GCn20
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Posts posted by GCn20
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2 minutes ago, Goalie said:
If O’Shea is listening to a fan site or anybody on it he should be fired yesterday. He’s not tho cuz who the **** would. As if anyone even thinks they listen and oh hey that dude online who always complains said this, oh really well then. Like honestly. Are you delusional dude.
Mike Oshea is a better coach and has forgotten more about football than any of us on this forum. I can't believe the huberus some people have here to think they are smarter than a coach who is going to go down as one of the greatest Bomber coaches ever. We sit and bang our gums, but not a single of us knows the whole picture and are privy to all the info. What we consider a terrible decision sometimes is actually the right move because the coach actually has all the info that we will never be privy too.
It seems remarkably stupid to me that we sit around and pretend we know the inner workings of the club better than our HC.
1 minute ago, Bigblue204 said:You need to go watch the 4th Q again. Wilson didn't play like garbage. 2 of his 4 passes were flat out dropped. 1 was called PI. The bombers were very much in that game when he came in and the coaching staff (buck) decided to put it all on his arm instead of give the ball to Brady...even one time.... Acting like there can be no debate is ridiculous. The game got out of hand BECAUSE OF COLLAROS. Now there's something that can not be debated because it actually happened that way.
Wilson completed zero passes. ZERO. Don't care why. Doesn't matter. Didn't complete a ball. Every QB who plays like **** can point to a receiver dropping a ball or how close the pass was to being complete. Zero completions is zero completions. He couldn't get it done and it is wholly unrealistic for anyone to believe he could have, or JD for that matter. The Argo defence was eating our QBs for breakfast.
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The lengths some people will go to here to criticize our coach. Dolegala and Wilson are crap QBs. I am glad we let go of Dolegala last year and I am pretty sure Wilson is going to meet the same fate. But yea....they would have come from behind and beaten the Argos defence. SMH.
We can debate till the cows come home whether ZC should have gone back out, what is not debatable is the notion that any other of our rostered QBs would have led us to victory. ZERO CHANCE. The only players that could have won that game for us were on the D and STs. Perhaps BO going beast mode....those were our only chance at victory. Who we played at QB was irrelevant once ZC was injured.
I mean honest to god, I don't know how anyone who watches football could think that JD was remotely capable of winning that game for us? Some people see what they wanna see so that they can complain I guess?
- BigBlueFanatic and Tracker
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7 minutes ago, Noeller said:
Holm is arguably our best DB. He was a ******* all star this year. It's wildly absurd to suggest getting rid of him.
I completely agree. Not sure what the thinking on that is at all. We need to get rid of guys that are not performing and old not young and excelling. Same goes for a very reasonably priced Redha Kramdi. He is a bargain right now. Booch hasn't liked either guy since day one, and refuses to admit both guys have turned into pretty darn good players....but MOS is the biased one...lol.
- Bombertown and Blue28
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58 minutes ago, Blue In BC said:
C'mon. Those 3 aren't earning a combined $500K. Closer to $375K-$400K range. Even if that were true, you have to replace them with 3 other players. On ELC's that's still $74K per player.
ME too. IMO Logan, Schoen and Mitchell shouldn't be back.
Combined income of 380k according to press reports at the time of their signings. Replacing them with 3 rookies you are looking at 220k and losing a NAT starter and all star DB. Probably not where I would trim the roster with the exception of Thomas. There are 8 other teams in this league that would jump at Kramdi at 135k. That is not a high contract for a NAT at all.
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10 minutes ago, HardCoreBlue said:
oh my gosh again another person saying we had no viable option so nothing we could have done but play a crippled ZC is so frustrating to read over and over again from some here. Another person who can peer into an alternate universe and know that if we did play 100% healthy TW or JG it would have not worked 100% guaranteed. Is it you who is thinking we had no viable option or is it you thinking MOS and company believed they had no viable option? Because it it was the latter, whoever dressed TW and JG as our back-up qb’s knowing full well they will not see the field unless zc was carted off should be fired or at least be scolded.
