Okay, so the off season officially begins now that the Grey Cup is over. Lots of topics for discussion in the months to come with the Bombers & the League. A new CBA needs to be negotiated sooner rather than later.  Will there be an eventual agreement or a lockout? How much will the salary cap go up? Randy Ambrosie is on record that wants the cap to significantly go up so that is a positive.  Will Bo Levi Mitchell sign with an NFL or perhaps another CFL team? What about Mike Reilly & Trevor Harris who are also free agents? There's a new start up league called the  AAFL & there are legit concerns that it'll draw star CFL players away or hamper free agent signings with CFL teams. Coaching changes in BC & Toronto. The continuing evolving story of the expansion Halifax Schooners & possible exhibition games in Mexico. 

Edited November 27, 20187 yr by SpeedFlex27

Harris would be an upgrade to Nichols, that being said he would be wise to avoid Toronto and Saskatchewan as those teams would get him killed 

If we had a chance at BLM or MR... should we at least try for it? 

 

Wouldn't that move make the team better?

https://edmontonsun.com/sports/football/cfl/edmonton-eskimos/edmonton-eskimos-locker-room-isnt-the-only-place-mike-reilly-would-be-missed

Reports are starting to emerge that Reilly is indeed BC bound.

This Edmonton team that didn’t even make the playoffs with Reilly, will be worse than the Als without him. Maas better be heavily medicated this season. 

6 minutes ago, AKAChip said:

This Edmonton team that didn’t even make the playoffs with Reilly, will be worse than the Als without him. Maas better be heavily medicated this season. 

Maas may be one of the reasons Reilly leaves. He acts immature on the sidelines. His temper gets the best of him. I've never thought he was ready to be a HC. Some guys grow into the job but Maas hasn't.

Just now, SpeedFlex27 said:

Maas may be one of the reasons Reilly leaves. He acts immature on the sidelines. His temper gets the best of him. I've never thought he was ready to be a HC. Some guys grow into the job but Maas hasn't.

No arguments here. Maas is an idiot. 

6 hours ago, Zontar said:

Dont believe OTT will let Harris walk for a minute. He is average. Occaisonally above average. Stretches of disturbingly poor play. But team is far worse without him.

Couldn't agree more with this statement... 

21 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Maas may be one of the reasons Reilly leaves. He acts immature on the sidelines. His temper gets the best of him. I've never thought he was ready to be a HC. Some guys grow into the job but Maas hasn't.

BUT BUT BUT Reilly said a few weeks ago that he and Maas were BFFs. It's getting so that a girl doesn't know what to believe any more. And its gonna havta be the fans who will need to be heavily medicated.

If Reilly signs right away on Tuesday.. for the reported amount..then Harris and BLM will be raking 2 teams over the coals for 600k at least with 4 or 5 teams squabbling over them..totally throwing their SMS out of whack

2 minutes ago, Booch said:

If Reilly signs right away on Tuesday.. for the reported amount..then Harris and BLM will be raking 2 teams over the coals for 600k at least with 4 or 5 teams squabbling over them..totally throwing their SMS out of whack

I think it'll be safe to assume the salary cap will be going up.

Still tho..I doubt by not enough to have your team basically paying 800..850k for a starter and backup and still able to pay huge bucks for 3 or 4 others and still be able to fill out your roster effectively 

7 minutes ago, Booch said:

Still tho..I doubt by not enough to have your team basically paying 800..850k for a starter and backup and still able to pay huge bucks for 3 or 4 others and still be able to fill out your roster effectively 

Well, they gotta figure it out...

Its no coincidence, for example, that the two teams most interested in Mike Reilly, Edmonton and BC, have the fewest of their own Free agents signed. 5 and 3 respectively. The Bombers have inked 14. ( these numbers are days old now)

So, sacrifices have to be make in other areas. 

The dynamics have changed for signing big name free agents especially with the amounts they’re talking.

 

I'd like to see the cap rise to $6.5 million at the very least. Seven at the most.

