Mike

To me the top priority is a QB. I don't care what it takes. It needs to happen.

Funny I think January is over rated league wide just by being the best of a bad bunch here. He's not as solid as his reputation suggests. it is funny you think that, yup.. But he's right.

Thats ludicrous! Edmonton fired their coach. Yeah, but maybe they got in shat for it.

Not a snowball's chance in hell. But congrats to him for getting the eastern nod

I don't care if a ref feels like a player could have let up. If it's a clean hit, I don't care if he steamrolled the guy and absolutely buried him. Football is a contact sport at every level, I hate that we're getting to a point where every level of football has officials calling penalties on clean hits that look "too rough".

He can try but for the most part, that type of accolade would result in a bump in base salary but not much towards the total max value of a contract.

Probably not. Probably just a slight difference in base salary vs. bonuses. As in a base of 150k instead of a base of 135k+15k bonus for divisional all-star. Inaccurate numbers, but the general idea still applies. Besides, that's an upgrade the Bombers will WANT to pay for.

Ford as a RB ... Interesting. Duron Carter is an obvious snub in my mind. 6 less games than Grant, only 39 less yards and 3 MORE touchdowns. Nick Moore is another obvious snub. 3rd in the league in receiving yards and he's not a divisional all-star? Cordarro Law is a bit of a snub but obviously he lost his bid because Alex Hall is a Rider now. Billy Parker is a weird nomination, would rather see a guy like Dee Webb or Demond Washington. Obviously the East was tough this year though. Not a single unanimous selection.

Could have a point. I just think there's some stock in using your "protected" slots to show faith in guys who deserve it. And honestly, I struggled to find 10 imports worth protecting on talent alone.

Just out of curiosity ... why is nobody else interested in protecting Terrell Parker? I understand he was hurt and we also have Ian Wild but Parker was a beast. Big Parker fan here, I guess. I feel like if we could have both on the field in some capacity, that'd be a good thing for our D

He's a pending free agent. I agree Calgary would not trade him but would they be able to resign him?

Part of me wants to go through this year's stat packs and total up Goltz's red zone numbers.

Yeah, we're going to need some kind of link or something. This site is not going to become a haven for unsubstantiated rumors during this offseason. You can PM myself or another moderator with a link, otherwise we'll be keeping this locked.

Pretty sure Ottawa will take Kevin Glenn in the expansion draft.Glenn is a FA ... why would they?Glenn is NOT a free agent. Ron Burgundy says NO!!!I think Burris and Glenn are good interim qbs for them. Ottawa will have much qb depth no matter what way they go then the Blue has had in the last many years. How can we find out for sure about whose contracts are about to expire? For whatever reason it's not made public. We just find out through various news articles, etc.

Based on how his season went do you forsee a lot of NFL interest in the guy?Yeah, I see more NFL interest in Muamba than Matthews, quite frankly. Matthews when he did play looked like he had gone to the Kamau Peterson school for dropping passes into your midriff during the off-season.Matthews confirmed he had NFL interest last season and intends on pursuing the NFL next year. There is zero percent chance the Bombers protect Matthews. yes but last year he was coming off rookie of the year and a generally pretty damned good season, this offseason he's coming off an injury plagued year and a season in which he under performed. Things change in football, I'm not sure the interest will still be as strong. Not like there's a shortage of receivers in the states for NFL teams to pick from. Maybe he goes maybe not but right now I think it's far from a sure thing like everyone assumed it was before. There's still zero percent chance the Bombers protect him.Then again, who said there was?He's on your protected list in this thread. This is a "what would you do" thread, not a "what you think the Bombers will do" thread. How about you share what you would do?

Based on how his season went do you forsee a lot of NFL interest in the guy?Yeah, I see more NFL interest in Muamba than Matthews, quite frankly. Matthews when he did play looked like he had gone to the Kamau Peterson school for dropping passes into your midriff during the off-season.Matthews confirmed he had NFL interest last season and intends on pursuing the NFL next year. There is zero percent chance the Bombers protect Matthews. yes but last year he was coming off rookie of the year and a generally pretty damned good season, this offseason he's coming off an injury plagued year and a season in which he under performed. Things change in football, I'm not sure the interest will still be as strong. Not like there's a shortage of receivers in the states for NFL teams to pick from. Maybe he goes maybe not but right now I think it's far from a sure thing like everyone assumed it was before. There's still zero percent chance the Bombers protect him. Then again, who said there was?

Willy and Demarco are free agents, Burris is a free agent and I would imagine Hamilton will use that to protect Dan LF, Bo Levi will be protected by Calgary and I'm pretty sure Nichols is also a FA I can't ever remember so many QBs all FA at once …. doesn't give Ottawa much to pick from especially if we trade for Tate I honestly believe anyone who thinks Ottawa isn't going to draft a FA QB if that's THEIR guy is out of touch with reality.

Burke said that Bomber management has identified 3 non-import OLs that they will be targeting this offseason, via trade or free agency. He said one of them has been out all season with a concussion.I'm pretty sure he said is there are 3 NI OL who will be FA's this offseason, plus others who they will pursue through trades. That difference in wording is why I'm pretty certain Mike is right about Tsoumpas being the guy with a concussion that Burke was referring to. He referred to a guy who was out all year with a concussion while he was talking about potential FA's.That's possible, except for the fact that Tsoumpas played 6 games this season. Like I said, you need to stop taking comments so literally. What did you want Burke to say during what is supposed to be a casual radio show. "Well we are targeting a specific young gentleman who missed all but 183 minutes of playing time this year." "He's been out all year" is basically just a general summary comment, it's not meant to be taken as a 100% accurate literal statement. You could be right, but the point you're trying to make is off. No it's not. It's clear you don't like when anyone disagrees with you and you always have to be right (in your mind at least) so we'll leave it at that. Okay, so let's compare arguments. The comment is made that we are going to be targeting a lineman who suffered a concussion and missed "all year" My suggestion is that we're going to targeting a guy who DOESN'T have a contract and suffered a concussion. Your suggestion is that we're going to target a guy who DOES have a contract and suffered a concussion and you also include, as support for your suggestion, the fact that my guy didn't miss LITERALLY all year. This is why it's so ridiculous when fans take what a coach says on any level as gospel. Have you ever heard Burke talk? He's SO casual. As much as I dislike Burke, it's far more likely that the term "all year" was not meant to be taken extremely literally than it is that he'd openly admit to targeting a player with a contract to play for another team. I don't even know why I'm arguing this, it's probably the most ridiculous argument I've ever engaged in.

