Blue Bombers -- 2025/26 Offseason -- Discussion Thread

[SpeedFlex27]

9 minutes ago, Brandon said:

Every team on every year has money to re-sign veterans and also add new pieces in free agency.   

I don't believe any team has never signed any veterans and only replenished via free agency.  

Plus, I believe the salary cap is going up again so we'll see...

Edited Friday at 11:24 PM by SpeedFlex27

[CrazyCanuck89]

5 hours ago, johnzo said:

it's an interesting year for free agent QBs.  Ordinarily there's an obvious matchup of free agent QB and rebuilding team (like Brown in Ottawa, VAJ in Calgary, Fajardo in Montreal, etc).  This year the top free agents are MBT, Crum and Powell, but there's no obvious landing spots for them.  Really curious to see where Powell's head is at given that BLM just resigned for two years and Powell got no snaps last year.

Fajardo is in Edmonton and has already resigned.

[SpeedFlex27]

1 hour ago, CrazyCanuck89 said:

Fajardo is in Edmonton and has already resigned.

Fajardo is going into his second season in Edmonton. 

[GCn20]

On 2025-12-16 at 8:36 PM, HardCoreBlue said:

Being a bit skittish this grapevine of yours is sus to me until it’s formally announced.

He saves puppies?

Yep..as i said take it with a grain of salt. It is overheard chat in physio room. 

I don't mind Condell at all. He's a good experienced OC. He is what we needed

[wbbfan]

47 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

Yep..as i said take it with a grain of salt. It is overheard chat in physio room. 

I don't mind Condell at all. He's a good experienced OC. He is what we needed

I'm trying to be as optimistic about Condell as possible. I have some reservations, but at the same time, I expect the floor for our offence to be miles higher than it has been the last 2 years. 

If we can balance what has worked from the Lapo-Buck era and what Condell does well, we will be in a great position. 

I wonder if Jackson is back at QB coach, if he is not, I would love to bring in an ast on O that can help lock in what we have done well. A guy like Pete Costanza would be great. 

[3rdand1.5]

I don't know  the why's, but as I said before something just seemed "off" with Jackson last year......

[Booch]

57 minutes ago, 3rdand1.5 said:

I don't know  the why's, but as I said before something just seemed "off" with Jackson last year......

I think he may have been the choice but with that personal issues he had to deal with..they bumped OC Guy up in the interm...as just choosing him as unqualified as he was...seemed an odd choice...with maybe the gentlemen agreement that JJ would take over when he got here...and then we renaged on it kinda?? The whole thing seemed odd and we did interview experienced guys...and guys with solid coaching resumes...and then went with that maroon?? Like wtf

Edited Saturday at 07:44 PM by Booch

[wbbfan]

1 hour ago, 3rdand1.5 said:

I don't know  the why's, but as I said before something just seemed "off" with Jackson last year......

100% agree. I mean, the missing all of camp thing is really strange for a guy who was basically the insurance policy at OC, and was a HC not long ago. Must've been some really serious family stuff. Going from that to being away from home for the majority of the season is a lot to deal with. 

On top of that, we saw flashes of toxic narcissism from Hogan every time he opened his mouth, which was not even frequent or long in length. I shudder to think what he was like to work with. From what I saw, it firmly looked like the play call duty was taken from Hogan and given to Jackson very late. But we never had a proper install or repping to go with the playbook. 

13 minutes ago, Booch said:

I think he may have been the choice but with that personal issues he had to deal with..they bumped OC Guy up in the interm...as just choosing him as unqualified as he was...seemed an odd choice...with maybe the gentlemen agreement that JJ would take over when he got here...and then we renaged on it kinda?? The whole thing seemed odd and we did interview experienced guys...and guys with solid coaching resumes...and then went with that maroon?? Like wtf

Certainly, the strangest occurrence during the Mafia era. We took so long that half of our candidates took other jobs. It sure seemed like Jackson was going to be a 1a 1b with Hogan, before camp. 

[SpeedFlex27]

9 hours ago, wbbfan said:

100% agree. I mean, the missing all of camp thing is really strange for a guy who was basically the insurance policy at OC, and was a HC not long ago. Must've been some really serious family stuff. Going from that to being away from home for the majority of the season is a lot to deal with. 

On top of that, we saw flashes of toxic narcissism from Hogan every time he opened his mouth, which was not even frequent or long in length. I shudder to think what he was like to work with. From what I saw, it firmly looked like the play call duty was taken from Hogan and given to Jackson very late. But we never had a proper install or repping to go with the playbook. 

Certainly, the strangest occurrence during the Mafia era. We took so long that half of our candidates took other jobs. It sure seemed like Jackson was going to be a 1a 1b with Hogan, before camp. 

Don't understand why Osh didn't hold the OC spot open & let Hogan run things until JJ showed up. All of that made no sense at all. We have a veteran team so Jackson being two weeks late shouldn't have been a big deal. But hey, it's Osh & half the stuff he says you can't take really seriously, it seems. Biggest mistake in the 12 years he's been here was giving Hogan the OC position & then not giving it to Jackson when he got here. 

[Mark H.]

13 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Don't understand why Osh didn't hold the OC spot open & let Hogan run things until JJ showed up. All of that made no sense at all. We have a veteran team so Jackson being two weeks late shouldn't have been a big deal. But hey, it's Osh & half the stuff he says you can't take really seriously, it seems. Biggest mistake in the 12 years he's been here was giving Hogan the OC position & then not giving it to Jackson when he got here. 

