Permission to talk: Is O'Shea leaving?

[Deiter Fan]

The way I see it MOS is likely a really good guy. He's probably an excellent friend, a great father and husband and loyal to his players. If you see the game and the process in the same way he does my sense is he would go to the wall for you. Unfortunately I also get the sense he's more dedicated to the individual than the team.

On the one hand it's why players were so anxious and willing to play for him. I've used the analogy before but back in my school days often my most favourite teachers were the ones who expected the least from me. It seems like that's part of what's happening here, if you've earned his loyalty he won't bench you if you're playing poorly. He'll leave you in the rotation over and over again so long as you're making an effort even if you're coming up way short, he will be loyal to you.

As a human being I have a lotta respect for that. As the fan of a football team I can't help but wonder if it's conducive to winning. My perception is a man in that position needs to have a very acute sense of realism, bluntness and be a little cutthroat. He was able to get by without those attributes when he had a bunch of quality players but once it appeared as though some hard choices had to be made he didn't seem able to make them.

It's not true that people can't change but something a wise cousin said to me once is very true, "Think about how long it took that person to get like that. Well, that's probably how long it'll take them to change".

Time will tell if MOS can change or if he is provided more quality puzzle pieces so he doesn't have to.

Regardless I'll keep watching and hoping for the best.

 

 

 

Edited 7 hours ago by Deiter Fan

[Bubba Zanetti]

14 hours ago, rebusrankin said:

If he just does the opposite of every instinct he has, this will work out fine.

He’s been known to

[Goalie]

I feel they recognize or miller recognizes problems exist and I think miller O’Shea and Kyle will work hard this off season to show that yeah you know what, it is time for some changes. I don’t believe for a second that any of Wade Kyle or Osh are happy with how this season went and I’m sure will work hard to fix it. Sometimes complacency kicks in after a decade, sometimes you need the kick in the ass. I feel like this year is wade kicking Kyle and Osh in the ass a bit. You can’t get rid of all the vets but you can’t bring them all back either. And Zach is the biggest question. He’s our starter cuz he’s getting paid way 2 much to not start. Elgersma might be nice. Hopefully another Rourke. 

Edited 8 hours ago by Goalie

[rebusrankin]

7 hours ago, Noeller said:

Talked to Osh for a bit tonight at TD MB... Classic answers "We need to be better... And we will be...". Ha ha. I chuckled at the non answer of it all. I'm definitely very interested in Walters presser whenever that happens. 

You had him there and didn't tell him to cut Jake and Kola? Boo.

[Deiter Fan]

55 minutes ago, Goalie said:

I feel they recognize or miller recognizes problems exist and I think miller O’Shea and Kyle will work hard this off season to show that yeah you know what, it is time for some changes. I don’t believe for a second that any of Wade Kyle or Osh are happy with how this season went and I’m sure will work hard to fix it. Sometimes complacency kicks in after a decade, sometimes you need the kick in the ass. I feel like this year is wade kicking Kyle and Osh in the ass a bit. You can’t get rid of all the vets but you can’t bring them all back either. And Zach is the biggest question. He’s our starter cuz he’s getting paid way 2 much to not start. Elgersma might be nice. Hopefully another Rourke. 

 I don't know, man...if losing three Grey Cups in a row with a chance to turn it around on the fourth...at home...isn't enough of a kick in the ass/motivator I don't know what is.

[HardCoreBlue]

1 hour ago, rebusrankin said:

You had him there and didn't tell him to cut Jake and Kola? Boo.

Yea like at least you could have thrown in some subliminal messaging like Good evening Mr. O’Shea big fan of yours, (cut Jake Thomas and Kola immediately), great season just some hard luck (for the love of gawd take Hogan out back and take care of business), we all appreciate what you have done for this great organization, have a great season next year and many many more, enjoy your evening and enjoy the game tomorrow (if you don’t make these course corrections immediately I and my friends from MBB, led by @Booch, will round up a posse with pitchforks and torches and take you out to the ‘farm’).

[JohnnyAbonny]

1 hour ago, Deiter Fan said:

 I don't know, man...if losing three Grey Cups in a row with a chance to turn it around on the fourth...at home...isn't enough of a kick in the ass/motivator I don't know what is.

