JuranBoldenRules

Point is the earlier you move the season up the more you're competing with the Jays when people are most likely to be engaged at scale....before they are out of the race and hope is eternal (April-June), or when they are in the playoffs if they are (October). Blue Jays Baseball is the most hyped sports property in this country. The name of the game is GROWTH because 7 of 9 franchises are routinely unprofitable. How does the CFL engage media partners to get close to that level of hype, and not just be scraps? The other issue with the Jays is the engagement of Rogers. Who exactly do we think is interested in producing and broadcasting CFL games? How does the CFL get more revenue for their product? There's two companies that have the infrastructure and potential willingness, Rogers and Bell. This time of year Rogers is flooded with Jays, NHL playoffs and NBA playoffs. Bell only has some NBA. So how could Rogers possibly engage on broadcasting and hyping CFL if it started in 2-3 weeks? Is the CFL looking to be random timeslot filler? There's also a plausible scenario where the Argos could be playing on the same day as the other 3 teams both spring and fall. And TFC too. I don't see how this plan makes them less of an afterthought, and the CFL less of an afterthought in the GTA. League should be working to have as many games between July-end of September as possible. Having the start of the season clashing so much with every other sport is not ideal, even disregarding potential for less than desirable weather in May-June when a slightly cool temp, rain and wind together can be bone chilling far worse than Sept-November.

The issue for the flailing markets is they don't have revenue to meet the expenses of playing a 18 game season. This changes nothing for the in-market revenues. More opportunity for playoff gate....but in the struggling markets they often lose money on playoff games. Road teams lose incredible amounts on playoff games. So coin flip year to year, market to market on those producing positive cash flows. IMO this whole thing (including rule/field changes) is a desperate attempt to position the CFL as a more valuable TV property. But unless they can get Rogers seriously interested and keep Bell/TSN engaged there's a pretty serious cap on that. Canadian broadcasters have been taking a bath on producing pro sports and are getting out of the business of doing so as much as possible. Moving the season up to conflict with NHL/NBA playoffs, and potentially more with Blue Jays early season/late season isn't desirable for Rogers.

The playoff format, while stupid, will not be as big of an issue as the 18 game season will remain to be. Any given season quite likely that almost 1/5 of regular season games will basically be meaningless in September and October for playoff positioning. The league is too small and the season too long to make this format work. So they can celebrate having more playoff games, but they will be playing a bunch of games with no stakes, lowered TV ratings and struggle to sell tickets depending on the market.

Wilson was in last year Global Draft and with Calgary last year.

The problem is they need people to be willing to pay money to watch a slate of meaningless games in the fall.

That will likely be 2 weeks prior to the NFL Draft. So back to the problem the league had before of not knowing NFL status of potential CFL picks.

The NFL isn't moving their draft either. Are we going to have the CFL draft a week into training camp?

Yeah I mean safe to assume they have a role in mind. Walters seemed really excited to get him. What I don't like....draft a guy who can't play OL and can't play receiver, scouting reports on him say didn't really play special teams in college...maybe they can coach him up there, testing doesn't really paint him as being very athletic. But he doesn't give you coverage for anything but that very specific role he's drafted for. So would you be better drafting a physical receiver who can block, or a back who can block and maybe take some carries, or just the best OL on the board? We missed on receiver and that is our biggest need IMO. We have basically no depth and we probably need to start 3 Canadians. We've effectively locked ourselves into dressing 7 OL but one of them isn't really a OL.

Daniels has to be converting to OL. They’ve never utilized a fullback or TE consistently. Based on who else was still available if they wanted a big blocking receiver hard to believe he would have been the pick.

What's the point of playing 18 games to basically just give playoff rankings? Not sure it solves the problem of teams basically being locked into their seeds by games 15-16.

Yeah definetly more of a scrambler than a runner, which could translate better to our game in terms of passing if he can make some throws from the pocket. He's actually a lot like young Collaros IMO, but he had a lot better OL in college.

Probably not. I'd assume Ottawa's pick would require our 1st and 2nd this year plus next years 1st. So that means you're not getting a good receiver out of this draft IMO. The way we are built right now, receiver is way more of a need IMO. And depth in general is a need. Our D will get ugly fast with a couple injuries, imagine if Demski goes down. Vaccaro will be reliable but he's not like a Desjarlais or something.

