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Every Gm makes a bad call on a draft especially in the CFL where there are so many variables....and we are not 100% sure yet that Richard's is a bust. Walter's has turned this franchise around from a laughing stock to a competitive team with 2 first round picks this year...if we get burnt on Richard's meh who gives a rats ass really....I'll take this regime over the last 4 any day of the week...thanks.

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11 hours ago, Floyd said:

So our most intense off-season discussion on this board is about our backup Canadian receiver...  I feel that's a good sign.

You'd think so, but since I following these boards in the early 2000's backup Canadian receiver has for some reason been the most contentious position on the team. Before Richards it was Ettiene, before that Hargraves, before that Stoddard, etc etc.

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Durant was an outstanding teammate at SFU. He gave the coaches no problems at all. Always worked hard in practice & games. He was a beast in the weight room. He was a beast on the field as well capable of dominating games all by himself. He's a quiet guy. Very shy. Doesn't say a lot. Let's just say the only team that got it right about Durant were the Stampeders. The Bombers picked Richardson before him so Walters blew it. As Ace_Wells said, Durant's no headcase. How do I know? My son was his qb at SFU for 3 seasons & always had great things to say about Durant. I'll take his word over some random fans here trying to say things that aren't true to justify the Bombers not selecting him.

Edited by SpeedFlex27
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7 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Durant was an outstanding teammate at SFU. He gave the coaches no problems at all. Always worked hard in practice & games. He was a beast in the weight room. He was a beast on the field as well capable of dominating games all by himself. He's a quiet guy. Very shy. Doesn't say a lot. Let's just say the only team that got it right about Durant were the Stampeders. The Bombers picked Richardson before him so Walters blew it. As Ace_Wells said, Durant's no headcase. How do I know? My son was his qb at SFU for 3 seasons & always had great things to say about Durant. I'll take his word over some random fans here trying to say things that aren't true to justify the Bombers not selecting him.

I don't think the fans here are making up the rumours that were flying around at the draft.  Media people were relaying rumours that must have come from CFL insiders. Did Walters mess up? Seems that way in hind sight but draft picks are not perfect for anyone.  I am not going to say Walters is a dummy because I am basking in an off season that actually seems a bit hopeful. That is a pretty rare thing over the years. 

My personal take is the the Huffer started the rumours to make sure he got the kid. 3D chess baby. 

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11 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Durant was an outstanding teammate at SFU. He gave the coaches no problems at all. Always worked hard in practice & games. He was a beast in the weight room. He was a beast on the field as well capable of dominating games all by himself. He's a quiet guy. Very shy. Doesn't say a lot. Let's just say the only team that got it right about Durant were the Stampeders. The Bombers picked Richardson before him so Walters blew it. As Ace_Wells said, Durant's no headcase. How do I know? My son was his qb at SFU for 3 seasons & always had great things to say about Durant. I'll take his word over some random fans here trying to say things that aren't true to justify the Bombers not selecting him.

No one is claiming that he is a headcase, just that it was reported that he was.

The most likely reason he didn't get picked was because he had real NFL opportunities. 

And, everyone passed him over, just like Loffler. Stamps took him at 18.

EDIT: But that's good insight. Thank-you.

Edited by JCon
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1 hour ago, MOBomberFan said:

And yet...

"Arguably the lowest moment of Kyle Walters’ tenure as general manager of the Blue Bombers was the decision to select Regina receiver Addison Richards eleventh overall in the 2015 CFL draft over Simon Fraser’s Lemar Durant.

Durant, later selected eighteenth overall by the Stampeders, has recorded 572 receiving yards and four touchdowns through two seasons in Calgary, by far the most of any receiver selected in the 2015 CFL draft.

That's an indictment of the draft class more than an endorsement of Durant.

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12 hours ago, Ace_Wells said:

His stock dropping remains a mystery, even according to the CFL.  Read up on that. Rumors run rampant because of people like you, and weak minded folks who can't think for themselves

I think that your rant has been disassembled quite nicely by several posters already, but I did want to post my thoughts on this particular statement because it is total BS.

His stock dropping is not a mystery at all.  Every single team passed him up at least once, several passed him up twice.  Each team knew exactly why they were doing it.  A guy that was rated 8th overall (#1 receiver) in the last scouting bureau report was drafted 18th (4th receiver).  That happened for a reason.  Maybe it was possible NFL interest, maybe attitude, maybe both, but to suggest that "it's a mystery" is plain silly.   Just because the GM's  (or the league) won't comment on it publicly doesn't mean that there wasn't a certain level of consensus about him.  

Look, I don't know who you are and frankly, I don't really care, but I do know a spin job when I see one and that is exactly was your rant was.   If you want to post here beyond that, please give your posts a bit more thought because, as you've noticed, if you don't, lots of us here will. 

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FWIW - I did the Google thing.  Read spring 2015 pre-draft articles from Cgy Herald, Cgy Sun, CFL.ca, Sportsnet (via Forde), National Post and a couple post-draft articles, too.

Couldn't find one reference to character issues for Durant. 

Of the reasons I could find that validated his stock dropping were unfamiliarity with the Canadian game and rules, as well as possible NFL interest. 

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13 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Durant was an outstanding teammate at SFU. He gave the coaches no problems at all. Always worked hard in practice & games. He was a beast in the weight room. He was a beast on the field as well capable of dominating games all by himself. He's a quiet guy. Very shy. Doesn't say a lot. Let's just say the only team that got it right about Durant were the Stampeders. The Bombers picked Richardson before him so Walters blew it. As Ace_Wells said, Durant's no headcase. How do I know? My son was his qb at SFU for 3 seasons & always had great things to say about Durant. I'll take his word over some random fans here trying to say things that aren't true to justify the Bombers not selecting him.

