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

[rebusrankin]

1 hour ago, wbbfan said:

same. I do like his talent too. I have doubts about his staying power and that contract is wild, but i respect the guy. 

 

Why the doubts about his staying power?

[GCn20]

14 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Walters admitted it. The Bombers don't renegotiate paycuts with players under contract. So, it's not up to Collaros to ask for less. It's up to Walters. Yet, somehow it's Zach's problem when it's not. Now, he's become an over hill the hill selfish player according to 90% of you here. He's not. Walters put us in this situation giving Zach an extension. And Walters got a new 3 year deal himself. Blame Walters Not Collaros. 

Amen..bad contract after bad contract. 

[wbbfan]

35 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

Why the doubts about his staying power?

A few things worry me. He’s 27 with plenty of nfl window left. If he has another year like 25 this coming season i could see him being a clipboard qb down south for a long time. 

 I also worry about durability, not because of him but because his legs are a key part of what he does. 

 His 24 half season up here still bothers me. He came in took over and made that b.c. team worse. 

I haven’t seen that adapt and come back, over come adversity, elevate his team, carry in the clutch type stuff that top tier qbs need. 

He also had a tremendous supporting cast this year in bc on offence, and their D was soo bad most of the year he got a ton of time/drives to put up stats. 
 

I want to see him over come some adversity on that offence, come up clutch and repeat his performance from 25 in 26. (just not against us) 

It’s not his skill set, or even his mental tool kit I wonder about. It’s really his ability to turn it up at will when he needs it most, that Goat type ability to separate him self from the rest of the league. It’s how he will produce when times are rough. 

I always worry about qbs with early success. It’s all about over coming adversity. 

[GCn20]

10 hours ago, Booch said:

And 185k of hard money for the 9th best sam in league.. not to mention probably the 3rd best on our roster and thats being generous..solid cap management 

Not doubting your info but the only thing ive seen online is 160 this year and 165 next. Where did you find your numbers? Not like I need an extra reason to think KW is doing a bad job, just want to have the ammo when the KW apologists come to his defence when he sleeps thru FA.

9 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

A few things worry me. He’s 27 with plenty of nfl window left. If he has another year like 25 this coming season i could see him being a clipboard qb down south for a long time. 

 I also worry about durability, not because of him but because his legs are a key part of what he does. 

 His 24 half season up here still bothers me. He came in took over and made that b.c. team worse. 

I haven’t seen that adapt and come back, over come adversity, elevate his team, carry in the clutch type stuff that top tier qbs need. 

He also had a tremendous supporting cast this year in bc on offence, and their D was soo bad most of the year he got a ton of time/drives to put up stats. 
 

I want to see him over come some adversity on that offence, come up clutch and repeat his performance from 25 in 26. (just not against us) 

It’s not his skill set, or even his mental tool kit I wonder about. It’s really his ability to turn it up at will when he needs it most, that Goat type ability to separate him self from the rest of the league. It’s how he will produce when times are rough. 

I always worry about qbs with early success. It’s all about over coming adversity. 

I agree, but because he's built like a twig

[wbbfan]

14 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

Not doubting your info but the only thing ive seen online is 160 this year and 165 next. Where did you find your numbers? Not like I need an extra reason to think KW is doing a bad job, just want to have the ammo when the KW apologists come to his defence when he sleeps thru FA.

I agree, but because he's built like a twig

That’s a good point as well. 

[Booch]

12 hours ago, GCn20 said:

Not doubting your info but the only thing ive seen online is 160 this year and 165 next. Where did you find your numbers? Not like I need an extra reason to think KW is doing a bad job, just want to have the ammo when the KW apologists come to his defence when he sleeps thru FA.

I agree, but because he's built like a twig

thats what I was "told"

did some digging around and this dude posted it as well

 

[GCn20]

6 hours ago, Booch said:

thats what I was "told"

did some digging around and this dude posted it as well

 

Normally a Hodge says would leave me skeptical. However, after seeing the other boat anchor contracts that he has handed out I can believe it.

