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Rourke also played prep ball before College too...Elgersma again did not....He heeds pro experience whether it 3 down...4 down....Trying to find random workouts...with zero pay for going there and out of pocket expense is just an exercise in stupidity now....His window was last yr...and nobody took the risk....and it wont get any better in terms of opportunity until he gets some solid pro film....and it wont be in the NFL and even the crappy UFL he behind the 8 ball there too....If he shows he good enough up in Canada....this "lack of 4 down" experience is moot....If he has it in the brain department, and has elite skills...he'll figure it out...Maybe the knock on him down south is looks the part...good arm....just doesnt have it upstairs to process what's going on...and I believe this is the case and they just were nice in saying he "lacked 4 down experience"....cause that lil tidbit is almost kinda funny in my opinion, and based on experience working with athletes...Of u got it...u got it...and NFL talent evaluators will see it...and get it outta ya....He has had success at CIS level...Like i said before...big effin deal....he may not even be able to translate that and process it at the CFL level to even be a fraction of what Rourke is
His representation is doing him no favours and wasting a ton of valuable time....and even if he sucks it up and accepts the reality and gets up here...I dont see a quick path for him to being a starter here either for a few yrs...of at all.....But he has the potential to be that....but he also has to be here to realize it....and if he has a yr like Rourke was having before he got hurt...he will get some more feelers....until that happens....not a chance
2 yrs into no pay....and no real experience/development/game film.....he's just flat out winning lol

Elgersma barely being ahead of a QB who spent the better part of 2 years on the Riders practice squad doesn't inspire a tonne of confidence tbh

Likely it's because of how much Collaros is making.

IF Elgersma is trying to get a work permit to stick around down south, he could be hooped....One of our other draft pics of recent years ...I believe it was Dobson who was going through that process, and it didn't pan out...Shortly after he was denied the permit he was in camp...Could the same thing play out for Elgersma.....we shall see...I'd like to see the kid in tc frankly....just to get to see for myself what he's got...So far all I'm getting about his talent is inuendo and promise...

If he tries to play he might end up being the top QB in Equatorial Guinea.

yup...I hope he has a season of all seasons and then walks away, and some run away games where we can get QB2 whoever that is some legit reps
And yeah...the concussion thing is still there...and is cumulative in their affect...I truly believe that Edm game where Brown did the big comeback that he got scrambled and has been a fraction of himself ever since....and got his noodle rocked a couple other times too since...some were very insignificant in how it happed too....cause his on-field awareness and ability to process ever since has been horrible...he's had a few moments of what looked to be the old ZC but that was more a result of everything just going right and clicking moreso than him grabbin the team by the collar and dragging them to the win... He plays panicked way too much now, and more times than not is easily goaded into errors, and just looks confused

I still harbour a suspicion that if it was up to O'Shea, Hogan would still be the OC.
JJ was probably making Hogan look bad.

It was a bunch of issues last year. Collaros' play, which has been slipping for a couple years. Lack of WR/OL talent and play calling/design.

Yup. Let’s go ZC. Absolutely no excuses this year.

I disagree, Hogan was brutal. He was in way over his head. Why JJ wasn't the OC is beyond me. Typical Osh decision.

Nobody is excusing ZCs brain cramps, but at the same time as a QB you get paid to throw the ball. When you have no help whatsoever the QB can either take the sack or start winging it downfield on a hope and a prayer. ZC chose the latter and it is never the right choice. However, it is a decision born out of lack of talent around him. If he sees an appropriate amount of protection, and much improved receiver play we likely don't see these poor decisions. If we still do then there is a problem. Trying to play a pop warner level offensive scheme can make a lot of QB decisions look real bad. Defences around the league were saying they knew the play just from the formation, when the defence knows the play before the ball is snapped your QB is going to throw a ton of interceptions. On running downs it doesn't matter as much because that is all about execution but in the passing game it's going to be a disaster no matter the execution. When we criticize ZC throwing into triple coverage one has to ask how the defence is able to get 3 guys on the receiver. We see the point and time the ball arrives at the receiver and it looks like triple coverage when in fact the defence is holding their coverage but are ready to what they have pre-snap recognized as the first and 2nd reads for the QB. When a defence knows where the ball is going everything looks like the QB is throwing into coverage but that is not necessarily what he's seeing at the time he delivers.

