As we settle in for the long off-season, and add another year to the futility chart for no Grey Cup championship, I thought a little winter project may keep things interesting. So I propose to create "the definitive" list of the all-time greatest Blue Bombers by position, as voted on by MBB members, covering all 89 years of this team's existence. Each week from now through April, we will focus on one position and decide who are the best all-time Bombers at that spot, completing the whole team as we enter training camp for 2019.

The team will be position-specific, so rather than, for example, picking 3 middle linebackers in the "linebacker" spot, I will focus one week on middle/inside linebackers and one week on outside linebackers. Same will go for slotback/wide receiver rather than just "receiver", safety/halfback/cornerback vs. "defensive back", and fullback and tailback vs. "running back". Also, where a player may have excelled in 2 areas, you are only to judge their merit for the position that they are nominated for that week (ex. Charlie Roberts could show up both as a running back or special teams returner, but when voting for him as a returner, do NOT consider his contributions as a running back in your overall estimation of him, and vice versa. Same would go for Rod Hill - ignore his special teams ability to block punts when considering his abilities as a defensive back, and if a kicker did both punting and placekicking, analyze each facet separately rather than their overall impact).

Because of changing offensive and defensive philosophies, I am going to expand the team in a couple of ways. On defence, rather than deciding between a 3-4 or a 4-3 defence, I will pick 2 inside/middle linebackers and two outside linebackers, and also two rush end/linemen and two interior linemen/nose tackles. To balance this on offence, there will be a tailback, fullback, slotback and wide receiver position, but also a #5 receiver position to account for the newer 5-1 offensive set.

The defence will be chosen first, then special teams, then offence, and finally coach and GM. I will try to dig into the archives so as not to omit any candidates, but I may miss a few, so send in a nomination either as a response to this message or as a PM to me, and I will include that person on the list and try to highlight their accomplishments for your consideration .Then everybody votes and the top vote getter (or two in some cases) will be on the team.

We will start with the cornerback position. You can nominate any cornerback from any era from today up until this Friday, and I will compile the list. On this Friday (December 7) I will post the nominees for people to vote on, and the following Friday (December 14th) the voting will close, with the top 2 vote getters being selected. Also this Friday (the 7th) I will open the nominations for defensive halfback, and that list of candidates will be open for voting on the 14th, and so on.

The order will be:

Cornerbacks (2), Defensive Halfbacks (2), Safety (1), Outside Linebackers (2), Middle/Inside Linebackers (2), Defensive Ends (2), Defensive Tackles (2)

Place kicker (1), Punter (1), Returner (both punt and kick) (1), Special Teamer (includes long snapper, special teams tackler, or punt block specialist) (1)

Centre (1), Offensive Guards (2), Offensive Tackles (2), Wide Receivers (2), Slotbacks (2), 5th receiver (#3 vote getter in Wide Receiver vs. #3 vote getter at Slotback in a special head-to-head runoff vote), Fullback (1), Tailback/Running Back (1), Quarterback (1)

Coach (1), GM (1)

Hopefully this piques people's interest, and gets us through the snowy season.

So off the top of my head for Cornerback nominees, I would suggest, in alpahabetical order:

Roy Bennett, Juran Bolden, Less Browne, Rod Hill, Jovon Johnson, Reggie Pierson, David Shaw (believe he played corner), **** Thornton.

Not on this list because I THINK they played halfback were Ken Hailey, James Jefferson and Ken Ploen, but I stand to be corrected.

I cannot think of anyone else who jumps out at me, but I am certain that I have forgotten someone (and please be mindful of the distinction of cornerback vs. halfback - if I have made an error let me know!). Keep sending in suggestions for nominations and I will create the voting list on Friday.

I promise future postings on this thread will be shorter.

 

 

Edited December 28, 20187 yr by TrueBlue4ever

Want to thank @TrueBlue4ever for putting the effort in doing this throughout the off season.   Not a small amount of work, and very much appreciated to give us all something else to talk about during a long off season.

Looks like a mighty fine roster.

Though we'd obviously have no passing game, lol.

Amazing roster....we have been fortunate.

Nice team...

Can we add a FB spot for Mike Sellers?? 🙂

Defense is awesome ,   I'm surprised on Edwards at receiver and   Johnson being the kick returner.      The rest looks elite.

I would concur with the list with one exception.  QB. While I agree that Ploen was a great QB and really don’t disagree I think that the various eras have to be considered as well. “Indian Jack Jacobs” was likely the most dominant QB of that era and while he may not have won as many grey cups as Kenny he at least in my opinion was as significant as Kenny in his era. Nonetheless a good selection of players from the beginning to now. 

