2024/2025 Blue Bombers Off-Season Thread

[Jets]

2 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

Hes a solid pick yeah. He could be a 6th ol in the league this year. He’s not a road grader, but he’s strong with decent feet and the right head space. Backed up most of his career before finally becoming a starter last year. 
 He can also be a C or a G. Really good value at that spot in the depth. He’s more of a blood n guts type but the league always needs guys like him. 

He’s better than that, solid though not likely spectacular. 

So Matt Sheridan

[Blue28]

c'mon Pyle

[M.O.A.B.]

DL Trey Laing on 7th Round

4 minutes ago, Blue28 said:

c'mon Pyle

Taken by Argos

Edited Wednesday at 01:29 AM by M.O.A.B.

[JuranBoldenRules]

Wonder if they see Laing as a rush end or inside rush type.

[wbbfan]

6 minutes ago, Jets said:

So Matt Sheridan

Cmon now he’s literally 3/4 the man Sheridan was coming out of college lol! 
 

1 minute ago, M.O.A.B. said:

DL Trey Laing on 7th Round

Taken by Argos

Laing idk if he has much to contribute to the ar, but I think he’s a good scrappy kid who is valuable as a tc body. Good off the line good hands tough nasty and high motor. But really undersized and not an athlete. 

[Blue28]

Laing is a good pick if he can get healthy

[JuranBoldenRules]

Just now, wbbfan said:

Cmon now he’s literally 3/4 the man Sheridan was coming out of college lol! 
 

Laing idk if he has much to contribute to the ar, but I think he’s a good scrappy kid who is valuable as a tc body. Good off the line good hands tough nasty and high motor. But really undersized and not an athlete. 

Yeah with Laing I think he'll have a hard time getting on a roster unless he's an inside guy.  Usually rotation type ends are pencilled in for special teams.

[wbbfan]

1 minute ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

Wonder if they see Laing as a rush end or inside rush type.

Does he have the frame to go up significantly from 239? I mean I don’t think he could be less of rusher at 265+ but idk if he has that transformation in him 

[Blue28]

3 minutes ago, Blue28 said:

Laing is a good pick if he can get healthy

Although, I would have picked Pyle instead.

[wbbfan]

1 minute ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

Yeah with Laing I think he'll have a hard time getting on a roster unless he's an inside guy.  Usually rotation type ends are pencilled in for special teams.

Yeah it’s gonna be a tough go. They probably really like his intangibles.  maybe he’s a guy you bring in to look at as a fb/te/goal line stand etc and see if you can mold him into some thing rotational with that. 

[M.O.A.B.]

AN OL for the last pick - Iwinosa Uwubanmwen 

I think I used up all the keys on my keyboard  

Edited Wednesday at 01:44 AM by M.O.A.B.

[wbbfan]

Over all I give our draft value a B+, with a good chunk of guys who could be on the roster. The fit I give a WTF. This draft had a bunch of guys who will likely be starters for years in this league and likely a couple all stars. Outside of our top 2 picks, very little chance we have any of that. 
 We basically reverted to the thing from a few years ago where we draft all the special teams guys with a good floor and little ceiling. It got us into trouble previously, leaving us with weak starting Canadians. We’ve continued to lose starting Canadians this off season and not replaced their potential. It’s a calculated risk, guess we will see how it pans out. 
 

We drafted two ratio breaking lbers in Shay and smith who can both play, but we didn’t need to fix our lb core. They have tons of upside and a very good chance to fulfill. We could platoon them or start one this year imo. One should be a starter by next year. In our system it makes a lot of sense to flip a lber to ni and use the imp on either line. 

 We drafted a qb, lol, who does have upside and arm talent, but it’s gonna be tough for him to go from playing usports Ds to pro Ds. 

Novak is a sequel to cadwallader Gauthier etc. teams guy very little upside. 

 Vibert is a high floor low ceiling ol that fits well this year but idk if he is starter material.  

Corcoran, acceptable size, good polish great work ethic solid teams guy. 

 Ball while his dad sucks, is a strong value grab. Good enough athlete with a teams inclination. This pick looks worse because the draft had soo many stud db prospects. 
 

Lang is a low ceiling undersized sub par athlete at book end. Could be teams but likely has to add weight to be useful on D. We basically drafted another gowanlok. 
 

Finally we drafted an injured raw lotto ticket in Uwubanmwen. 

Edited Wednesday at 02:08 AM by wbbfan

[rebusrankin]

I don't understand drafting a receiver who seems meh instead of an upside guy like Jordan.

[Mike]

I like the draft, it’s not what I would’ve done, but I like it

I think people would like the picks more if we picked Vibert before Elgersma

[Jets]

33 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

Over all I give our draft value a B+, with a good chunk of guys who could be on the roster. The fit I give a WTF. This draft had a bunch of guys who will likely be starters for years in this league and likely a couple all stars. Outside of our top 2 picks, very little chance we have any of that. 
 We basically reverted to the thing from a few years ago where we draft all the special teams guys with a good floor and little ceiling. It got us into trouble previously, leaving us with weak starting Canadians. We’ve continued to lose starting Canadians this off season and not replaced their potential. It’s a calculated risk, guess we will see how it pans out. 
 