Yeah, really the kick in the ass should have been after last year. The 24-25 offseason was the worst of this era. 
They’d better get busy quick now, can’t afford to fumble **** around until February again. 

[wbbfan]

12 hours ago, Pete said:

Neither are overpays as thats what the market is for starting top cdns, just like Dobson,Ford, Mcinnis.robbie Smith etc.

For the most part we have been unwilling to go go there so we ended up losing both Dobson and Ford and unable to replace them adequately. We tried to get  "deals" which never happened

  

 

Yes they are. No canadian back is making even close to brady, or imp back. And mcinnis is in his prime, demski is 4-5 years older with a ton of wear. You can’t compare a rbs pay to dl or ol either lol. 

Ford is also a terrible contract. 

Even with dobsons step forward this year, he’s still way way over paid. 

11 hours ago, Mark H. said:

Beside the point. The BO contract is not the huge issue it gets made out to be. Other players are not earning their $$, but he certainly is.

He’s the least of the bad contracts, but you cant pay a rb elite wr money and make it work with out an elite player on basically a min contract. It’s un sustainable. 

People thought harris was irreplaceable too. But in the end, he was easily replaced. When brady has missed games, we haven’t struggled to run the ball at all. 

I love brady on the field and off, but his deal is already swimming with cement shoes. A raise for him is completely outlandish. 

 

The tier of bad contracts for us goes some thing like this 

tier 1, criminally bad deals. We have to get out of these to compete in free agency. Zach, wj. 

Tier 2, Stupid waste. You can get away with with a very small number of these but not many. Kramdi, holm, nichols, lawson, vaughters, joneses, schoen(for a guy who can’t stay healthy), mitchell, etc. 

tier 3, big over pays for guys who actually produce. demski, brady, big stan. 

Thing is, zach is the hardest guy to replace, and replacing the mid tier guys requires many replacements to save moderate amounts. 

The easiest place to save large amounts of money is demski and brady. 

Hopefully, Demski signs a more team friendly deal, and zach can be renegotiated to a more reasonable sum. 

Brady made 80-90k more than AJ, and double some of the other leading rushers. 

2 hours ago, Goalie said:

I feel they recognize or miller recognizes problems exist and I think miller O’Shea and Kyle will work hard this off season to show that yeah you know what, it is time for some changes. I don’t believe for a second that any of Wade Kyle or Osh are happy with how this season went and I’m sure will work hard to fix it. Sometimes complacency kicks in after a decade, sometimes you need the kick in the ass. I feel like this year is wade kicking Kyle and Osh in the ass a bit. You can’t get rid of all the vets but you can’t bring them all back either. And Zach is the biggest question. He’s our starter cuz he’s getting paid way 2 much to not start. Elgersma might be nice. Hopefully another Rourke. 

F*%# do I hope you end up being right. That’s basically our only hope. 

 

46 minutes ago, HardCoreBlue said:

Yea like at least you could have thrown in some subliminal messaging like Good evening Mr. O’Shea big fan of yours, (cut Jake Thomas and Kola immediately), great season just some hard luck (for the love of gawd take Hogan out back and take care of business), we all appreciate what you have done for this great organization, have a great season next year and many many more, enjoy your evening and enjoy the game tomorrow (if you don’t make these course corrections immediately I and my friends from MBB, led by @Booch, will round up a posse with pitchforks and torches and take you out to the ‘farm’).

Tell him you didn’t appreciate how jake and kola were defaming the CAF/veterans recently… lol 

[MrFreakzilla]

13 hours ago, Pete said:

Neither are overpays as thats what the market is for starting top cdns, just like Dobson,Ford, Mcinnis.robbie Smith etc.

For the most part we have been unwilling to go go there so we ended up losing both Dobson and Ford and unable to replace them adequately. We tried to get  "deals" which never happened

  

 

Ford was gone no matter what. He was going to Edmonton to play with his brother. That was pretty much common knowledge

Dobson wasn't worth the money Hamilton offered him. Desperate teams do that to get better, quicker.

Hopefully Walters doesn't penny pinch this offseason. 2025 was a clear F in aquiring talent during free agency. 2026 can't get any worse in that aspect.

