M.Silverback

some thoughts, with the usual caveats about limited reps, one day, etc
Penner from the Rifles fits in during skelly, rec drills, etc. the problem today was they did a tonne of sts blocking drills and he’s younger and smaller than everybody else and got bullied. He had one rep against Banks that was hard to watch.
Speaking of Banks, he looked great blocking but just ok as a receiver.
Both American rbs looked good. Both had some nice runs, and Arnold took a swing pass for 30ish yards in full scrimmage.
Payton Thorne looked really bad. Held onto the ball for a long time and threw a few picks in skelly.
Perkins turned the wrong way for a handoff twice on three plays. I can’t say for sure it was his fault, but the coach spoke to him after each one and the following play he’d turn the other way. I wasn’t very impressed by him either.
Poncius and especially Elsbury looked really good on the ol. Elsbury won every rep I saw. Only time I saw Poncius get beat was when he picked up the wrong guy in 2 v2s.
On the dl I didn’t see Dixon win a single rep. I thought KMB looked great. He’s small, but always gave the ol trouble.
Saw two Dante Daniels reps blocking. He got run over by KMB on one, then buried Aaron Smith on the next one.
No 1v1s today for recs, so that sucked. Singer ran a nice corner/post route in skelly, but the qb (Thorne iirc) threw it late and it got knocked out of his hands. Otherwise didn’t really notice any recs standout.

That's a lot of what we do as well to get guys prepped for pro days....a lot of it too is just mechanics and learning how body should move....but he doesnt need to be super fast at that size if used correct
And yeah a fade into the corner...vs what is a lot of times a db who is sub 5'10...you gonna win that matchup 9 times outta ten. You would think too a quick hitter across the middle with his size, and what looks to be pretty athletic, that 5 to 7 yards will be easily gained as you would think he not going down easily and definitely not on first contact...just catch it...head north and drive for yards

I’m at camp today. First observation is DeShaan Dixon has the shortest shorts I’ve ever seen on a football player.

Another great piece from Tait, on Dante Daniels. Hard not to root for a guy like this & it sounds like he'll bring some of the attitude we've been missing.
“My coach always says, ‘You’re one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met, but you’re a dickhead on the field,”” Daniels laughed. “On the field, I’m a completely different person."
1st & 10 | Dante Daniels' long road to Winnipeg - Winnipeg Blue Bombers

best players are always that way.
His coordination, balance, agility, and body control are fantastic for a guy soo big and who has mainly been a blocker. Strong natural hands as well, without bad catching habits.
I think Zach is gonna love this kid as a pressure release target. If he drops 10-15 lbs, gets a tad faster, and learns to waggle some, he is going to be a deadly multi-use guy. I can see a whole lot of mike sellers in him.

Talent isn't the primary limiting factor. It's everything that comes after talent that brings success; that's what is lacking. Wilson has plenty of talent. Chase did. Grainger had crazy talent. We get raw talent QBs these days. It takes a lot to polish them if they don't wash out. And a whole lot of them do wash out.
This isn't a bombers thing either; this is a league and football-wide issue. Half the starting QBs in the league are closer to pension than to college. More than half, frankly, suck at being a starting QB.
The NFL is struggling for QBs, and they've opened wide the maw to vacuum up and hold as many guys as possible. The PR expansions and increases in pay mean we don't get a polished guy with talent anymore. The NIL money makes that problem even worse. Plus, the NFL has diversified in offensive systems along with the college game. No more do we see guys completely ignored because of the offence they ran. Why come up here and, at best, get to play behind a shaky OL (League and sport-wide OLs are struggling as well) and risk a poor quality of life for less money than you make as QB2 at a good program? You always have live and breathe football guys, but the modern generations of football players have far more diverse interests. It's no longer a prerequisite to love football more than a good quality of life.
Also, the modern transfer window has hurt a lot of kids' development. Instead of toughing it out and earning a spot after 2 years, they transfer or drop down to juco to try and get a better starting job. The transfer window is fair for the kids, but it isn't an aid in developing QBs. It helps many positions, but not QB imo.
Look at Elgersma, a relative unknown to most us scouts until he went pro (compared to us prospects that the scouts have watched since middle school), and he's still getting enough interest to linger on the periphery of the NFL. If he were a Texas/Florida/SoCal, etc. kid who had performed well in junior and high school, we'd never see him.

