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

[Booch]

5 hours ago, 17to85 said:

Honestly Booch has hated Jake Thomas for years, even when he was a serviceable backup player. Just hates guys with limited athletic ability who succeed anyway. 

I say give Jake a chance in this role and see how he does with it.

 

Sorry for disliking suckage...this is the only place in my varied career where less than adequate is tolerated and the norm

Jake was halfway serviceable maybe 5..6 yrs ago but even then he was bottom teir..we had a decade to upgrade the roster spot...chose not to....not how I roll that's fir sure

[Goalie]

32 minutes ago, Brandon said:

 

This is a terrible statement....  so they hired him because he's a nice guy that people like.       

Is he going to implement his special skill of running forward and dropping to the ground and then getting into the QB's face 3 seconds after the guy tossed the ball?   

 

Guy is more respected than you are. 

[Brandon]

32 minutes ago, Goalie said:

Guy is more respected than you are. 

Stick to your day job that was terrible  

 

[Bigblue204]

1 hour ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Think he's a happy camper taking a demotion & pay cut?

There's got to be more to the story of how last year work out in regard to hiring the OC.

[SpeedFlex27]

29 minutes ago, Bigblue204 said:

There's got to be more to the story of how last year work out in regard to hiring the OC.

We'll never know then true story & there's no one in the media wanting to find out.

[SpeedFlex27]

2 hours ago, wbbfan said:

Coaching/teaching at the pro level is no easy task. With out question he could provide value as a coach at some level. if that level is pro or not we won’t know. Other wise we’d be loaded with great position coaches, and we aren’t. 

your right, that is pretty rare. Usually, the guys who do make that move spend a couple years filling gaps in front office and coaching staffs till earning spots.

that’s very interesting 

agree with most of that. My concern with hogan is he showed some serious red flags with fairly low to moderate pressure.

Hogan threw his players under the bus a couple of times. A coach needs to fall on his sword for his guys. Not blame them for losing. 

[17to85]

Think everything we need to know about Hogan came from Lapo on a broadcast when he said something along the lines of "that's a whiskey bottle play call.... because if it doesn't work everyone in the stands is going to throw a whiskey bottle at you"

[SpeedFlex27]

3 hours ago, Bubba Zanetti said:

It was probably sarcasm.

Cautiously optimistic about Condell, but im guessing he was plan B after Miller took the Argos head coaching job. No idea why you would bring Hogan back in any capacity. Youve gotta figure there’s some animosity/bad vibe’s there with a few players. Pretty stupid decision.

When someone gets promoted in business & fails they're usually fired, Not given their old job back. Nutty decision. If he's that great of a coach then another team will hire him. If note? Well there's always the local high school. 

32 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

Think everything we need to know about Hogan came from Lapo on a broadcast when he said something along the lines of "that's a whiskey bottle play call.... because if it doesn't work everyone in the stands is going to throw a whiskey bottle at you"

Ouch!!! Lol.

[Captain Blue]

I really don't see a lot to complain about with these hires, but hey maybe I'm just not raging hard enough.

Hogan was very good as the RB coach - good enough to draw praise from players and get the OC promotion. It didn't work out. He's back in a role that he previously excelled at. Seems fine to me. I am sure Osh assessed whether it would be awkward or difficult for Hogan to have a demotion. 

Jake Thomas had a lengthy career and most of it was due to his hard work and effort. This was not a man with God-given talent. Those players have to work and perfect their craft to succeed, especially to stick around a while. I could see him being good in this role. Maybe he won't be, who knows. I look forward to hearing about the DL coach after every loss next year.

[HardCoreBlue]

10 minutes ago, Captain Blue said:

I really don't see a lot to complain about with these hires, but hey maybe I'm just not raging hard enough.

Hogan was very good as the RB coach - good enough to draw praise from players and get the OC promotion. It didn't work out. He's back in a role that he previously excelled at. Seems fine to me. I am sure Osh assessed whether it would be awkward or difficult for Hogan to have a demotion. 