Think we need another receiver, OL and defensive player who can play out of this draft. DB pool in this one is pretty deep. There's a couple high end guys for CFL who aren't getting much NFL attention. There's some LB's too. I think we're really prepared to play 3 import OL so OL in general is less of a need early. Like there's no point in drafting a guy who isn't a player early. Vaccaro is a slam dunk if there's an opportunity. I could see us taking Henning. Not sure Cline has ever been in Canada, not sure Taylor or Reese will ever play up here. So the OL pool gets shallow pretty quick into projects and guys coming off a couple years of severe injuries who maybe would have rated higher otherwise....including Henning although I think he's an interesting guy as a 7th OL potentially as he develops. Most of the rest of the good U Sports guys will be moving inside from tackle, which isn't always easy or immediate. DL crew is kind of similar with NFL guys vs guys who went NCAA but barely played or finally got to play at a low level, low end athleticism, no explosiveness looking ahead to CFL. Charlie Parks is one guy out of Sask who is a major PITA. He will be a good pro, situational, maybe gains 15- 20 pounds and can take reps at 3 spots, special teams. There's a lot of receivers who will be solid CFL players/prospects and in training camp. Would not be shocked if there's a run on them in the first 10-15 picks. Ojutalayo from Laurier is a guy to watch early. Football player, no Jade Etienne bullshit. DeMontagnac, Ulm, Boutin, Meiga will go first couple rounds too. I would not be shocked if our first couple picks are receiver or DB/LB. Ethan Stuart is a guy I could see Walters/MOS loving early.

You think they are bringing 13 import OL to camp to see if they can make Winnipeg run out of food?

He was only down there for a year. I'd be surprised if he got more than 10 or 20 grand USD.

The nice thing right now is there is a solid pool of Canadian players so the draft doesn't kill you if you take a risk. The other piece is that you have to draft guys who really want to play. Especially if they are getting nice NIL deals and then some NFL time. Like a Mesidor even if he gets bounced out of the NFL in 3 years probably isn't going to come up here to play for $80,000 CDN unless he's a complete football nut and doesn't have anything better to do.

Boutin would probably be our 2nd or 3rd best Canadian receiver and a huge piece for the run game either inside or from the slot. Would love that pick if he's actually going to play in the CFL immediately and not try to sit around for NFL camp. Think we need a guy who is reasonable C/G/6th OL candidate out of the chute, a receiver/H back who can play right away and a DB or DL who can play right away too out of our first 4 picks.

Intelligent people assume....wouldn't put it past the CFL to announce cap penalties after the draft or something stupid. Can't waste anytime when there are 55 yard lines to remove from fields.

If he tries to play he might end up being the top QB in Equatorial Guinea.

Bombers have created a spring Bantam 12 on 12 league this year. Would be nice if we moved community football to the spring like every other province so we can actually run high school and up with proper resourcing in the fall. In Winnipeg region we legitimately only have 6 officiating crews for minor football right through CJFL. They also are the stick/sideline crews for U Sports.

I'm not so sure of Vaccaro's immediate availability. He's a pretty well-known prospect in the States and he had a solid pro day. His measurables are all good for an interior guy, hands and arms big enough to move to C, plus he's off the charts with intangibles and his film is pretty solid especially anyone running heavy zone/RPO as their base. So like Philly, Baltimore, Chicago, Green Bay, Niners, Indy. NFL teams will sit on UDFA for a few years to develop them.

The sound doesn't really escape the current stadium. You basically can't even hear the sound from inside the stadium from the intersection of Bison Drive and Chancellor Matheson. You hear a low muffled sound and the Bomber games are cranked to about 15 on in-stadium sound. Like when one of the hosts or PA announcer is talking it's very loud.

The players playing pro are the best. So someone who is good in NCAA is making a transition up to play pro. So everyone gets excited about a guy who had success at NCAA school(s) but like I said....the talent is relative. They are competing with the best which isn't what they competed against in NCAA. Even if you want to look at a P5 roster you're looking at a fraction of those players making it at all in pro football.

Talent is relative. Where do you think the talent at every position is coming from?

Where can I pick up my refund for the time I wasted reading this?