GCn20

One could make a very coherent argument that Willy's injuries were a result of a management shortcoming by Walters. Unless, of course, you believe he has made our OL better. Different names on it, and younger, but not any more effective. This FA is going to tell me all I need to know about Walters. If he doesn't land a capable starting NI OL we will be looking down the rabbit hole early in the season this coming year. No way a draft pick is likely to help us this year as a starter WHEN, NOT IF, Neufeld goes to the tub.

They will have to do better than try like heck to sign a NI OL in FA. It is now an absolute necessity. No other option.....well trade I guess. We have 2 NI OL that we can depend on right now to start. Sorry Neufeld fans, this is the guy that really needed replacement he just didn't cost as much. If we go into the season pencilling Neufeld in as a starter on our OL, we're screwed. Plain and simple. The Bombers absolutely must find a starting OG in FA that will keep Neufeld to being a 6th OL. Anything short of that and we are flirting with disaster. I get the Picard angst, but our OL is in shambles right now.

I find that the only people who object to this policy are the people who don't like O'Shea. I think this is just another thing for his detractors to gripe about, and probably the most inconsequential. I don't think the vast majority of fans could care less one way or another about this. I think some are hoping that one of his coordinators might not be on point with something O'Shea said fifteen months ago and would like to drag this around the forum as a hollow victory that signifies their correctness in their disbelief in O'Shea.

There is no guarantee that he is healthy going into the season, let alone staying healthy. His body is breaking down. I hate to call a spade a spade but when your tendons start popping on pretty insignificant plays you are not long for this league. Two torn tendons in two years, one of them from basically nothing. Ask any athletic therapist and he will tell you that more are coming.

LOL. There is a very real chance he won't even be a Rider once the dust settles this offseason. I'm not sure why there is all this Durant love, people buying into the Rider propaganda that they were a QB away from the Grey Cup? I could barely type that, it was so silly to think about. Get real. Durant was playing substandard football since the middle of 2013 when he was healthy and has missed most of 2 seasons with 2 of the hardest injuries to fully recover from. Couple that with a reported 550k salary this year and the decision to even keep him becomes very tough. He played well in a couple playoff games for them where Sheets absolutely dominated and single handedly took the offence on his back but other than that he has performed at a low level since Labor Day 2013. In 2014 he played awful but the Riders rode a white hot defence and weak schedule to an 8-1 record. Look at his efficiency rating since mid 2013 and then look up his injuries and tell me again how he will be the difference maker to the Riders.

I don't think the Riders will be able to go in on IMPs this season. There NI roster is rapidly aging and without any depth behind them. Getzlaf, Bagg, Best have all reached their best before date, Labatte had a poor season and may not ever be healthy again (recurring ankle problems), Clark is not a CFL calibre centre and there is nothing in the OL or receiver pipeline save Demski. They were picking up Dan West just to field enough NIs for a roster. It's bad over there for NIs and it has gotta be Jones focus this offseason before he can spend a dime on IMPs. This is why I see their rebuild taking time, not because Jones/Murphy can't do it but because there is only so much that can be done by anyone in this time frame. Once Jones has his NI cupboard stocked then the Riders can build rapidly to a contender, but not before, and stocking the NI cupboard as Bomber fans know, is no quick process.

There has been some speculation that there is mutual interest for some time now. We won't ever get a direct quote from anyone in the Bombers because that would be tampering. The local media and the media in BC think it's a probability.

Yea. He inherited a clusterfack and it will take a full season to sort out that mess. Jones and Murphy will expedite the rebuild but they can't avoid it completely. Right now they have 31 players under contract for next year, and several more cuts to make one would think. This will be the biggest rebuild the CFL has seen in several years (not counting Ottawa). Jones and Murphy aren't miracle workers. 6-7 wins and competitive is where I would slot them for this coming year. A lot of people want to exalt Jones as a genius, and he definitely is a good coach, but he inherited a heck of a lot of good defensive personnel in Edmonton. Paul Jones and Ed Hervey deserve as much credit for that defence as Jones does. Take a look around Jones's career, he has had the opportunity to jump from team to team as they are finalizing rebuilds. Much like Tim Burke did here in 2011 when he reaped the benefits of Swaggerville. I'm not trying to knock Jones. He has proven to be a winner. However, this is essentially the first time in his career he is going to a team that requires a rebuild. Maybe he can do it, maybe he can't, but it certainly shouldn't be viewed as a slam dunk that he will have instant success. He will be a neophyte GM, wearing 4 hats going into the season. Sounds like the same situation Mike Kelly walked into. Let's see if he is able to do any better before proclaiming them Grey Cup champs shall we?

The vision problem was revisited when he went to the Eskies. He had a 2nd eye surgery that according to Bowman himself, greatly increased his ability to track the ball in the air. This is well documented and there are several articles about it in the Edmonton media. The receiver he was here was a one trick pony. In Edmonton, they were able to get him to run the full route tree after his surgery and the results are self evident. Our training staff dropped the ball on Bowman, not Lapolice.