Every team had at least one opportunity to select him and didn't select him.  Some chose twice not to select him.  Montreal chose three times not to select him.  Calgary, who took him with the last pick in the 2nd round, passed on the option to select him once.  The Riders took Nic Demski.  Ottawa took Jake Harty.  Bombers took Richards.  Calgary took Durant.  That are the facts when it comes to the 2015 draft and receivers.

So at least three teams had a receiver preference that did not have Durant at the top, two that didn't have him second either and one that didn't have him in their top three.  This can be called a fact.

Who would Calgary have picked if any or all of Demski, Harty and Richards had still been on the board at the end of the second round?  There's no way to know without having access to their pre-draft rankings of receivers.  Every team could have a different one, or a completely identical one.  There's no way to know.  Calgary might have been very disappointed to not get the hometown Harty.  All of this is conjecture.

The only thing we can call a fact when it comes to Calgary's selection of Durant is that they had him ranked higher than the 6 or so other receivers that were taken in the draft after him.

When Ottawa took Harty, did the Bombers say "CRAP!" and move on to taking their next highest guy (Richards), or did they high-five each other because Richards was still on the board?  There's no way to know without being in the room.  That would be conjecture.

Is Durant a "headcase"?  Probably not.  What does that mean?  Does he store rings of garlic sausage in his shoes?  Maybe.  I haven't met him.

Were non-football factors the reason he was taken at the end of the second?  That is the reason that was widely reported.  When something is widely reported it usually means one of three things: 1) it is true, or 2) there is so little information available that every is repeating that thing they heard because they have nothing else to offer on the subject, or 3) break out the tin-foil hats because there's a conspiracy going on.

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2 hours ago, SPuDS said:

you're using 3rddownnation's writer to justify a stance on Richards?  I mean.. sure.. hes a "journalist" just like I'm a "blogger" lol but really.. hes a fan and that's kind of it..

 

Id rather trust Walters and O'shea's stance on him over this guy.

Exact same article Noeller linked and quoted ton back up the 'head case' claim. Two sides to the same coin there bud.

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2 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Durant was an outstanding teammate at SFU. He gave the coaches no problems at all. Always worked hard in practice & games. He was a beast in the weight room. He was a beast on the field as well capable of dominating games all by himself. He's a quiet guy. Very shy. Doesn't say a lot. Let's just say the only team that got it right about Durant were the Stampeders. The Bombers picked Richardson before him so Walters blew it. As Ace_Wells said, Durant's no headcase. How do I know? My son was his qb at SFU for 3 seasons & always had great things to say about Durant. I'll take his word over some random fans here trying to say things that aren't true to justify the Bombers not selecting him.

the more important question is why did you change your name ISO?

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All this angst over drafting Richards just smacks of something not good (there are several labels to use here) ... what I am sure of is that Walters & company are not giving it a 2nd thought ... they draft lots of people and some work out very well (see Lofler) and some don't ... Richards might work out & might not ... it sort of depends on him and the help he  can find .... he looks like he has potential but potential only turns into accomplishment some of the  time .... there is 40 other prospects that will come and go this year ... management brings them in and then steps back to see who can live up to their billing

The wisdom is to know its a numbers game and a character test ... managements job is to just bring enough potential prospects so that a few do work out well ... they can't do any better than that and neither do they worry about it

All this hand wringing about how well a draft pick works out is to ask for impossible clairavoyance and is chumps game

What is foolish is to draft Jade Etienne .... to not know what a long shot he was and if we wanted him to not have the nerve to gamble that he would be available in a later roiund .... betting on a dark house not knowing what a longshot he was shows how out of touch with reality the pick was ... if Jade was ever going to "make it" it would have had to be without the pressure and billing of being a first rounder

So we will see how Richards does this year and there is no other way to look at it

 

Edited by BigBlue
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13 minutes ago, M.O.A.B. said:

There's no perfect world as there is no perfect forum. Let the trolls run free.

I think it's great when fans from other clubs come here in the name of discussion and debate (and the odd jab or dig). But, to pretend you're a Bomber fan? That's not good.

Be upfront and honest, like Ripper.

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3 hours ago, mbrg said:

I don't know who he is or what his qualifications are.  I do appreciate any additional CFL content, even if I don't regularly read their site.

But he seems to have Richards mixed up with Ettiene, maybe for the sake of convenience in constructing an argument against Walters.  Richards didn't take up a spot on the 44 man roster when he was injured because why would he, and when he was healthy he did play some special teams.  The kickoff team, in case anyone was wondering.

So there was never a "wasted roster spot" because of Richards, and if Richards wasn't even on the Bombers some other Canadian depth receiver like Kris Bastien or Liam Mahoney or Bobby Canucklehead would have been on the 44 man roster because that is how CFL teams have to make up a roster - Canadian players provide most of the depth for American starters and typically all of the Canadian starters.  Unless we are DI-ing an import receiver, there will always be 3 NI receivers on a gameday roster, and that was true even when the gameday roster was only 42 players and Geoff Drover was "wasting a roster spot".

Honestly, is winter so long that logic and reason are completely abandoned from February to May until we've all thawed out enough?

I was quoting MObomberfan doh..

 

*ahem*

 

 

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