We drafted two ratio breaking lbers in Shay and smith who can both play, but we didn’t need to fix our lb core. They have tons of upside and a very good chance to fulfill. We could platoon them or start one this year imo. One should be a starter by next year. In our system it makes a lot of sense to flip a lber to ni and use the imp on either line. 

 We drafted a qb, lol, who does have upside and arm talent, but it’s gonna be tough for him to go from playing usports Ds to pro Ds. 

Novak is a sequel to cadwallader Gauthier etc. teams guy very little upside. 

 Vibert is a high floor low ceiling ol that fits well this year but idk if he is starter material.  

Corcoran, acceptable size, good polish great work ethic solid teams guy. 

 Ball while his dad sucks, is a strong value grab. Good enough athlete with a teams inclination. This pick looks worse because the draft had soo many stud db prospects. 
 

Lang is a low ceiling undersized sub par athlete at book end. Could be teams but likely has to add weight to be useful on D. We basically drafted another gowanlok. 
 

Finally we drafted an injured raw lotto ticket in Uwubanmwen. 

This is exactly how I see it too.  

Although we can always use LBers for teams, we drafted 3 more Canadians when we already know we likely aren't cutting Gauthier and we have Cadwallader as a ST footsoldier and 4 americans for the 2 Mike and Will spots.  We didn't need a Canadian at that spot other than a mid/late round special teams plugger and we used up our top 2 slots for them.  Although they could both become starters, neither will be right away and the path to how they become starters is unclear.  

The QB pick is wild and hard to get a read on.  We also have 3 American QBs that we will for sure roster and at least 2 more fighting for the third string/PR depth QB spot so its tough to see where a raw Canadian guy could fit with that group...

The rest are low upside ST plugs/depth OL/depth pieces at DL and Receiver.  Nothing to wow you about, but like you mentioned, I don't see more than 1 maybe 2 potential good "starting" calibre upside guy and we could've used a couple of higher risk higher reward types to replenish the Demski/Olivera/Fords (gone) of the roster.

[Noeller]

I admittedly know nothing about these kids but it just FEELS like a really shitty draft for us. Partly because I still subscribe to the "OL and DL at all costs... Anything else is gravy in later rounds"...

[wbbfan]

10 minutes ago, Mike said:

I like the draft, it’s not what I would’ve done, but I like it

I think people would like the picks more if we picked Vibert before Elgersma

It’s good value for a cfl draft. But this is a great draft. Maybe it’ll work out great running counter to what every one else did. Just like our off season really. 
 I like vibert but I don’t think he has a ton of upside. I can’t see him passing walllace on a depth chart unless Wallace is out for the year. 
 

I was looking at other teams drafts and man idk where I’d rank us but it probably wouldn’t be good. 
 

10 minutes ago, Jets said:

This is exactly how I see it too.  

Although we can always use LBers for teams, we drafted 3 more Canadians when we already know we likely aren't cutting Gauthier and we have Cadwallader as a ST footsoldier and 4 americans for the 2 Mike and Will spots.  We didn't need a Canadian at that spot other than a mid/late round special teams plugger and we used up our top 2 slots for them.  Although they could both become starters, neither will be right away and the path to how they become starters is unclear.  

The QB pick is wild and hard to get a read on.  We also have 3 American QBs that we will for sure roster and at least 2 more fighting for the third string/PR depth QB spot so its tough to see where a raw Canadian guy could fit with that group...

The rest are low upside ST plugs/depth OL/depth pieces at DL and Receiver.  Nothing to wow you about, but like you mentioned, I don't see more than 1 maybe 2 potential good "starting" calibre upside guy and we could've used a couple of higher risk higher reward types to replenish the Demski/Olivera/Fords (gone) of the roster.

Yeah It just clashes with picking up jones and resigning other jones. 
 

3 minutes ago, Noeller said:

I admittedly know nothing about these kids but it just FEELS like a really shitty draft for us. Partly because I still subscribe to the "OL and DL at all costs... Anything else is gravy in later rounds"...

in a draft full of athletic outliers, and high level producers on both sides of the border, we got two position players and a qb in that mold and a bunch of randos you could find in any draft. 

[Goalie]

Wonder if the QB thing is they may be having a hard time bringing guys up from the ncaa who were on NIL deals making more than they would be up here. Winnipeg Sask and Montreal all took Canadian QBs. Perhaps the NIL deals mean more opportunity for the homegrown QB eventho Rourke isn’t exactly home grown. Calgary only team in west without Canadian QB. 

Edited Wednesday at 03:07 AM by Goalie

[17to85]

1 hour ago, wbbfan said:

Laing idk if he has much to contribute to the ar, but I think he’s a good scrappy kid who is valuable as a tc body. Good off the line good hands tough nasty and high motor. But really undersized and not an athlete. 

Gotta replace Jake Thomas some time.

[Mike]

15 minutes ago, Noeller said:

I admittedly know nothing about these kids but it just FEELS like a really shitty draft for us. Partly because I still subscribe to the "OL and DL at all costs... Anything else is gravy in later rounds"...

