2024/2025 Blue Bombers Off-Season Thread

[do or die]

10 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

The whole reason for having specialists is so the player playing regular positions don't have the added pressure of having to punt a ball & flip the field. Or having to kick a 45 yard field goal on the last play of the game to win. Meanwhile the kicker who is a DB just tackled the receiver. He's out of breath & he hurt his plant foot making the tackle but goes out anyway to try to make it. 

Any oldtimers out there who remember Gene Lakusiak kicking field goals in 1970? He went something like 5 of 30 attempts. All Star DB for the Bombers but a total disaster as a kicker. They traded their kicker to Montreal for some unknown reason prior to the start of the season. They had no one else. No one knows why Lunsford did what he did & why? Maybe the kicker Pierre Guindon didn't salute the guy or something. Like I said, Lakusiak was horrible.

Geno played mostly LB.  Willing tackler.     Wally Gabler and Benji Dial were the QBs.   That team had about 6 legit players......and went 2-14.  Terrible team.

[SpeedFlex27]

16 hours ago, do or die said:

Geno played mostly LB.  Willing tackler.     Wally Gabler and Benji Dial were the QBs.   That team had about 6 legit players......and went 2-14.  Terrible team.

Lakusiak wasn't a linebacker that 1970 season. He was a DB along with Corners Doug Strong & Paul Brule & Safety Ed Ulmer. At the other DB position, they had an assortment of players that year in & out like Dana Stevenson, Bob LaRose, Ward Smith & Tom Deacon. Even the late season addition of Rick Shaw to do the kicking & receiving as Spavital finally had enough of Lakusiak, he was a former all star DB with the Stamps. Shaw played a little bit in the secondary as well.

The Bombers had more raw talent than we remember. The OL already had Bill Frank, Larry Slagle, Bob Lueck, Chuck Liebrock & Chuck Harrison. They had All Star Paul Desjardins at Center from 1965-70 but traded him to the Argos for Bob Swift before the 1971 season. He was doing a medical internship & could not play in Winnipeg anymore. hence the Center swap with the Argos.

With Swift anchoring that OL, they would go on to become the best in the CFL over the next decade & more & block for qbs Wally Gabler, Don Jonas & Dieter Brock. On Defense in 1970, they had Mickey Doyle, Joe Critchlow, Rob McLaren, Doug Strong, Paul Brule, Gene Lakusiak. They'd bring in Grady Cavness to replace Ulmer in 1971. DB Tom Oberg solidified the one secondary spot where it was a merry go round of defensive backs the year previous in 1970. They were also strengthened in 1972 when former All Canadian linebacker Phil Minnick rejoined the Bombers after a 2 year absence due to a serious knee injury. 

In a great off season in 1971, they replaced FB Bob Houmard with Ed Williams. HB Mack Herron replaced Amos van Pelt. QB Don Jonas replaced Wally Gabler & Benji Dial as well as Lakusiak as Kicker. They brought in Paul Markle in to replace Lou Andrus at TE. The new Flanker was Jim Thorpe & SE Bob LaRose. They both replaced the wideouts they had in 1970. ROTY Split End John Senst was traded to the Stampeders prior to 1971. Defensively, they strengthened their DL with the additions of Jim Duke & Jim Sullivan, a long time NFL player. 

Lunsford drafted wisely & brought in two blue chippers in Bob Kraemer from the U of M who settled in at Wingback as well as Pter Ribbins who could play a number of positions on offense or defense very well. In 1972, he led the Bombers with 9 interceptions. 

They went from 2-14 & the joke of the CFL in 1970 to 7-8-1. We were the highest scoring team in the CFL in 1971 & 72. We finished third in the West & made the playoffs for the first time since 1966. Don Jonas won the Schenley Award as the CFL's MOP after the 1971 season.  But they had a core of young & talented players that hadn't yet matured or jelled in 1970. Yes, they lacked the maturity &  talent in 1970. However, these players grew up fast in 1971 & 72. However, I believe that 1970 team wasn't as bad as we thought. Even at 2-14. There's at least half a dozen players who stayed with the Bombers from 1970 to experience the success. However short it was. 

Just my take. 

Edited yesterday at 04:20 AM by SpeedFlex27

[Colin Unger]

On 2025-05-02 at 7:19 PM, wbbfan said:

Cam Peterson is a 6’5 280 dt from southern, parts of 2 seasons had 50 tackles 4 sacks 9.5 tfl. 5.54 40 was disappointing, but 34” vert and almost 10’ broad is good. Played 3t-4i which fits well with what we do. Kicked around the nfl work outs/camps a bit. Sounds like a guy coaches really liked down there. 

Yeah but can he punt?

[wbbfan]

1 hour ago, Colin Unger said:

Yeah but can he punt?