Saskatchewan won't be running up the score against anyone unless Jones/Murphy makes some wholesale changes to their offence. Durant is a gimp with a mush arm that hasn't played in 2 years, their receiving corps and running game doesn't even belong in the same conversation as what the Shmoes gave to McAdoo, and their OL is old and tired. I won't even get into the fact that Jones is a D-guy that will build from that side of the ball. In time, and not right away, the Riders will be a team that is tough to score against but will be average offensively. In the immediate future, I see them being a team that will flash potential but will be on a learning curve and going through growing pains until they become cohesive.

Demond is a solid player. I could take him or leave him, but I would like to see a better player in camp before I decided he is expendable. The Bombers should make an effort to re-sign him, especially since our scouting should not be relied upon to improve us at his position.

The more things change in Rider land the more they stay the same. O'Day can now join the illustrious ranks of Jamel Richardson, Taj Smith, Geroy Simon and Rey Williams as people who the organization got rid of but still decided to pay and gave them the old Rider retirement plan. Fake job title and here's a paycheque. The Rider welfare system if you will.

What the Esks did back then that made them successful, was create a shadow roster (kinda like the PR today) but was under the table. They would bring in their talent, groom them in their systems, and it created a steady succession of CFL ready players while other teams were teaching their new imports on the fly. These players were not signed to the team, as there were roster limits, but were paid on personal services contracts to various boosters acting as payroll engines. It was a big part of why they were so good for so long. While they didn't pay anymore per se for their starting lineup, they did pay a lot more for players than anyone else. It was just off the books.

Well count me as one who loves this move. Either we have success this year under Walters, or next year we cause the Rider fans heads to explode when we poach John Murphy away. This is so much more satisfying than if we had to get him from Calgary. At any rate, I see this as a non starter because I don't think Murphy will be there long enough to have any tremendous impact before either us, or someone else in the league, poaches him away. He is the next GM in this league imo.

You gotta give Lapo his props, he must LOVE being a Bomber. They curb stomped him twice and he still wanted back.

Who do you like better as an interim HC, Hall or Lapo? I find it amusing that people never even so much as mentioned that Hall may be a HC in waiting when he signed with us last year, but when we hire Lapo there is some sinister plot to move him up to HC first chance we get. Fact of the matter, all conspiracy theories aside, is that we have a much improved OC that also has HCing experience and can no doubt offer some great insight to O'Shea. O'Shea/Hall/Lapolice is light years better than O'Shea/Etch/Bellfool

You are right 007, my bad, forgot he was in the peg in '10.

It was Lapo's offence but it did not have his undivided attention....and no, he wasn't calling plays. The whole reason be fired Barresi was for the epically poor playcalling he did in the first half of the Grey Cup. He was then forced to hand over control of the offence to Crowton by Mack.

I feel you have to isolate Lapo the OC from Lapo the HC. Lapo the HC was not calling plays, had to trust others to share his vision of the offence and to execute that vision. Lapo the OC, has nothing else on his plate and direct control over the offence and play calling. An offence getting Lapo's undivided attention will be a good offence if he has the horses to carry out his system/gameplan. His players will believe in him, and they will play for him. I like this hire....at least better than the alternatives we had. I, also, believe he will fit like a glove with O'Shea. Both are players coaches, and highly professional about keeping things in the locker room. There will be no coaching in the media.

Lapolice the HC did not turn out great, but the last time he was a coordinator he led his team to back to back Grey Cup appearances. He is an extremely solid pick for OC. Only in Winnipeg, we tend to dump on guys instead of looking at the facts. He will do a great job. I am so relieved we didn't go with Jackie Chaps or Cortex.

This is starting to have some eerie similarities to when we hired Mike Kelly, who btw, was an absolutely beloved hire before he flamed out miserably. Similarities: Both hailed as the saviour after a Taman regime Both abrasive and elusive with the media Both inexperienced in personnel management Both in multiple job positions at the same time Both known for their large egos. Both given unconditional control of football ops Kelly states in first presser " No one will handle the QBs but me" Jones states in first presser " No one will handle the defence but me" Are the Rider repeating history here? If Jones states that everything will be handled internally, I will lose my ****.

Floyd, you would seriously make Howell a QB coach over Buck?

Players love winning. It's why they play the game. Players don't love Austin in Hamilton. They love winning though and that's why many will re-sign back there. Players don't love Chris Jones, they love winning. That is why not many will follow him to year one of a rebuild. Having a chance to win a Grey Cup is big to a lot of players.

Prediction: 3 years (or less) from now Chris Jones will become the most hated man in Riders history when he jumps ship to another team. Once a merc always a merc. Chris Jones doesn't love the teams he's employed by, Chris Jones loves Chris Jones. I have zero doubt that the Riders are not the last stop on his magical mystery tour. I could see him jumping to US college as early as next year, and if not, I suspect small market Regina is not a big enough destination for him to call home for too long. I think he will do good things while he is there, but first chance he gets he will be in Toronto, or Vancouver etc.

Dr.CFL, expect the list of NATs entering FA to start dropping at a very rapid rate between now and FA...as they ALWAYS do.