I got to say using ALLCAPS here is quite appropriate and cathartic.
Terry Wilson DID play. Promptly went 0-3 passing. I guess we have all chosen to forget that. I guess we will also forget that ZC had two of his 3 ints after the injury tipped at the line.
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16 hours ago, Booch said:
Yeah...was gonna say...unless that was his twin brother with same name lol
And in the yr in question...Dolegala had played plenty up to that point ..I guess the yr previous throwing for just under 2700 yards...11 tds vs 9 ints was just pretend and didnt happen and would have no clue how to play QB on a vet laden team...yup...
But the poster said he didn't take a snap in 2 yrs. Basically confirming many of his posts are a load of ****
Dolegala also had a year, not two weeks, to learn the offence that he was barely able to execute and lead to a disastrous record. Let's pretend his throwing stats mean more than win/loss though. As stated Dolegala had extremely limited knowledge of our playbook, had virtually no first team reps to get timing down, and has zero mobility or sand lot ability to make up for any of that. If we had put him in he probably tosses more INTs than ZC did.
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On 2025-11-20 at 11:12 AM, wbbfan said:
We should've never been in that position where its dole or wilson in a grey cup lol.
Winner winner chicken dinner. The problem wasn't that we played Zach, the problem was there was no other viable option so that we didn't have to do so.
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1 hour ago, Booch said:
With what he is about to make for 2026...what BO could be pulling in...tho I think he as good as gone with Osh back....need for a legit #1...Demski's money, oline issues and quickfix is FA signings...do we even have the ability cash wise to surround him with the best we can find?....doubtful...unless we cut and scrimp elsewhere and bastardize the roster even further to make the remote chance of ZC being elite even a possibility
But...possible way is to remove salaries of KOLO...Tomas..Kramdi..Wilsom....Holm...Gauthier...Hallett....they all outlived their bang for buck value...a few of which never deserved the buck they were eating
With the exception of Kramdi most of these guys aren't making enough over minimum to have a great effect on our SMS. That's not to say we shouldn't move on, but if you think there is meaningful savings letting them go there isn't. I did not include Holm because WTF? The guy is a very good DB. Also you have this huge hate on for Kramdi but he is worth every penny. Every player needs to be replaced by someone even the above and they all get paid salary too. Your savings are only what they are getting above replacement. Kolo won't be replaced for even a dollar less than what we are paying him, Wilson maybe 20-25k we could save with a rookie, Gauthier and Hallet are probably at or close to league min. We don't create meaningful SMS cutting the bottom of our roster. We gotta do it at the top and middle. Again, that's not me saying we should bring back any of those guys, just saying cutting them for SMS reasons isn't going to give us much extra SMS.
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On 2025-11-20 at 10:06 AM, Booch said:
yeah he said he allots certain amounts to certain position groups, and seems as rigid with that as osh is with his ratio...both should be fluid and adjusted on the fly if need arises or you have an opportunity to upgrade somewhere....missing put on FA guys or letting others go because it doesn't meet what you already predetermined as your ratio...is just dumb...and makes your roster decay...kinda like ours has...
Totally 100% agree. You can have a number on a position group as a max but there should be no minimum. I don't like KW's cap skills.
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22 hours ago, wbbfan said:
Exposed at Wil? I mean, in pass coverage, we had the most vulnerable Mlber in the league. Or more than a bunch of the DBs were early? Teams around the league started rookie NI lbers this year to great success. Cis kids too, not sort of kind of Canadians like Shay and Smith.
Smith played a hybrid DB position,l ike how we use the Sam up here in college, too.
Wil isn't some high-risk position; it's pretty much the DH of the D. You can hide an awful lot a Wil and Mac in the CFL. That's why it's become a low-risk risk high-reward position to flip the ratio at.
Elgersma is basically our long-term hope at QB. But I do mean long term. He needs to be on the AR and getting some work in practice, but I don't see him jumping into starting. QBs do start sooner than ever, but it would be insane if he even kept pace with the line Rourke set. Where he showed promise as a starter in 21 after being drafted in 19, then was pretty bad in a fraction of a season 24, then really finally cemented him self this year as an elite starter.
