2025 CFL (Non-Bombers) Season

[johnzo]

say what you will about Kelly, the Fred Reid game in BC will always live in my memory ... watched it on a cheap little laptop from a hotel balcony in istanbul, drinking raki.  Poor Javier Glatt.  I was astonished he still had a career after chasing fast Freddie around all day. 

7 hours ago, kelownabomberfan said:

We got all of our anger against Dieter out of our system watching Tyrone Jones destroy him in the 1984 Grey Cup.

Mike used to have a great avvy of Phil Hunt about to obliterate Kevin Glenn.  Wonder if one could make a similar one for Jones vs Brock

[wpgallday1960]

Riders make Emelius the highest paid Cdn WR in the league

https://3downnation.com/2025/12/29/saskatchewan-roughriders-make-samuel-emilus-highest-paid-canadian-receiver-in-cfl/

[rebusrankin]

That makes sense that Emelius is the highest paid, more production than Philpott, similar production to Demski but younger. What I think reading that is we got a deal with Demski.

[wbbfan]

Boy that is a monster deal for Emelius. I wouldn't want to be on the hook for paying him or Philpot what they got. I do not have him in the same tier as Brady for Canadians. He might be the best Canadian WR next year, good chance he will be in the top tier if not, he's 28 in his prime and came up big when the riders needed it. I get why they would offer him a deal like this. And they are probably hiding some of the cap hit in this season, like all these extensions likely are. I see soo much sticker shock in the free agents so far, and it isn't going away for me yet. 

It is good that we are seeing some stability with higher-end free agents league-wide. 

[GCn20]

9 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

Boy that is a monster deal for Emelius. I wouldn't want to be on the hook for paying him or Philpot what they got. I do not have him in the same tier as Brady for Canadians. He might be the best Canadian WR next year, good chance he will be in the top tier if not, he's 28 in his prime and came up big when the riders needed it. I get why they would offer him a deal like this. And they are probably hiding some of the cap hit in this season, like all these extensions likely are. I see soo much sticker shock in the free agents so far, and it isn't going away for me yet. 

It is good that we are seeing some stability with higher-end free agents league-wide. 

I would rather pay the Philpott/Emilus contracts then the Brady contract. 

However, I do feel better about the BO contract knowing that the league either feels that the cap is going up, or they have all collectively lost their minds and it's an even playing field.

Edited yesterday at 03:22 PM by GCn20

[Brandon]

56 minutes ago, wpgallday1960 said:

Riders make Emelius the highest paid Cdn WR in the league

https://3downnation.com/2025/12/29/saskatchewan-roughriders-make-samuel-emilus-highest-paid-canadian-receiver-in-cfl/

I guess this means the Riders cannot sign any more players in free agency since they paid one guy a big contract.   As per the experts on this site.   

[rebusrankin]

Emilus does have 2 1000 yard + seasons and last year he had 588 in 7 games which is a 1500 yard pace. He's been very good the past 3 seasons. Great point that it makes the Brady deal seem better. Essentially that is what a top Canadian makes. 

You know who is overpaid as a Canadian, Robbie Smith at 235,000 and 0 sacks last year.

[wbbfan]

34 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

I would rather pay the Philpott/Emilus contracts then the Brady contract. 

However, I do feel better about the BO contract knowing that the league either feels that the cap is going up, or they have all collectively lost their minds and it's an even playing field.

philpot is the least of the 3 id like to pay. I don’t trust his ability to stay healthy and productive over a full season. I don’t love paying any rb 300k. 

 I do agree these deals are making me feel a bit better about brady’s deal. 

[HardCoreBlue]

Maybe all these contracts are good for the CFL that attract more talent needing to raise the salary cap that bring more bums to the seats that  increase swag sales that attract more corporate support etc etc?

I’m in a festive mood.

[Mark H.]

18 minutes ago, HardCoreBlue said:

Maybe all these contracts are good for the CFL that attract more talent needing to raise the salary cap that bring more bums to the seats that  increase swag sales that attract more corporate support etc etc?

I’m in a festive mood.

We'll allow it. 😄

[GCn20]

59 minutes ago, HardCoreBlue said:

Maybe all these contracts are good for the CFL that attract more talent needing to raise the salary cap that bring more bums to the seats that  increase swag sales that attract more corporate support etc etc?

I’m in a festive mood.

Big contracts attract players but only the ones that make the big money which isn't that many. The rest are left playing for peanuts. For every 300k contract there are 4 guys who have make league minimum as opposed to 30 or 40k over minimum. That does not help us retain talent in our league. With our dollar being crap it's a tough sell to bring guys in as it is. 

[HardCoreBlue]

7 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

Big contracts attract players but only the ones that make the big money which isn't that many. The rest are left playing for peanuts. For every 300k contract there are 4 guys who have make league minimum as opposed to 30 or 40k over minimum. That does not help us retain talent in our league. With our dollar being crap it's a tough sell to bring guys in as it is. 

Thanks Debbie, you should be a motivational speaker.

[Blue In BC]

2 hours ago, GCn20 said:

I would rather pay the Philpott/Emilus contracts then the Brady contract. 

