36 minutes ago, TBURGESS said:

I doubt Crum or Powell ever becomes a starting QB. I think that Ford still has an outside chance. Our 2nd string should be a guy who can win games and hopefully become a starter in a year or two. Ford could be that guy and in the meantime, he would be a a great short yardage, change of pace, or ride and decide guy. 

Powell is FAR superior to Ford. This isn't even debatable.

1 hour ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

For me, it's nothing personal against Jake The Person. I know that he's is a nice guy. I'd probably like him if I ever met him.

Unfortunately, it has everything to do with Jake The Player & now Jake The Coach. Thomas was given the starting DT position for years much to the detriment of the team. Starting Thomas blocked development for younger guys who needed to play.. When he did play, it usually was sub standard & not up to the level we needed. 

Now he's been given the DL coaching position by the same head coach who has been gifting him everything for years. Hard not to see the entitlement. That's on Osh for creating that stigma. 

 

There should be no stigma. Direct your disdain for his usage where it belongs. He may very well be an excellent DL coach but many here are writing him off simply because of his name and that is over the top.

I like Crum but wouldn't want him either. If Powell were to shake loose tho.

6 minutes ago, Pete said:

I like Ford he has more tools than Streveler ever did. Im just not sure we can afford the salary

And yes I think he could be qb2 just needs some proper  coaching

I don't think coaching will help him much. He's just not a particularly good passer.

1 minute ago, Noeller said:

Also the whole "he's a giant fat mess" thing somehow got stuck in him. Have you ever seen him in person? He really isn't. He's just built like a whiskey barrel...

He's never been the model of lean and mean, but not many DTs are. The guy played with heart, and worked hard as a player. Not sure why there is so much vitriol when his name is mentioned....or at least why it's being directed towards him.

20 minutes ago, Brandon said:

It's tough because he does have the raw abilities.  I'd feel way more comfortable with him being a 3rd stringer... I wouldn't want to invest in him being a backup though.   

As a QB he serves no purpose to any team right now. One could argue 3rd string, but I'd rather have a guy who hasn't washed out at that position.

25 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

I agree. I'd add that he has completely earned the stigma and bias against him. But I think the floor is very high for a replacement, given how we have struggled to coach and develop talent on the DL. The verdict is out on Jake as a coach, but I am not really worrying about him. 

How did he earn the stigma and bias against him? What specifically did he do? I get that his usage was awful, but how is that on him? Imo, he is being unfairly criticized for playing a role that his coaches asked of him. He signed a contract and went on the field when he was told to do so. We can hate the role he played but now it is carrying over into dislike for him personally and that isn't fair for us to do.

20 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

Yep, all-purpose back, see if he can run any kind of route or screens, motion packs etc. I'd teach him to handle kick-offs, even be a timing rusher off the edge to block kicks. And use him as the sneak guy. 

You could either roster him as the 3rd qb and use him as a flex player all over the rest of the field, or you could roster him as an RB, and carry 3 imp QBs. 

There is a whole lot you can do with a guy that dynamic. QB to S is a strange but surprisingly effective swap for athletic guys as well.  

Would have to come fairly cheap tho.

1 hour ago, Tracker said:

Unless O'Shea has had an on-the-road-to-Damascus epiphany, he is most likely to play non-pets in minor and/or losing situations so as to try to discredit them, then do an I-toldyaso riff. All passive-aggressive stuff.

For some reasom, you are confusing a realistic assessment of Thomas as ineffective and an obatacke to developing younger, better players. with hatred for him. So far as I am aware, he has not eaten any puppies or beaten up any orphans, but am willing to be proven wrong in that regard.

I agree totally that he was an obstacle as a player. That, however, has absolutely nothing to do with my post. Some people, without seeing any results whatsoever are pegging him as a bust as a coach. That assessment can only be created by a massive bias against him.

9 minutes ago, Booch said:

I was gonna say...grab him and convert him into an offensive do whatever tool....motion pre snap....split out back with BO....cause we all know with ball in hand...what he can do...and being a National....what a bonus....I'd have him taking kicks too to see if he has the chops for that

It would be nice to have a backup plan for Vaval for sure. Trey is going to excel this year...gut feeling....but we have seen very little depth at KR/PR in recent years and it would be nice to have.

7 minutes ago, Brandon said:

Step one... sign new guys for a proper OL.  

 

A new C will help a lot but I would like to see at least one really good addition in FA.

1 hour ago, wbbfan said:

Wilson is as well. White/Wilson/Demski is going to be a nightmare for teams to cover and tackle.100% on the 50/50 guy. If we get that, our wr core will be in great shape. 

I agree. When heads are swiveling around looking in the secondary their feet tend to slow down too and that's where guys get wide open. With slippery guys like we have that will be tough on opposing secondaries. Further to that, I think Demski and White are both exceptional at finding open space on broken plays, and Zach is very good at exploiting teams in that scenario as well.

5 minutes ago, Booch said:

For what our dline coach has to do really I guess he will be fine...With vets like Lawson..WJ and hopefully a Ceresna they dont need Thomas' tutelage..as there is nothing he could offer them...and any young guy can get things passed on by them too

The x and o part will come from Younger anyway...and some from Stanley...Thomas will add nothing there...it was essentially a mercy hire that won't make or break our season...was still dumb tho...and a slap in face of any up an coming coach in the CIS ranks or NCAA who has been putting in the work

All we are going to need from JT is an understanding of what defensive fronts Younger wants and for him to be able to get his DL to execute them. It's not rocket science. He will be fine. Technique is something that all the guys on the line help each other with anyway.  He's not going to be the guy who reinvents our DL. He is going to be the guy who observes them and gives Younger the scoop on what they do well, and where they need improvement so that Younger can maximize their strengths and minimize their weaknesses. By all accounts JT was a film hawk already as a player, so this should be right up his alley. He will study film hard to look for things that can be exploited on the oppositions OL and report his findings to Younger so he can put them in a position to exploit them.

