1 hour ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

I think my complaint is legit. Osh's priorities make no sense. A real weakness was our DL play. Solution? Bring in a guy who just retired has never coached. Who was the big reason the DL sucked so much to be the new position coach.

I've said this before. There has to be coaches who have more experience in U Sport that could coach at that position. Why bring in a retired player like Jake when we could have brought in someone more than qualified from the Canadian College ranks? These guys deserve a shot as well & seem to never get it.

The overwhelming majority of position coaches in our league are ex-players who retired and had zero coaching experience beforehand. Your complaint is unfounded. Jake's not our DC for cripes sakes.

You can count the winning HCs of 4 out of the last 5 Grey Cups among them

Osh, Mace, and Dinwiddie all retired and went straight into coaching. 

 

 

7 hours ago, HardCoreBlue said:

From a defensive line point of view we need to change what we expect from and how we use our dline. This change in DL scheme and expectations does not involve retaining WJ imo.

I disagree. I hate what we have asked him to do under Younger but he's probably the best suited DE in the league if we are going to continue that.

1 hour ago, Stickem said:

Bo Levi has the gift of the gab and comes across very well on the tube....He'll be a good one....As far as Matty being let go...there were whispers about his imbibing ...Now I don't know if that was factual or just an excuse to dump him....Dunnigan had his share of noggin knockers in his time and maybe it was starting to tell in his speech...can't say for sure, but after listening to Kate over the past while, she is starting to make me year for the days of Matty....At any rate IF it wasn't his choice to move on, I think that was pretty piss poor treatment of one of the stars of this league....That still sticks in my craw

If they were going to fire Matty for imbibing they never would have hired him in the first place. Guy has liked his beers for many, many years.

1 hour ago, Booch said:

I've actually said thats where I want him...traditional role safety...over top coverage and crashing down on run plays...nothing too exotic as he cant do it. He is bad covering...and gets lost in space too much to be a coverage guy, and at SAM where he has a lot of different responsibilities at prob one the most important spots on a CFL defence...so why play a guy who isnt the best you have and most skilled?  The apparent smarts only do so much for a player on the field when their limitations dont allow them to be elite...Same can be said with Jones....Too many holes to be used as your legit playmaker....but really good guy to have in a role and depth

 

He's an average DB but he is kinda multi usefull in a way...as he can work up close to the line...hence he should be a role player/super sub and paid accordingly...not at a top defender level and SAM is where you need one...and Was gonna say in the response above would love to see that flip flop

I also think Smith could handle SAM very effectively too if given the opportunity

Wonder with the big Kramdi deal...The Nichols resigning...If we were looking to move on from Holm?...Lotta scratch for those 3 that would be a bad allocation of cash...

 

would just like to add...I never said I dont want Kramdi on my team....Just not starting unless it is a dire emergency thing....and his price tag way out weighs his production/impact....valuable piece as depth and leadership and serving a role...

I like Kramdi at S because I think it plays to his one big strength, his closing speed. S is a role way more suited to his skill set and I think he could give QB fits if he can read the play well enough. His acceleration in a straight path is as good as it gets. Don't know if he can catch tho...lol.

2 minutes ago, bigg jay said:

The part about it being a bad allocation of cash could still be correct.  Need to see some details first though.

He is not bad allocation of cash. He is an all star DB. Someone else in the secondary might be bad allocation of cash but not Holm. He plays the toughest position in the secondary and is the best in the league at it.

6 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

I love the timing of this post after booch questions if we're moving on from him.

Yea...sorry Booch going to pile on...that post didn't even get a chance to not age well. 

18 minutes ago, Booch said:

Goosen...Fortin...among others

Woodbey should be our SAM and also an almost Jack at times off the edge of line....Griffin as well if resigned, tho not in a jack spot...Griffin and Nichols as the HB's as well would be ideal...and we get more physical with Woodbey and Griffin playing starter reps

Smith as well needs to be playing majority of reps at WIL and even in the role Woodbey had...

 

correct guys....and this also has to go hand in hand with not predetermining and being rigis with ratio based on how we ran it before....just negates talent on roster from actually playing

if camp shows Kramdi is not best player at SAM....does Osh start him anyway...cause thats Osh...And they have to justify his stupid salary?...Probably....and that right there makes us weaker on defence...

Kramdi is not nearly as bad as you make him out to be, but if someone is clearly better I like him at S. I know you don't care for him there, but I think he could be really good there with a little more time.

6 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

I don't know why they don't just let Castillo do it all

Yea...he is actually a pretty good punter.