Either the SMS is going up a lot or Walters needs to lose his job. I will wait and see, and give benefit of the doubt for now, but i am very concerned if the SMS goes up slightly. I don't see any reason why Kramdi's salary would jump almost 50k over his last deal.

I like the commitment to our NAT talent that he never showed for years but the contracts are absurd.

I thought you could only guarantee money in the 3rd year of a contract?

Edited Saturday at 11:47 PM by GCn20

[Booch]

55 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

Normally a Hodge says would leave me skeptical. However, after seeing the other boat anchor contracts that he has handed out I can believe it.

Either the SMS is going up a lot or Walters needs to lose his job. I will wait and see, and give benefit of the doubt for now, but i am very concerned if the SMS goes up slightly. I don't see any reason why Kramdi's salary would jump almost 50k over his last deal.

I like the commitment to our NAT talent that he never showed for years but the contracts are absurd.

I thought you could only guarantee money in the 3rd year of a contract?

Yeah I generally dont take much of his posts as gospel..but he put out what I had heard so where there is smoke...

I thought that too with the guarantee..but maybe it is just multi yr in general

If the SMS is up its just a piddly amount as per the CBA...that extra last yr I dont see as an additional 400k again plus I think 50k for the cba agreement

That being said...even so..that's poor allocation based on you dont need to blow your wad there..unless it was for one if the top SAM in the league...which hes not even close to...as he not top on our team

[wbbfan]

1 hour ago, Booch said:

Yeah I generally dont take much of his posts as gospel..but he put out what I had heard so where there is smoke...

I thought that too with the guarantee..but maybe it is just multi yr in general

If the SMS is up its just a piddly amount as per the CBA...that extra last yr I dont see as an additional 400k again plus I think 50k for the cba agreement

That being said...even so..that's poor allocation based on you dont need to blow your wad there..unless it was for one if the top SAM in the league...which hes not even close to...as he not top on our team

Atleast ford can make game changing plays. And I don’t mean 5 years 4 sacks 1 pick 1 ff. Kramdi has had a solid knack to be in position to make tackles at the line, but misses on opportunities a lot too. 

 
Will have to see what the market is this year for dbs, but I can’t imagine it being almost 200k for average to solid canadian starters. 

[GCn20]

28 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

Atleast ford can make game changing plays. And I don’t mean 5 years 4 sacks 1 pick 1 ff. Kramdi has had a solid knack to be in position to make tackles at the line, but misses on opportunities a lot too. 

 
Will have to see what the market is this year for dbs, but I can’t imagine it being almost 200k for average to solid canadian starters. 

DBs, just like RBs, are a dime a dozen NAT or not. I have issue paying Kramdi or Oliveira NAT starter money BUT not ridiculously over what's been paid.

[Noeller]

Apparently Madani on Riders Sports Cage this week saying his hot take for 2026 is that the Bombers will be awful, will deal Collaros to Toronto and Chad Kelly will be off to Ottawa.... For what Madani's takes are worth. 

[wbbfan]

4 hours ago, GCn20 said:

DBs, just like RBs, are a dime a dozen NAT or not. I have issue paying Kramdi or Oliveira NAT starter money BUT not ridiculously over what's been paid.

Agree. Though there is a very small list of guys i’d pay at db. Most notable pickett and especially beverette. Both are top tier guys who play the hardest spot, and really could play any spot you need. Both excel on D in a way that breaks positional balance. They both play as if they are 2 guys on the field at one time, in that they are top tier lber/front guys and both are top tier as dbs. They both gap cancel, get off blocks, and pass rush. They are exceptional disruptors where ever they line up and what ever depth they play at. 

Kramdi is not as good but very good in the box. but he’s on his best days half as good dropping back. 

If the market continues to go up, the 140/150k from last year for him wouldn’t be awful. Marginal over pay. Giving him 180k is just awful. 

I really don’t know how any one looks at his body of work last year and goes, he needs a 30-40k a year raise. 

