GCn20

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.

There is nothing new about a zone read in Canadian football.

I'm begrudgingly willing to give Walters one more year because I believe a GM and scouting unit needs that to fully implement their plan. However, I will say that I am disappointed in the progress we have seen so far. He better knock it outta the park this offseason. No more farting around. FIX IT.

This is a big pressure hire for O'Shea. There are a few good candidates out there that will be a vast improvement to MB. I wouldn't be super stoked with a Khari hire but I'd be willing to give him a chance. I thought he did a pretty decent job with BC in 2014 considering he had no QBs to work with.

Did someone call for me? I don't pile on do I? LOL. Seriously though, I am about as neutral as one can get on this regime. My mind changes daily on whether we should fire them or not.

Harris wants to be the highest paid QB in the CFL. His agent said so a couple months ago. My how things change in the blink of an eye. I think he goes to Montreal, BC, or the Riders.

I'm sure Walter never thought of that. Lmao. When Walters DID ask MOS who we saw as his potential staff the answers he got were OC- Jason Maas and DC Rich Stubler. As we know, those were the guys that MOS wanted. Bellefeuille got pushed on him by Walters/Miller and Stubler rejected us after it looked like we were going to get him. The rest of the staff is irrelevant as the coordinators have heavy input into that.

I have a couple favorites I would like us to hire for OC. If my faves don't end up being the guy hired, I will still sleep well knowing Marcel Bellefeuille won't be the guy they hired.

Top rated by who Mark? Certainly not his last two employers. I think there are better candidates out there and they won't cost us a shot at Harris.

I don't want Chaps either. He is Marcel v2.0 imo. His offences only have a chance if there is an all star calibre OL.

Of course, the Bombers are going to ask Willy what his thoughts are on George Cortez. Why wouldn't they? He has carnal knowledge of Cortez's offence and would give an extremely valuable opinion on whether or not it would be successful here. It's done ALL the time TBurg. ALL the time. Franchise QBs are always asked for their opinion on former coaches before they are hired. Cortez is an excellent candidate. However, at the end of the day he has to be a good fit too. If Willy strongly objects to Cortez for some reason the Bombers have to respect that and move onto the next candidate. These two guys have to be able to work together. However, as I said earlier, Willy has always been complimentary of Cortez. I don't want Cortez though. It would take us out of the Harris running imo.