wbbfan

A million times this. He didn't really come to fruition but Cody speller too. Also Travis bond. The way the mafia toiled away taking the OL from bad, to good, to great, and then from 3 imp to 2 imp, and built a sustained level of depth. That's the back bone of this Dynasty. A lot of other great teams have fallen to ruin with far less loss on the OL. Then they've also done the exact same thing in the defensive backfield. From bad, to anchored by guys like Mo and Randle to replacing 2 vets with 2 rookies last year and still having the best performing secondary of the era. And in general with the draft the mafia have done a tremendous job of weighing the risk of guys with NFL interest or who are returning to school with the probability that they end up back here. We've taken a LOT of future picks, but lost out on very little. I can't think of one dead pick that never came up actually. Guys like rene, borsa, dobson, Legs, Kongbo, and Gray either go back to college or have NFL interest but the bombers seem to estimate that risk and win the gamble nearly every time. But while also taking those up side future guys they manage to refill the depth with guys like the Hallets, exume, eli, corney, couture, loffler, gauthier, cadwaller and more. And yet still have upside assets left in guys like kramdi and Orange. The cfl draft is still as much a crap shoot as ever and you get Faiths, griffiths, etc, but despite frequently having the fewest and latest picks in the draft the Mafia continue to crank out tremendous draft classes. And we see off cuts like simonise, petey etc filling out spots around the league.

Yeah it's a great read. What I find interesting is he looks much more svelte then he was at texas state. When he went viral for his athleticism at maine he was 344lbs. Dunking, diving one handed catches, a ridiculously fast shuttle time etc. When he went to Texas he lost 14 lbs and was playing at 330. He is now listed as 314. If he has dropped 20-30 lbs from his maine weight, his mobility is going to be un real. I mean he was already a generational big athlete at 340 for the US. For a Canadian in the CFL at 325-320 or under its going to be crazy.

A small one yes. In recent years the league has not done a good job of reigning in unfair edges like this.

Doesn’t throw with the high velocity in short to mid range, lots of years in college not great production, and didn’t play against great competition. With out a singular amazing tool it’s hard to get that interest. For the nfl he’s a high floor low ceiling guy. Though I think his balanced skill set athleticism and high football iq make up for not being a 5 star recruit with offers from all the big schools. I think strevy got the same level of interest.

A lot to like about the guy. He throws 50 yard moon shots to his wr over the shoulder hitting them in stride. Great down field arm strength touch and accuracy. But when he's throwing short to intermediate he isn't trying to murder his wrs. The ability to take some velocity off his passes in that range is a big indicator of high level touch, and football IQ. He hits some crazy tight window passes in all ranges. And he does it both in the pocket and on the run. He puts the balls into good positions for his wrs to catch 50/50 balls more than 50% of the time, but also hit them in stride. For a dual threat qb, the ability to throw on the run, run the option, and keep the pass option open as long as possible when scrambling by keeping their eyes down field is huge. You don't often see a guy who is a real running threat, who can throw on the run, and doesn't turn off the passers brain when scrambling. Very much a streveler clone in how tough he runs, and the top speed. When at stride he looks like a wr running not a qb. And he doesn't have a glaring weakness. Quick release and strong arm, great touch and accuracy great head on his shoulders.

I suspect that its because the riders are set up to play the last pre season game of the year, where as the first game of week 2 in the preseason is our last game. I don't agree with it, giving un fair edges to teams is bad for every one. Like us not playing ott at all last year. But I don't expect much better.

I think they will do that until either the wheels fall off one or Bryant gets bored of being the best ol in cfl history. the right vs left side pass rush isn’t nearly the big difference it used to be. Especially in the cfl with out a te and with qbs in the pistol or shot gun for 85 or 90 % of snaps. He is a bit of an odd duck. Struggled at guard but excelled at rt. We also have a couple really good imp tackles right now. I imagine they will try to keep one or two on the pr but that only lasts soo long.

