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

[Blue In BC]

19 hours ago, wbbfan said:

wallace played the best of our guards outside of vanterpool. It was his first full season and first time being a semi regular starter. The fire is pretty far from his feet. 

 Eli, is the one who needs to step up most. After that, it’s bryant. We have a good few imps to push him, and we are going to see some very good imp tackles hit free agency. 

Wallace is more than fine if he continues his progress at the same rate. 

imo, upfront money is the way to get him and at a good over all price. 

 

https://3downnation.com/2026/01/18/b-c-lions-gm-ryan-rigmaiden-sounds-alarm-about-nils-effect-on-future-of-cfl-qbs/

The only thing i’d add to rigmaidens comments is, it’s not coming. it’s already been here. And it’s nil+ nfls expansion of pr and pr compensation. 

We already don’t see the guys who have any real success at good schools. We’ve lost first and second pick over of the former pipeline schools like bigsky, basically once a qb is 4/5star in hs, we’ve lost out on an opportunity with them unless they fully crash out of the nfl or blow all that money. Even then, the usfl is more attractive to those guys despite the less money. 

 

the days of 80-90k qbs with some upside is over. I think a second salary increase should partly be used to split the cap with qbs. The floor needs to be 150-200k for us to attract the talent the league desperately needs. 
 Teams should have a floor 1million on ar qbs. It’s an investment in the league and game it self. 500k for the starter, 250-300k for qb3 and 200-250k for qb3. If your top tier qbs are earning 750k-1million each, instead of 500-700k you have a much better ability to attract young qb with upside talent and success. 

Yeah. Allen to corner, kramdi to s and griffin to sam would be awesome. 

pretty much just sergio to re up now 

We'll agree to disagree about the upfront money especially for a player I wouldn't expect to have a high salary. 

I think most posters don't think Kramdi to safety is the best idea but the combination of changes you suggest is possible. None of them would be my 1st choice but it's all guesswork at the moment.

24 minutes ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

He played corner exclusively in training camp and pre-season.

That's good to know as one of our choices. 

[Noeller]

Glad to have the kicking team back. Sheahan will never be a guy with a boomer leg, but I thought he was really good this past year especially. 

[GCn20]

On 2026-01-18 at 10:25 AM, wbbfan said:

If he was a direct cover db, I would agree more. He's also played a ton of D snaps off the bench down south. But at S, I don't think he needs more experience from down south. He's got the football IQ and instincts for S, tremendous size and athleticism. His success at S would be based on his adjustment to the cfl game. 

He's certainly not TCF. He's actually played something like 1000, snaps at S in the Big 10. That's worth many times more snaps at low levels. That is likely why we signed him for 2 years. He might be a developmental guy at worst in our view. 

Outside of Corner (unless we kick Allen out to Corner, as Booch said), this secondary will be extremely hard to make. I do love the idea of kicking Allen out to corner early and seeing how he does. Then if Kramdi goes back to S, Start Griffin at Sam. 

Holm, Nichols, and Woodbey should also be locked in (if healthy out of camp) to similar roles as last year. 

I'd be fine with having Houston and or Bonds back in camp to try and reclaim the other corner spot. I wouldn't have them leading the pack but if they step up either could lock down that spot. 

If Vaval is back as KR, it becomes harder to use a 2nd DI at DB. With Woodbey already to play wil, we don't need one nearly as much either. Makonzo, Shay, and Smith also greatly reduce any need to carry another DB. 

 

With all of that, we would have 1 corner spot open, before cfl free agency even begins. With possibly one or both of Bonds/Houston to compete at that spot. While Mcghee also came to us last year and has league experience, plus Williams and Texada returning who spent time on the pr last year. PLUS all the other rookies. And Lawson, who was brutal here last year but has also played in the league previously. A guy like that can always turn things around.

Short of an injury bug, this is the hardest secondary to make that we've gone into camp with in a very long time. But, bringing in impressive size, versatility, and a strong skill set is as good as it gets. 

 

 

I think he will be among our first cuts. Two reasons, the first is that I really don't think S will be in play. The second is that our recruitment at DB and current roster are really good already. 

Working in his favor tho is a rookie salary after the hideous contracts KW has handed out. If he does stick he will have to be a ST demon.

[bearpants]

42 minutes ago, Bigblue204 said:

Castillo and Sheanan are back

Good news on Castillo... I don't mind Sheehan though I'd like to see some legitimate competition for that job...

[17to85]

13 minutes ago, Noeller said:

Glad to have the kicking team back. Sheahan will never be a guy with a boomer leg, but I thought he was really good this past year especially. 

Well with the goal post fuckery necessitating more short placement punts he might be very useful

[wbbfan]

24 minutes ago, Noeller said:

Glad to have the kicking team back. Sheahan will never be a guy with a boomer leg, but I thought he was really good this past year especially. 

he significantly cut down on the shanks after a couple weeks. I think we could do more with greater punt depth given the depth and talent we have on teams, but i’m not surprised by this move it’s pretty solid.

 I also hope we bring in tough camp competition like we should at all positions. 

