SpeedFlex27

Why wouldn't Rourke show well? His receivers will all be from the CFL, I'd think. Or American collegiate or U Sports.

We have needs on the OL & DL. Why would we draft 2 defensive backs??

As far as quarterbacking talent goes, I have a bit of experience there being the father of a D2 qb at SFU before the purge 4 years ago where the university deep sixed football as a sport. I firmly believe that there are some kids born to play the position. You either have it or you don't. The kids that don't, struggle. Some work hard & make the rise to the top. But it's not easy when someone doesn't have a strong arm. Offenses have to be adjusted. shorter routes, more timing routes, spreading the ball around & not pressing the ball downfield. Then outof nowhere some guy shows up who can throw the ball 60 yards with ease & the kid who worked hard to be a starter with a so so or average arm is benched. I've seen it many times. My son Tyler at age 10 could throw a football 35 yards with no effort. Anything he picked that was throwable he did. He was a pitcher & outfielder in baseball. At 12, he could drill the ball across the plate with accuracy & strike out his opponents. He was one of those kids who magically was born with a super strong arm who figured out how to use it.. Throwing just came naturally. He could out skip me throwing stones on water when he was a kid & I was in my early 40's. Then the intangibles took over for Tyler as he went up thru the ranks playing football at all levels here in Calgary, Winnipeg, California & Burnaby. As he got older & physically stronger, Tyler played with confidence & became a leader. His teammates believed in him when he was on the field. Knowing my son the way I do just seeing the transformation from this happy go lucky guy away from football to a qb who hated losing was amazing. His leadership was his play on the field. His time with the Winnipeg Rifles hit a dead end. He was sharing starting qb duties with another player & both hated it. Tyler had a stronger arm but the other qb also had intangibles that made him successful. Their different styles of play complimented one another. Tyler went in to talk to his head coach at the end of his second season in Winnipeg. The coach indicated that changes would be coming at the qb position next season. As in, they'd pick one guy & stick with him. Tyler being from Calgary got the sense that they'd choose the other qb as he played all of his football in Winnipeg. he also had the advanyage of being coached by some of the guys on the Rifles staff. The other qb would be favoured over him. So, he informed the HC he wasn't coming back. The Head Coach said, "Fine. Good luck to you." So, it turned out he was right after all. Tyler spoke to his qb coach & mentor in Portland, Oregon, Greg Barton as it looked like his football career was over. Barton was a former qb with the Argos who had a lot of connections all down the West Coast. Greg made a phone call to a JUCO in California called The College Of The Siskiyous. The HC called Tyler & invited him down to see the campus. He went down & agreed to play for them. He redshirted his first year but started in his second season & he led the Eagles to a California JUCO Championship in 2012. From there, he was offered a walk on opportunity with the University of Oregon by Chip Kelly. Tyler showed me the letter from OSU. I tried calling Kelly but his ******* secretary refused to put me through to him so we never connected & Tyler never went. He was also being recruited by Texas Tech. The QB Coach came to an Eagles practice to talk to him but that was the last time any coaches from TT spoke with him. Just ghosted him suddenly so they obviously changed their minds. The University of Akron told him he was their guy & wanted him to play in the MAC Conference but... then the entire coaching staff was fired. So, that fell through. The University of California at Pennylvania, then called Cal Penn & now Pennwest also recruited him. Tyler went down for a visit & loved it. At the time, Cal Penn was the top D2 school in the US with a number of players in the past who went on to play in both the CFL & NFL. The coaches wanted him & they offered him an athletic scholarship. He accepted but the coach had to clear one thing first before it became an official written offer. The $40,000 International fee we'd have to pay that was not included in the scholarship offer. The HC said he spoke to the Chancellor of Cal Pen earlier who had agreed to waive the fee. However, when he went to verify that to make sure, he found out the Chancellor changed his mind & said we'd have to pay. My wife & I didn't have a spare $40,000 US lying around so that all fell through. That was so disappointing. I remember Tyler being crushed. What might have been... The only program left that recruited Tyler was Simon Fraser. They knew they were way down the list so they never thought they had any chance of getting Tyler to play at SFU. So, they brought in a qb from the transfer portal who played at Arizona State & NDSU. SFU was his third school in 3 years. When I called HC Dave Johnson checking to see if SFU was still interested, he nearly fell off his chair exclaiming, "I never thought we'd get him!!" However, they already offered a full ride scholarship to the transfer qb & could only offer a half scholarship which Tyler accepted. However, SFU sweetened the deal & by the time he graduated he only had to pay 25% of his tuition & was able to get a student loan. I think they even helped him out with dorm fees as well. He & the kid from Arizona shared qb duties & they battled it out every week for 2 years. A torn hamstring while training in the off season really set Tyler back. He played with the injury his senior year & it really set him back. His senior year was hard dealing with that injury & not being able to run anymore or evading the rush. When he'd go in, he'd get sacked so his playing time was drastically reduced. After he graduated from SFU, he knew his playing days were over. Tyler went into coaching which is what he still does in Seattle today. That's my son's story. His strong arm & athleticism carried him to places where other kids wouldn't have been able to go. You either have it or you don't.