35 minutes ago, Booch said:

If we actually let our Canadain LB's we drafted play...then the DA spot used on Castillo is moot and we can get the extra DA on roster in a "backup" capacity...I would tho draft a global....or find a Canadian kid to groom into doing all 3 tho....that should also be a priority this off-season 

Would be nice to have one guy do all 3, but unless we have a sure thing there we can't roll the dice.

11 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

I don't think going 3 imp on the OL will hurt us too much. 

Kramdi is gonna start as long as he's healthy. Then if you start Shay, and Lawson, plus Brady, 2 WRs, and 2 OL, that's 8. If we go with a DA who can replace Lawson some and pass rush with an all-in DL for 49% of snaps or less, we'd be in a great spot. 

I suppose it depends on where we are at with NAT receiver but yea...we could do it fairly easily without a ton of impact.

10 hours ago, Mike said:

To me, releasing Kola is a pretty obvious sign to the pending free agents that we are going to either a) put work in to pay one of them to play center or b) all of a sudden decide Tui can do the job 

and it’s not B

I agree. I would suggest that Vibert would be the guy if we go internal in a worst case scenario. Wouldn't surprise me if we went IMP before Tui or Vibert.

9 hours ago, Goalie said:

Neufeld Stan Willie and Kyrie. 
 

Kyrie has a replacement here already in woodbey and possibly Shay. easily replaceable. 
 

Stan? I think it’s his decision but an American tackle shouldn’t be hard to find. Seems like we are signing a few tho so where there is smoke perhaps he’s hanging them up. Could see 1 more year with Zach tho. Again. His decision 

 

Neufeld ? A guy who lives here now I believe, could possibly be a center option. I guess you can’t or shouldn’t purge all your vets especially versatile Canadian oline. 
 

willie? I’m really not sure. Depends on $$$ probably. Don’t think Willie is what he was. Should be able to find some young ends no? Save some cash. 
 

what about the receiver. Had great chemistry with Zach. The former rider. Thought he was ok. Think I’d bring him back to compete. Can’t remember name. He got hurt. It’s Sterns. 

American Left Tackles are crazy hard to find.  Stan will be back. Kyrie? Probably not. Neuf and Willie almost definitely unless they ask for the moon.

13 hours ago, Booch said:

it is kinda if an NFL team is looking at you...but just for a guy on an expiring deal prior to FA seems odd...why havnt we done same with some others?....not implying any kind of regime bafoonery...just odd

It's done quite often. We did it with Bighill even. I can't remember offhand anyone else but I know this is pretty standard here and across the CFL. If you know a guy isn't in your future plans you cut him loose ASAP.

13 hours ago, Goalie said:

Does someone sign kola? I mean surely somebody will sign him. It’s surprising to me as he was just on a video with Tait. Thought that was a sign he’d be back. 
 

kola gonna be qb coach now?  Can complain about guys getting an extra 20k probably but Walters has had a solid off season so far. 
 

willie is the next decision. Normally signed by now tho no? And Kyrie. So far Kyle is 2 for 2. 
 

schmek? Looked like he was improving b4 the injury. Decent depth who could easily be cut tho. 

Willie is 50/50 on whether he signs early or not. Couple times he did, couple times he signed just prior to FA.

10 hours ago, Mark H. said:

I predict Wilson will be let go. Neuf maybe not, because even if they go with 3 Americans, they'd be well served with him as the 6th OL.

We are in no position to release Neufeld right now.

15 hours ago, Blue In BC said:

The 2026 SMS increased by the $400K that was implemented in 2025. Most teams didn't get a chance to spend all that was available last year. Regardless the new SMS is being spent on some players being re-signed to higher level contracts.

Their was a lot of dispute about whether that 400k was actually an SMS increase or went to player benefits. No answer has been given as of yet on which it was. There has been no official announcement of an actual increased SMS other than the 80k or so outlined in the last CBA. Walters went through this is depth last year with the media. If that will indeed be an SMS increase this year, great, but the league has not officially announced anything of the sort.

14 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

All these "mind boggling" contracts are signed Canadians for the most part except for wide receivers like Lawler who are game breakers. Canadians get paid more because only 7 start therefore they are a more valuable commodity. The only way to stop it is to get rid of the ratio. There is no other way. 

The ratio does indeed make NATs more valuable and that is not the argument at all. 

14 hours ago, wbbfan said:

Imo, he’s perfect as a 3rd/4th dt / 6/7th dl. Like you said he’s very useful as a package guy in heavy sets on both sides of the ball. 

We really need a great imp 3 tech who can  kick outside in both 30 and 40 fronts. An imp nose to rotate with lawson would also be fantastic. 
 

