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

[rebusrankin]

Any of our own potential free agents that you are hoping KW brings back? Castillo and Holm come to mind to me.

[Booch]

37 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

Any of our own potential free agents that you are hoping KW brings back? Castillo and Holm come to mind to me.

Griffin...Woods..Tui...Neuf...Big Stan....WJ if makes economic and playtime sense...Makonzo if healthy...as apparently he as at end of yr....Cadwallader....after that I hope we restock with new blood...That new receiver we just signed TJ Davis should be the Wheatfall replacement so dont see a dire need for him back....But if he is will be cheap and can always be cut...

[HardCoreBlue]

55 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Think if he could sign a $200,000 a season for two year deal he'd be holding out? The CFL has to re-think this ridiculoulsly low rookie cap. It's okay for the special teamers with little or no talent from U Sports who make a name for themselves running downfield at full speed banging & crashing but have no hope of ever being starters. For legit, talented prospects, there should be leeway for any team to pay these rookie within the structure of the salary cap. 

I think i’m with you on this. Isn’t it sort of the you need to spend money to make money kind of thing? Attract talent (players and media personalities) with investment dollars to help attract multiple revenue sources to help build and grow the game’s legitimacy to a wider and diverse markets. Making rule changes to help attract more fans is just one very small slice of the pie.

[SpeedFlex27]

6 minutes ago, HardCoreBlue said:

I think i’m with you on this. Isn’t it sort of the you need to spend money to make money kind of thing? Attract talent (players and media personalities) with investment dollars to help attract multiple revenue sources to help build and grow the game’s legitimacy to a wider and diverse markets. Making rule changes to help attract more fans is just one very small slice of the pie.

Exactly right HCB. The CFL is run by a bunch of Ambrosie Accolytes stuck in a hundred years ago. He has shrunk the size of the CFL, not in teams but as an event. back in the 70's & 80's, the CFL was still an event. Now, you go to most games outside of Winnipeg & Saskatchewan & the atmosphere is nuthin'. Calgary is a lost cause & so is Edmonton. Toronto is another lost cause. Before Ambrosie came along, it was routine for Grey Cups to hold 50,000 seats at every venue across the CFL. Now, they don't expand the stadiums for the Grey Cup. We;re back in the 1960's with stadiums of 24000 being used in Toronto, Ottawa & Hamilton. The motto seems to be to think small. Don't put in temporary seats but raise ticket prices significantly. We have the coaching & admin cap that should go. We have a rookie cap that needs to rise to at least $100,000 a year & keep growing. Just think small. That's Ambrosie's legacy. Johnson should be doing his damndest to change things from that moron's Reign of Error.

Edited yesterday at 07:41 PM by SpeedFlex27

[Bigblue204]

Yeah I get not wanting teams to pay rookies a crazy amount before they've done anything....but i think a system where each team can allocate up to$200k for a rookie would be a good start.

[SpeedFlex27]

2 hours ago, rebusrankin said:

Any of our own potential free agents that you are hoping KW brings back? Castillo and Holm come to mind to me.

Some of the young guys on the DL. Castillo as well. Outside of Wilson & Demski I'd like them to recycle the rest of those guys out & rebuild the receiving corps. Offensive Line at Center needs help deaperately.

38 minutes ago, Bigblue204 said:

Yeah I get not wanting teams to pay rookies a crazy amount before they've done anything....but i think a system where each team can allocate up to$200k for a rookie would be a good start.

Then the league never grows. There's little or no excitement anymore for any new players coming in. They're just retreads who hung around the NFL or UFL. Same old, same old. 

[rebusrankin]

@Booch, why Mackonzo, guy has not played in a game or been healthy in about 2.5 years? Doesn't seem worth bringing in constantly injured players.

[SpeedFlex27]

As far as rookie salary cap goes, why should I, as a fan, get excited about a 29 year old rookie in the CFL who was the UFL Player Of The Year? How many of these guys pick up the Canadian game & become stars at that age?

Flutie was in his late 20's when he signed with the Lions in 1990. . Don Jonas was 30 when he signed with the Argos before he was traded to the Bombers & the leading passer in 1971 & 72. He became the Schenley's MOP in the CFL in 1971. Tom Wilkinson won the Schenley Award in 1975 as the CFL's MOP. Played in 8 Grey Cups & won 5 with Edmonton. Going back even further there was NFL Championship QB Tobin Rote who won the last NFL Championship Detroit in 1957 & signed as a free agent with the Argos in 1960. He threw for over 4000 yards which was unheard of back then. They're might have been a few more but the long & short of it is, older qbs really don't have a lot of success picking up the CFL game. Younger guys do. 

Look at the former UFL qb in Calgary who had a great couple of seasons in the USFL & UFL they signed. The guy came up to Calgary at age 29 for the last month of the 2024 season but never played for the Stamps. Then he was the backup qb behind Adams last season at 30 & played when Adams was injured. He never lit the CFL on fire in the only game he started. He even threw an interception late in the game to cost the Stamps a victory. Now, he's coming back at age 31 with a lot of question marls around whether he's the legit backup behind Adams. 

It's a crapshoot. These older qbs may have "experience" but not the CFL kind so they're as lost as any 21 year old rookie fresh out of college. 