They're all CFL coaches.

[SpeedFlex27]

6 minutes ago, Mark H. said:

They're all CFL coaches.

Some are more qualified than others. JJ would have been better suited. 

[rebusrankin]

How do we know MOS and his coaching staff were the problem? Maybe there were issues with Jackson.

[SpeedFlex27]

11 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

How do we know MOS and his coaching staff were the problem? Maybe there were issues with Jackson.

I don't think that was the case with Jackson. There's no reason even to think that. 

[rebusrankin]

Walters has done a good job so far with bringing back Brady, Demski, Lawson, Kramdi and Nichols, while also extending Wilson. Who else does everybody want back?

[Doublezero]

2 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

Walters has done a good job so far with bringing back Brady, Demski, Lawson, Kramdi and Nichols, while also extending Wilson. Who else does everybody want back?

Trey Vaval almost made me forget that Walters let Janarion Grant get away for nothing and that we had no kick return threat at all in 2024.

I know Vaval had a tryout with NY Jets but would be great to get him back.

[SpeedFlex27]

40 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

Walters has done a good job so far with bringing back Brady, Demski, Lawson, Kramdi and Nichols, while also extending Wilson. Who else does everybody want back?

Walters needs to sign Sergio. This should be a slam dunk so I hope it happens.

36 minutes ago, Doublezero said:

Trey Vaval almost made me forget that Walters let Janarion Grant get away for nothing and that we had no kick return threat at all in 2024.

I know Vaval had a tryout with NY Jets but would be great to get him back.

We hope he comes back. i care about the Bombers. I don't care if players leave to go to the NFL. Great for them but sucks for us. I reslly wish if we have a player under contract who signs an NFL deal that we be compensated by the team that signs him. This happens in soccer, I believe. 

[Mark H.]

OL: Randolph, Lofton, Bryant, Wallace, - they need to sign a Canadian centre or guard in free agency. As long as BO is healthy, they need to start 3 Americans on the OL

QB: time to move on from Streveler. Make sure ZC knows how to pee and see who else you can sign as a backup. Wilson can run short yardage.

RB: don't assume BO will play the entire season. Recruit an entry level American for a backup and use him on teams or pay him extra to stay on the PR. 

DL: Cam Lawson, Woodbey, Jefferson (maybe), new faces needed - I would sign a decent DT in FA

DB: I would keep the secondary intact

Rec: scout for some new faces in the receiving corps - Demski, Wilson, are a good start

LB: I would sign a decent, experienced MLB in free agency. Move Kramdi to safety or field corner and add new faces at WIL and SAM

Bin ich bindich?

(Am I crazy?)

[GCn20]

9 hours ago, rebusrankin said:

How do we know MOS and his coaching staff were the problem? Maybe there were issues with Jackson.

I would speculate that Hogan and Jackson just didn't mesh together. It happens.

[GCn20]

6 hours ago, Mark H. said:

OL: Randolph, Lofton, Bryant, Wallace, - they need to sign a Canadian centre or guard in free agency. As long as BO is healthy, they need to start 3 Americans on the OL

QB: time to move on from Streveler. Make sure ZC knows how to pee and see who else you can sign as a backup. Wilson can run short yardage.

RB: don't assume BO will play the entire season. Recruit an entry level American for a backup and use him on teams or pay him extra to stay on the PR. 

DL: Cam Lawson, Woodbey, Jefferson (maybe), new faces needed - I would sign a decent DT in FA

DB: I would keep the secondary intact

Rec: scout for some new faces in the receiving corps - Demski, Wilson, are a good start

LB: I would sign a decent, experienced MLB in free agency. Move Kramdi to safety or field corner and add new faces at WIL and SAM

Bin ich bindich?

(Am I crazy?)

I would like to see us sign a top Nat OL, keep our secondary, totally revamp the DL, and sign the best two receivers available, and add some depth with guys left after the initial FA frenzy

[Bigblue204]

Jake Thomas is back!!!








as the DL coach

[bigg jay]

4 minutes ago, Bigblue204 said:

Jake Thomas is back!!!








as the DL coach

And so is Hogan as RB coach. 

Winnipeg Blue Bombers hire Tommy Condell as offensive coordinator, Jake Thomas as defensive line coach - 3DownNation

[Rex_Banner]

Good plan.   Put hogan specifically as the coach for the one area he was the most horrible at last year.   And Jake Thomas coaching.   Feels like two giant steps backwards to me, but I hope I’m wrong.   

[Bigblue204]

3 minutes ago, Rex_Banner said:

Good plan.   Put hogan specifically as the coach for the one area he was the most horrible at last year.   And Jake Thomas coaching.   Feels like two giant steps backwards to me, but I hope I’m wrong.   

Hogan was the RB coach for the past 3 seasons. And Jake no doubt has extensive knowledge about DL play.

[Booch]

Hogan back...why....pointless

Couldnt cut ties with useless Thomas so have him coach?...??...Like wtf....with all his coaching experience and all....the least adept technical/skill guy we have...so have him coach?...makes sense to me...what a joke...those 2 moves just take the shine off of what so far has been a good off-season...but not a shocker...

[CodyT]

This seems like the way the organization would handle things of this matter. At least they are addressing it.