https://www.tsn.ca/radio/winnipeg-1290/blue-bombers-flush-with-free-agents-1.1212395

 

Thanks to Darren Bauming for breaking down the Bombers roster: 

Quarterback:

Matt Nichols – signed through 2020

Chris Streveler – signed through 2019

Bryan Bennett – free agent

Running Back:

Andrew Harris* – signed through 2020

Kienan LaFrance* – free agent

Timothy Flanders – free agent

Johnny Augustine* – free agent

Receiver:

Darvin Adams – signed through 2019

Weston Dressler – free agent

Nic Demski* – free agent

Drew Wolitarsky* – signed through 2019

Kenbrell Thompkins – signed through 2019

Ryan Lankford – free agent

Charles Nelson – signed through 2019

Corey Washington – signed through 2019

Rashaun Simonise* – signed through 2020

Daniel Petermann* – signed through 2019

Kenny Lawler – free agent

Offensive Line:

Stanley Bryant – free agent

Patrick Neufeld* – signed through 2019

Matthias Goossen* – free agent

Sukh Chungh* – free agent

Jermarcus Hardrick – free agent

Manase Foketi – signed through 2019

Michael Couture* – free agent

Geoff Gray* – signed through 2020

Cody Speller* – signed through 2020

Qadr Spooner* – free agent

Special Teams:

Justin Medlock – free agent

Chad Rempel* – free agent

Mike Miller* – free agent

John Rush* – free agent

Shayne Gauthier* – free agent

Frederic Plessius* – free agent

Thomas Miles* – free agent

Abu Conteh* – signed through 2019

Jeff Hecht* – free agent

Brendan Morgan* – free agent

Frank Renaud* – free agent

Jacob Firlotte* – free agent

Derek Jones* – signed through 2019

Jesse Briggs* – free agent

Defensive Line:

Jackson Jeffcoat – free agent

Craig Roh – signed through 2019

Tristan Okpalaugo – free agent

Drake Nevis – free agent

Brandin Bryant – signed through 2019

Jake Thomas* – free agent

Trent Corney* – free agent

Gerald Rivers – free agent

Patrick Choudja – free agent

Linebacker:

Adam Bighill – free agent

Jovan Santos-Knox – free agent

Ian Wild – free agent

Kyrie Wilson – free agent

Defensive Back:

Taylor Loffler – free agent

Chris Randle – signed through 2019

Marcus Sayles – signed through 2019

Kevin Fogg – free agent

Brandon Alexander – free agent

Anthony Gaitor – signed through 2019

Chandler Fenner – signed through 2019

Maurice Leggett – free agent

Chris Humes – signed through 2019

Tyneil Cooper – free agent

44 minutes ago, JCon said:

I would like to open a discussion on Taylor Loffler. 

He's due a big pay raise now that he's no longer on a rookie contract.

Is he worth it? Can we replace him for less with a National in another position? 

I love his style and that he's Canadian but what his his salary cost us a prime player in another area. 

Re-sign or not? 

That's a tough one because when he's playing well Loffler is a good piece to have, but he's been a bit inconsistent the last year or two. I think unless he's asking for the moon (he might, they keep making him an allstar) you can build your D around his style of play. Can probably improve the coverage if you go all american in the secondary, but where does the other National come in? 

1 minute ago, 17to85 said:

That's a tough one because when he's playing well Loffler is a good piece to have, but he's been a bit inconsistent the last year or two. I think unless he's asking for the moon (he might, they keep making him an allstar) you can build your D around his style of play. Can probably improve the coverage if you go all american in the secondary, but where does the other National come in? 

He allows us to play another International on the line. Is that worth it? Can we even find a replacement? 

If Loffler follows through on F.A. he could get unreasonably expensive as a lot of teams could use him in their secondary for ratio purposes and may bid him up beyond what Walters sees as a reasonable price. He's been voted a CFL All-Star at Safety each of his 3 years so I can see him wanting to make some serious hay after playing out his rookie contract.  He also has family ties to BC, I would guess it's 50/50 whether the Bombers can retain him.

Oh my what if Loffler and Bighill have been talking and they both end up playing for the lions.....ugh that would sting....

10 minutes ago, NorthernSkunk said:

Oh my what if Loffler and Bighill have been talking and they both end up playing for the lions.....ugh that would sting....

Hervey is not good at keeping secrets, somebody just needs to ask him the right question and he'll blurt out the answer before engaging his brain.

If the Bombers can't retain Loffler an alternative is replacing him with Fenner or Fogg and using a combination of Corney and Jake Thomas to maintain the ratio.  I'm not convinced Conteh, Morgan or Jones can fill Loffler's boots adequately.

2 minutes ago, Throw Long Bannatyne said:

If the Bombers can't retain Loffler an alternative is replacing him with Fenner or Fogg and using a combination of Corney and Jake Thomas to maintain the ratio.  I'm not convinced Conteh, Morgan or Jones can fill Loffler's boots adequately.

Loffler's replacement wasn't a total let down and safety is one of the easiest national spots to fill, this shouldn't be a game changer if Loffler leaves, imo. 

8 minutes ago, Throw Long Bannatyne said:

If the Bombers can't retain Loffler an alternative is replacing him with Fenner or Fogg and using a combination of Corney and Jake Thomas to maintain the ratio.  I'm not convinced Conteh, Morgan or Jones can fill Loffler's boots adequately.