[Booch]

12 hours ago, coach17 said:

MOS and Walters have their warts for sure. Neither is perfect and as others have said have not performed up to the standards the last couple of years which most of us expect. We probably lost 2 of the last 3 Grey Cups because of poor decisions they made. However having been around when we got rid of Murphy and Ritchie because their teams regressed after some excellent years, but were unable to replace them with competence for many years. I for one am glad we had the foresight to resign both and give them another term at the helm. 

We had incompetence tho above in the board running crap...and poor football people as prez...etc...we don't have that now so replacing a hc wouldn't have been an issue 

I'm more concerned now that osh won't deviate from his ways...and we will lose out on guys due to it..and still neglect player development over his personal favs...Maybe he...and lesser extent Walter's were given a bit of a directive/direction from Wade..Hopefully and guess early moves come Jan will show as so...but the extension of OC guy...early signings like last yr of garbage like Thomas...not cutting/releasing others in early Jan to show we going after legit FA talent.. then buckle up for more the same and fighting to just get to 3rd at best

11 hours ago, Noeller said:

Talked to Osh for a bit tonight at TD MB... Classic answers "We need to be better... And we will be...". Ha ha. I chuckled at the non answer of it all. I'm definitely very interested in Walters presser whenever that happens. 

You should have asked the real questions...put him on the spot...I woulda

[Booch]

2 hours ago, Deiter Fan said:

 I don't know, man...if losing three Grey Cups in a row with a chance to turn it around on the fourth...at home...isn't enough of a kick in the ass/motivator I don't know what is.

Yeah...just this past season shouldn't have been the indicator for them to perk up and realize..."wow...we have issues" this been almost 4 yrs in making...hence the little faith in Osh turning it around unless he was re-upped with extreme conditions and if the same ol same ol is occurring then best get yiur cardboard boxes ready to pack up your crap

 

8 minutes ago, MrFreakzilla said:

Ford was gone no matter what. He was going to Edmonton to play with his brother. That was pretty much common knowledge

Dobson wasn't worth the money Hamilton offered him. Desperate teams do that to get better, quicker.

Hopefully Walters doesn't penny pinch this offseason. 2025 was a clear F in aquiring talent during free agency. 2026 can't get any worse in that aspect.

Actually...Ford would have stayed and not for as much as edm gave...but a significant bump none the less

We just basically gave in and accepted he would leave..and really good thing as we are severely overpaying in our secondary as it was...like almost 600k into Nichols...Holm...Kramdi is crippling as it is and poor use of sms and assets...bad roster management 

We would have been just as good if not better with paying Nichols and replacing Holm and Kramdi...Kramdi isnt even needed as a ratio piece...we pay huge for him and cause Osh loves the Canadian/underdog...If Kramdi was an import...he would not be starting based on what he offers...and i don't see another team in the league that would dump their sam for him and his price tag...its things like that which all add up to our roster and depth dysfunction...and its Osh induced...

Thomas and Kolo gobbling up prob 300k between them for their pathetic performance...but they Osh's bois and we tied to them...hopefully that's a "were " tied to them

[Bubba Zanetti]

3 hours ago, Deiter Fan said:

 I don't know, man...if losing three Grey Cups in a row with a chance to turn it around on the fourth...at home...isn't enough of a kick in the ass/motivator I don't know what is.

Yup. Just so beyond disappointed that after losing 3 f’ing Grey Cups in a row and hosting this year, Walters’ and O’Shea’s reponse was to let key players walk, sign a couple meh players who contributed nothing, and basically run it back even though there were many red flags all over the roster. If this wasn’t the season to go balls to the wall and all in then when the f**k is!?!??

[Booch]

24 minutes ago, Bubba Zanetti said:

Yup. Just so beyond disappointed that after losing 3 f’ing Grey Cups in a row and hosting this year, Walters’ and O’Shea’s reponse was to let key players walk, sign a couple meh players who contributed nothing, and basically run it back even though there were many red flags all over the roster. If this wasn’t the season to go balls to the wall and all in then when the f**k is!?!??