I will be very interested to see how Elgersma progresses, being a CIS kid who got a pre-season in the NFL, but didn't come up here for the end of year. If he had come here and gotten some grooming on the PR, maybe dressed late, that could've been a real career accelerator. But like Walters said, rookie TC is hard for a QB, and it is also the biggest opportunity for one. Unless he is our short yardage guy, I don't expect to see him take a regular season snap next year.
If we see Elgersma starting next year something has gone incredibly wrong (injuries or desperation) or incredibly right (he just shows an incredible learning curve and talent). The former would be great but not likely. Our team has pretty much, since 2013 (with the exception of OL) not played rookie NATs in the first year of their contract and bring them along slowly. I think that is just fine. It has served us well and unless someone absolutely jumps off the page it is the best path for their development imo. Could we have given Shay/Smith more time this year? Highly debatable. On one hand, it would be nice to give every rookie meaningful reps, on the other we weren't in a situation to play fast and loose with rookie mistakes. We eked into the playoffs. If we were more secure in the standings my opinion would be different depending on whether or not they showed readiness.
2 hours ago, wbbfan said:He was back to back then, in 23, we began to see the cracks in Zach's armor resurface, along with his injuries. And the league was catching back up to us. His overall brutal QBing performances here in the playoffs had also just cost us a GC. 236 yards 0 tds 1 int vs 290 yards 3 tds 1 int. We can say no comparison between Faj and Zach, and on that night, it was true. Zach couldn't compare in the least to Faj. He won 2 rings and was in the race for several MOPs as well.
That was the ideal moment to move on from Zach. Even if he had a couple strong strong years left in him. He still had value; we could've gotten a very nice return for him and saved money going to brown.
I can't see many cases where the CFL team stayed with the old guy.
Brown showed well but it was a pretty limited sample size, and ZC still looked good....maybe not MOP good, but certainly upper echelon of the league good. I think this is a bad decision in hindsight but it is also the type of decision that could have gone either way. I won't beat up KW for that one. The contract he gave ZC....different story.
- Mark H. and Bigblue204
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25 minutes ago, wbbfan said:
Every single off-season, at least 7-8 teams retool in free agency. Full-scale rebuilds are rarer; it's more often that teams hire a new HC and we see where the mostly new roster falls. Like we will see in Ottawa this offseason.
I think the closest thing to a rebuild we see these days is what happened in Calgary. Even BC's D was rebuilt mid-season. We've rebuilt secondaries mid-season multiple times in the last 6 seasons.
NI talent is hard to rebuild fast, though 1 great draft can change a lot as we've seen a few times. Ols are generally slower to build, but teams are starting to realize we don't need to be married to forcing 3-5 canadians into those spots like teams used to. 3 imp ols are becoming more common and we've seen some 4 imp lines last year. Going Imp, and heavy, allows you to build the ol much faster. WR cores build fast, it's really just QB which you get or you don't have.
If we go shopping in FA, and draft well, we can be right back in the mix next year.
- Booch and Colin Unger
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7 minutes ago, wbbfan said:
Man, if we did that, with a canadian Lber and DB, we'd be back to beating up teams in the trenches fast.
Or Shay/Smith would have been exposed and we do worse. Hard to say. Lot of it predicates on the belief that 2 rookie NAT LBers were ready to start. This is completely unknown at this time and therefore not a statement of fact but of opinion.
11 minutes ago, JuranBoldenRules said:Calgary hasn't hosted a playoff game since 2019 and hasn't won anything since 2018. They've been down for a long time by CFL standards, especially when Edmonton and Ottawa are so bad too.
QB play in the league is bad.
If you protect Zach and give him some receivers we could have the best offense in the league pretty quick. It's basically Rourke, Alexander and everyone else.
Harris is consistently average, BLM and VAJ had a few good games but are terribly inconsistent. Arbuckle and Fajardo can get you 6-7 wins.