Forget being the best at a position on the team, or among the best in the position group. Allen, Woodbey, Nichols, Griffin are in a different league that kramdi will never reach, and half of those guys are still rising. Then you have Holm and houston who are both better and execute roles that kramdi just can’t. 

At that point, kramdi isn’t a starter based on quality, he starts on passport. Which is legit a need in this league we all know. But when you start/play more canadians than you need, and under use ratio relief rules, that becomes waste. 

Holm and Nichols will be married to the dhb spots, Allen will be at S and Woodbey probably at wil reps. Maybe Griffin slides to corner to is the dime again. So it’s not like we are likely to lose any of those guys, but this is exactly the reason it took a silly amount of time to get allen and woodbey on the roster. Any rookie dbs will be in camp to fight for a try out spot mid season. 

How many bad deals does it take to sink a ship? This is how we did it the last couple years. Every time we seem to take a step forward to fixing the mistakes we’ve been repeating we take another step back. 

[SpeedFlex27]

57 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

Agree. Though there is a very small list of guys i’d pay at db. Most notable pickett and especially beverette. Both are top tier guys who play the hardest spot, and really could play any spot you need. Both excel on D in a way that breaks positional balance. They both play as if they are 2 guys on the field at one time, in that they are top tier lber/front guys and both are top tier as dbs. They both gap cancel, get off blocks, and pass rush. They are exceptional disruptors where ever they line up and what ever depth they play at. 

Kramdi is not as good but very good in the box. but he’s on his best days half as good dropping back. 

If the market continues to go up, the 140/150k from last year for him wouldn’t be awful. Marginal over pay. Giving him 180k is just awful. 

I really don’t know how any one looks at his body of work last year and goes, he needs a 30-40k a year raise. 

Forget being the best at a position on the team, or among the best in the position group. Allen, Woodbey, Nichols, Griffin are in a different league that kramdi will never reach, and half of those guys are still rising. Then you have Holm and houston who are both better and execute roles that kramdi just can’t. 

At that point, kramdi isn’t a starter based on quality, he starts on passport. Which is legit a need in this league we all know. But when you start/play more canadians than you need, and under use ratio relief rules, that becomes waste. 

Holm and Nichols will be married to the dhb spots, Allen will be at S and Woodbey probably at wil reps. Maybe Griffin slides to corner to is the dime again. So it’s not like we are likely to lose any of those guys, but this is exactly the reason it took a silly amount of time to get allen and woodbey on the roster. Any rookie dbs will be in camp to fight for a try out spot mid season. 

How many bad deals does it take to sink a ship? This is how we did it the last couple years. Every time we seem to take a step forward to fixing the mistakes we’ve been repeating we take another step back. 

The fun part of the off season is coming up in a month. It'll either sink our season or not depending upon a GM I no longer trust is capable of doing the job. 

[17to85]

10 hours ago, Noeller said:

Apparently Madani on Riders Sports Cage this week saying his hot take for 2026 is that the Bombers will be awful, will deal Collaros to Toronto and Chad Kelly will be off to Ottawa.... For what Madani's takes are worth. 

[Mike]

I love the Kramdi hate lol 

Dude is a very savvy player, he’s got some ball-in-the-air issues that I have seen him improve on but overall I’m happy to have him

Also, he’s nowhere near the 2nd highest paid DB in the league lol 

[Brandon]

2 hours ago, Mike said:

I love the Kramdi hate lol 

Dude is a very savvy player, he’s got some ball-in-the-air issues that I have seen him improve on but overall I’m happy to have him

Also, he’s nowhere near the 2nd highest paid DB in the league lol 

Didn't Tyrell Ford sign for like $240 000 with Edmonton?  

Kramdi gets a lot of hate for whatever reason?  I wouldn't consider him elite,  but he's a guy who does make plays and doesn't fall invisible for games at a time.  

[17to85]

Kramdi is real nice depth... now the argument starts about how much is that depth worth and is it worth him taking as many reps as he gets...

 

Also, in case there was ever any doubt with Thomas retiring who was going to be #1 on the Booch **** list..... Kramdi ladies and gentlemen.