Edited February 10, 20196 yr by SpeedFlex27

Done deal, I'm reading - Reilly to BC. Apparently, has cleared out his place in Edmonton. Edmonton may be worse than Saskatchewan next year. 

Depending what happens to BLM, it could be a two-horse (haha) race for 1st between Winnipeg and BC next year.  

16 minutes ago, JCon said:

Done deal, I'm reading - Reilly to BC. Apparently, has cleared out his place in Edmonton. Edmonton may be worse than Saskatchewan next year. 

Depending what happens to BLM, it could be a two-horse (haha) race for 1st between Winnipeg and BC next year.  

Where are you reading that?

Sunderland sounds like he has accepted the fact EDM is entering the post Reilly era. If I were an ESKIMO fan I'd be terrified.

You eff up the QB file and you could damn the team to years of struggle...see Alouettes, MTL.

I'm a Masoli skeptic but glad HAM isn't going through QB FA hell.

10 hours ago, wanna-b-fanboy said:

If we had a chance at BLM or MR... should we at least try for it? 

 

Wouldn't that move make the team better?

It might but have to factor in that signing one of those guys means you essentially have to play rookies in 4 other spots on your roster since they will make about $300,000 more than Nichols.

If Calgary drops out of BLM sweepstakes you know it’s not worth it.

8 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

I think it'll be safe to assume the salary cap will be going up.

Based on what?  I don’t think you’ll see more than an insignificant increase, like 2-3% at most.

9 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

I'd like to see the cap rise to $6.5 million at the very least. Seven at the most.

Why?  As Walters pointed out in his presser, if the cap goes up, the only players that will see any real benefit will be the high end players.  The guys at the bottom will see little impact and more guys will end up being squeezed out of the "middle tier".  Essentially, the rich will get richer and few others will benefit.

1 hour ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

Based on what?  I don’t think you’ll see more than an insignificant increase, like 2-3% at most.

And if it does it will be wiped out by a increase in minimum salaries 

Without guaranteed contracts, it would be foolish for the Bombers to not try for the two best FA QBs possibly in league history. It’s not how O’Shea operates and it may even be a long shot but how do you justify not taking that chance? Reilly or BLM make this team easily the best in the league and if they sign, you cut Nichols immediately, if they don’t, keep things status quo. I just hate the idea that the regime is saying “we’re set at QB”. Opportunities like this don’t come along that often, especially when the team is probably just an elite QB away from being a top cup contender for the next few years. 

3 hours ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

It might but have to factor in that signing one of those guys means you essentially have to play rookies in 4 other spots on your roster since they will make about $300,000 more than Nichols.

If Calgary drops out of BLM sweepstakes you know it’s not worth it.

I know you’ve been a critic of Nichols in the past. I’m honestly wondering, do you think this team has a better shot at a Grey Cup with Nichols and four vets elsewhere, or BLM/Reilly with four cheap guys at random spots in the lineup?

14 hours ago, wanna-b-fanboy said:

If we had a chance at BLM or MR... should we at least try for it?

Wouldn't that move make the team better?

Wouldn't that cause a huge rift in the locker room between BLM/MR and all the other guys that have grown with Nichols? Also, good luck convincing Nichols to be a backup to one of his two biggest playoff rivals over the past few years...

1 hour ago, AKAChip said:

Without guaranteed contracts, it would be foolish for the Bombers to not try for the two best FA QBs possibly in league history. It’s not how O’Shea operates and it may even be a long shot but how do you justify not taking that chance? Reilly or BLM make this team easily the best in the league and if they sign, you cut Nichols immediately, if they don’t, keep things status quo. I just hate the idea that the regime is saying “we’re set at QB”. Opportunities like this don’t come along that often, especially when the team is probably just an elite QB away from being a top cup contender for the next few years. 

Pretty sure Nichols bonus is due in January... so you'd have to cut him before FA and hope you sign one of Reilly or BLM...  sounds like a bad plan.

We're like a season away from actually developing our own in-house QB - I wouldn't throw that away for a 3 year albatross contract with any of the big guys right now.