Counter point: what if we just drafted the next Alex Singleton and Cam Judge?

[JuranBoldenRules]

I think the biggest conclusion to draw from today is the Bombers are planning to use 3 American OL without having to start 3 Canadian receivers.  They'll be locking in 2 Canadians on D.

[JuranBoldenRules]

50 minutes ago, Jets said:

This is exactly how I see it too.  

Although we can always use LBers for teams, we drafted 3 more Canadians when we already know we likely aren't cutting Gauthier and we have Cadwallader as a ST footsoldier and 4 americans for the 2 Mike and Will spots.  We didn't need a Canadian at that spot other than a mid/late round special teams plugger and we used up our top 2 slots for them.  Although they could both become starters, neither will be right away and the path to how they become starters is unclear.  

The QB pick is wild and hard to get a read on.  We also have 3 American QBs that we will for sure roster and at least 2 more fighting for the third string/PR depth QB spot so its tough to see where a raw Canadian guy could fit with that group...

The rest are low upside ST plugs/depth OL/depth pieces at DL and Receiver.  Nothing to wow you about, but like you mentioned, I don't see more than 1 maybe 2 potential good "starting" calibre upside guy and we could've used a couple of higher risk higher reward types to replenish the Demski/Olivera/Fords (gone) of the roster.

Ok, but who are you picking that is a better option?

Connor Shay has a resume that would look like any American player they'd sign to come in and compete at LB.  And he's got exceptional testing numbers so arguably even better than the average American coming up.  He is a completely American trained player, his mom is Canadian or something.  He's rated by almost everyone the absolute best player in this draft.  I'd be pretty surprised if he's not playing D for us in Game 1 (IF HE'S NOT IN THE NFL).  He effectively replaces Ford as a Canadian defensive player and both are huge athletic upgrades on Gauthier who is coming to the end.

Newell is probably a Day 1 player.  Ojo can take some 2nd down type reps but is pretty raw, maybe by the end of the season he's like a Uguak.  Findlay, maybe at safety.

There's not really a player in this draft that plays Demski's position.  You could draft Ethan Jordan, who I really like, but he's probably gotta start at Z and show himself to be reliable before you put him into the slot.

The OL in this draft are kind of meh all around.  Actually exceptional how few were chosen in the first 4 rounds.  We missed our chance at the top group by picking Shay instead of one of them, but we also got Shay.  We're probably a better team with Shay factoring in we're pretty clearly building to start 3 American OL, so we're only dressing 3 Canadian OL.

We do get 2 spots on the PR for draft year guys.  I think you can bet on Elgersma sitting on the PR if he's up here this year.  But quite likely could be the 3rd string too if he shows decently.

Edited Wednesday at 03:35 AM by JuranBoldenRules

[Jets]

36 minutes ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

Ok, but who are you picking that is a better option?

Connor Shay has a resume that would look like any American player they'd sign to come in and compete at LB.  And he's got exceptional testing numbers so arguably even better than the average American coming up.  He is a completely American trained player, his mom is Canadian or something.  He's rated by almost everyone the absolute best player in this draft.  I'd be pretty surprised if he's not playing D for us in Game 1 (IF HE'S NOT IN THE NFL).  He effectively replaces Ford as a Canadian defensive player and both are huge athletic upgrades on Gauthier who is coming to the end.

Newell is probably a Day 1 player.  Ojo can take some 2nd down type reps but is pretty raw, maybe by the end of the season he's like a Uguak.  Findlay, maybe at safety.

There's not really a player in this draft that plays Demski's position.  You could draft Ethan Jordan, who I really like, but he's probably gotta start at Z and show himself to be reliable before you put him into the slot.

The OL in this draft are kind of meh all around.  Actually exceptional how few were chosen in the first 4 rounds.  We missed our chance at the top group by picking Shay instead of one of them, but we also got Shay.  We're probably a better team with Shay factoring in we're pretty clearly building to start 3 American OL, so we're only dressing 3 Canadian OL.

We do get 2 spots on the PR for draft year guys.  I think you can bet on Elgersma sitting on the PR if he's up here this year.  But quite likely could be the 3rd string too if he shows decently.

Yeah I don't hate the guys we took, but it felt like Findlay or Shand would've been a higher upside play at positions that made a bit more sense (Canadian Safety or DL) instead of Smith.   And at our first pick I also like Newell as a better fit or ideally, move up a slot or two to get Shanks - who is probably the only real top end difference maker OL of the group.    

I don't think we reached or outsmarted ourselves with the picks we made, just the guys were both safer picks at positions that we don't necessarily need anymore Canadian depth (or future Canadian starter).  I do agree that Shay could end up being one of the best players from this draft though, its just interesting to see how he fits given our recent glut of American LBs.

[kelownabomberfan]

1 hour ago, 17to85 said:

Gotta replace Jake Thomas some time.

Bite your tongue.

[M.O.A.B.]

Lost in this draft day, we signed these 2 Americans 

Christophe Atkinson - 2024 - Football - Ohio University

Ryan Johnson - Football - Southern Miss