Major props to schmekel whose crafted himself into a very good end of the roster canadian. Love to see a young big do what ever it takes to be useful. If he takes another step forward that would be incredible, but i’m not expecting that. 

I like Schmek...he plays hard and knows his role.

13 hours ago, Booch said:

wonder why they released Kolo before his deal expired...I sure there are not oodles of teams kicking down his door to sign him before the frenzy...seems odd, but long over due

 

They released him as a courtesy. Let him try secure employment elsewhere before the big fish swim in FA.

3 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Liegghio was lucky that kick was blocked in the 2022 Grey Cup because he missed it anyway. It saved him the embarrassment of having to explain that he choked once more under pressure. Castillo has been money for us since & now some fans think he's just some kind of overpriced kicker that should be replaced by some random rookie player. From a place like Italy or Japan because he costs too much. The guy has kicked 3 field goals of 60 yards or more. 

I agree on Castillo. Kicking is huge in the CFL and Castillo performs up to his contract. Those are the type of contracts we need to keep. 

9 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Barker may be old & irrelevant to some but the Argos think highly enough of him to rebuild the team the way he sees it. He said he'd be focusing on rebuilding the OL. He knows the league & has many contacts in the NFL & college. The Bombers should be so lucky to have the contacts Barker has in his network. I think he always kept in touch with his college & NFL scouts as well as kept current on CFL goings on as well. 

Say what you want about Barker, but the guy is a stud recruiter. I wish we would have hired him.

1 hour ago, Goalie said:

I literally walk downtown every morning at 645am. I mean I’ve never experienced any problems. I mean ppl asking for money or smokes isn’t a problem and headphones pretty much tells ppl to **** off. This fake narrative about downtown is part of the problem here. Every city has a major meth problem. It’s not Winnipeg exclusive. Calgary Edmonton Toronto Montreal and Vancouver all have the same issues. All of them. Vancouver is worse. 

I agree on Vancouver, and it has been that way there for a LONG time. Much longer than Winnipeg that's for sure.

1 hour ago, Brandon said:

The night life in Winnipeg is the worst out of any of those cities by a long mile.  This was the original point from the earlier messages on here.     One of the major factors  of why downtown is dead is because of just how much of a cesspool it is and how large of that cesspool it expands. I've not been to Edmonton in many years,  but I've been to each of the other cities that you listed and those have downtowns that have areas that are light years more active and vibrant then our downtown.     

Fake narrative?  The "main strip" has tent city and drunken bums and at least 50% of the buildings for lease and empty.    Show me where downtown has a pulse and where one could go without getting acosted.   It used to be "The Forks" but even that area is bad now.   

Yes every city has "bad areas" but Winnipeg downtown is basically 100% bad area.   

 

We have no political will to deal with our downtown or tent cities. Not sure they could do anything even if they actually tried.

37 minutes ago, Bigblue204 said:

Not yet, and I suppose by the time the season starts he may not be the highest paid

Judging by some of the recent contracts I'm not sure we have the same information as the GMs around the league.  Kramdi at 180 and Katsatonis at 200k are mind boggling number that make zero sense unless the SMS is getting a huge bump.

Katsatonis at 200k per has me pretty convinced that there is a big increase to the SMS that's going to be announced. A safety making 200k...even a NAT...is ludicrous otherwise. I feel better about our signings now as this seems to be fairly obvious now. 

1 hour ago, Goalie said:

Plus Brady is a starting Canadian. I mean Do ppl not get that starting Canadians get paid in the cfl? Receivers making 290 to 325 and they have 5 catches a game. I want the best 6 or 7 (whatever it is) starting Canadians I can have. If that means rookie American defensive ends tackles or DBs? So be it. 

If that means losing....so be it.

1 hour ago, Bigblue204 said:

Except that he wasn't. Brady finished with over 100 yards more on 82 less touches. This includes rushing and rec. The only metric that has Mills being better is TDs, but that doesn't really incorporate how the Bombers operate inside the 5.

If we are talking RBs let's talk rushing. I could care less that BO had a ton of touches as a receiver. That was a big part of our problem last year was that we overused our RB out of the backfield as a safety valve because we couldn't get it to our receivers. Mills was a far more consistent threat on the ground last year. 

8 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

I take it that GCn20 & others here wants to get rid of the ratio so we can stop paying all those annoying Canadians more money than they deserve. That's what it's going to come down to, In order to stop the overpaying, we have to get rid of the ratio so we can sign cheaper American players in their place. Maybe the answer is lowering the ratio to 4 starters? Two? 

