K-Shack

There’s also the reality that I see a lot of people on social media (not here) missing, which is that a lot of our veterans aren’t getting raises.
I guarantee you Willie, Kyrie, Bryant, Neufeld, Eli, Castillo as a whole make less than they did last year. 

We also let go of some big ticket low impact players … Ceresna over Vaughters was less than $100k increase. Tim White over Dillon Mitchell was maybe a $50k cap increase. Jonathan Jones and Peyton Logan are gone and their cap hits were decent. Even Jake Thomas had a decent cap hit that is now off the books. 
We paid big money to Pokey, Holm, Lawson, Kramdi, Brady and some others but a lot of that went on the 2025 cap and a lot of it came from offsets elsewhere and that’s probably exactly why we were able to come out swinging on a guy like Broxton. It may not result in a return to the glory days (also, it may) but I can’t help but be impressed with what Walters has done with the cap so far.

nah he’s locked up sadly 
 
nil money is no joke. Very very few will retire on that money, but it certainly slows down the flow of guys here. And leaves them far more comfortable sitting and waiting for chances at a pr spot. 
Cfl qb money for the young guys has to go up. 
 It also hurts that a guy like rourke put up a huge season and barely got a sniff. It’s been a long time since the days of the cfl prouducing qbs like garcia flutie etc for the nfl. Or the nfl taking long looks at guys like dickie and burris. 

From Our Man Tait in his latest piece.... Worth your click, as always:
 
https://www.bluebombers.com/2025/12/22/__trashed/
 
 
"...And as for the decision to add Thomas to his staff, O’Shea said this about one of the most-respected people in the building — not just on the roster:
“Love the guy. Can sit here right now and picture him hoisting the Cup in 2019. Extremely smart, passionate, good leader. A guy that just loved being around. There was a time where because of a contract issue he came late to training camp by I don’t know how many days, not much. But the whole practice stopped and everybody went nuts that he walked onto the field.
“That right there speaks volumes about what everybody thinks about him. Not just from the players’ perspective, but in the entire organization.”

I never even had an issue with Jake as a player, in terms of talent... He was just used far too much in later years. In his younger days he was more than serviceable. In more recent years he was fine in a limited capacity but Prime Doug Brown minutes was asking way too much. 

You might be right, you might be wrong. None of us can know with any certainty right now as to how well JT can do. Anybody saying they know for sure he will fail or succeed is straight up showing bias. Hey, if the DL shows no improvement I'll call for his head. Bombers first....always. What I won't do is not give him a chance.
Maybe he is exactly the coach we need and this turns out to be a great hire. Right now that is as feasible as him failing. Every coach who ever becomes a coach is because someone saw something in them and took a chance. Let's give him that chance too before declaring this a poor hire. He's off the field now....no reason to dislike him anymore.

Problem players? Why cause he aged out and he was asked to do too much at his age? I don't follow your logic here? JT executed the plan he was given to the best of his ability...how is that a problem player? As for Hogan having the best RB in the league, yes that certainly helps but he also helped develop BO into that. BO didn't enter the league as the best. You guys are literally hating on JT himself because the coach tapped him on the shoulder to go in and play and he did. I understand not liking him being on the field but you guys need to tone down the overall Jake hate. He's a 13 year retired veteran now who is taking an entry level coaching job for the only team he ever played for. Why are you inventing narrative about this?

I actually laughed about the Jake-As-Coach thing just because I knew exactly what the reaction would be. So funny. 
I think he's well respected in the room and 13 years experience is definitely worth passing on to th next generation. I'm happy for the guy. 

The best players don't always make the best coaches.  It's often the less gifted guys who make tremendous coaches... so how good withh Jake Thomas be as DL coach? I don't know but it's not some immediately crucifiable since to try. 

You realize that Hogan was our RB coach before when BO had his best years right?
 
I think these are great moves for our organization.

He can't be as bad as Patterson was and if it takes him off the field it's a double win. Are you seriously complaining about this? Jake is a long time veteran DL of our club and league, he has a ton he can teach. That doesn't necessarily mean he will be a good coach but excluding his chances of being one based on his playing career doesn't make sense either. Look at Ryan Dinwiddie, guy was a career backup and barely at that and is a great coach. I'm willing to give him a chance, and at the same time get rid of Patterson who was god awful.

Hogan was the RB coach for the past 3 seasons. And Jake no doubt has extensive knowledge about DL play.

