Sorry but I don't like the total silence coming out of Bomberville, but that's just me; I like action and news  like all of you.  Yes we've extended a contract or two and we are distributing the year-end money before the 2018 salary cap  comes in.

But what are the deep thinkers in our organization planning to do?

 I hope they are not thinking status quo; that never seems to work out well. Unless we are dedicated to making sharp improvements here and there, I believe we atrophy from last year.  

After the 2017 NFL cuts were made did we bring in any linebackers for a sniff? I saw other prospects up here but maybe I missed something.

We have got to fix what's broken and I think somehow management must know more than we do ... we are good prognosticators with our comments on this site but I would like management to show us up. 

We are not hearing a lot of news out of the Calgary and Edmonton football clubs so maybe our Blue Bombers are an elite club now (as we join those two in their silence). 

But man I hate twiddling my thumbs as I wait to see what our local gurus are going to do. No news is bad news, say the bored ...  Well at least were not coming off seasons like Ottawa Hamilton and Montréal had.

So maybe I should be grateful for our club and its management.

 

13 minutes ago, TrueBlue said:

And the Oilers have McDavid, but I'd rather have Scheifele and Wheeler for less. 

Davis gonna lace up the skates now?

EDIT: **** what thread am I in?

Edited January 16, 20188 yr by Atomic

10 hours ago, TrueBlue said:

Poll Question:  Would you rather resign Bond or Randle?

Randle is a great player. He could very easily end up a HOFer and in the all time great bomber db discussion. Bond is the best OL weve dug up since garrick jones, and even better then him. With the difference in rules between Dbs and OL, I think a single great OL can have a great impact then a DB. Bond is a bit younger, and as rare as his ability is finding that in a man his size is even rarer. Guard is generally consider easier to play then tackle, especially blind side tackle. But playing guard especially in the cfl at such a huge stature is also hard. I dont doubt he could play out side and be great at it.  Make it a healthy Mo vs bond or randle vs hardrick and I think you have a very close call. 

The only post that matters in this thread is the one that said "I'm pissed off we have to choose".... 

9 hours ago, 17to85 said:

Randle no question. I really do think we need to work towards 3 Canadians on the OL. 

Remember last time we did that? And Neufeld was part of that. He barely played when he started. I don't know how things will be any different this time. 

1 hour ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Remember last time we did that? And Neufeld was part of that. He barely played when he started. I don't know how things will be any different this time. 

They've spent how many high draft picks on offensive linemen? That's how it will be different. We gotta play Canadians somewhere, might as well be in positions they've invested the draft picks in. 

Yeah you'd think between Goossen, Chungh, Couture, Spooner, Neufeld, Cody Speller and the 7th overall pick this year, we can manage to start 3 Canadian OL.

And if they can't then they better re-evaluate their drafting strategy. 

6 hours ago, Atomic said:

Yeah you'd think between Goossen, Chungh, Couture, Spooner, Neufeld, Cody Speller and the 7th overall pick this year, we can manage to start 3 Canadian OL.

I believe that is usually the number of linemen you'd want if trying to go 3 nationals on the line.   one backup per plus another... so technically, we would be thin imo with "draft pick #1" needing to be considered as depth.   I imagine we are angling towards this idea in theory but can we make it work with who we have now?

 

Couture can backup Goosen and/or start as a guard I'd assume..

Spooner, Guard/centre backup.  

 

Speller, unknown. 

Neufeld start at guard/backup at guard.

seems like we are 2 injuries away from panic mode..

 

 

Edited January 17, 20188 yr by SPuDS
theorizing depth..

9 minutes ago, SPuDS said:

seems like we are 2 injuries away from panic mode..

Any position on the team where this doesn't hold true?

18 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

Any position on the team where this doesn't hold true?

Or any team in the league.

Most teams only dress 6 OL on gameday, with the odd exception dressing 7.

I think you'd find 5 National OL on the 46-man roster of a team starting 3, with perhaps another on the IR and another on the PR.

We have the depth to start 3.  I'm less concerned about depth and more concerned about whether we have a third man who is good enough to be the opening day starter at guard.

39 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

Any position on the team where this doesn't hold true?

well when you have multiple people in a unit where one person can fill a few spots, I tend to think its a bit different.  

20 minutes ago, blue_gold_84 said:

Or any team in the league.

for o-line and d-line sure..  RB or LB on the other hand..

1 minute ago, Atomic said:

Most teams only dress 6 OL on gameday, with the odd exception dressing 7.

I think you'd find 5 National OL on the 46-man roster of a team starting 3, with perhaps another on the IR and another on the PR.