Very interesting. My first impression is I hope the stadium doesn't get choked out by retail & residential development so close to PAS. It's obvious that you can kiss any outdoor concwrts goodbye as the new residents next door will kick up a fuss if promoters want to bring an act to Winnipeg. They're doing the same in Ottawa & the residential development is so close to the stadium it's a stone's throw away. That & the fact they're building a 6,000 seat arena in one of the end zone means the RedBNlackd stadium will have a hard time if they ever want to increse seating capacity. Here in calgary, the U of C owns all the land that Mcmahon Stadium is on & also want to do something similar. I've seen renderings of the development around it. Pleanty of condo towers & shopping. No room for parking when attending Stamps games. Buildings literally just feet away from the stadium. Little or no money to renovate McMahon Stadium. It looks awful for football fans. You can tell the low priority the Stampeders have with the politicians, university & developers. https://engage.calgary.ca/foothills-mcmahon

As I live in Calgary & not Winnipeg, I'm not up to date on any development around the stadium. I know that the gof course has set empty for 13 years & is being overrum by overgrowth. The last Bomber game I attended was the Banjo Bowl in 2024 & the area around the stadium hadn't changed. So, pardon me if I am a little bit behind on things. Can you post any details on what's being developed & going in around the stadium?

It makes too much sense so the CFL won't do it. They won't even get rid of the coaching/admin cap.

It's just too bad there isn't an entertainment district close to PAS. It's a long drive or bus ride to any decent restaurants or pubs northbound on Pembina Highway. There was just about everything close to Canad Inns Stadium. It wasn't perfect as there weren't a lot of bars around but fans did have some restaurant choices nearby. As well as shopping at Polo Park.

These are your Winnipeg Jets. When you tell your fans that our team is built through good drafting & trades but not free agency. Then, go out & have shitty drafts & make poor trades all the while saying top free agents won't sign here except fourth line players & D Men. I'd sure like to see what another GM could do replacing Chevy after 15 years & building a different culture. It's time for him to go but it will never happen until he says so. Chevy #jobforlife.

The 2 stalls are for a car or truck pulling a bbq/smoker.

Legalized tailgating. And a governmebnt cash grab. How to take the fun away from a football game.

Combination of things, I believe. Until the spring leagues & smaller NFL rosters & practice squads thereshould have been more qbs developed by CFL teams. they had the market on qbs if they were cut as they had nowhere else to go. So, more effort should have been made like it was in Edmonton & Calgary to find & develop talented young qbs. Too many CFL teams, the Bombers included felt they didn't have to spend the resources necessary as they could just dip into free agency & sign Kent Austin, matt Dunigan or Tom burgess as our next sarting qb. They felt that they didn't need to have one or two young guys ready to go. In today's CFL, there's less talent available. The best qbs that could become available are already signed by the NFL. If they aren't already on regular rosters they're on the practice squad. Others are playing in the UFL like our boy Taylor Elgersma. So, I'll admit that it's much harder in 2026 to develop legit qb talent in the CFL than say in 1996. When you look back coming up to three seasons ago, developing & letting Dru Brown go was a huge mistake. There's been no one since he left for the Bombers who even came close to him talent wise. I'm not Brown's biggest fan. I think he's too passive as a leader & perhaps isn't as tough as he needs to be. I think other qbs like Chris Streveler may have played thru some of his injuries that he's had. Still, it would have been nice for him to start here.

Braylon Addison had over 800 yards receiving. Same with Rhymes up at around 900 yards himself. Which meant both players were positive contributors to their offensive teams. However for some reason, CFL teams just didn't want to pony up for older veterans. Even if they can still play. They still were decent players. I think their numbers show that they may still be playing if they hadn't signed 1 year deals. I believe we'd have been pretty excited had Rhymes signed here for 2026. At least, I would have been. He'd have made a big target for Zach. he'd have helped us for sure. Instead, he was forced to retire.

Why is it we can't develop any young qbs? Or why should we care? Please clarify, thanks.

Teams that had success developing their own qbs? Edmonton developed Warren Moon in the late 70's. Then came a string of outstanding Eskimo qbs in the 80's starting with Matt Dunigan, Damon Allen & Tracy Ham. Calgary was known as a qb factory back in the 90's with Jeff Garcia, Dave Dickenson & Henry Burris all rookies who developed into starters. Then in the 2010's with Bo Levi Mitchell. They also developed Jake Maier who has had mixed success as a starter. In the 2000's, the BC Lions developed Casey Printers, Buck Pierce & Travis Lulay. In the early to mid 2010's the Argos found success with Zach Collaros, Trevor Harris & Cody Fajardo. Vernon Adams came into the CFL in 2016 with Montreal but moved around a lot. He played for the Riders in 2017. Then came back to the Als in 2018 where he played until the end of the 2022 season. Then two more seasons in BC during 2023 & 2024 before signing with the Stamps in 2025. I have no idea who really developed him. It seemed it was a joint CFL effort for him.