Jake Thomas had a lengthy career and most of it was due to his hard work and effort. This was not a man with God-given talent. Those players have to work and perfect their craft to succeed, especially to stick around a while. I could see him being good in this role. Maybe he won't be, who knows. I look forward to hearing about the DL coach after every loss next year.

I’m just hoping JT is given a great dline to work with. Why not have that high expectation. Time to define our identity starting in the trenches on both sides of the ball.

[wbbfan]

4 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Think he's a happy camper taking a demotion & pay cut?

probably not, but he is very lucky to have a job and should be happy for that. 

 

[Mike]

I’ll just take these moves at face value.

Hogan, it seemed like everyone knew he sucked at his job and it grew to be a point of contention with several players (Zach, Brady, etc) so I really don’t get the desire to bring him back in any capacity.

Jake, as much as I’ve hated seeing him get trotted out there for the past … 5??? years, I’m really not too bothered by us hiring him. That being said, I think it’s fair to say this isn’t a move that gives me confidence as a fan. Also fair to say, it’s probably the first move we’ve made all offseason that has given me pause (and the fact that it’s an O’Shea decision shouldn’t be lost on any of us)

[Brandon]

We had a subpar offense and nearly no pressure from the d-line last year.... instead of making clear changes to improve we bring back two guys who were partially responsible for these issues?   

How many times does it work when you dump a girlfriend and keep her as a friend afterwards?  The smart thing is a clean break and moving on.  

[Goalie]

The DL coach was Patterson last year. He either retired or was forced to retire. Jake is now the DL coach.  To me, Jake as DL coach is like Mike miller becoming a coach immediately afterwards also and last year he was our best coordinator in my opinion so there’s some hope there. Sounds like Jake is well liked and respected throughout the league, regardless of talent or lack off, he was a fine rotational piece tho but regardless of that 13 years of pro football = wealth of knowledge. Just cuz Jake wasn’t athletic enough doesn’t mean he doesn’t know things. I think he’s gonna turn out to be a very good coach for us. I get that feeling. 

Hogan? After listening to the O’Shea audio, I feel like he’s back because someone else was supposed to be OC but said no so they hired in house and O’Shea feels bad he set hogan up to fail. 
 

“First and foremost, it starts with me and making sure I’m holding everybody accountable to a higher standard. We just didn’t play up to our standard last year, especially on offence. It’s pretty easy to say that.”

“There were certain things that were out of character for us last year that we need to come in this year and fix. I don’t think that, as you alluded to, making a change or a couple changes doesn’t fix everything. Everybody’s got to come in with a commitment to getting back to playing football the right way, playing good football and resetting the culture and that starts with me.” -Mike O’Shea 

The audio is interesting. Osh taking accountability for sure.  If ppl haven’t listened they should and while you get the jets Chevy talk with Osh a bit, he definitely takes the blame and heat for everything last year. No specifics cuz resetting the culture means keeping things in house but I’m not sure I’ve heard a more humble O’Shea than I did in that audio. 

[Bigblue204]

8 minutes ago, Goalie said:

Hogan? After listening to the O’Shea audio, I feel like he’s back because someone else was supposed to be OC but said no so they hired in house and O’Shea feels bad he set hogan up to fail. 
 

This is the feeling I'm getting too with this move. Like "Hey you stepped up when we were in a tight spot, it didn't work out but we don't want to cast you aside because of it"

[Goalie]

2 minutes ago, Bigblue204 said:

This is the feeling I'm getting too with this move. Like "Hey you stepped up when we were in a tight spot, it didn't work out but we don't want to cast you aside because of it"

Yup and they are all professionals so hopefully they can be professional. If not has potential to blow up but I don’t think it will come to that. 
 

other interesting things. Jackson to be determined and regardless of that they want to add one more coach. 