On ‎2019‎-‎06‎-‎25 at 11:11 AM, Old Bomber Fan said:

I would concur with the list with one exception.  QB. While I agree that Ploen was a great QB and really don’t disagree I think that the various eras have to be considered as well. “Indian Jack Jacobs” was likely the most dominant QB of that era and while he may not have won as many grey cups as Kenny he at least in my opinion was as significant as Kenny in his era. Nonetheless a good selection of players from the beginning to now. 

Indian Jack Jacobs was a great qb. Winnipeg Stadium may never have been built without him but he only played 5 seasons as a starter, made 2 Grey Cup appearance & never won a championship. Ploen OTOH played 11 seasons for the Bombers & as a qb had a hand in 4 out of 6 Grey Cups & started in 2 of those victories & was Grey Cup MVP in 61.  To me, Ploen was the only choice for qb.

I know he didn't play for us very long, but I really liked Eugene Goodlow when he was here.  He broke some kind of record too.

1 hour ago, kelownabomberfan said:

I know he didn't play for us very long, but I really liked Eugene Goodlow when he was here.  He broke some kind of record too.

Goodlow became the first player in CFL history to reach 100 receptions in a season during the 1981 season.

Goodlow joined the Winnipeg Blue Bombers late in 1980 and had 17 catches in just 5 games.  In 1981, Goodlow had a monster year with 100 catches for 1494 yards, which strangely enough only netted hm a West All-Star honour.  Goodlow only played 6 games in 1982, but still had 30 catches and 515 yards.  Goodlow then jumped to the NFL and played with New Orleans from 1983 to 1986.  He returned to the CFL for a short 2 game sting with Ottawa in 1989.

https://www.cflapedia.com/Players/g/goodlow_eugene.htm

Edited July 19, 20196 yr by Throw Long Bannatyne

Kind of off topic, but I noticed this past week during the TO and Edm game when they were listing longest Losing streaks by a Head Coach that Bud Grant was near the top of the list. Something like 13 in a row I think. Goes to show you that even the greats struggle.

3 hours ago, Bigblue204 said:

Kind of off topic, but I noticed this past week during the TO and Edm game when they were listing longest Losing streaks by a Head Coach that Bud Grant was near the top of the list. Something like 13 in a row I think. Goes to show you that even the greats struggle.

Confirmed... Bigblue thinks Chamblin is on par to  Bud Grant

On 2019-07-29 at 8:07 PM, Brandon said:

Confirmed... Bigblue thinks Chamblin is on par to  Bud Grant

it's what you do on the other end of the scale that counts.

On 2019-07-18 at 4:55 PM, kelownabomberfan said:

I know he didn't play for us very long, but I really liked Eugene Goodlow when he was here.  He broke some kind of record too.

Pound for pound talent, Eugene Goodlow was likely the best Bomber receiver I have ever witnessed in my lifetime (IMHO). 

Edited September 26, 20196 yr by blueingreenland

Ernie Pitts was never a tight end, comparable with a wide out today..

 

2 hours ago, Maudie fingerjammer said:

Ernie Pitts was never a tight end, comparable with a wide out today..

 

didn't you forget the "harrumph" at the end of that statement?

On 2019-09-26 at 3:57 PM, blueingreenland said:

Pound for pound talent, Eugene Goodlow was likely the best Bomber receiver I have ever witnessed in my lifetime (IMHO). 

Better than Milt??

I don't know man - watch some Milt highlights and get back to me...Eugene was great, Jeff Boyd might have even been better....Terrance Edwards might have been better...

The only receiver in the league (never mind Bombers) that's even arguably better than Milt is Alan Pitts. 

16 hours ago, The Zipp said:

Better than Milt??

I don't know man - watch some Milt highlights and get back to me...Eugene was great, Jeff Boyd might have even been better....Terrance Edwards might have been better...

What always impressed me about Terrance Edwards was his consistency. He may not have been the fastest or most sure-handed receiver in the league but what tools he had, he used on every play, and ran great routes so as to be dependable for the QBs.

On 2019-07-29 at 9:07 PM, Brandon said:

Confirmed... Bigblue thinks Chamblin is on par to  Bud Grant

Maybe in the Bizarro universe.

On 2019-11-12 at 2:39 PM, Maudie fingerjammer said:

Ernie Pitts was never a tight end, comparable with a wide out today..

 

Yeah, he was a tight end. If he lined up wide then he'd have been a flanker or split end. They had no slots in those days.