I mean, surely he can punt really poorly at worst. Just like our current punter. 

[wbbfan]

Thought I’d throw out the remaining schedule till kick off

May 7th, rookie camp. 

May 10th cut down to 85 players excluding none counters 

May 11th TC opens 

May 13th cut down to 75 players 

May 24th first pre season game, at home vs ssk 4pm est kick off 

May 30th 2nd pre season game in ssk 9pm est kick off 

May 31st training camps close 

June 12th week 2 our first game at home vs bc 730 cst kick off. 
 

We will have a bit of extra time to finalize our game day roster, practice and be under the sms to start the season with the week 1 bye. 

[wbbfan]

https://3downnation.com/2025/05/04/blue-bombers-gm-kyle-walters-cfls-tweaked-roster-rule-stinks-for-late-round-draft-picks/
 

TLDR, not a rule change just enforcement change. 1/3 if guys sent back make an ar for 1 game, 1 notable impact player recently. For us, this years pick Iwinosa Uwubanmwen won’t be in camp this year and will be a none counter next year. Also last years picks Kalra and Vlahogiannis won’t be in camp. 

 

[JuranBoldenRules]

Time for a CFL minor league.

Stick it in the Atlantic.  Have 4-6 teams.  There's another 200 players developing.  Guarantee you can convince that many guys to play for a few years to stay active for a chance coming out of U Sports and CJFL.  Develop Canadian players, let the QB's you want to develop get live reps.

[wbbfan]

4 hours ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

Time for a CFL minor league.

Stick it in the Atlantic.  Have 4-6 teams.  There's another 200 players developing.  Guarantee you can convince that many guys to play for a few years to stay active for a chance coming out of U Sports and CJFL.  Develop Canadian players, let the QB's you want to develop get live reps.

100% over due. I think you could run it out of a satellite market like the xfl did for a while. 
 Ontario probably gives you the most places to play and teams to pull support from. Though for greedy reasons I’d want it in the parties. 
 

You could run a spring league of 5-6 games then run an in season league of say 8 games. that way you have every one available for cfl tcs, you scoop all the cut kids, and if any take big steps they are available mid season for teams that need injury replacements. 
 

[Goalie]

Prairies 2 spread out. Would have be a regional league like the QMJHL in hockey. Atlantic makes some sense. Each region tho I suppose could maybe have its own development league tho. 

Edited yesterday at 09:32 PM by Goalie

[wbbfan]

1 hour ago, Goalie said:

Prairies 2 spread out. Would have be a regional league like the QMJHL in hockey. Atlantic makes some sense. Each region tho I suppose could maybe have its own development league tho. 

It is. I don’t think it’d be financially viable to have these guys playing all over. I think it’d have to atleast start out as a south Ontario to qubec thing. With in a 4 hour ish drive radius you have a ton of infrastructure. 
 

It you send kids there who aren’t gonna be in the cfl, give them a chance to make it and 25-35k, you’ll scoop up a huge portion of the guys who fall out of the league. 
 I might add globals as well. Say a limit of 5 globals and 5 Americans per team. 

[bearpants]

21 hours ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

Time for a CFL minor league.

Stick it in the Atlantic.  Have 4-6 teams.  There's another 200 players developing.  Guarantee you can convince that many guys to play for a few years to stay active for a chance coming out of U Sports and CJFL.  Develop Canadian players, let the QB's you want to develop get live reps.

this is a great idea... but it sounds expensive... CFL isn't exactly flush with cash

[JuranBoldenRules]

41 minutes ago, bearpants said:

this is a great idea... but it sounds expensive... CFL isn't exactly flush with cash

Think of the baseball league the Goldeyes play in.  Would be like that.  Pay guys $750-$1000 per game for 6 games.  The real draw is the ability to get film and for the teams to get a better look at guys who are those 5th-8th round picks, undrafted.  Keep them active so there is a pool of guys ready to go.  Also coach development.  If they played early enough could even get some coaches out who are working with U Sports programs.  

Probably $3-$4 million a year to run the whole thing.  Use it to engage some markets that aren't close to CFL teams.  Partner with U Sports for facilities (keep in mind for Atlantic there's club football and nice facilities for that too Halifax, Fredericton, Moncton).

[sweep the leg]

Has anybody seen a rookie camp schedule yet? 

[blue85gold]

Second round pick Smith signed now

https://www.bluebombers.com/2025/05/02/1st-10-it-seemed-like-it-could-be-a-good-fit-and-im-super-excited-they-picked-me/

[Noeller]

1 hour ago, sweep the leg said:

Has anybody seen a rookie camp schedule yet? 

