackson would play if we keep him imo. Best case, you get both Costanza and Bourgoin as an OC/position coach, ast oc and position coach, and then still have a guy like Jackson as qb coach, keep Marty at that point, and you have the offensive staff wrapped up. Between the two, I really like costanza as a unique football mind, not another lapo foot soldier. I think Bourgoin is better as a position coach, though, and more turnkey as an OC. I do think Bourgoin was likely much more responsible for the offensive success in BC than people would think, despite him working for Buck. As far as retreads go, I would consider Lapo in a positional support coach role to a new OC. Despite being an original member of the fire plop train, I think he would do a great job helping a guy develop and coaching a position like WR. Pair Lapo, or jackson, or khari as assistant to OC Costanza, and you are in pretty good hands. It'd really come down to who the OC prefers and what they need.

crazy money. 4 seasons, only been healthy for 1, topped out at jsut over 800 yards and 5 tds. He was very good and a great guy to have but what do you pay him if he puts up 1200-1500 and 8-10 tds the next two years? https://3downnation.com/2025/12/01/montreal-alouettes-make-pier-olivier-lestage-one-of-cfls-highest-paid-non-quarterbacks-sources/ Lestage is getting the bag, too.

He's a good coach, boy is he a reach for that HC job though. I hope we take a long hard look at bourgoin and costanza

Since 21, we've only seen rare glimmers of who he used to be. And the D in 21 was stacked. He's also going to turn 35 next year. Even if you surround him with a stellar line up, prime wj isn't coming back. Wj who excels playing a starters volume of reps isn't coming back either.