TBURGESS

I love the way Sears plays the game except for the stupid penalties, but he's injured too often to be worth big bucks IMHO. Good luck to him in Hammy.

Gave us a 2nd round pick and a NI receiver for Watson and a 3rd round pick then traded him and a 2nd round pick for a 3rd round pick in less deep draft to get a long snapper? I don't usually LOL at Taman like a bunch of you, but what a horrible trade for the Riders.

When Westerman's on, Hurl doesn't need to be. Another reason I like the signing.

Great signing. Passport + NFL Experience. What more could you ask for? IMHO Waud be a good choice as his backup to change the ratio.

Surprise cut.... Neufeld or Dile. One of them won't make the club from the tub.

Man.... I move to Alberta and the go NDP? Should be an interesting few years.

I've seen both play and Hurl is no Mike O'Shea. In fact, he's not even close.

I thought our DB's were the strength of our defense last year. Based on the number of new ones being brought in though, I'd say that Hall is looking for something different than Etch in his DB's.

Giants minicamp May 8-9. Hopefully we'll all know more about signings before the CFL draft May 12. Demski not getting an NFL shot? Better for us so we take him #2 or does he drop because he didn't get the NFL shot that a dozen other top NI's got?

He was also on Montreal in 2012 and the Patriots let him go in Aug 2013. He's a big guy with 7 CFL receptions hoping the 3rd teams the charm in the CFL.

Most of the top talent is getting their NFL shots. Used to push guys down a lot, but is is better to pick a guy high that you really want assuming he won't stick this year? For the first time this year Demski seems like a good choice to me.

According to Drew Edwards, Burris is making $450K per year. The others look about right to me.

With the limited knowledge we have at the moment. My wild ass guess is: West: 1. Calgary - Still the best team in the league 2. Edmonton - Close to Calgary 3. Saskatchewan - Durant makes a huge difference, but that O line ain't the same anymore. 4. BC - I trust Wally, but don't think Lulay will play enough games to move them up the standings. 5. Winnipeg - Better O line won't make enough difference to our standings. (1 and 2 are the class of the league. 3 through 5 could go in any order) East: 1. Hamilton - Looked great in the second half of '14 but will miss some of the already injured players. 2. Montreal - Great D, O does just enough to get the wins. Could flipflop with Hamilton 3. Toronto - Ray doesn't look to be ready at the beginning of the year will put them behind the eight ball. 4. Ottawa - Burris + Receivers = Offensive prowess. Could easily leapfrog Toronto for the last play off spot.

Is that $150K bonus part of the 250K he's going to make this year or in addition to? Big difference to the cap hit.

I hope this one's true. Gives Willy a chance to prove it or get cut if he's not worth the $400K.Which is, sort of... exactly what we were trying to tell you earlier. So are you now going to argue with yourself? That would be fun to watch!He's getting a bonus this year in addition to his base salary, as part of the extension.My guess is this is how the contract works: 2015: $250k base + $100k bonus (new money as part of extension 2016: $400k base 2017: $400k base Give or take 2016 & 2017 with some performance bonuses tied in there. Not sure that makes sense. $100K signing bonus is all cap hit and Walters said that the cap hit this year wouldn't be all that different. I'd guess they converted a lot of bonuses into base salary and gave him a smaller signing bonus than $100K, but it's all conjecture at this point.

I hope this one's true. Gives Willy a chance to prove it or get cut if he's not worth the $400K. Which is, sort of... exactly what we were trying to tell you earlier. So are you now going to argue with yourself? That would be fun to watch! Actually you were telling me that it was worthwhile to pay Willie 400K this year, but don't let the facts get in the way.

I hope this one's true. Gives Willy a chance to prove it or get cut if he's not worth the $400K.

I think that in all fairness, you should probably write a strongly worded letter the the Chair of the Winnipeg Football Club. In it, you can outline your concerns and include your extensive CV which will demonstrate just how informed your opinion is. I'm confident that once they read the letter, they will give it the attention it deserves Lots of folks think whatever the Bombers do is right. I disagree with something the Bombers did. Not the first time. Won't be the last time. I still hope it works out. That being said, do you think that Willy's worth more than the rest of the young QB's in the league? To this franchise he is. I wasn't asking if the franchise thinks he is. I was asking what people's own opinions are. Two very different questions.

What I've learned posting here is you think everything the bombers do is the wrong move so just saying, but since you seem to always think they are doing wrong, your shtick is getting/gotten old. I've agreed with most of the Bombers changes this year. Only 2 that I disagree with so far... Willy getting north of $400K and keeping MB as OC. Your shtick seems to be remembering things that didn't happen then complaining about them.

I think that in all fairness, you should probably write a strongly worded letter the the Chair of the Winnipeg Football Club. In it, you can outline your concerns and include your extensive CV which will demonstrate just how informed your opinion is. I'm confident that once they read the letter, they will give it the attention it deserves Lots of folks think whatever the Bombers do is right. I disagree with something the Bombers did. Not the first time. Won't be the last time. I still hope it works out. That being said, do you think that Willy's worth more than the rest of the young QB's in the league?

North of $400K. More than Mitchell, Reilly, Collaros and Crompton. In Ray and Burris territory. Good for Willy, I guess. I hope he earns it this year and going forward. I still think it's the wrong move.

Looks like you guys are getting your wish. It'll be interesting to see what the numbers and the split between base and bonuses are. Oh wait. I almost forgot. Terms of the deal won't be made public.

The risk is that Willy has a breakout year and we have to pay him more than we would if we extend him now. If that happens, we can extend him any time during the season or after the season's over but before Free Agency. If he's doing that well in our system, he'll be a fan fav, the team will make the playoffs and will be headed in the right direction. There won't be any other team who has more to offer than we do other than maybe money and we would definitely match other teams offers. If Mack was still in charge, I'd worry that we'd stick to our number no matter what, but I don't see Walters letting a true franchise QB (Which is what Willy would be) leave.

... are we really going to act like the potential downside of him signing elsewhere doesn't exist? The only way that happens is if we don't re-sign him before he goes to Free Agency AND we don't match or beat other teams offers (Assuming there are any). I don't expect either of those things to happen if we still want him at the end of this season. We don't NEED to extend Willy right now. He's under contract and he's not going anywhere this year. Giving him more money right now isn't going to change the way he plays this year. This years play will tell us and the other teams in the league if he's ready for the big contract or not.

I'm a spend to the cap and maybe a bit over if something terrible happens type of guy. No doubt in my mind that's the right way to go. That being said, I'm not a give em money they haven't earned type of guy or a pay them more than our competition pays for similar/better players type of guy and that's what this discussion is all about IMHO. Overpaying players is no way to get good value for your money and it means you have to to with cheaper players at other positions. 150K could mean signing 6 players at 25K upgrades. By that I mean 6 players who get 25K more than the league average for their position or 6 top tier players. It means being able to outbid other teams for the top players when they come available. Not just in FA, but also at NFL cut time. Beer revenue is a red herring. It will go up when we win, down when we lose. It's not about Willy getting a raise. It's about the wins. If Willy was a top tier QB, then sure, he'd be worth the extra bucks even though it means scrimping elsewhere because QB is the most important position on the field. The only potential downside to not extending Willy now is that we might have to pay him more next year if he has a good to great year. In return, we'd get great value for our money this year and we'd save the 150K that we could use towards his next contract if we have to.