I don't see how out of all of our players this guy couldn't qualify for the marketing money.  I'd hope a good chunk is covered for marketing.   
3 years for a guy in his prime that has "pardon the pun" carried the team over the last two seasons.   Great signing.    

3 years. 290 k this upcoming year. Yeah it’s a lot but for one of the very best players in the league in the prime of his career and a home town hero to boot. It’s a no brainer, especially with the rising cap. I would take Brady at 290 over Keon Hatchers at 330k any day of the week. 

MOP a year ago...  the whole offense falls completely when he isn't given the touches.   NI and local guy and in his prime.   You pay him top dollars no questions asked.   
If you need money maybe save on overspending on import guys who are injury prone (i.e. Schoen/Strev).  

I said before and I'll say it again... Dickie was granted the opportunity to fix a FAR WORSE mess, and he hasn't earned half of what Osh has. 
We'll know PDQ whether or not Walters and Osh have learned their lessons. 
I am forever the optimist and am already looking forward to what should be a very productive offseason...

Etch got canned after 1 season. Here's hoping 

Curious that it's only Osh mentioned as a re-up so far....

..........and a new OC

Good, but we better see some dead weight on the roster jettisoned.

I wouldn't bring him back for half that to start. I'd only bring him back on a cheap deal with some incentives if he is the fake canadian on the roster and we rotate him heavily at end. 
 
Neuf hasn't been the same for a couple of years now. But none of our guards, since Desjarlais, have lived up to much of anything.
If you get rid of Kola, I think you can bring back the rest of the ol, to compete with the young guys and bringing in 1 FA, then see how goodthe  guys are when they aren't playing next to the worst linemen the league has seen in at least 10 years. This includes DL being forced into action on the OL. 
I would love to see a Bryant get a shot at G, Neuf at C, maybe lofton at G, and Vanterpool at T. If vanterpool doesn't crack it at T, he should be penned in at G next year. 
Once you subtract kola, a lot of guys will likely look a lot better. 
 
 
Sadly that is the state of the league these days. 
The good news is that NI crop, plus a depth FA or two, and a good draft will be very nice. 
 
I think you nailed it here. I would add Lofton back at vet min wouldn't be bad for camp. Shouldn't be at the expense of adding a high end ol this off season though.
Glad some one recognized how important Cadwallader is on teams here, not just kick cover either, he is a teams stud on each unit. Does soo much more than just run and tackle.
I like Gauthier, but Idk if he has another year in him at a high enough leve. It didn't seem like he had it this year either tbh. And we have a glut both at Lber and with NI lbers. 

Not sure why people are eager to move on from Neuf.  Wouldn't be easy to replace at the same skill level, passport, experience, and durability -- he started all 18 games last year.  Of course, he's at the age where he might decide for us, or where he might suddenly break down.  It astonishes me that guards can play into their late thirties.  Is guard the most physically punishing position on the field?
Jefferson is too expensive for the one or two games he wrecks every season.  Or maybe he could still be consistently dominant if got spelled off once in awhile?  I dunno.
Saw Cadwallader make good plays on teams all year, so would like to see him stay.
We seem to be able to dig up great DBs every year so I don't know how critical it is to retain / give raises to any of our DBs.

Randolph, yes. Thanks for pointing that out. 

I bolded the guys that I would like to see come back.   A good year for a big turnover of players (preferably younger guys). 
Brady,  Holm,  Demski,  Nichols are all guys that they really need not cheap out on.  
Cutting old guards like Bryant, Jefferson, and Neufeld should give them some good play money to spend come free agency.  

RIders chose to make Hardrick [one of?] the most highly paid Offensive Lineman in the league, at age 34, coming off just his second All-Star season.
The Tiger-cats chose to make Lawler the highest paid receiver in the league, despite 3 consecutive seasons he played 2/3rds of the games and only having one 1000 yard seasons to his name
If we want to keep going on 'players who wanted to stay here'... the Elks made Tyrell Ford the highest paid cornerback in the league (and its not even close). Liam Dobson is making over 200k in Hamilton. Drew Desjarlais is making over 200k in Ottawa
The downside of being successful for such a stretch is that these players are going to go out and they are going to get paid. The Bombers have made some... questionable decisions roster construction wise but it is literally impossible to pay everyone what they are going to be worth. 

Not sure about him as a GM but Dinwiddie is an excellent coach. Would have loved to have him as our coach.