Not in polish certainly but Dobson is far better suited and built for inside play and gray for out side. I wouldn’t be surprised to see goal line package at the start of the year feature dobson at grays guard spot as gray moves outside of yoshi to the 6th ol spot.

I know it does but people who sub for stuff like that and stay subbed are few and far between. that league has existed in Canada for basketball soccer and baseball since the 90s and some are just the worst quality. It exists in stock car racing and more too with out the top down sponsorship. The idea of a catch net recirculating talent is not aimed at just one type of drop out. Some times flunk outs and guys who didn’t even get a chance to flunk out to from bagging groceries to nfl mvps or driving delivery trucks to grey cup mops. Walby was a failed dl and Cameron a failed qb. Talent and athleticism is far better now especially at the bottom end.

Like I said speed does not a cover corner make.

If disney + will have live games it could be good. Though I don't see a ton of over lap between people who get disney plus and the core demographic who will buy gear and go to games. If its games after they've been played I think it'll be dead in the water. The market for full length games after they've been played is about as good as day old egg salad that hasn't been in the fridge. I'm not saying for fans. It would be like what the NFL E ended up. Purely a cost for the league to recirculate and develop canadian talent. While also possibly allowing pro coaches and scouts to work with grass roots level team runners and coaches to develop them. You'd be surprised just how much pro coaches actually talk to grass roots guys and aid in development. Coaches clinics are a huge industry for pro coaches, and provide a tremendous resource for pro coaches to find new guys to get info from and eventually bring into low level roles across franchises.

https://3downnation.com/2022/05/20/riders-roster-cutdown-deadline-set-three-days-later-than-any-other-team-following-cfl-schedule-change/ Riders get a later cut down date than any one. I would rather see every one get a pushed back cut down day out side of alberta. But honestly we don't hesitate to make cuts just announce them. And the riders will just hide 100 guys on the IR and suspended list any way.

Then how far off is oconner behind him though? I think they only have 3 qbs under contract right now and from what I heard teams are going back to a 3 qb roster. Of all the questionable positions teams have league wide, bc's qb spot is the biggest question mark. And thats the last position you want a ?

I couldn't be bothered to again necro the post about the XFL and if it's folded yet again, but with a bit of news coming out thought a new thread might be good. The XFL version 3.0 has signed a TV deal with disney/espn/abc. On the surface this seems like a huge win for them. But in further examination, It seems as though no money is going to the XFL for tv rights yet again. It seems like another in exchange for infrastructure and vested interest in the league. Oh, but it gets worse still. Every thing I've seen so far seems to say that the XFL v 3.0 will have most of their games played on the online platforms. With a few games possibly being aired on abc or the ocho. I know money isnt a concern for the owners of the XFL, but this model has failed all the fledgling leagues that have attempted it before. Its basically no risk high reward for the rights holders. Meanwhile the USFL TV ratings have been in pretty steady decline. They managed 2 decent ratings on 2 ideal team match ups but even at that the comparable games played earlier this season did much better on TV. How long can the USFL last with no sustained merch sales, tv income, or in stadium revenue? And will desperation possibly push them to the XFL v3.0s door for merger talks like they had with the CFL in the lost year. Right now the USFL is further a head in development than the XFL 3.0 despite the brain trust, money and recent history of the XFL. But with their trajectory it seems like they are just closer to death than the XFL. As an aside, probably an idea that would get no fan support, but I would actually love to see a canadian spring league. Some thing to act as a catch net for NI players who run out of CFL chances, or guys who don't get looks for various reasons. Maybe even like an arizona fall league set up with current league developmental guys and back ups playing a few games in the off season. I've always wished the league would get into running canadian based Free agent try out camps to drum up some extra prospects like in the us. Play in University towns, host games on line at TSN.ca and cfl.ca, involve league scouts and coaches, help drive the grass roots of football.