[Noeller]

9 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

Kramdi is real nice depth... now the argument starts about how much is that depth worth and is it worth him taking as many reps as he gets...

 

Also, in case there was ever any doubt with Thomas retiring who was going to be #1 on the Booch **** list..... Kramdi ladies and gentlemen.

Virtually anyone CIS trained....

[Arnold_Palmer]

3 hours ago, Brandon said:

Didn't Tyrell Ford sign for like $240 000 with Edmonton?  

Kramdi gets a lot of hate for whatever reason?  I wouldn't consider him elite,  but he's a guy who does make plays and doesn't fall invisible for games at a time.  

Kramdi is a really good player lol he’s a very smart football player and is always in good position. The one downside is he’s just average athletically but he can hold his own in coverage and the run based on his football IQ alone. Obviously they pay him like he’s an elite player but hes more of a jack of all trades, master of none in my opinion. But by all reports he’s become the leader of the defense and he’s another quality Canadian player so I understand to an extent, if you’re going to pay a player the dollars they’re giving out at a guy in his position you really need to have an elite attribute in my opinion. 

[GCn20]

14 hours ago, wbbfan said:

Agree. Though there is a very small list of guys i’d pay at db. Most notable pickett and especially beverette. Both are top tier guys who play the hardest spot, and really could play any spot you need. Both excel on D in a way that breaks positional balance. They both play as if they are 2 guys on the field at one time, in that they are top tier lber/front guys and both are top tier as dbs. They both gap cancel, get off blocks, and pass rush. They are exceptional disruptors where ever they line up and what ever depth they play at. 

Kramdi is not as good but very good in the box. but he’s on his best days half as good dropping back. 

If the market continues to go up, the 140/150k from last year for him wouldn’t be awful. Marginal over pay. Giving him 180k is just awful. 

I really don’t know how any one looks at his body of work last year and goes, he needs a 30-40k a year raise. 

Forget being the best at a position on the team, or among the best in the position group. Allen, Woodbey, Nichols, Griffin are in a different league that kramdi will never reach, and half of those guys are still rising. Then you have Holm and houston who are both better and execute roles that kramdi just can’t. 

At that point, kramdi isn’t a starter based on quality, he starts on passport. Which is legit a need in this league we all know. But when you start/play more canadians than you need, and under use ratio relief rules, that becomes waste. 

Holm and Nichols will be married to the dhb spots, Allen will be at S and Woodbey probably at wil reps. Maybe Griffin slides to corner to is the dime again. So it’s not like we are likely to lose any of those guys, but this is exactly the reason it took a silly amount of time to get allen and woodbey on the roster. Any rookie dbs will be in camp to fight for a try out spot mid season. 

How many bad deals does it take to sink a ship? This is how we did it the last couple years. Every time we seem to take a step forward to fixing the mistakes we’ve been repeating we take another step back. 

SMS allocation has been an anchor to our club. It directly correlates to our win/loss record. BO/ZC overpay (among others) contracts line right up with our decline in depth as one would expect. 

It's really odd because our mantra USED TO BE that we would have the best quality depth in the league and practice next man up...then KW quit looking at his calculator and not only was quality depth lost, we even settled for poor quality at several starting positions.

[wbbfan]

6 hours ago, Mike said:

I love the Kramdi hate lol 

Dude is a very savvy player, he’s got some ball-in-the-air issues that I have seen him improve on but overall I’m happy to have him

Also, he’s nowhere near the 2nd highest paid DB in the league lol 

likely until free agency, he is below only ford for next year at db. It’s very possible he gets bumped down a few times. At top 5, that’s bad value. 5-10, maybe debatable. 

 He’s not late stages jake thomas by any means. He’s a solid db who indeed has improved. Especially in his reliability in coverage. 180k for him is nuts. 

13 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

The fun part of the off season is coming up in a month. It'll either sink our season or not depending upon a GM I no longer trust is capable of doing the job. 

That’s my real concern. We’ve been locking up the right guys, but spending crazy money to do so. Looks like that same approach from the last two years all over again. Sure hope it’s not.