We saw a few years ago Edmonton, Toronto, and Montreal dipped their toes into massive QB pools for camp. Talking 10-ish QBs or more. It failed miserably. What kids with talent need to develop is time and a lot of effort. They also need to have great intangibles, like Dru Browns mental toughness, in order to survive and embrace the grind to step up to qbing at the pro level. It's easily the hardest job in sports.

A lot can, and has been said (by myself and others) about the negatives of our scouting and roster management/development strategy. If we see a red flag in the work ethic, ability to uptake the game, passion, or mental toughness of a QB, he is gone.

It takes time for most QBs to catch onto our game. You won't succeed with a numbers game. Reps are crucial to learn our game. The problem is that nearly all the QBs brought in league wide have the physical tools to succeed. It really is a matter of picking up our game, intangibles, and the individual QBs drive to succeed in our league. None of that is readily apparent after throwing a few footballs in practice. Some guys (Dominique Davis for eg) look absolutely dynamite in practice but can't get it to translate when the lights are on. Other guys look like hot garbage in practice but are able to to turn that light switch on in games. It is extremely hard to determine what guy will do what. Not to mention, as Brendan Taman used to say, for every guy you get to sign a contract up here there are 9 others that have turned you down.
CFL scouts for the most part just pick the guys with the toolbox, and that seem the most enthusiastic to come up here and play.

I get that the list of American college QB's, and some NFL QB's, that came to the CFL and failed is long. However, there are so many QB's that play at the D1 and D2 level in the US that will never play in the NFL, I'm a bit baffled as to why it's been so difficult for the Bombers to find anyone talented. Yes, many don't want to play in Canada. Yes, there is an adjustment to the CFL game. But how about just bring in more? Really work on bringing some neg listers, early NFL cuts, ones who didn't get drafted. Instead of 3 in camp, bring in 8. Yes ... they won't get enough reps ... but your chances of one having CFL talent at least increase if you bring in some more. Or, just keep doing the same thing we've been doing, get the same results.

If we start the season with a qb2 that the head coach and oc have no faith/confidence to have him run the offence if ZC can’t, big fail.

I know a lot of fans are saying that we shouldn't consider MBT...I have qualms about it BUT he seems to be one of the only options we have, to bring in as a back-up in case Zack can't go...IF he can park his 'weird takes' at the door and keep them to himself, he would/could be one of our options...He has a lot of CFL experience and can still sling the rock effectively...With our revamped receiving corps he could be very effective...When we have painted ourselves into a corner like we have in the qb dept. I would say our avenues have become very narrow...

We have 9 teams in this league. QB development is league wide. Maybe one or two legit QBs a year comes thru our entire league loop just because of the small size of our roster availability league wide and the scarcity of legit QBs. We can sit here and bemoan the lack of QB development but hell look around the NFL even, how many teams are developing their own other than teams that were lucky enough to draft franchise guys. Even then. This notion that we must develop our own QB is not the best strategy. Of course, we should try, but really in this league there is absolutely no shame in just signing the most ready guy that hits FA when the time comes. There are only a couple teams in our entire league who are riding QBs they brought in and developed.

Phillip Rivers is probably in the discussion for top 15 QB all time in the NFL and he's familiar with the Colts system,  so it somewhat made sense to sign him.    The NFL will cycle through the same 4th stringers who have a tiny bit of game experience over giving any new guy a decent shot.   With every year a new batch of QB's coming in ,  it will be near impossible for Elgersma to get any sort of chance to stick with a club.  The NFL is a weird league in that way.  

RB....DE....db....LB....easiest positions to fill in the CFL and continually reload at....and shouldnt eat up big gobs of cap space.....we spend excessively in all 4 spots...and for most part for aged out guys...or Canadians cause they require a premium....theron lies a lot of our crunch for cash issues loading up on difference maker players, where...well they would make a huge difference
It also effects the quality of your depth....just because you have guys behind others...doesnt mean it's "depth"....cause look how reluctant Osh has been to ise his depth...he would rather play injured and subpar guys who are his fav's

I'm a broken record about this but RB's are about 7th to 9th in terms of average salary paid by position in the NFL due to availability of replacement level talent and overall impact. Why are we going against a trend run by much smarter and wealthier football organizations? Don't tell me it's because he's Canadian. Yes Canadians get a premium in terms of salary, but a smart team should still be paying that premium at the impact positions based on the bigger, smarter NFL - Dline; WR's; all star OL; QB's if you have a unicorn Canadian star (hopefully we might). This was a decision to appease the fans who value the local community impact over good cap management. 