JJ wasn't in our plans obviously. I don't think his stay here went as envisioned by either side.

He has never played 3 down ball either. Playbooks in the CIS and CFL are light years different. The only advantage he has is knowing the size of the field, and being used to the extra attacker. Other than that he will have the same adjustment to a CFL offence as any of the QBs coming from NCAA.
His injury was your typical career ender. I thought if anyone could rehab and tough through it was him but the human body has it's limitations I guess. Too bad, great guy.

Agreed, but his passport does give him some value, although this will drop his stock a lot. This may also smarten him up enough to consider a Bomber offer.
Things have changed a bit since then, but there used to have little but contempt by American coaches and GMs for Canadian pivots.

At any rate if they are signing QBs it's because they are not happy with their depth so even if Elgersma survives the cut, he is likely pushed down the depth chart. This is something I find interesting because both Hiers and Smith (Elgersma's QB competition) are true ham and eggers that are below CFL quality. Hiers got a quick looksie at the end of 2024 by the RIders but never made it to 2025 camp and Smith has not played ball of any significance since a pretty underwhelming college career. If Elgersma has trouble beating these guys out, it should really temper our expectations for him as a CFL future starter.

Collaros may be old and bad, but he makes up for it by being expensive.

It's true, but there are other factors that make it less likely for us. Like, none of them were turning 38 years old when they had the comeback. Doing that in your early 30s is very different than doing it at 40. None of them had the massive list of serious injury concerns Zach has faced his whole career. Zach already had one miraculous career resurgence, and it wasn't one big injury that held Zach out or back last year. He's been held back by a big old stack of medical issues for the last 2 years.
We will be giving Zach basically the best case scenario this year. More OL talent than you could shake a stick at. Seriously, our send best OL unit this year is better than the best of the last 2.5 years or so. Rbs and depth, WRs with top-end talent, and an OC that is basically hand-picked for him.
I hate that we are tied to Zach; I hate even more that we have no contingency plan. I hate most that we had no real way of doing any better at QB this offseason. But it is what it is. Have to hope for betting QBing room next year at this point.

This coming season my man ZC is going to stay healthy, light it up, lead us to Grey Cup victory and retire on top.
At the very least it feels good writing this. Off season hope.

Then, instead of Collaros getting pulped because of a crappy OC and O-line, we would have had Brown getting pulped, but at a cheaper price. Not sure that would have accomplished much.

Then, instead of Collaros getting pulped because of a crappy OC and O-line, we would have had Brown getting pulped, but at a cheaper price. Not sure that would have accomplished much.

I can feel things heating up Elgersma is almost in Winnipeg. It's just a matter of time now. May as well purchase some cheap blend for the celebration.

he was always gonna make the team. Will be interesting to see how much playing time he gets.

yeah, Powell didn't look like the second coming of Jeff Garcia or anything ... but in 2023 he went from QB3 to starting half of the games in Hamilton.
He went 4-5 on an 8-10 team and had 10 TDs and 9 picks and massively beat expectations for a QB3 who becomes the emergency starter. I agree with SpeedFlex that he was the best young FA QB in the CFL this offseason and he could've maybe possible been a successor to Zach for us. But now he is in Edmonton and I hope for the sake of the league that we haven't seen his ceiling yet.

Blow up all the stadiums, fold the league

I like Elad well enough, worry he might be a high floor low ceiling guy. Higher than where Id want to take him, but he probably will go high. Could have a great fit here if he eased us out of using a DI for the dime db.
I LOVE me some Rohan Jones. But he is gonna get a good long look down south. He's a big TE with great hands, he's an athletic outlier, and equally an analytics darling/outlier, and he's even flashed some very good blocking game. If a team is gonna start him and reshape their formations around him, he could be a star. Play him as a flex TE/slot/H-back. He's returned kicks, run the ball, he's deadly downfield, but you could run a screen game up here with him as well. Too good a chance he sticks in the NFL for far to long to risk that high a pick with imo.
Demontagnac is the type of wr you're probably gonna be stuck with in this draft if youre looking for one. And we are. Again, I'd rather take that risk later on.
I'd love to have Vaccaro come home, but I'm not holding my breath. I'd love to work a trade for the rights to Manu for him actually. As manu is coming closer and closer to running out of leash down south. If he doesn't find a way/place to get regular reps this year, and stay healthy, good chance next year hes up here.