bigg jay

Because Powell is a season or two from being ready to be a starter? BLM is not the answer (even short term) and Powell isn't ready yet so Brown would give them their best shot. For us, Powell would be a good fit as he'd have another year (or two) to develop behind Zach. He'd be in a prime spot to take over for Zach (assuming he wraps up his career or we move on after this contract is up).

Their GM was with the Saints for years and they also have a history of taking guys from up here (Breaux, Biggie) so he's just continued that trend. https://www.thefalcoholic.com/2023/5/17/23724520/falcons-show-theyll-look-anywhere-for-talent-xfl-cfl-dee-alford-barry-wesley-jamal-peters

Yeah I'm not sure I buy the BLM is our starter line. He was healthy for the ESF and they stapled him to the bench until garbage time. That said alot about how they saw him so other than his contract, what has changed? Edmonton said the same thing about Tre Ford but that didn't stop them from signing MBT.

Daryl Peter "Moose" Johnston (born February 10, 1966) is an American former professional football player who is currently the Executive Vice President of football operations for the UFL. You were listening to an advertisement and nothing more. It's not a surprise he's going to promote his brand and not give the competition a second of free air time. I would do the same if I were in that position, since you're trying to attract the same talent, especially that higher end talent who could actually play in the NFL one day.

IIRC, they can't cut him in season due to injury but in the off-season he's fair game.

Atlanta loves looking north for talent (Alford, Jamal Peters now Mack). They've worked out/signed some guys in the past too (Kalinic, Lenius), and picked up the only Bison in the NFL (Onyemata) as a FA this year.

Masoli has a big bonus due next week so yeah Ottawa does need to make a decision soon. https://3downnation.com/2024/01/08/six-figure-roster-bonus-deadline-looms-for-qb-jeremiah-masoli-ottawa-redblacks/

Love those moves. JY gets to ease in to the role they were grooming him for with further mentoring from Hall.

Just thinking about QB's. BLM took a new deal for a reason - Hamilton is not wanting to roll with him or Schilz as their starter. Throwing that money at Schoen won't help them.

It's such a small league that you could argue middle of the pack is still on the high end. AFAIK, MBT will be tied with Harris for 3rd highest paid QB (behind Collaros & Kelly). Don't recalling seeing any numbers for Fajardo's recent extension so he could be in there now as well. Kelly - Collaros: 600k range Harris - MBT: 450-500k range Maier - Masoli: 400-450k range Adams - Fajardo: 350-425k range Mitchell was at 500-520K but Hamilton now has an extra 300k to throw at Brown (or someone else).

If there are a bunch of high quality FA linebackers available, that could drive the cost down. Only so many positions and so much $ available.

There was a bonus of 100k due on the 15th but that would have been in addition to the 100k guarantee that was in his contract. If they waited until after the 15th, they would be into Corney for 200k.

500k plus the 100k they owe Corney.

Given the Biggie talk this week, 3DN has an interesting article about potential FA linebackers in BC. The part about MLB no longer being viewed the same way these days caught my eye. Wonder if GM's feel the same way. "However, middle linebacker is no longer viewed as the premium position it once was and the Lions will be wary of overspending in a spot where statistics are often inflated." https://3downnation.com/2024/01/06/tough-decisions-loom-in-b-c-lions-loaded-linebacking-corps/

Well not too strange if he's been shopping his services for months and hasn't had any takers. Dumpster fire looks like it was his only option.

He was good enough to be voted an all-star by his peers and good enough to get some NFL interest... Both of which came as a surprise to me.

Yup, I doubt there were many interested teams last year when Hamilton was shopping him around so he would already know what the market looked like for him.

Unless the current team has given the player permission to seek a trade. When Evans got sent to BC, a new contract was needed in order to make the trade happen so his agent was negotiating with the Lions even though he was still under contract with Hamilton.

Poor Grimey. All those years wasted in Edmonton.

I'm ok with having Biggie back to platoon but he was the 3rd highest paid LB in the league last year so he'd have to be willing to take way less money as a part time player. That money could go a long way towards bringing younger core guys back.

IIRC, Bond was only starting because Neufeld couldn't stay healthy. We already had Couture at center and Chungh at the other guard position (we had also signed Jeff Keeping as a FA but he missed the whole season). Bond did play at a high level for us those 2 seasons but if not for injuries, would he have even seen the field?

Not necessarily. Last year we re-signed Willie at the end of November but we ended up going over the cap so they either paid the fine to have more room in 2023 or his salary did not count against the 2022 cap. 3DN reported it was the club's option whether or not they wanted his 100k signing bonus to count against last year's cap or not.

Apparenrly, Demerio Houston has a workout scheduled with the Chargers. Haven't seen it reported by media yet, just saw it being shared on IG.

To me, there's a difference between players would could not live up to their expectations and a player who, due to health issues, didn't get the chance to. We'll never know what Patrick could have done had he been healthy but we know what a healthy Daigle & Yakupov did.

He's still starting for the Falcons at nickle back and is their main punt returner.