I'm a broken record about this but RB's are about 7th to 9th in terms of average salary paid by position in the NFL due to availability of replacement level talent and overall impact. Why are we going against a trend run by much smarter and wealthier football organizations? Don't tell me it's because he's Canadian. Yes Canadians get a premium in terms of salary, but a smart team should still be paying that premium at the impact positions based on the bigger, smarter NFL - Dline; WR's; all star OL; QB's if you have a unicorn Canadian star (hopefully we might). This was a decision to appease the fans who value the local community impact over good cap management. 

I'm a broken record about this but RB's are about 7th to 9th in terms of average salary paid by position in the NFL due to availability of replacement level talent and overall impact. Why are we going against a trend run by much smarter and wealthier football organizations? Don't tell me it's because he's Canadian. Yes Canadians get a premium in terms of salary, but a smart team should still be paying that premium at the impact positions based on the bigger, smarter NFL - Dline; WR's; all star OL; QB's if you have a unicorn Canadian star (hopefully we might). This was a decision to appease the fans who value the local community impact over good cap management. 

I'm a broken record about this but RB's are about 7th to 9th in terms of average salary paid by position in the NFL due to availability of replacement level talent and overall impact. Why are we going against a trend run by much smarter and wealthier football organizations? Don't tell me it's because he's Canadian. Yes Canadians get a premium in terms of salary, but a smart team should still be paying that premium at the impact positions based on the bigger, smarter NFL - Dline; WR's; all star OL; QB's if you have a unicorn Canadian star (hopefully we might). This was a decision to appease the fans who value the local community impact over good cap management. 

Any other RB's getting 290K? Nope, not even close. 
Any other receivers getting 270K? Yup.

I'd have been happy to find out. No CFL RB is worth the money we're paying Brady especially after overpaying Collaros.

Is it just me or does it seem counterintuitive to pay up for the "ratio breakers" with the way O'Shea uses his roster? 
 
Don't get me wrong, I know the CFL is all about how good your Canadian talent is, but part of me thinks there's no point paying 250k+ for a star Canadian RB/DB/WR/whatever because we aren't maximizing our roster with the ratio to play the most American talent anyways.
With the way MOS just plays 8-9+ marginal Canadian starters and rotates in 3-4 more, we'd almost be better off with 10-12 good but not great Canadians and save our money overpaying for the Canadian starter at a non-traditional position.  I wish we would utilize the fact that we have the luxury of a Canadian RB by using the extra American on the DL or OL, but instead most games we just trot out 7+ more Canadians at the regular spots too...  

That's been the complaint about Osh for years. He trots out extra Canadians at positions where we have better American players. It goes on every year & then he scratches his head wondering why it didn't work in big games that we needed to win. he has never maximized our roater properly. We really don't know how good we can be. 

Ouch....pass.....Unless bonus laden or marketing not against the cap
Having almost 1 million tied into ZC and who knows what we are gonna get....and in BO who last 2 yrs has been a bit of an injury concern...as he been playing not 100 percent alot....thats almost crippling...Especially of ZC is just continuing on the blah trajectory and BO is battling injuries again
You can get a FA back for half that at most...or a entry level guy at a quarter of the cost and get just as good production,

Walter's has brought in guys....and who knows what the guys we cut in camp who showed really well would have done if we didnt do the usual and gift spots to dead weight coach's favs
The key thing this yr is Osh needs to smarten up and roster...and THEN play his best talent...and use his ratio to best compliment the team and talent here...not his lame carved in stone this is where we play Canadians regardless if they not the best.......basically his whole time here
Aslo...maybe shelf his vision of playing excessive Canadians just cause he has a Maple Leaf flag up his keister, when it doesnt benefit us...just soothes his ego...agenda...whatever the heck it is, but it's utterly pointless
 

thing is tho...can he take that beating all yr....hasnt been able to do so last few yrs....And my opinion is he isnt a RB with a style to sustain a long career playing how he has to to be effective....and he is by no means a explosive back who can bust a TD from anywhere on the field and can morph his game
Love him...but soon to be 29...battering ram style runner...injuries starting to become an issue....To me doesn't seem like the smartest move...hometown hero and all

I really like Brady but him at $250,000 to $275,000 versus paying Mills, Butler or Bell $150,000 to $160,000, I think I'd go for the later option.