100%. Though Idk how well he would survive behind their ol, that would be a huge get for them.

Some guys are just dominant in practice and camp but can't find it at game speed. Doesn't help that the guy hasn't had a decent OL since he left cal. I'd take him in a heart beat in wpg on a decent price. Teams right now are enamored with raw, high up side dual threat qbs. We can't get the 3-4 year starters at spread offenses with 12k+ career passing yards any more. Those teams are pipe lines for the NFL now. So the cfl has pivoted to guys who are highly touted, go to a big school but it doesn't work out and transfer to a small school and play well but don't see a ton of action, or the opposite. High potential, low actualization with hopes of developing what was missed out in college. On paper a guy like Corny has a lot of appeal. He's tall, heavy, athletic, got tremendous arm talent, and he's started some games and looked better than dreww brown on a bad team. It's easy for teams to lose sight of what a guy like Arbuckle has going for him. He's just a talented qb.

True, but it won't take much for some teams to get really desperate. Ssk, bc, ott, ham even us. One scary hit that doesn't even knock the no1 qb out could have teams squirting out a draft pick and buying a pack of depends. Personally I'm not all in on rourke in bc. Maybe he's taken a big step in the off season. He's a great talent, but I just don't see him as a guy ready to shoulder a franchise.

Very likely. But vet bias aside, Dobson will very likely pass gray as a better guard this year, maybe early this year. Having dobson be the guy to come in for the heavy package alone is going to be major. He's one of the best canadian road graders I've ever seen. He wasn't just a guy who dominated his man in college, he broke guys will to compete.

Oh no doubt he is, he is fast enough to play db in this league. The issue with him playing man to man frequently is technical. It takes an insane amount of time to develop the man cover skills needed to be able to do it every down. The WR DB man cover battle is one of the most well coached and high level battles in all of sports. That's why Tyrrell ford fell to us. He has all the athletic tools in the world, but teams were soo scared they didnt challenge him. So cfl teams were leery of his tape and lack of frequency of reps. Wilson is maybe the best poised current wil to adapt to the new rules. And with how he played in the stretch run last year it seems like it's his time to shine. But I think we will see the rotation of dbs into his spot replace the NI lbers rotating into his spot last year. And the dbs, might be NI. And thats despite the possibility that he could be playing like his hair is on fire. Also the fact we didn't bring in another true Wil/mac imp lber says volumes. Just the one teams guy that was a cfl vet. I haven't seen a mafia TC soo light on big lbers. In the CFL qbs, and NI ol have more lives than every cat on the planet. I remember brett macniel training and almost making a come back 6 years after they moved on from him. (He just couldn't get up to weight, and was never a guy willing to just be fat for the sake of a number)

I was pretty sure he'd be back, thought they might've been hard balling him but it doesn't look good for eli. Only ever an injury away from a call. I'm pretty darn high on Eli, dobson is a bit different but not any lesser a player. Eli is a natural C who mauls guys 1 on 1 at G. Dobson is natural guard with the versatility to play 4 spots on the OL, partly due to his beyond elite athleticism, but also his footwork is way beyond what you expect from a natural guard. Especially a pro rookie NI G. Dobson could start games for us this year at G. At the very least I'd pencil him in as a slam dunk for 6th ol. I think he's drastically more suited to playing G than Gray and could take his spot in camp, but the veteran favor is really hard to over come. Long term I think the future is Gray at RT, Dobson at RG and Yoshi at LT when Stanley gets tired of winning Most Outstanding Linemen. If that future also includes Desjarlais back at his guard spot and Couture at C, the OL will stay elite for years to come.