However, I do feel better about the BO contract knowing that the league either feels that the cap is going up, or they have all collectively lost their minds and it's an even playing field.

Going up over the previous $400K increase or just the teams now using that on re-signing of players?

[GCn20]

4 minutes ago, Blue In BC said:

Going up over the previous $400K increase or just the teams now using that on re-signing of players?

I don't think anyone besides the CFL office knows. Last year teams weren't even informed until the eve of FA and even then it was not settled. Therefore, I have very little faith the league has informed anyone of anything yet because why would the team's need to know this? lol

[Blue In BC]

4 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

I don't think anyone besides the CFL office knows. Last year teams weren't even informed until the eve of FA and even then it was not settled. Therefore, I have very little faith the league has informed anyone of anything yet because why would the team's need to know this? lol

The increase in 2025 was due to revenue increase over more than 1 season IIRC. I don't see a further increase in 2026 of that magnitude. I do think most teams ended up with some SMS left from 2025 that has been used to re-sign some top talent. 

That will make it interesting to see how they spend the increase for 2026 after signing some of top talent already. 

[SpeedFlex27]

6 hours ago, wpgallday1960 said:

Riders make Emelius the highest paid Cdn WR in the league

https://3downnation.com/2025/12/29/saskatchewan-roughriders-make-samuel-emilus-highest-paid-canadian-receiver-in-cfl/

Teams are using up what's left of the cap money from this season before January 1st. I'm hoping we still have some money left over for players we'd like back & not given to deadweight veterans who shouldn't be here. I'd like to see Sergio Castillo back for sure. But this is Kyle Walters our GM we're talking about. He's just as likely to sign him as to let him walk. 

Edited 20 hours ago by SpeedFlex27

[blue85gold]

56 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Teams are using up what's left of the cap money from this season before January 1st. I'm hoping we still have some money left over for players we'd like back & not given to deadweight veterans who shouldn't be here. I'd like to see Sergio Castillo back for sure. But this is Kyle Walters our GM we're talking about. He's just as likely to sign him as to let him walk. 

I have no idea what this means. Walters is just as likely to sign someone or let them walk? Every GM signs some guys and lets some walk. That’s how it works 

[Tracker]

8 hours ago, rebusrankin said:

That makes sense that Emelius is the highest paid, more production than Philpott, similar production to Demski but younger. What I think reading that is we got a deal with Demski.

I love Demski's work ethic and fearlessness, but his pattern is of increasingly injury-prone and longer healing times. I fervently hope Walters & Co. find a replacement and soon.

[WinnipegGordo]

wrong thread

Edited 18 hours ago by WinnipegGordo

[Brandon]

1 hour ago, Tracker said:

I love Demski's work ethic and fearlessness, but his pattern is of increasingly injury-prone and longer healing times. I fervently hope Walters & Co. find a replacement and soon.

He's played in 16, 18, 17 games in the last 3 seasons.     

As a Blue Bomber he's played in 112 out of 126 regular season games since joining us.   89% seems higher then most other guys?

 

 

[SpeedFlex27]

10 hours ago, rebusrankin said:

That makes sense that Emelius is the highest paid, more production than Philpott, similar production to Demski but younger. What I think reading that is we got a deal with Demski.

Emilus is a great Canadian receiver. Cory Mace has created the same atmosphere Osh did during our hey day in 2019-22. Guys want to play there. Buck did the Riders a huge favour when he turned the Riders HC job down. 

[Booch]

2 hours ago, Brandon said:

He's played in 16, 18, 17 games in the last 3 seasons.     

As a Blue Bomber he's played in 112 out of 126 regular season games since joining us.   89% seems higher then most other guys?

 

 

But been unable to perform in several playoffs tho...that being said we need to use him wisely and not running the ball in traffic as much...find another guy to do that....aka...be smart

 

[Brandon]

8 minutes ago, Booch said:

But been unable to perform in several playoffs tho...that being said we need to use him wisely and not running the ball in traffic as much...find another guy to do that....aka...be smart

 

He's played in 13/14 play off games with this year being the only year he wasn't in the game?   

[Booch]

12 hours ago, Brandon said:

He's played in 13/14 play off games with this year being the only year he wasn't in the game?   

grey cup 2023?...or was it 2022...2024?....dont recall as we played injured guys who were useless in several of  them....he was useless and couldn't run with any authority

Not to bemoan him, and glad he's back and is key for us for sure...but he has been playing hurt alot last few yrs....and playoffs in several was basically a non-factor....I alo chalk some of that up to how he was used....and didnt help him in being healthy or at least protected somewhat...we have habit of thatr here too we need to fix, on how we use guys and basically wreck em or get then pulverized...Lucky his first time here...Grant...Demski....What happened with Schoen...the mis-use of Strev and all the punishment we made him take...hopefully we learned and address it by rostering specific kinda guys to do those things, as opposed to beating the hell out of key players

[Tracker]

15 hours ago, Brandon said:

He's played in 16, 18, 17 games in the last 3 seasons.     

As a Blue Bomber he's played in 112 out of 126 regular season games since joining us.   89% seems higher then most other guys?

 

 

I was addressing his trending and it is inevitably downwards, and he has played hurt a lot and thus not as effective for the past couple of years.