Mike

You're right, the best way to market the team to the public is just to send out a mass e-mail about the hiring of a new coach. Maybe they can just include it as a hidden message in the wanted ads next week.

Just noticed we eclipsed 100,000 posts as a community. Not bad in about 18 months. Thanks again to everyone who makes this community as awesome as it is.

Just out of curiosity ... why would an announcement affect any of that? He's allowed to start working before they make his hiring public.

What does it even matter when they bother to announce it? Because the more it delays the more it looks that it's not a done deal. It's not a Jets gameday today, so what's the excuse now? Maybe the media is busy covering the Jets from last night still, given that it was kind of a historic evening with Perreault and Maurice. Maybe Kyle Walters is busy on the phone with Johnny Sears or Ian Wild. Maybe Richie Hall has the runs. Maybe something else. Again, it doesn't really matter. They'll announce it at a time that works for everyone.

What does it even matter when they bother to announce it?

Drew Willy will be number one. End of story. The real battle will be between Marve and Brohm for second string.

Just so everyone can stop speculating ... Hall to Winnipeg is a done deal, it's just a matter of announcing it. I thought today would be the day, but it was pointed out to me that today is a Jets gameday so I would imagine tomorrow.

Ugh.

Personally, I'm with gbill's list. Groulx, Waud or Durant would be good with me. Pre-combine of course. Mateas isn't going to the CFL Combine. Interesting move. Going to showcase at the UConn Pro Day instead.

That was ... Quick

EPIC

coming from the Oregon Ducks fan To be fair, they have a million different combinations but none of them make them look like futuristic astronauts. They're all pretty simple and at least based on their team colors.

Weren't all those guys pending FAs in a couple months though? He released Marcus Ball last offseason when Ball had a year left on his deal, I think. If so, that's actually a perfect example of what I'm talking about. If that wasn't the case, for the sake of this discussion, let's just pretend it was. You shouldn't have to rip up a guy's contract to allow him to pursue the NFL.

I thought the Bombers retained his rights because of his CIS eligibility last year.It's not automatic, player still has to clear waivers and be placed on team's negotiation list as far as I know. The waiver process is more of a formality though. The player usually wants to go back to school in these cases. The CFL really should get together and adjust this and the idea of allowing teams to own player rights when they go to the NFL. Allow teams to protect their assets. So you're saying David Foucault, who the Als drafted, is a free agent now? Pretty sure that's not the case.No ... I was just mentioning it as an aside from the draft. Situations where teams could allow players to test the NFL in the offseason knowing if they left and wanted to come back to the CFL, the team that allowed them to leave would retain the rights (or even put in place some kind of restricted free agency)Still not sure I'm following. Would Ian Wild be an example of what you're getting at? Or Henoc last year? No because neither one really has a contract remaining. Hard to find a recent example because the option year clause is gone. Philip Hunt would be a recent one ... He left in an option year but would be a free agent if he ever returned to the CFL. Which I don't like because technically he had a year on his contract when he left.

I thought the Bombers retained his rights because of his CIS eligibility last year.It's not automatic, player still has to clear waivers and be placed on team's negotiation list as far as I know. The waiver process is more of a formality though. The player usually wants to go back to school in these cases. The CFL really should get together and adjust this and the idea of allowing teams to own player rights when they go to the NFL. Allow teams to protect their assets. So you're saying David Foucault, who the Als drafted, is a free agent now? Pretty sure that's not the case. No ... I was just mentioning it as an aside from the draft. Situations where teams could allow players to test the NFL in the offseason knowing if they left and wanted to come back to the CFL, the team that allowed them to leave would retain the rights (or even put in place some kind of restricted free agency)

Hate all this futuristic bullshit. Get back to this era of all star jerseys.

I thought the Bombers retained his rights because of his CIS eligibility last year. It's not automatic, player still has to clear waivers and be placed on team's negotiation list as far as I know. The waiver process is more of a formality though. The player usually wants to go back to school in these cases. The CFL really should get together and adjust this and the idea of allowing teams to own player rights when they go to the NFL. Allow teams to protect their assets.

He can be placed on the team's negotiation list.

Nope. Wrote to him via Twitter to ask if I could post his work here.

Free agency may dictate things although I could see Danny Groulx being our guy. I also don't see it being Sukh Chungh

http://bluebombertalk.blogspot.ca/2015/01/early-thoughts-on-2015-cfl-draft.html?m=1 Some good in depth thoughts ... Will post opinion later. Feel free to share a comment on his blog or give him a follow on Twitter @BomberJetsTalk

Not nearly as good as he is at safety. Brack & Weldon Brown are both really good players, but we don't have a huge need for either one of them. Hurl at a decent salary would be a nice pick up as well. You don't think we have a need for really good linebackers? I'd sure take a few.

Uh huh. Don't travel much to the US do you? Fly from WPG to NYC and you're looking at basically a full day and over a thousand bucks, due to the connections in TO or MPLS or MON or CHI. Whereas you can fly from Calgary (much further west) to NYC direct most of the year in 6 hours and 400 bucks. Fly from LA to WPG takes at least half a day. At least one connection. LA to Calgary is 3 hours, nonstop, and way cheaper. Not saying WPG is a travel backwater but its certainly not an easy or affordable place to leave. Not true. I just took a flight to LA in June, connected in Denver. Left at 8 AM local, arrived at 12 PM local (6 hours total)

To my understanding, he'll probably just stay at home this season. He's got some medical issues in the family if I remember correctly.

I'm okay with Benevides not being the DC as long as we didn't lose him to Saskatchewan. Looks like Hall is the guy.