Thanks for these tweet imbedded posts all. As some one who doesn't really twit it adds a lot. Sucks about Agudosi. Hopefully its not too serious. At a point in camp like this especially with the none start I wouldn't be surprised to see lots of vet days and guys getting minor pulls. TC is tough as hell. Having a hitch in the start especially on a shortened start could make it tough. An article on 3dn last week had chris jones speculating that with the hash mark change the league could see a forced evolution of the Wil spot. As it is we don't see many 250lbs macs any more, the smaller side well rounded athlete at 220-230 has become much more popular. We've been seeing bigger sams become popular, guys who are more US safteys with cover skills and the ability to play in the box like moncrief. We might see Big ish dbs filling the wil spot. Guys like Kyrie can play HCF zone cover but not really take a wr man to man down field. If teams don't evolve on defense, offenses will use motion and rubs to create those miss matches. I could see a spot like that making opportunities for NI db tweeners. We have 8 dbs in camp over 200 lbs. A few of them like rutledge (imp, 6'1 215), Rene (ni, 6'2 206) Maston (imp, 6'0 210) Lavigne (ni, 6'0 210), Karamoko (G, 6'2 210) and the classic hallet bro, nick (5'11 202) with honorable mention to Ciguineau (ni, 6'3 196) all of whom could draw into that type of roll situationally or full time for maston. Ty ford isn't far off either at 5'11 194. Hes smaller then the rest, but a maximized athlete. 17 reps at 225 for a sub 200 lbs db is no joke.

It’s great to hear that grant is getting a serious look at wr finally. That’s really exciting. Glad to hear that Saunders is looking good too. Yeah and a tough guy mentally. Being out of football soo long then coming back to what happened last year has to be crushing. If his work shows dividend’s with the hash mark move I think he’s going to do great. this is def his last chance unless he shows great.

3DN has us as the 2nd tightest team against the cap, but it doesnt matter pre final cut down. And where as some teams have crazy stupid contracts that will leave them tight, we will cut a ton of guys and have a good bit of room to be in on the likes of dobson, desjarlais etc. I have no doubt that we could make strevvy work if hes a reasonable priced back up. Itll cost us depth and maybe a possible nfl returnee or two. But to date that's always some thing you can make work in season. And this team is very good at budgeting money on the back end and saving cash as needed. Gotta remember that by the time the CBA is signed and NFL camps are over teams could be looking at big contracts on the 6 game and less than a full season of strevy contract. Which makes fitting him much easier. The question is the price on strevy. If he's in the 100k range, I'd take him all day every day. 200k range is tougher, but I'd still take him on the lower end of that. If its 300k+, and he could possibly get that, I think that's a real hard sell. I think at that point buck and the mafia have to take a good hard look at him and consider if he's improved and if they want to deploy him in a package, and if he is ready to stay long term. I think we could see a lot of wild cards jumping in on strevy too. Tor will spend the rest of the leagues money like mad. They don't have depth and aren't sold on MBT. They have a great offensive qb coach HC running the show and some real good weapons. Ott would be a dark horse, but if last season taught plop and co any thing its that QB depth is critical. He has ties, but would be the worst fit in the league for strevy imo. Edm has been throwing every thing and the kitchen sink at qbs, and especially athletic dual threat qbs. BC, yeah yeah they are going NI. Until they aren't. They don't have the fan base for a lengthy rebuild and the new owner will want to make an impact asap. Rourke would also be a great guy to back up strevy as he has a similar package. Ham is one injury away from being a 5 win team at best. Ssk too, and the public leash on fajardo is getting shorty and shorty. I don't see cal jumping in but if blm is as done as he seems they are 1 injury away too. And maybe maier doesn't take as big a step as they need. For us prukop brings a lot of what strevy brings for dirt cheap. But our no3 + depth is awful. Brown looked like he belongs on a d3 team as the equipment manager.

Agree If only the cfl didn't **** around to start.

Did you see the week before cfl offer. 10 years no salary increase. The cfl was clearly negotiating in bad faith with bs strong arm stuff. They gave coaches guaranteed contracts and revenue sharing but expect the players to sit on a roll back and to continue losing salary at the hands of record inflation. Despite a new tsn deal in 5 years and new gambling revenue.