[Goalie]

14 hours ago, Brandon said:

Stick to your day job that was terrible  

 

But it’s a fact. He played pro football for 13 years. Dude volunteers at the Siloam mission, you are afraid of Disraeli. I mean really. He worked his way up the PA also, is respected by every player he lined up beside and every player he lined up against. Below average player? Sure but so were tons of guys who went on to become great coaches. Don’t we have a statue outside PAS of one of those dudes. I’m not saying Jake is shedeur sanders and gonna be legendary but sounds like being a coach takes a certain mindset that Jake apparently has. 

Edited 2 hours ago by Goalie

[Bomberguy]

 No more JT on the d-line, no more Hogan running the entire offence, it’s a beautiful day! 😁

[Blue In BC]

23 hours ago, GCn20 said:

Sankey is not that great of a MLB.  He is great against the run and sucks against the pass....even worse than T.Jones. Why would we replace T Jones with his more expensive doppelganger.

We had experience in Patterson. He was the worst DL coach we've had maybe ever. You would prefer we kept him? Some guys are natural coaches some aren't. It's not necessarily experience that counts the most in that regard. Just because JT didn't display much tech doesn't mean he doesn't know it. His whole career was about effort, not tech, he wasn't physically built or skilled enough for it. Doesn't mean he can't teach it to those that are though. Like I said, many of his ex  and current DL team mates have raved about what he brings to the table cerebrally. Maybe that can translate into being a good coach if he can articulate it. 

I'm not saying he is necessarily a great pick for the job, what I'm saying it that this is not a move we can criticize right now. Not without bias anyway. 

We don't know how much Sankey would cost. The issue is depth. Who do we have that is better in pass coverage behind T. Jones or for that matter as run stopping? There is hope the Canadian LB's take up the slack, but I don't know if Ayers fills either of those needs or will even return in 2026. J. Jones was signed as depth in 2025 and obviously released before the end of the season. 

Noting that Sankey did very well in Montreal and obviously the Lions were impressed enough to add him to their roster.  I never said to replace T. Jones but suggested Sankey as depth ( a DI ) to rotate and fill in for in game injury situations. It really depends on what the Canadians will bring in their 2nd season.

I'm not entirely impressed with T. Jones as a complete MLB. Our run defence was problematic at times. 

Edited 36 minutes ago by Blue In BC

[Bigblue204]

3 minutes ago, Blue In BC said:

We don't know how much Sankey would cost. The issue is depth. Who do we have that is better in pass coverage behind T. Jones or for that matter as run stopping? There is hope the Canadian LB's take up the slack, but I don't know if Ayers fills either of those needs or will even return in 2026. J. Jones was signed as depth in 2025 and obviously released before the end of the season. 

Noting that Sankey did very well in Montreal and obviously the Lions were impressed enough to add him to their roster.  I never said to replace T. Jones but suggested Sankey as depth ( a DI ) to rotate and fill in for in game injury situations. It really depends on what the Canadians will bring in their 2nd season.

I'm not entirely impressed with T. Jones as a complete MLB. Our run defence was problematic at times. 

Yes starting MLBs are just running over themselves to join the Bombers as "depth".

[Blue In BC]

1 minute ago, Bigblue204 said:

Yes starting MLBs are just running over themselves to join the Bombers as "depth".

In the words of O'Shea, everyone is a starter. We rotate players on defence every play it seems. Who gets how many reps may depend on defensive formations, health of players at a given position, or even the opponent. If you believe GCn20, he's not a good starting MLB. By definition then he's depth. If you believe the Lions, then he is a at best, the starter, at worst he's depth.

There are only 9 teams and obviously the Als were no longer interested. A combination of SMS, age and ratio? Not every team is going to make free agent acquisitions at the LB position. Those that do might only be looking at depth spots.

IMO he's better than GCn20 suggested but does have similar limitations as T.Jones. Neither is A. Bighill in his prime.