Edited 23 hours ago by SpeedFlex27

[wbbfan]

3 hours ago, rebusrankin said:

@Booch, why Mackonzo, guy has not played in a game or been healthy in about 2.5 years? Doesn't seem worth bringing in constantly injured players.

the value of a canadian who can run with and cover wrs, not to mention has good size/strength and is capable of playing a gap. 

 The rarity of those skills combined with the passport makes easily worth waiting for. The canadian talent pool in general is shakey. It’s a no risk high reward move to keep him around. 

[bearpants]

Belated Merry Christmas to all

So far, I like where this offseason has gone... Oliveria and Demski were great re-signings... Condell (while not my favourite choice) is a clear upgrade at OC... Jake moving to coaching is interesting... it'll certainly be addition by subtraction on the field... and he's a well-respected and smart guy, so who knows, maybe he'll make a better coach than player...

I'd still like to see one big upgrade on the DL and the OL... the lines were our biggest downfall last year and I don't see any improvement there yet... though, obviously, it's too early for full assessments... It would be nice to get Elgersma here too, once his NFL opportunities dry up

[Booch]

19 hours ago, rebusrankin said:

@Booch, why Mackonzo, guy has not played in a game or been healthy in about 2.5 years? Doesn't seem worth bringing in constantly injured players.

He could have played last half season..osh chose not to play him..I know for a fact he could have 

He's a legit talent who is starter capable and Canadian...why would u let him walk when still in his prime...injuries happen...just do...its not a indication he is damaged beyond any use...Look at Rene as a recent example

16 hours ago, wbbfan said:

the value of a canadian who can run with and cover wrs, not to mention has good size/strength and is capable of playing a gap. 

 The rarity of those skills combined with the passport makes easily worth waiting for. The canadian talent pool in general is shakey. It’s a no risk high reward move to keep him around. 

Exactly...just cause guys arent familiar with him seems to have him over looked

Was a legit difference maker as a starter as a rookie...not his fault he got hurt..who hasn't...and not his fault Osh wanted to roster his dud favorites over him last part of yr...he was ready...just like Parker 2 yrs ago was for almost 2 months before he got put back in...and good thing as he saved season that yr

The gang here that just creams over Kramdi...if they got to see Makonzo play his spot will blow both nuts and likely pass out

[17to85]

21 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

As far as rookie salary cap goes, why should I, as a fan, get excited about a 29 year old rookie in the CFL who was the UFL Player Of The Year? How many of these guys pick up the Canadian game & become stars at that age?

How many qbs period pick up the Canadian game and become stars period? 

Teams will always look for a qb where ever they can find them. Doesn't really matter what their age is, and honestly when guys are playing into their late 30s anyway does it matter if they get a late start up here?

[Mark H.]

34 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

Doesn't really matter what their age is, and honestly when guys are playing into their late 30s anyway does it matter if they get a late start up here?

The good ones play until they're 40.

[wbbfan]

3 hours ago, Booch said:

He could have played last half season..osh chose not to play him..I know for a fact he could have 

He's a legit talent who is starter capable and Canadian...why would u let him walk when still in his prime...injuries happen...just do...its not a indication he is damaged beyond any use...Look at Rene as a recent example

Exactly...just cause guys arent familiar with him seems to have him over looked

Was a legit difference maker as a starter as a rookie...not his fault he got hurt..who hasn't...and not his fault Osh wanted to roster his dud favorites over him last part of yr...he was ready...just like Parker 2 yrs ago was for almost 2 months before he got put back in...and good thing as he saved season that yr

The gang here that just creams over Kramdi...if they got to see Makonzo play his spot will blow both nuts and likely pass out

Good point, he was practicing since like LD iirc. 

I think it is always worth having Canadians like that. I'd take as many lotto ticket flyers on Canadians with upside as I could get. Generally, you are lucky to have a couple of guys in the draft who have decent athleticism and size that could be polished into Ss if they fulfill their potential. True cover guys, little on Sam's, are rare and valuable. 

15 minutes ago, Mark H. said:

The good ones play until they're 40.

They get a LOT of leash to figure out if they have any thing left too. BLM, Zach, and Harris are all great examples of that. All 3 looked fully cooked for more than a little while and managed to get back to being good. 

Khari was like 29 when he broke in with us, too. But you have far better chances of developing a QB who is in his late 20s when he gets up here than a kid out of college these days. The NFL is all over every single archetype at QB. No longer do they exclude system guys, or none pro offense guys. So, the kids we get access to who have 1 NFL TC or less are generally really lackluster. 

 

https://www.bluebombers.com/2025/12/23/new-title-same-jake/

Tait with another gem. Some interesting tidbits jump out at me. It sounds to me like he wanted to continue to play, and we weren't going to bring him back.

I had a really good exit meeting with Osh (head coach Mike O’Shea). At that point, I was still kind of planning on continuing playing if that was possible. Then a few weeks went by after the Grey Cup and we just kind of continued our conversation and he let me know there was a chance that this opportunity would be available.

 

[CrazyCanuck89]

On 2025-12-26 at 5:37 PM, rebusrankin said:

@Booch, why Mackonzo, guy has not played in a game or been healthy in about 2.5 years? Doesn't seem worth bringing in constantly injured players.

The Bomber's have great depth with Kramdi, Smith and Makonzo at SLB.