Keep in mind all these other QB's were scrap heaped long ago. Harris was dumped by Edmonton and Montreal 4-5 years ago and just won the Grey Cup.
Who do you go get that gives you a better chance to win a CFL game than Collaros tomorrow? If you're thinking you're just going to throw a rookie on the field and magic....well go back from about 1995 to 2016 and live that over.
Yep,,,I agree. Most here will say Elgersma the rookie, if he signs, and champion him to start all season despite rookie QBs rarely having success. We will ruin Elgersma if we rush him.
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15 hours ago, Piggy 1 said:
Not to mention the Mafias belief that ZC is the best QB in the league........
All teams say that publically.
14 hours ago, wbbfan said:no one will get a shot at qb as long as zach has a pulse and a contract
Elgersma will get a shot if he comes up for sure. Does anyone think ZC stays healthy for all 18 games? If he does we won't have to worry about whether Elgersma got his shot in year one or not.
1 hour ago, SpeedFlex27 said:Osh doesn't want a rebuild. He said that publicly. He wants to bring most players back & "tweak" the roster with minor changes. So, that means same old, same old.
Proof? Not what I heard in his presser whatsoever.
15 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:That actually could be why he hasn't signed.
That could be mainly why he hasn't signed for sure.
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On 2025-11-18 at 7:17 PM, Booch said:
healthy players sure...players making plays also has to do with preparedness and coaching and being put in a position to do so....any player will...and has said that.....we haven't of late coached our players very well
A QB who couldnt handle the ball....let alone throw it...admittingly wouldn't lead u toa win either..
Dolegala had played in the league...garnered wins on a poorer team than us...I'm sure he could have managed the game better than whatZC gave post finger re-attachment
I disagree wholeheartedly on what Dolegala might have done. He is a stand up, pocket passer with almost no mobility. He had extremely limited knowledge of our playbook, took almost no first team reps to build timing, and would have been facing a TO front 4 that was dominating our OL. I give him a near zero chance of winning that game if he comes in. We may all hate that Zac Collaros went back into that game, but he was the only QB on our roster that realistically gave us any shot of winning. Yes, in order to do so he would have had to be able to play through his injury but if I am the coach I would make the same call based on who was available. It's not like we didn't try Wilson, we did, and he promptly went out and laid a big fat egg. Dolegala? Not even a realistic option really IF we are truly trying to win. I get the gamble that ZC could play through didn't work, but at the time the decision was made it was the right decision imo. Anything else is laying down and gifting the win.
The reality of the situation is that the second ZC got injured our chances of winning that game, no matter who we put out behind centre, pretty much dried up unless D and STs could pull out a miracle. Our offence was done. I don't think that's an unfair statement at all. ZC could have gone back into that game and we feed them a steady diet of BO and we had a chip and a chair. The problem wasn't leaving ZC in the game. The problem was the play calling once we had decided that.
Buck never adjusted to the reality of that moment. We had all kinds of run packages, screens, dumps, go to the flats that ZC could have executed even with a bad finger. Instead we have him going long on his first play back in the game. It made no sense.
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15 minutes ago, sweep the leg said:
Was Harris not the highest paid rb in the league when we won back to back Cups?
Yes, was our QB the highest paid? Nope. Was AH making 250k a season. Nope. I have zero issues with BO being the highest paid RB. It's all about by how much, and whether we have that luxury.
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On 2025-11-16 at 5:00 PM, Booch said:
If Maas was leading our team 2022-2024...I bet we have 5 cups.....just saying
I bet if players had made more plays from 2022-2024 we would have 4 cups as well. My bet is even more likely than your bet to be accurate. Despite coaching let downs we were a play or two from winning two of those games for sure. No coach would have overcome the ZC injury. We had nothing behind him. Unless one has the incredibly far fetched idea that Jake Dolegala Or Wilson was going to lead us to victory. The last Grey Cup went down the crapper when Collaros did. He was the only QB on our roster capable of winning that game. That's just the reality of it.
