GCn20

Yea....and it's not really a debate so much as his short time with the Bombers may outweigh a long stint in his peak years with the Riders to Dressler. That says a ton about that organization.

And then immediately played the next 3 years with an organization that has been in a class of it's own in regards to the treatment and ongoing support of it's players. Dressler is basically saying these were the years he enjoyed the most in his career, and based on where he came from I believe this is more than lip service. The Riders dissed him, the Bombers embraced him and helped him grow not just as a football player but as a relatively young man transitioning to a new chapter in his life. Dressler wants us all to know he respects the hell out of that. I will take his indecision at face value.

Not sure if we go the Kongbo route or not, but we can't stay status quo on Thomas/Schmekel. Walters will need to add some NAT talent to our DL. Whether that is at DE or a FA DT...not sure. I would advocate for Kongbo but word in Hamilton is that he won't budge off of starting NAT DE money and that is why he remains unsigned. David Menard may be another stop gap guy that comes to mind as a possibility. KW may wait until cut downs around the league to see who shakes loose as well.

That is the most likely line of reasoning. If Barriere had been here more than 10 days I'd really consider him a bust. Right now I'd love to see the guy get until the end of camp and maybe some PR time before deciding he doesn't get it.

Damn...

I think Kramdi likely rotates in and out with Cole starting as well.

The conspiracy theorist in me would like to believe that we 6 gamed Miller to be an assistant coach last year, and that we are doing the same with Biggie this year, but there is that little pesky rule that 6 gamed players can only attend the building for the purposes of medical and are not allowed to be on the practice field or in team meetings during that time. Naturally there are some pretty easy ways to circumvent some of that, but unfortunately not a whole lot.

I'm surprised some start up hasn't moved into that space as an X clone. With Elon as polarizing has he is seems like a missed opportunity. At the very least it would force Elon to buy you out.

Might have been a case of underestimating Montreal as well. That's what I thought as well. I liked his game there.

Schmekel and Bennet being forced out onto the field before they were ready is on the coaching. I can't see the Bombers rolling with a starting Schmekel with Thomas rotating in heavily. They will be rotational players and we will have to adjust ratio.

That's kind of what I meant. A rookie should probably not have been expected to play lights out and he clearly needed more development. That being said he was awful, but I think a lot of people gave up on him and that was the part that wasn't fair. It's not even about replacement level, it's the fact there is no way that Fatboi can play that many reps physically now. At the peak of his career he was often gassed out from minimal reps. The Bombers couldn't possibly be looking for Fatboi to be on the field more than 20% of the reps. That is just obvious.

Barriere throws a really nice ball, but yea he's no physical freak like Adams. He is a very good passer though....however, if he can't figure out our game then all of that is moot.

Me too....because the guy has high skill level and if it ever clicks for him lookout. I would hate to see him go to Calgary with his old coach and get the lights turned on over there. Sadly, I think that is exactly what will happen.

We don't necessarily need starting calibre NATs in a rotation, just guys who are capable backups that won't hurt us for a rep or two while we give breathers.

For sure, he is not seeing the field like a 3 down QB needs to do. He's been here a week, maybe he's just a slow learner, maybe he's a bust. I wouldn't get rid of him yet though.

We just didn't have Kongbo (NAT) or Hansen (GL) since then, We can't run that kind of rotation without NATs or GL guys. There just isn't the roster room. That would be a great lineup if everyone plays up to potential.

I have no problem with that at all. I am wired the same way. Winning is the goal. I just think that a natural reaction to losing sometimes is to throw the baby out with the bath water instead of stepping back and seeing how far away from the goal you are. In the Bombers case, I don't believe wholesale change is needed. Some improvement to be sure, but our problems are not of the earth shattering variety. MOS has his quirks, he needs to reel a couple of them in a little, and we will be in great shape from a coaching perspective...hell we are in great shape already.

From what I saw, he is struggling to adapt to the 3 down game. He has the talent, do we have the patience?

In my perfect world we are rotating guys in and out of the DL on a regular basis keeping them fresh as a daisy into the 4th Q. The only way we are able to run a 7-8 man DL rotation is with some NAT DLs rostered and ready. I like the idea of having 2 IMP DTs as well taking 65% of the snaps, but after that if we are going to stay fresh we need to mix in NATs.

I'm not as harsh on our success rate the last couple years as you are, winning the West division the past 2 years and being in the Grey Cup is still a pretty darn good accomplishment imo. That's not to suggest it was perfect, it wasn't, but we are still a dominant team in this league. The fact we can split hairs on roster management after winning games just tells me how spoiled we are as a fan base right now. This could be far, far worse and is nowhere near bad.

True, we can do that. However, we still need to roster our share of NATs come game day and if Schmekel is doing well he is a candidate to be one of those guys and offer us some depth on the DL while he's at it. If he's balling and can offer us a 7 man DL rotation we are right back to 2021. Do we need to use him? No. Would be a nice luxury to have if he can keep playing at a high level.

I am very encouraged by what I have seen from the new recruits at the key positions so far. Don't forget Tre Thomas either, dude was balling the other day.

I think that last year we were wholly unfair to guys like Schmekel given their rookie status. Rarely does a NAT rookie jump off the page in their first year and the learning curve is much steeper for the guys coming out of the CIS. That being said he was rostered and was thusly fair game. However, I don't believe a NAT out of CIS should written off in their rookie year. These guys come to us more raw and less polished than recruits from down South and require some patience. Schmekel obviously put in the work this offseason, and I am glad he is looking better so far because we really need him to be. I agree. Schmekel had a great game, but I really thought Garbutt and Rivers showed they can play in this league.

Just an awful showing by their almost starting lineups for the first quarter and a half. Embarrassing really given that we were playing our scrubs.

Yea, Woli will never let that happen again tho.