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

14 hours ago, wbbfan said:

Agree. Though there is a very small list of guys i’d pay at db. Most notable pickett and especially beverette. Both are top tier guys who play the hardest spot, and really could play any spot you need. Both excel on D in a way that breaks positional balance. They both play as if they are 2 guys on the field at one time, in that they are top tier lber/front guys and both are top tier as dbs. They both gap cancel, get off blocks, and pass rush. They are exceptional disruptors where ever they line up and what ever depth they play at. 

Kramdi is not as good but very good in the box. but he’s on his best days half as good dropping back. 

If the market continues to go up, the 140/150k from last year for him wouldn’t be awful. Marginal over pay. Giving him 180k is just awful. 

I really don’t know how any one looks at his body of work last year and goes, he needs a 30-40k a year raise. 

Forget being the best at a position on the team, or among the best in the position group. Allen, Woodbey, Nichols, Griffin are in a different league that kramdi will never reach, and half of those guys are still rising. Then you have Holm and houston who are both better and execute roles that kramdi just can’t. 

At that point, kramdi isn’t a starter based on quality, he starts on passport. Which is legit a need in this league we all know. But when you start/play more canadians than you need, and under use ratio relief rules, that becomes waste. 

Holm and Nichols will be married to the dhb spots, Allen will be at S and Woodbey probably at wil reps. Maybe Griffin slides to corner to is the dime again. So it’s not like we are likely to lose any of those guys, but this is exactly the reason it took a silly amount of time to get allen and woodbey on the roster. Any rookie dbs will be in camp to fight for a try out spot mid season. 

How many bad deals does it take to sink a ship? This is how we did it the last couple years. Every time we seem to take a step forward to fixing the mistakes we’ve been repeating we take another step back. 

SMS allocation has been an anchor to our club. It directly correlates to our win/loss record. BO/ZC overpay (among others) contracts line right up with our decline in depth as one would expect. 

It's really odd because our mantra USED TO BE that we would have the best quality depth in the league and practice next man up...then KW quit looking at his calculator and not only was quality depth lost, we even settled for poor quality at several starting positions.

28 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

Atleast ford can make game changing plays. And I don’t mean 5 years 4 sacks 1 pick 1 ff. Kramdi has had a solid knack to be in position to make tackles at the line, but misses on opportunities a lot too. 

 
Will have to see what the market is this year for dbs, but I can’t imagine it being almost 200k for average to solid canadian starters. 

DBs, just like RBs, are a dime a dozen NAT or not. I have issue paying Kramdi or Oliveira NAT starter money BUT not ridiculously over what's been paid.

1 hour ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

That's a good contract for the Ti Cats. 

I hope Walters is taking notes while he being schooled by the other GMs

6 hours ago, Booch said:

thats what I was "told"

did some digging around and this dude posted it as well

 

Normally a Hodge says would leave me skeptical. However, after seeing the other boat anchor contracts that he has handed out I can believe it.

Either the SMS is going up a lot or Walters needs to lose his job. I will wait and see, and give benefit of the doubt for now, but i am very concerned if the SMS goes up slightly. I don't see any reason why Kramdi's salary would jump almost 50k over his last deal.

I like the commitment to our NAT talent that he never showed for years but the contracts are absurd.

I thought you could only guarantee money in the 3rd year of a contract?

On 2025-12-29 at 8:52 PM, Booch said:

Mtl had one...and dumped the Faj

You could say B.C as well with Rourke before his nfl journey

We did with Brown...but let him go for a guy who has been in constant decline since

 

In all honesty Brown hasn't earned his money either. He wouldn't have played more than 5 games behind our OL. He is injury prone.

On 2025-12-31 at 5:13 PM, Tracker said:

                                                                   

The gappers only need our team to fold, and if they keep winning cups at their current rate in 200 years they will tie us. Let that sink in sister lovers.

10 hours ago, Booch said:

And 185k of hard money for the 9th best sam in league.. not to mention probably the 3rd best on our roster and thats being generous..solid cap management 

Not doubting your info but the only thing ive seen online is 160 this year and 165 next. Where did you find your numbers? Not like I need an extra reason to think KW is doing a bad job, just want to have the ammo when the KW apologists come to his defence when he sleeps thru FA.

9 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

A few things worry me. He’s 27 with plenty of nfl window left. If he has another year like 25 this coming season i could see him being a clipboard qb down south for a long time. 

 I also worry about durability, not because of him but because his legs are a key part of what he does. 

 His 24 half season up here still bothers me. He came in took over and made that b.c. team worse. 

I haven’t seen that adapt and come back, over come adversity, elevate his team, carry in the clutch type stuff that top tier qbs need. 

He also had a tremendous supporting cast this year in bc on offence, and their D was soo bad most of the year he got a ton of time/drives to put up stats. 
 

I want to see him over come some adversity on that offence, come up clutch and repeat his performance from 25 in 26. (just not against us) 

It’s not his skill set, or even his mental tool kit I wonder about. It’s really his ability to turn it up at will when he needs it most, that Goat type ability to separate him self from the rest of the league. It’s how he will produce when times are rough. 

I always worry about qbs with early success. It’s all about over coming adversity. 

I agree, but because he's built like a twig

14 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Walters admitted it. The Bombers don't renegotiate paycuts with players under contract. So, it's not up to Collaros to ask for less. It's up to Walters. Yet, somehow it's Zach's problem when it's not. Now, he's become an over hill the hill selfish player according to 90% of you here. He's not. Walters put us in this situation giving Zach an extension. And Walters got a new 3 year deal himself. Blame Walters Not Collaros. 

Amen..bad contract after bad contract.