Nope, leave the ratio alone. My concern is with individual contracts we are signing, not the composition of rosters league wide. If we are signing Ford to Kramdi's contract I have no issues.  If we are signing an elite NAT OL for 250k, I got no issues. It's about the amount we are signing guys compared to the average at their position groups. I don't like our GM resetting the market. The history of the SMS has shown that GMs who do that tend to be pretty unsuccessful. It is something we have never done until the past 2-3 years and our rate of decline is tied to it.

All I can hope for is that these mind boggling contracts we have seen, not just here but around the league, are because of a big increase to the SMS or we had a heck of a surplus of SMS left from 2025. As I have stated before, if that is the case I reserve the right to walk this back. However, based on what we know RIGHT NOW, KW appears to be overpaying. I love he has committed most of his dollars to NATs, I will give him credit for that.

57 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

I wouldn't walk downtown on or near the Stephen Avenue Mall in downtown Calgary at night. It was dangerous 20 years ago when it got dark & workers poured out of the downtown oil & gas skyscrapers using City buses or the C Train. It's even worse now over an even bigger area that includes Olympic Plaza & City Hall. 

I agree. I lived in downtown Calgary for about a year in the early 90's and even then one did not dare walk the 4 blocks to Electric Avenue because of the gangs. I can't imagine it has gotten any better.

8 hours ago, M.O.A.B. said:

Looking at the email address composition in the bluebombers contact page, I would guess it would be wmiller@bluebombers.com 😁

 

14 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Wait till you read what Calgary is paying Diedrich Mills, Now, the highest paid "American" running back in the CFL. 

https://3downnation.com/2026/01/04/calgary-stampeders-make-dedrick-mills-highest-paid-american-rb-in-cfl/

I can only assume that either GMs have lost their marbles this offseason, or there is a BIG SMS increase yet to be announced. It's the only thing that makes sense at this point. 

3 hours ago, Bigblue204 said:

Does he though? Not trying to be sarcastic, but what's the last play you remember him making?

Im not sure those stats are on the side of your argument. It has been difficult watching more wins than losses.

Last year we did not play up to our record. 

2 hours ago, Goalie said:

Nobody knows more about elite athleticism than 35 to 70 year old men online who don’t play pro. I also don’t get the hate as he’s a versatile smart starting Canadian. Starting Canadians prob should get paid. I mean it is the Canadian football league. The whining about cap allocation is also hilarious as nobody really has a clue there. There is no cfl salary cap site that updates every 2 hours. I mean. Who cares. It’s really not our concern. 

Don't have a clue? It's pretty simple math actually. When you grossly overpay at several positions it's poor SMS allocation. That should be obvious to anyone who knows how to add and subtract.

As fans who want a winning club, watching a GM overpay is most definitely our concern.

Kramdi is a good player but he's not great. Last year he made 140k..this year 180k and by any metric he had an off year last year. How does he get a 40k bump? It makes zero sense.

 

5 hours ago, rebusrankin said:

Send your resume to Wade Miller then. I'm sure he'd love to hire you.

My contracts would make more sense. You got his email?

59 minutes ago, Mark H. said:

#dimeadozen

125k less per year than BO and he was MUCH better than BO last year

36 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

For all the complaints about Walters (and for the record I don't love how much he paid some guys), he's managed to sign 4 likely starting Canadians (Demski, Kramdi, Lawson, Oliveria), at worst a depth Olineman (Eli) and an excellent half back (Nichols). That's pretty good for January 4th.

Look to our West where O'Day has yet to sign his starting rb (Ouellette), most of his receivers Johnson, Meyers, Robustelli, Nield, KSB, most of his offensive line, most of his defensive line, his back up QB (Maier), a stud Canadian linebacker (AJ Allen) and two key pieces of his sceondary (Campbell and Reavis).

I'm just saying some perspective is needed.

I could get every player under contract easily by overpaying as well. There...perspective.

6 minutes ago, Noeller said:

Walters is not any kind of "problem" on this team. He's not perfect, and nobody is, but I get such a chuckle when I read some takes about him being useless. 

Noeller, he is overpaying our guys to return. It is something of great concern.

6 hours ago, Mike said:

I love the Kramdi hate lol 

Dude is a very savvy player, he’s got some ball-in-the-air issues that I have seen him improve on but overall I’m happy to have him

Also, he’s nowhere near the 2nd highest paid DB in the league lol 

Hating the contract is not hating the player. I really liked Kramdi, as do others here not liking the $.

Same for BO. Love having the guy hate the contract