Nothing other than its Weds-Fri. Sat medicals. Sunday main camp opens..but haven't seen times. I can't ******* wait... I haven't been home in awhile so I took Friday/Monday off to make a long weekend and I'll definitely be checking out some mini camp Friday and main camp Monday. 

[SpeedFlex27]

21 hours ago, wbbfan said:

It is. I don’t think it’d be financially viable to have these guys playing all over. I think it’d have to atleast start out as a south Ontario to qubec thing. With in a 4 hour ish drive radius you have a ton of infrastructure. 
 

It you send kids there who aren’t gonna be in the cfl, give them a chance to make it and 25-35k, you’ll scoop up a huge portion of the guys who fall out of the league. 
 I might add globals as well. Say a limit of 5 globals and 5 Americans per team. 

The CFL hasn't the money to sponsor a flag football league for kids. Let alone a development league for first & second year players. How would the league get the money for something like this? The start up costs even for something as simple as this would still be very, very high.

The Bombers made 7 million & they're fine. They could afford it but probably aren't interested. 

The Stamps & Elks lost tens of millions between them. The Stamps owner won't even spring for an enclosed practice field or decent workout facilities for his players. The Stamps never had hot food last year for the players. Edwards is a cheap bastard. He won't finance anything. 

Can't comment on the Elks with new ownership. 

Riders losing money or slightly breaking even. They've lost 10,000 season ticket holders since Covid. I'd think they're not interested.

I can't see MLSE want to be a part of this. 

The Als are running on a fine line to profitability. A badly attended game of less than 18,000 might break that profitability. Can't see them want to get involved. Hamilton is fine. Ottawa maybe. They both could probably have the money to do it along with Winnipeg. 

However, collectively as a league, I don't believe the BOG's would approve it. There is no will to do this.

Edited 2 hours ago by SpeedFlex27

[Brandon]

20 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

The CFL hasn't the money to sponsor a flag football league for kids. Let alone a development league for first & second year players. How would the league get the money for something like this? The start up costs even for something as simple as this would still be very, very high.

The Bombers made 7 million & they're fine. They could afford it but probably aren't interested. 

The Stamps & Elks lost tens of millions between them. The Stamps owner won't even spring for an enclosed practice field or decent workout facilities for his players. The Stamps never had hot food last year for the players. Edwards is a cheap bastard. He won't finance anything. 

Can't comment on the Elks with new ownership. 

Riders losing money or slightly breaking even. They've lost 10,000 season ticket holders since Covid. I'd think they're not interested.

I can't see MLSE want to be a part of this. 

The Als are running on a fine line to profitability. A badly attended game of less than 18,000 might break that profitability. Can't see them want to get involved. Hamilton is fine. Ottawa maybe. They both could probably have the money to do it along with Winnipeg. 

However, collectively as a league, I don't believe the BOG's would approve it. There is no will to do this.

I know of a certain someone with loads of money, interest in owning a football league, and free time that can fund this....

[Booch]

3 hours ago, blue85gold said:

Second round pick Smith signed now

https://www.bluebombers.com/2025/05/02/1st-10-it-seemed-like-it-could-be-a-good-fit-and-im-super-excited-they-picked-me/

Solid pick...gonna pan out to be the best pick in my opinion...he's perfectly suited for what we wanna do here and is multi-use...A Canadian version of what Cole did for us without the DA tag...so hopefully it enables us to bulk up that damn dline with 3 solid interior guys...the Global guy as well if he is what many think will also allow us to use a DA elsewhere....no reason Woods..Adams...hopefully Person and or any newbie who flies off the page in camp cant all be rostered,

Gimme a WJ/Vauters/Lawson/Woods/Adams/Person/Bailey rotation anyday....and if another rookie makes a case to be on roster then even better....I know they think Jake is this perennial stud...but we have no need and really no room/use...If they want to roster a second National DT....To insert him over even Schmeck or another promising rookie is just foolish and a waste...You dont sacrifice youth and upside for an old vet who lost his usefulness 3 yrs ago already....just plain dumb

We have Kramdi..Makonzo...Shay..Smith...Kelly...Hallett...Hagerty....pretty sure we have the ability to put any 2 of those guys on the field at any given yime in lieu of a DT to make ratio if we choose to play 2 on defence...youth...athleticism and ability should trump loyalty to old dead weight 

[sweep the leg]

2 hours ago, Noeller said:

Nothing other than its Weds-Fri. Sat medicals. Sunday main camp opens..but haven't seen times. I can't ******* wait... I haven't been home in awhile so I took Friday/Monday off to make a long weekend and I'll definitely be checking out some mini camp Friday and main camp Monday. 

Teammate of my kid is going to be at rookie camp, so I want to check it out to see how he compares. Even his parents don’t know the times yet lol.