Burke said that Bomber management has identified 3 non-import OLs that they will be targeting this offseason, via trade or free agency. He said one of them has been out all season with a concussion.I'm pretty sure he said is there are 3 NI OL who will be FA's this offseason, plus others who they will pursue through trades. That difference in wording is why I'm pretty certain Mike is right about Tsoumpas being the guy with a concussion that Burke was referring to. He referred to a guy who was out all year with a concussion while he was talking about potential FA's. That's possible, except for the fact that Tsoumpas played 6 games this season. Like I said, you need to stop taking comments so literally. What did you want Burke to say during what is supposed to be a casual radio show. "Well we are targeting a specific young gentleman who missed all but 183 minutes of playing time this year." "He's been out all year" is basically just a general summary comment, it's not meant to be taken as a 100% accurate literal statement. You could be right, but the point you're trying to make is off.

Willy and Demarco are free agents, Burris is a free agent and I would imagine Hamilton will use that to protect Dan LF, Bo Levi will be protected by Calgary and I'm pretty sure Nichols is also a FA

Alright, here goes. First thing I do is do whatever it takes to convince the board that they need to open up the chequebook for Dave Dickenson. If I'm given the ability to hire whoever I want, I hire him to be the next head coach. I'm keeping Walters as assistant GM and I'm confirming the hiring of Rick Worman as my director of player personnel. Next thing I'm doing is getting on the phone with Jim Barker and offering him the same deal Buono got last year for Reilly. Seen as how we do not have a second rounder in 2013, I'm offering our 2015 second rounder, I'll swap thirds in 2014 and to make up the difference, I'm flipping him an extra fourth in 2014 in exchange for Collaros. Next up, I'm prepping for the expansion draft. Protections: QB: Collaros Canadians: Henoc, Neufeld, Greaves, Watson, Pencer, Kohlert Americans: Washington, Terrell Parker, Wild, Matthews, January, Anderson, Turner, Sears, Jarvis Jones and Desia Dunn. I prepare myself for the Redblacks to take either Swiston or Poblah and then in the second round of the non-import protection, I keep Cauchy, Etienne, Volny, Jake Thomas, Labbe (because I show my veterans some love) and whoever they have not taken between Swiston and Poblah. Moving along, I've now got to survey the situation across the league and see how my roster stacks up. Looking at our list of free agents, I'm going after Henoc, Kohlert, Etienne and Labbe as my priority Canadians and Matthews as well as Brandon Stewart and Wallace Miles as my priority imports. I'd look across the league to fill some holes on the offensive line and maybe some secondary help but other than that, I'm probably going to scout new talent for competition in my other areas. At running back, I'm looking for a guy who can catch out of the backfield as a safety valve for my young QB. At receiver, I'm probably satisfied going into the season with the group I have but I'm definitely looking down south for talent seen as how it's a position we could always upgrade. On the offensive line, I have to imagine myself going into the year with a 3 NI offensive line and I'm looking across the league to see if there is the potential to upgrade my entire interior. While I've protected Neufeld and Greaves, I'm certainly not writing their names in pen on my depth chart. I'm also ready to push Jones at RT with a guy like Pencer. Dimitri Tsoumpas is a specific name I'd target to upgrade at guard. Defensive line, I'm not too worried. Kenny Mainor can come back or he can go but I'm at least offering a deal. I'm on the phone with Darren Gill constantly getting updates on Bilukidi and I'm very willing to let a guy like McAdoo compete with some young guys from the US on the line. Zach Anderson+Bryant Turner are pretty solid in my interior. Linebackers, I like my depth for once. Secondary, focal point during offseason scouting. Also not opposed to bringing in some veterans here if Jovon is not around or I'm unable to resign Stewart. Kicking, I'm working hard to sign Liam Higglyjiggly or whatever and I'm also taking a long hard look at Mike Renaud. This might be a spot where I look to teams around the league to see what's available. Neg list work ... I'm getting guys like Armanti Edwards and Denard Robinson off my list and I'm letting Rick Worman scour the US for QB prospects. I'm also getting the word out to agents that this is not Joe Mack's house anymore and there's no reason to be apprehensive about coming to Winnipeg. No more refusals to play here. Pipeline players ... I want updates on Stephen Alli and I want to get Robertson and Aprile inked to deals ASAP. DiCroce needs to be back in camp as well. Canadian draft ... Knowing I have second overall and knowing a serious need is a center with long term potential, I'm putting Pierre Lavertu from Laval at the top of my draft board.

While that sounds great in theory, you better hope that's not how the Bombers operate.

I wouldn't say history proves otherwise. The entire reason my dad bought season tickets 14 years ago was because they BEGGED him to come back after the Reinebold era left them on life support.

I have a hard time believing most guys would go through an open door for Burke, never mind a wall. The only place I'd go for Burke is on a bus, just to avoid being thrown under it.

very debatable. never mind that this team still had Boltus as it's #2. Tough to argue that point.