We have the depth to start 3.  I'm less concerned about depth and more concerned about whether we have a third man who is good enough to be the opening day starter at guard.

sure, on established teams with roles defined and everyone on the same page.. with us switching from 2-3 and not really knowing who is gonna go where (or how long they may last health/skill-wise)  I think its a bit more prudent for us to have 6-7 linemen available out of camp and work it down to 5-6 possibly at some time.   I get what people are saying,  for sure but I also don't want to be in a situation  where our o-line is in shambles by week 6 and we have no solutions for it..  o-line is too important to the success of this team.. we finally have one that is solid and dependable..  something we haven't seen here in damn near a decade..

On 2018-01-16 at 2:31 PM, TrueBlue said:

No offence at all to Bond, but I'd argue Randle is more of the "core" of this team than Bond. 

No offence to Randle, but how good was this team before Bond entered the starting lineup?

The entire O-Line went from below average to great, simply due to Travis Bond starting over Patty Neufeld. 

3 minutes ago, SPuDS said:

sure, on established teams with roles defined and everyone on the same page.. 

No, every team

17 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Remember last time we did that? And Neufeld was part of that. He barely played when he started. I don't know how things will be any different this time. 

 

33 minutes ago, Atomic said:

We have the depth to start 3.  I'm less concerned about depth and more concerned about whether we have a third man who is good enough to be the opening day starter at guard.

Did no one watch the last few games of the year? Neuf played just fine. His health I can understand being in question. But his ability to play guard well has been established as far as I'm concerned.

If this team feels that Couture is ready and that Spooner/Neufeld is the right 6th OL... I'm okay with this - if Neufeld is pencilled in, this is another Hurl type move

Again - Bond is worth both Foketi/Hardrick...  we could easily have a team with both him and Randle that argument is a straw dog

If Bryant does down in game one, I'd much rather have Bond shifting over than anyone else on the roster right now...

Some pretty deep insight here...

 

 

✔@Darren_Cameron

CFL free agency less than a month away (four weeks yesterday), the #Bombers are still actively trying to pursue many of their pending free agents. Others will not be offered. Any questions on the offseason, send them over. Go Blue!

If Bryant was to go down in a game Hardrick I would think would shift over..and Neufeld to Right Tackle...any extended time off then in comes Foketti...and I'd be fine on that.

To be honest..Foketti would start at a tackle position on any team in the league last year...and this year as well...he is a real luxury that we have been able to keep him satisfied for 3 years now and not have bolted on us

Once again if Chris Walby thinks Neufeld is very talented than I'll take his word over others.

there's never a doubt about Neufeld's talent....only his ability to stay healthy.....

I think this belongs here - another solid piece from Tait...catching up with Danny Mac to talk offseason FA camps...

 

https://www.bluebombers.com/2018/01/17/danny-mcmanus-breaking-free-agent-camps/

37 minutes ago, Jpan85 said:

Once again if Chris Walby thinks Neufeld is very talented than I'll take his word over others.

I understand the logic here, at the same time walby similarly attached him self to some very underwhelming OL like this in the past. That said The issue with him isnt based on talent. Its consistency, health, and execution. He could back up for another 5-8 years in the league for sure. But if he is ever gonna be more then a below average starter and above average back up hes gotta figure it out quick fast and in a hurry. 

* some of the guys he has made similar claims about include Jermese jones, and benedict ibisi.  Particularly he was very high on jones, they did a pretty good segment on the two and how much they had talked about playing the line. 

Edited January 18, 20188 yr by wbbfan

If Neufeld starts they will be lucky to get two-thirds of the season out of him.  Hopefully there are better options to start at guard if Bond is not re-signed.

3 hours ago, SPuDS said:

I believe that is usually the number of linemen you'd want if trying to go 3 nationals on the line.   one backup per plus another... so technically, we would be thin imo with "draft pick #1" needing to be considered as depth.   I imagine we are angling towards this idea in theory but can we make it work with who we have now?

 

Couture can backup Goosen and/or start as a guard I'd assume..

Spooner, Guard/centre backup.  

 

Speller, unknown. 

Neufeld start at guard/backup at guard.

seems like we are 2 injuries away from panic mode..

 

 

I don't remember Speller, how did they pick him up and when?

Neufeld isn't any kind of long term solution. Perhaps he's a place holder, but they've drafted too many OL too high in the draft for these guys to not be options sooner rather than later. 

If they were not interested in going at least 3 canadians on the OL why didn't we draft receivers and linebackers higher in the draft instead of always linemen?