And drag our feet on an actual OC only to promote an unqualified and lousy internal incumbent...yippee

Kinda like what we doing now...but we didnt drag our feet on this..time will tell if it was a bad decision...we will either be 3 yrs in the abyss with same ol same ol and 3 yrs longer get back to it...have to cut bait mid contract and eat that cost and be even further behind the 8 ball....or he has learned something in his 12 yrs...with 2 cups..and 10 fails...jury out on that tho...and they (he) turns it around with how he manages the squad...I see a 33% chance of success until proven otherwise

And no...making playoffs...or barely making it only to lose again in playoffs with similar issues.. that's not success 

[SpeedFlex27]

5 hours ago, Goalie said:

I feel they recognize or miller recognizes problems exist and I think miller O’Shea and Kyle will work hard this off season to show that yeah you know what, it is time for some changes. I don’t believe for a second that any of Wade Kyle or Osh are happy with how this season went and I’m sure will work hard to fix it. Sometimes complacency kicks in after a decade, sometimes you need the kick in the ass. I feel like this year is wade kicking Kyle and Osh in the ass a bit. You can’t get rid of all the vets but you can’t bring them all back either. And Zach is the biggest question. He’s our starter cuz he’s getting paid way 2 much to not start. Elgersma might be nice. Hopefully another Rourke. 

Just askin' for a friend but how is a new contract (terms unknown for Osh) & 3 years for Walters a kick in the ass? Please explain. 

[blue85gold]

19 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Just askin' for a friend but how is a new contract (terms unknown for Osh) & 3 years for Walters a kick in the ass? Please explain. 

Hard to give them a kick in the ass if they don't work for you

[Mark H.]

3 hours ago, wbbfan said:

No canadian back is making even close to brady, or imp back. And mcinnis is in his prime, demski is 4-5 years older with a ton of wear. 

He’s the least of the bad contracts, but you cant pay a rb elite wr money and make it work with out an elite player on basically a min contract. It’s un sustainable. 

People thought harris was irreplaceable too. But in the end, he was easily replaced. When brady has missed games, we haven’t struggled to run the ball at all. 

I love brady on the field and off, but his deal is already swimming with cement shoes. A raise for him is completely outlandish. 

The tier of bad contracts for us goes some thing like this 

tier 3, big over pays for guys who actually produce. demski, brady, big stan. 

Thing is, zach is the hardest guy to replace, and replacing the mid tier guys requires many replacements to save moderate amounts. 

Brady made 80-90k more than AJ, and double some of the other leading rushers. 

 

That would be because there isn't a Canadian back anywhere near as good as Brady is.  I am not advocating a raise, I just think Brady O's contract for this year was fine, especially for a non-import

2023: led the league in yards from scrimmage

2024: led the league in yards from scrimmage

2025: finished second in yards from scrimmage (missed 3 games)

When you have a Canadian doing that, you will have to pay him - or some other team will

The one thing that bothers me about Brady, is that they are not taking full advantage of the fact that he's a Canadian running back.  A Canadian in a non-traditional position, with a decent backup, should be pure gold.

But the Bombers choose not to cash in.  There should be 3 Americans on the OL, or an American starting for Jake Thomas at DT.  Heck, they could do both of those if they really wanted to

[bearpants]

20 hours ago, Noeller said:

I said before and I'll say it again... Dickie was granted the opportunity to fix a FAR WORSE mess, and he hasn't earned half of what Osh has. 

We'll know PDQ whether or not Walters and Osh have learned their lessons. 

I am forever the optimist and am already looking forward to what should be a very productive offseason...

Technically he's earned exactly half of what O'Shea has... in terms of GCs...

[Stickem]

I hope it's NOT more of the same in 26'....This last season was a disaster in so many ways for the BIGBLUE...I'm sure Miller ,Walters, Osh and some of the coaching staff are going to have to have a 'big sit down' meeting and hash things out, because we can't have a repeat....Failing to make major changes will result in the Princess being turned into a pumpkin....meaning fans will not buy more of the same...We had a winning recipe for success awhile back....we have to find our way back...Starting it out would be getting rid of the 'deadwood' and certainly put together a better free agency plan than what was executed in 25'....Those are 2 starting points...A helluva lot of hard work is a key component ....I hope we're up for it

[sweep the leg]

4 hours ago, wbbfan said:

 

Brady made 80-90k more than AJ, and double some of the other leading rushers. 