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39 minutes ago, Noeller said:
I could have sworn the consensus here was that Dobson, Ford and Lawler were all a wild overpayment and the Bombers were smart to not pay the asking price......?
I think that was the consensus on 2 out of the 3 for sure. However, many here lamented the Lawler loss for the piss poor GMing that it was. Ford would still be an overpay. Dobson, wasn't really considered an overpay by most, but replaceable with what we had in Wallace. That's why we are fans though. We don't get paid big dollars to make proper talent assessment . I mean read the forum for the past number of years, we still have guys that think that Kramdi isn't a good player. Walters does and therefore when we look back in retrospect, our opinions of the moves at the time don't have to have a great deal of accuracy. A CFL GM does not get to have the same level of accuracy as a fan, he must be better than Joe Blow.
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36 minutes ago, Booch said:
so you want a rift between your G.M and H.C?....No trust in his judgement...after all he is the coach and should see talent/value
I agree tho Walter's needs to take more ownership and tell osh for a lack of better word's to "eff off" in some of his ideas
YEAH...we dont have to play a Canadian RB...We choose to
again...back to coach's eye for talent
Kramdi..Thomas..Kolo...Hallett getting major reps...Corcorran...Korny...none those guys would get reps elsewhere like here...I cant see any starting anywhere else....Do a better job with your canadian talent and dont focus on ST only guys...Talented players can play teams....Untalented players who only can play teams dont make adequate backups let alone starters
I think you meant what went wrong starting on 2023....that may be a better way to fix it...and stop referencing back to 2019-2021...Osh still lives there
If a rift is necessary, then a rift it must be. If that rift can't be navigated someone has to go. I would rather Walters do his job, and if the situation were to become untenable then do what else is necessary. I don't buy into the notion that Walters must be OSH's puppet for harmony. That's a cop out for Walters not doing his job.
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11 minutes ago, Bigblue204 said:
I was wondering when Vaccaro would be eligible for the draft. He was named the best OL in the league (or country) before leaving the Bisons for Purdue. Would be a perfect guy to bring back. Wonder if he gets any NFL interest?
I guess it depends on his season this year really. However, just browsing the interweb he seems to be rated as a non-draftee possible UDFA NFL type. Might be a real good guy to draft if he is still there. Not sure who ahead of us is looking at Centre so I'd say he's a guy that could fit our draft needs.
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6 minutes ago, Booch said:
Dobson got market value for 2nd yr deal for a Canadian Olineman....we could have easily kept him....Just look at what the the Human Ole' machine at center makes....drop his money...give it to Dobson....Same with what Thomas pulls in for his 18 games...prob top 3 in snaps on the dline for a grand total of 9 tackles...thats his stat line...18 games...9 tackles.....wow.....
lot of our early struggles tho I think can be placed at the feet of another subpar and poorly crafted TC...again......Even some vets said it was an issue
I just want t see real competition in camp...No Job is guaranteed/penciled in....no guys getting zero TC participation yet start Game 1.....You show best in camp...you get the spot....regardless of where you from...how long you been here....or in league....plain and simple...roll that unit out game 1-3 and if they gettin er done...keep on rolling, and players keep their spot with performance, or you lose your job.
That's the world I came from and am still in with the football I'm still involved with
Can Osh facilitate that?...thats the big question...Have my doubts until he shows that
and a top ST player too league wide...that alone should have gave ol Osh a stiffer
I absolutely agree and Dobson even stated he gave Walters a chance to match. That was a mistake. It wasn't as big at the time he made it, but I think our franchise can ill afford another offseason of talent bleed off like last year. Losing 4 all stars in one season, all of whom wanted to return, is piss poor GMing.
I completely agree with you about how we craft our TC's. Not working. Needs a revamp. I am hoping that Miller's retention of Walters/OSH came with some directives about changing up some of their flaws. If not....this year really is on Miller. I am still of the firm belief that at the very least Walters should have been fired, and OSH if necessary to appease a new GM. The mafia isn't working right now and I think Miller is a pretty savvy guy and has given some new ways forward to the management/coaching. If not, whatever they do this year could have been prevented.
