Mark H.

I don't mind that he chased the money, careers are short. I do mind him yelling his opinions on the panel. Dude is a big part of what's wrong with the TSN panel.

Think everything we need to know about Hogan came from Lapo on a broadcast when he said something along the lines of "that's a whiskey bottle play call.... because if it doesn't work everyone in the stands is going to throw a whiskey bottle at you"

Where this team has been more often than not.

This past year was our first time not in the cup final in 6 seasons. 
 
so I’m not sure many other teams are really doing better off than us in  any way. 

Where this team has been more often than not.

Where this team has been more often than not.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Complaining we can't keep guys because they over spent in free agency or keeping our own guys and complaining about lack of splash free agent signings. 
Bottom line there's no right or wrong, the only judgements are in the win column.

OL: Randolph, Lofton, Bryant, Wallace, - they need to sign a Canadian centre or guard in free agency. As long as BO is healthy, they need to start 3 Americans on the OL
QB: time to move on from Streveler. Make sure ZC knows how to pee and see who else you can sign as a backup. Wilson can run short yardage.
RB: don't assume BO will play the entire season. Recruit an entry level American for a backup and use him on teams or pay him extra to stay on the PR. 
DL: Cam Lawson, Woodbey, Jefferson (maybe), new faces needed - I would sign a decent DT in FA
DB: I would keep the secondary intact
Rec: scout for some new faces in the receiving corps - Demski, Wilson, are a good start
LB: I would sign a decent, experienced MLB in free agency. Move Kramdi to safety or field corner and add new faces at WIL and SAM
Bin ich bindich?
(Am I crazy?)

OL: Randolph, Lofton, Bryant, Wallace, - they need to sign a Canadian centre or guard in free agency. As long as BO is healthy, they need to start 3 Americans on the OL
QB: time to move on from Streveler. Make sure ZC knows how to pee and see who else you can sign as a backup. Wilson can run short yardage.
RB: don't assume BO will play the entire season. Recruit an entry level American for a backup and use him on teams or pay him extra to stay on the PR. 
DL: Cam Lawson, Woodbey, Jefferson (maybe), new faces needed - I would sign a decent DT in FA
DB: I would keep the secondary intact
Rec: scout for some new faces in the receiving corps - Demski, Wilson, are a good start
LB: I would sign a decent, experienced MLB in free agency. Move Kramdi to safety or field corner and add new faces at WIL and SAM
Bin ich bindich?
(Am I crazy?)

They're all CFL coaches.

They're all CFL coaches.

The good news for all of us is that even the so called experts on this board are wrong about stuff all the time!

20 other teams would snap him up.

20 other teams would snap him up.

20 other teams would snap him up.

Should roll with 2 Cdns on D with a rotation of Lawson, Shay, Smith, Kramdi, with Bailey as a global too. 

Well, "20-30 times" means up to 30 times a game. No running back today in football carries the ball up to 30 times at the pro level. Maybe the odd game due to circumstances but an OC in the CFL shouldn't be planning that on a regular basis. 

Last season he had 11 games with 19+ touches ,  5 games with less (including the two games where he was injured) one with 18 and another with 15.    30 might be a bit high,  but the 20 number is the average number assuming he doesn't leave the game injured.   
Tyson Philpot had 61 receptions and 2 carries ... Brady had 61 receptions and 201 carries.     Add in the intangibles of having to block and Brady is significantly more impactful then Philpot.     
It's easy to put an import in at RB when your team is loaded with talented Canadian players elsewhere.   This team is razor thin on Canadian talent (outside of Brady/Demski).    Dumping the best player in his prime who is Canadian simply to "hope" that you can land a talented Canadian oline/dline guy in free agency would be a terrible idea.   Pay Brady,   dump a guy like Neufeld who is over the hill and save money by replacing him with an American at a cheaper price.  American Olinemen are a dime a dozen.    
 

we've had guys on this very forum joking about doing a Tonya Harding to certain bomber players.  I'm like 99.9% confident those are just dumb jokes but it's a world of crazy motherfuckers making lunatic headlines out there and so I'm always a little 👀 when I read that stuff.

Just to add even into the mid 2010's teams tried to go with a minimum of 4 & if possible 5 Canadians on the OL. It became nearly impossible to build a cohesive line with Canadians as the kids coming out of U Sports with the exception of a couple every year were incapable of starting. Their level of training & experience in U Sports never prepared them for what was coming in the CFL as they never saw it in college. Yet, they demanded 6 figure salaries as they were important to coaches so they could play 5 on the line & 2 elsewhere on the starting day roster. Teams like the Bombers who struggled for years trying to build an All Canadian OL began to play more Americans. 

The reality with Brady’s deal is that you really need to know what the cap hit is in order to talk about whether the deal is good or not. In the new CFL, with the marketing money, I don’t think we’re really going to know that early on after a signing so you have to play a bit of a wait and see.
That being said, there are two things that (imo) should be getting talked about more with regards to this deal.
1. This contract makes very little sense at the reported cost (even if you build in 100k of marketing money) if we still insist on playing more than the required amount of Canadians. We’re essentially paying him regardless of passport at that point, which makes this deal awful
2. Lots of people haven’t had their mindset catch up to the reality of the new CFL and the cap figures. The cap hasn’t just gone up, but teams are shifting more to youthful American OL which means less money is being tied up in unmentioned Canadian OL and more is being invested in big name splash Canadians.
Everyone talks about Brady and his big deal, but nobody blinked twice 10 years ago when guys like Tyson Pencer and Chris Kowalczuk were making six figures as middling (that’s generous) Canadian OL.
Canadian football is developing, which means more guys can play at premium positions, which means the “you gotta have 4-5 Canadian OL” mentality has kind of gone by the wayside. The money getting distributed has changed a bit as a result.
(one last thing, anyone who thinks Gauthier or Hallett make near league minimum are WAY off)

If Brady was a free agent, BC would have thrown a Brink's truck at Oliveira. We have no succession plan at qb. We're flying by the seat of our pants on that one. Brady is in his prime at 28. there is no one on our roster that is ready to step up as a starter like Oliveira did when Harris left. 

Tyson Philpot who has never had a 1000 yard season and who has missed 5, 9 and 6 games over the past three seasons got $275,000. Brady was not getting less.

It's a lot of money to be sure but it had to be done. I also expect the salary cap will be going up again this off season so there'll be wiggle room to afford Brady. Imagine the President, GM & HC all come back & Brady leaves? The optics would be so bad. I applaud Walters for getting it done. Credit where credit is due. 

Check the regular season discussion.