Canadians are the highest paid players at almost every position in the league. That’s just how it goes. Almost all of them can be replaced effectively by a cheaper American, but then you’re stuck using weaker Canadians.

Id rather pay guys like Demski and Oliveira and have to use cheaper Americans elsewhere. Guys like Logan ($114k) are the mistakes we need to avoid.

[wbbfan]

20 minutes ago, sweep the leg said:

Canadians are the highest paid players at almost every position in the league. That’s just how it goes. Almost all of them can be replaced effectively by a cheaper American, but then you’re stuck using weaker Canadians.

Id rather pay guys like Demski and Oliveira and have to use cheaper Americans elsewhere. Guys like Logan ($114k) are the mistakes we need to avoid.

They aren’t, normally at most positions, Especially that amount over. Looking back at canadians setting the high price mark at positions, they normally only get 10-20k mark up. Out side of Ol, Rourke, ford, and Brady. All 3 of those guys are over pays, but rourke being a qb is a bit different. Ford won’t see remotely the same money again in his career. Even ol, where we see more canadians get more money, It’s normally a 20-30k max range. 

A positional break down: 

Db, it’s true right now. because ford is one of the worst over pays. But a canadian db hasn’t been the highest paid in the past 6-7 years atleast. Last one I can find was Sanchez when he came back from the nfl, ages ago. 

Lber, Judge is 35k ish under wynton and just under 10 below Beverette. Again the previous highest paid lbers going back years aren’t canadian. 

Dl, they are but they are only 15-25k above flo and ceresna. For several years this has been imp dominated for highest paid. 

Wr, nope lawler and it’s been imps as far back as I can find. 

Rb, it is again with brady’s heavy pay day. Brady again earns 2x all but one or two backs in the league. 

If you look at the league wide candidates for MOC, did any one other than brady/rourke even make 100k? Giving huge pay days to canadian ratio breakers doesn’t work out a lot. How did Robbie smith do? Or ford? 

 

If we lived in a perfect world and crafted the roster around over paying two great canadian's, that we know will perform, that’d be fine. Problem is, how do you retool with those contracts when those are two of the easier positions to replace for a fraction of the pay? 

 

[sweep the leg]

27 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

 

 

If we lived in a perfect world and crafted the roster around over paying two great canadian's, that we know will perform, that’d be fine. Problem is, how do you retool with those contracts when those are two of the easier positions to replace for a fraction of the pay? 

 

We retool by not paying Logan, WJ, Bryant, Vaughters, etc. Pay our stars and replace the old guys through scouting.

[SpeedFlex27]

2 hours ago, blue85gold said:

Hard to give them a kick in the ass if they don't work for you

Yeah, a raise & a long term contract (3 years is a lifetime in pro sports). I'll take a kick in the ass like that, too. 

36 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

They aren’t, normally at most positions, Especially that amount over. Looking back at canadians setting the high price mark at positions, they normally only get 10-20k mark up. Out side of Ol, Rourke, ford, and Brady. All 3 of those guys are over pays, but rourke being a qb is a bit different. Ford won’t see remotely the same money again in his career. Even ol, where we see more canadians get more money, It’s normally a 20-30k max range. 

A positional break down: 

Db, it’s true right now. because ford is one of the worst over pays. But a canadian db hasn’t been the highest paid in the past 6-7 years atleast. Last one I can find was Sanchez when he came back from the nfl, ages ago. 

Lber, Judge is 35k ish under wynton and just under 10 below Beverette. Again the previous highest paid lbers going back years aren’t canadian. 

Dl, they are but they are only 15-25k above flo and ceresna. For several years this has been imp dominated for highest paid. 

Wr, nope lawler and it’s been imps as far back as I can find. 

Rb, it is again with brady’s heavy pay day. Brady again earns 2x all but one or two backs in the league. 

If you look at the league wide candidates for MOC, did any one other than brady/rourke even make 100k? Giving huge pay days to canadian ratio breakers doesn’t work out a lot. How did Robbie smith do? Or ford? 

 

If we lived in a perfect world and crafted the roster around over paying two great canadian's, that we know will perform, that’d be fine. Problem is, how do you retool with those contracts when those are two of the easier positions to replace for a fraction of the pay? 

 

I wonder what Joe Poplawski in his prime would command today? Milt Stegall? Charles Roberts?