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14 minutes ago, Booch said:
January will be very telling in who we consider "priority" signings and how long we take to solve the OC issue...the longer we drag thatbout...the more concerning it is as it means any potential upgrade is hesitant in signing on here...and rightfully so, or they are re-uping OC guy....so fairly soon it will be apparent if it more of the same ol ame ol downward spiral, or a true shift...and if some of the usual suspects are re-signed early, and some the others not outright released prior to free agency we are hooped
We will have to eat 3 yrs and probably wallow around in the abyss...or can Osh mid-season or after the next flop seson and eat that contract and hand-cuff ourselves, and prob do the ol promote from within...not a very confidence inducing time by any stretch right now....
Schoen wont be seen until the very late stages of 2026...if at all....and even then he should just sit it all out a try a "comeback" in 2027...He should not even be considered an option for 2026 and If HC and G.M intend that as a signing...both should be sent packing now
Fact...2023 Grey cup Schoen couldnt run and hadnt practiced in months and wasnt ready to play and even said was shocked to be on roster...Bailey could barely move due to a hammy...Demski couldt run or cut worth **** with an ankle....zero explosion, and Bolo was 100 percent healthy...took zero snaps as our offence got smothered....also of note we had an experienced vet in Ambles....who had been here for weeks...won a Grey Cup against us the previous yr , and was a solid receiver and Osh opted to not dress hi for any of the other 3.....so saying Osh is a pisspoor roster curator isnt a stretch...Thats just one season's example....this has gone on pretty much for all his seasons
maybe Osh needs tohave a better eye for talent in camp as to who to keep?....hmmmmm...possible
only way you get better....and progress...is with game reps in the CFL...Not in practice....not running up and down field on teams...you need to be integrated to see if player is one to move forward with...or move on from
We are worst inleague inder Osh in doing that...and why we have zero depth
You keep saying that Osh needs to have a better eye for talent in camp. This league is small and opposing GMs are very aware and have scouted many of the same players we have. I cannot think of a single player we cut in camp that went on to be anything in this league. Teams are signing other teams cuts all the time. Our cuts have done exactly zero anywhere. That leads me to believe that it isn;t Osh's eye for talent that is the problem, it is our recruiters. If we were cutting studs some at least would turn up somewhere else. THAT IS WHY WE HAVE ZERO DEPTH.
Over a 3 year span with Rigmaiden our scouting suddenly ratcheted up and we were a very deep club. He left it went back to poop again. We aren't bringing in enough talent at every position group. PERIOD. The only place we seem to be having some real good fortune is at DB.
I am on record many times saying coaching lost us that Grey Cup, both roster composition but especially game plan. However, that was not the discussion whatsoever. Telling me how a carburetor works when we are talking about mufflers doesn't add anything. We all know what MOS weaknesses are. Where we disagree is how that impacts our talent level. Like I've stated, name one good player who left town because of roster composition.
Look, I stated last week that I thought we should clean house. I am not defending OSH. What I am trying to point out is that anyone thinking we had a roster that could legit compete for a Grey Cup last year is smoking crack. We NEED more talent, and to be clear we also need our coach to use it properly, I think that's a pretty fair statement.
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21 minutes ago, Booch said:
100%...I'd say one of the weakest league wide in some time...not just here...was almost embarrassing to be honest, and add to that a OC who couldnt put a game plan together to beat a Prep School team in Texas or Cali...well we saw the results...