9 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

 

How can you consider Tim White a consolation prize? 

Especially when we don't even know if Winnipeg had any interest in Mack.  That being said I would have preferred Mack, but White is outstanding at keeping the opposing defensive backfield off balance. The cannot lose track of him and he is very good at slipping out of coverage. What he does opens other guys up as well. He and Demski are both very good at that. Now we just need a legit 50/50 guy.

9 hours ago, Nolby said:

What is Thomas going to teach Ceresna? How to be a liability with a big belly???

I guess we should just fire JT now. Obviously he has nothing to offer. Sad, that the hate is so strong for a guy that showed up to play for us game in and game out. We may not like his usage over the past few years but now we are blaming him for it. 

28 minutes ago, Booch said:

He was signed in 2026 so all his goes to 2026 sms..and yeah he gets 75k upfront

Pretty much just offsets what we paid Schoen last year

Ceresna is a beast. He won't need to learn technique from JT that's for sure. However, JT is an excellent X's and O's guy. That part of it all our guys should be listening too.

22 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

Could you imagine going from Thomas to ceresna at DT? 

Dare to dream. I hope Sleepy Kyle wakes up in time before someone else grabs him. That being said the White signing shows he has at least one eye open this year.

1 minute ago, bigg jay said:

I really hope he's taking advantage of marketing money and loading some guys (ex: Willie and Brady) up with it.  That would free up a bunch of cap space and it's not like the club can't afford it.

I have zero concerns about our SMS availability this year. We should have an extra 400k over most teams.

https://x.com/FarhanLaljiTSN/status/2016929100514885783?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^2016929100514885783|twgr^e371f0bba726d497d05d5a273d470d92036c5bbd|twcon^s1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.riderfans.com%2Fforum%2Fmain-forum%2F1221601-news-from-around-the-league

1 minute ago, HardCoreBlue said:

Apparently I hear a player like JC will faciltate better and more focussed play from WJ. If true, a huge bonus to signing a Jake that doesn't end with Thomas.

Go coach JT. 🙂

Ceresna would have to be considered the perfect fit for us. He can play inside and out and dominate. With our DC loving 3 man fronts that is exactly the guy we need.

9 minutes ago, Noeller said:

So much speculation and conjecture... Nobody knows anything. One of the only things we DO know is that Walters said we would be aggressive in FA this year, which tells me he knows he has some money to play with. 

There is no logical way to conclude that he doesn't have a fist full of cash. That's not conjecture, that is math. Last year on the eve of FA, 400k increase was announced to the SMS. KW said he wouldn't use it because he wasn't sure if it was going to be for salaries or not. Only one notable player was added after that in Wilson half way thru the season. There had to be a large portion of that money sitting at the end of the year. Also, to back up my reasoning is that we signed all our big signings just about before December 31, the deadline for 2025 SMS. Not even going to factor in the 100k we saved on Schoen, and a huge run of 6 games injures at the beginning of the season. Wouldn't surprise me if we weren't even at the SMS floor by the end of the season.

I think that not only did KW sign a bunch after the season but pre-December 31st, but he had to in order to be SMS compliant. 

17 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

I don't think Walters will bring Woli back with what is out there already. There are some nice pieces for receivers we could use but now's not the time for our GM to suddenly sit ion his hands like he's done the past 3 years thinking that signing our aging veteran core all over again is work done enough this off season. 

If we wanted Woli we wouldn't have passed on him last year.

14 hours ago, HardCoreBlue said:

To me MOS comes across as a live by the sword die by the sword type person that is probably one of his greatest strengths but also can be one of his greatest weaknesses depending on the scenarios that present themselves. I think he might have a hard time recognizing when to use this strength and when not to use it but hey i’m just a rando guy on the interwebz.

This is exactly why KW needs to be his checks and balance. MOS can get his players to run thru brick walls for him, but he needs a GM that can be his counterbalance because MOS will also do the same for them when business should dictate otherwise. Having KW act at his whim is not good. The best teams we've had are when KW and MOS fought tooth and nail over some players. That has to return.

11 minutes ago, Nolby said:

Do we have much cash left after signing huge contracts to Demski, BO and White to sign Jake if we could?

We should. Kyle didn't spend to the SMS last year for sure based on him saying the 400k was not spendable, so a bunch of those contracts should have hefty portions paid on last year's SMS. We had no big contracts signed at any point last year after the 400k was announced.

15 minutes ago, bigg jay said:

Does he want to leave Edmonton?  He took less money than offered elsewhere to go back there a couple years ago.  I know his wife works in healthcare out there and family was one of the reasons he went back.

 

**nevermind - looks like he is willing to move.  He's still hoping to work something out in Edmonton but will go to whatever team wants him. **

Jake Ceresna healthy after injury-plagued season, ready for CFL free agency - 3DownNation

Would be a massive get for us. Sounds like Edmonton wants to allocate his money elsewhere, or may have already.