Think Corney is coming back? I didn't think he left on very good terms.

Edited November 23, 20187 yr by JCon

3 minutes ago, JCon said:

Think Corney is coming back? I didn't think he left on very good terms.

He was injured for the season and chose to recuperate at home, never heard there was any problem.  He should be pursued, may potentially be the best Natl. DE in the league....come to think of it he may be the only Natl. DE in the league.

20 hours ago, Floyd said:

Petermann is pretty fast - I’d like to see him get a shot at would spot first and then maybe transition inside too

I have high hopes for Petermann but I think Simonise is already ready to make that next step. He's made some big plays. Super exciting to have both guys though

21 minutes ago, Throw Long Bannatyne said:

come to think of it he may be the only Natl. DE in the league.

Well there is Boateng in Edmonton at very least. 

5 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

Well there is Boateng in Edmonton at very least. 

Right...I'd rather keep Corney.

1 hour ago, Throw Long Bannatyne said:

If the Bombers can't retain Loffler an alternative is replacing him with Fenner or Fogg and using a combination of Corney and Jake Thomas to maintain the ratio.  I'm not convinced Conteh, Morgan or Jones can fill Loffler's boots adequately.

There’s a whole offseason to play out and a strong likelihood many of the players you mentioned won’t be Bombers next season.

My thought is that I would retain Loffler into low six figures, Max $130,000.  Even that’s kind of high for the entirety of what he provided the past two seasons, in more than half our games he was a non-factor and not in a good way.

The alternatives are going all import on D or using one or more of our early picks (we have a pick in each round and BC’s first rounder) to add some guys who could be role players on D, likely in the secondary or DL rotation.

We could also add guys who can be role players on O, go to starting 3 NI receivers or 4 NI OL.  Starting 4 NI playmakers on O leaves us thin, especially if Harris had a long term injury.

There are players in the draft and free agency that could provide better value to our overall roster than Loffler does if his ask creeps above something reasonable. We also have good NI depth without him on our current roster.

1 hour ago, Throw Long Bannatyne said:

He was injured for the season and chose to recuperate at home, never heard there was any problem.  He should be pursued, may potentially be the best Natl. DE in the league....come to think of it he may be the only Natl. DE in the league.

There’s a bunch.

Corney would have to actually be able to play football for us to know how good he is.

33 minutes ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

There’s a bunch.

Corney would have to actually be able to play football for us to know how good he is.

Justin Cappicotti & Jabar Westerman are a couple more Canadian DE's off the top of my head. 

1 hour ago, bigg jay said:

Justin Cappicotti & Jabar Westerman are a couple more Canadian DE's off the top of my head. 

Right, two, three, four times.  Jamaal, Jabar plays inside.

A ton of Linebackers in the US of A.......then again, a ton of Receivers as well.....

Loffler is a difference making, all star, Canadian starter. He's going to get paid this year. Losing him means changing the ratio and I don't see us as having anyone in house who can take the starting spot. Bringing in another NI starter will also be expensive, especially an all-star variety.

I certainly hope we re-sign Loffler, even if it costs a bunch-o-bucks.

Heard bighill and loffler are buying a bus to drive across Canada visit every team... check out the facilities, assess the various city’s museums...

35 minutes ago, TBURGESS said:

Loffler is a difference making, all star, Canadian starter. He's going to get paid this year. Losing him means changing the ratio and I don't see us as having anyone in house who can take the starting spot. Bringing in another NI starter will also be expensive, especially an all-star variety.

I certainly hope we re-sign Loffler, even if it costs a bunch-o-bucks.

All Star selections in the CFL are unfortunately largely name recognition over quality of play. Loffler is an average safety who we would probably regret paying more than we would regret losing. 

1 hour ago, AKAChip said:

All Star selections in the CFL are unfortunately largely name recognition over quality of play. Loffler is an average safety who we would probably regret paying more than we would regret losing. 

And he's not a guy who is going to age well with his previous knee and hip issues.  He clearly has lost at least a step in coverage from 2016 to now.  That's not going to get better.  He had loads of games this season where he didn't make a single positive play and barely even registered on the stat sheet.  His play picked up in the last third of the season, but he's not generating turnovers (FF and INT) like he did as a rookie.

We have a lot of opportunity to add Canadians (4th and 5th overall picks) and we have a few on our roster who will be developing and working into roles I'd assume (Gray, Petermann, Simonise).  I'm not worried about losing Loffler, but of course I would have benched him in July and gone all import on D.

5 hours ago, do or die said:

A ton of Linebackers in the US of A.......then again, a ton of Receivers as well.....

So many dime a dozen positions - cost a loonie in Winnipeg...

13 hours ago, Mark H. said:

So many dime a dozen positions - cost a loonie in Winnipeg...

It's the exchange rate man. 

1290 guest (didn't get name) speculating that LaPolice will be getting interviewed for head coaching job.

other he people mentioned, Chamblin, Dickensen (sask ), Elizondo, Thorpe, Steinauer. 

 

Edited November 24, 20187 yr by Mark F

10 minutes ago, Mark F said:

1290 guest (didn't get name) speculating that LaPolice will be getting interviewed for head coaching job.

other he people mentioned, Chamblin, Dickensen (sask ), Elizondo, Thorpe, Steinauer. 

 

They do interview Rod Pederson on there.