4 hours ago, Brandon said:

Didn't Tyrell Ford sign for like $240 000 with Edmonton?  

Kramdi gets a lot of hate for whatever reason?  I wouldn't consider him elite,  but he's a guy who does make plays and doesn't fall invisible for games at a time.  

being invisible as a db to people following the ball, is generally a good thing. The most visible dbs are blowing cover or tackles.

59 minutes ago, Arnold_Palmer said:

Kramdi is a really good player lol he’s a very smart football player and is always in good position. The one downside is he’s just average athletically but he can hold his own in coverage and the run based on his football IQ alone. Obviously they pay him like he’s an elite player but hes more of a jack of all trades, master of none in my opinion. But by all reports he’s become the leader of the defense and he’s another quality Canadian player so I understand to an extent, if you’re going to pay a player the dollars they’re giving out at a guy in his position you really need to have an elite attribute in my opinion. 

 nailed it. 

2 hours ago, 17to85 said:

Kramdi is real nice depth... now the argument starts about how much is that depth worth and is it worth him taking as many reps as he gets...

 

Also, in case there was ever any doubt with Thomas retiring who was going to be #1 on the Booch **** list..... Kramdi ladies and gentlemen.

only if kola is gone. If that happens, we will be very fortunate. That would be the only replacement to bring a major player in fa imo. 

[GCn20]

6 hours ago, Mike said:

I love the Kramdi hate lol 

Dude is a very savvy player, he’s got some ball-in-the-air issues that I have seen him improve on but overall I’m happy to have him

Also, he’s nowhere near the 2nd highest paid DB in the league lol 

Hating the contract is not hating the player. I really liked Kramdi, as do others here not liking the $.

Same for BO. Love having the guy hate the contract

[SpeedFlex27]

54 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

Hating the contract is not hating the player. I really liked Kramdi, as do others here not liking the $.

Same for BO. Love having the guy hate the contract

I think some guys are going to get paid no matter what so we had to sign them. What do you think would have happened had Brady gone to free agency & Buck signed him? That Lions offense would be scary good for a long time. The best QB in the league, the best receiver & then Brady the best RB??? Wow. They'd win a few Grey Cups. with that lineup So, I expect we'd overpay to keep Brady. However, I don't want us re-signing all our guys & then Walters sleep thru free agency. 

57 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

 

That’s my real concern. We’ve been locking up the right guys, but spending crazy money to do so. Looks like that same approach from the last two years all over again. Sure hope it’s not.

 

If Walters pulls that same **** again, fans will be livid. Then the Canadian mafia should be swept out with a huge broom. Wouldn't it be nice if someone from the media asked Walters if he's going to be aggressive in free agency. 

Edited 3 hours ago by SpeedFlex27

[CrazyCanuck89]

8 hours ago, Mike said:

I love the Kramdi hate lol 

Dude is a very savvy player, he’s got some ball-in-the-air issues that I have seen him improve on but overall I’m happy to have him

Also, he’s nowhere near the 2nd highest paid DB in the league lol 

I don't get the hate either.  He is a very good SLB, the fact that people call him unathletic is hilarious.

[Bigblue204]

6 hours ago, Brandon said:

Didn't Tyrell Ford sign for like $240 000 with Edmonton?  

Kramdi gets a lot of hate for whatever reason?  I wouldn't consider him elite,  but he's a guy who does make plays and doesn't fall invisible for games at a time.  

Does he though? Not trying to be sarcastic, but what's the last play you remember him making?

2 hours ago, GCn20 said:

SMS allocation has been an anchor to our club. It directly correlates to our win/loss record. BO/ZC overpay (among others) contracts line right up with our decline in depth as one would expect. 

It's really odd because our mantra USED TO BE that we would have the best quality depth in the league and practice next man up...then KW quit looking at his calculator and not only was quality depth lost, we even settled for poor quality at several starting positions.

Im not sure those stats are on the side of your argument. It has been difficult watching more wins than losses.