he's definately give us a player on the all douchewhistle team tho...but other than that...i dunno...not polished....or good route runner...suspect hands...but good coaching could correct that...So uness we can OC Guy we better sign polished pros with many yrs under their belt
wasnt that knicked up...and Osh plays guys who shouldnt even dress...let alone be a back-up...so dont buy that crap cause he coud have flipped ratio and played an Imp....but nope...he's a moron
so explain the playingof sub par guys...for yrs now in "real" games and not sitting...bemching...cutting them for far more than less than adequate play?....exhibition or not...tc..reg sesson...Of a player shows ability, then reps and a chance to grow is a nobrainer...and that was hardly an exhibition game....and you think the Al's were playing to lose?...no player regardless of the game implications wants to suck ass and lose...and if they are...then shouldnt be on a pro roster...thats just nonesense
thing with rookies...you dont know until you know...if you are real good evaluator of talent (which some of our coaches...or coach isnt) then ya you can see the possible benefit/upside, but if never given a chance...you will never know...and rarely develop talent...especially national
And why our depth sucks, and we seem to be lacking any impact players...wesuck at developing and transitioning cause Osh stagnates it and values some intabgibles over talent and upside..being here many yrs, or being a vet doesnt always mean "better"....only in Osh's world
I agree that in years past we had ample opportunity to be better at giving young guys playing time. We cruised for many years easily winning our division. Could have still done so and played the youngsters more.
However, I find this argument to be completely without merit this year. This year we struggled early and were fighting for a playoff spot right to the last week. We couldn't roll the dice on rookies or we may have missed the playoffs in a GC hosting year. We've heard lots about Smith/Shay not playing. Haven't heard much about anyone else. Our LBers actually played well this year. We should have sat them and played rookies in a year where one more loss and we are out of the playoffs? C'mon. That's not a valid thought process. In the past, yes, this year nope.
Whether you like it or not the ALs game was an exhibition game. Both teams sat a great deal of starters. Did both teams play to win? Certainly. Was the talent level of those competing the highest level. Nope.
I think the Bombers have done a real good job developing NAT talent. Not sure what you are seeing that suggests otherwise? Some hit and some miss, and none of it was due to playing time or lack thereof. Who are these NAT talents that we failed to develop and went somewhere else and found success? Name one.
We've seen a few fringe NAT guys leave after their first contract due to playing time, but these aren't difference maker players. The other guys we've lost it's been solely about the benjamins. We wouldn't pay them what others were willing to do so. This fabrication that we lose good NATs for lack of playing time in year one is nonsense. Playing time in year one literally doesn't hurt their CFL careers whatsoever. They sign 3 year deals at a stipulated salary. Years 2 and 3 are where they need to be playing and we have been very good about getting anyone who is starting quality their playing time by the time they hit FA. Dobson and Ford for instance, our big FA losses last year barely saw the field in their rookie years. They still parlayed their successful first contracts into big money second contracts.
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29 minutes ago, bigg jay said:
The record book says that's not entirely true, at least as far as drafted players go.
6 guys have played out their rookie deals and left as a FA in the last 10 years: Ford, Dobson, BOLO, Desjarlais, Kongbo & Loeffler.
9 guys have stayed past their rookie deal: Kramdi, Cadwallader, Brady, Eli, Nick Hallett, Gray, Couture, Gauthier, Chung.
There have been guys who may have been around longer but were forced to retire due to injuries (ex: Noah Hallett, Trent Corney). More concerning was the amount of busts we've had over that time - i get the CFL draft is a crap shoot but man is it ugly.
I am not sure he was entirely talking about NATs, although, the Bombers have been VERY good at retaining our top talent IMPs so I can't imagine that's what he meant. We have let a lot of IMP guys walk after their rookie contracts expire but I am yet to see a single one of them make a difference elsewhere. Fact of the matter is that NAT draft pick retention is always going to be a little more difficult because they had no choice where they were going to play to start with. You are always going to lose some after their rookie contract. However, its a GMs job to present them with a number that will make them stay. Ford there was no way he was staying, but over the years we have let some very good NATs walk in FA because we didn't want to pay.
Blue Bombers - 2025 Regular Season - Discussion Thread
in Blue Bomber Discussion
Posted
Hogan's gone. It couldn't be more apparent. Several media reports from several media people and teams reporting that the Bombers have asked permission to talk to members of their staff about the job. I don't expect the Bombers to fly a banner behind a plane announcing it. They are classier than that. They are not doing this for optics. To do such a thing would be absolutely moronic and unprecedented in pro sports really.