 

Very happy sergio is back. It’s been an excellent beginning to the off season. Walter’s has finally done well with what is in our control. We have dished out some big pay days, but no reason we can’t make it work in free agency still. 

Of what’s left for our fas, I expect big stan to get his deal done, I’d like makonzo back, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we bring back one or more of the imp wrs. I think schoen is pretty toast but we could sit him for a year on the 6 game. I like sterns as a scrappy over achiever, wouldn’t mind him back on the cheap. Wheatfall id be happy to move on from but who knows he could be back. 

Wr, and Dl are going to be big holes needing filling from fa. Then ol would be huge to add 1 guy. Powell would be tremendous to get as well. 

[Stickem]

Schoen will be 30 in October.....2 acl's ...I'd be very tentative about re-upping the guy .....He was a warrior for us BUT the injuries he suffered will most likely have affected his game.....Will he totally recover and be the same player....Big question mark and there's a few good receivers available in fa....I think it's time to move on

[Goalie]

1 hour ago, Noeller said:

Glad to have the kicking team back. Sheahan will never be a guy with a boomer leg, but I thought he was really good this past year especially. 

Sheahan finished 2025 with a punting average of 47.8 yards on 94 punts and a net average of 38.4 yards. 

His 47.8-yard average was the second-highest in Blue Bombers history to Jon Ryan’s 50.6 average in 2005.

 

Then again, maybe he does have a boomer of a leg. 
 

im good with the signings tho. Sergio for 2 and JS for 1 is interesting. Hopefully we bring some competition to camp tho. 

Edited 2 hours ago by Goalie

[wbbfan]

1 hour ago, Stickem said:

Schoen will be 30 in October.....2 acl's ...I'd be very tentative about re-upping the guy .....He was a warrior for us BUT the injuries he suffered will most likely have affected his game.....Will he totally recover and be the same player....Big question mark and there's a few good receivers available in fa....I think it's time to move on

Pretty sure he is toast. But we always like to make sure a guy is absolutely ruined before we give up. He 100% wont be the guy he was before injuries again. Will he ever be a useful player in the cfl again? dunno. 

We have basically 1 imp wr at this point. Which is crazy. We need more than 1 guy to add. We need 2 starting wrs and a back up. Plus another canadian for depth at least. 

[Super Duper Negatron]

Sheehan was either a lot better last year, or the least of our worries. Either way, I don't remember complaining about him near as much

[wbbfan]

25 minutes ago, Goalie said:

Sheahan finished 2025 with a punting average of 47.8 yards on 94 punts and a net average of 38.4 yards. 

His 47.8-yard average was the second-highest in Blue Bombers history to Jon Ryan’s 50.6 average in 2005.

 

Then again, maybe he does have a boomer of a leg. 
 

im good with the signings tho. Sergio for 2 and JS for 1 is interesting. Hopefully we bring some competition to camp tho. 

Leg strength isn't an issue really. Consistency, mechanics, style/fit, those have been his question marks. 

He doesn't have one of those flip field positions when pinned deep in your own zone legs, as Ryan did. But it's more than fine. We aren't that type of team anyway. 

 Early last year and prior to that, he was shanking atleast 1 a game, and pooching ones, leaving the returning running up for a free 15 yards atleast once a game as well. If he keeps that all in the past, he's solid and fits our system well. 

 I'd love to replace him, and love to have a punter who can flip field position. But that isn't super high priority. James evans ended the season on the riders PR iirc, I'd love to have him back in camp again. 

[Rich]

https://www.bluebombers.com/2026/01/19/winnipeg-football-club-announces-installation-of-new-high-resolution-video-boards-at-princess-auto-stadium/
 

Quote

The Winnipeg Football Club announced today that Princess Auto Stadium will debut brand-new, state-of-the-art video boards by Daktronics for the 2026 season, delivering a significantly enhanced visual experience for fans.

The new displays feature 3,091,200 pixels, surpassing the current system’s 1,965,495 pixels by more than one million. This upgrade delivers a 57 percent increase in resolution, providing 1.57 times the clarity of the existing boards.

The upgraded video boards deliver a significant advancement in sharpness, brightness, and definition. This enhancement ensures fans enjoy clearer replays, more vibrant graphics, and an improved in-stadium entertainment experience.

“These new boards elevate the game day atmosphere and enhance how our fans experience football at Princess Auto Stadium,” said Wade Miller, President & CEO of the Winnipeg Football Club. “We’re committed to continuing to invest in our stadium and improving the fan experience every year. This upgrade brings significantly better image quality and integrates seamlessly with the ribbon boards we added last season.”

Installation of the new video boards will be completed prior to the start of the 2026 Winnipeg Blue Bombers season, which kicks off on May 23 at Princess Auto Stadium.

 

[BBlink]

17 minutes ago, Rich said:

https://www.bluebombers.com/2026/01/19/winnipeg-football-club-announces-installation-of-new-high-resolution-video-boards-at-princess-auto-stadium/
 

 

That's awesome. The existing ones were starting to have problems. Glad they are on top of this

[WinnipegGordo]

 

 

[wbbfan]

And vaval will be back for this year.

Hes one of the more interesting year 2 guys to see. It’ll be hard to continue his performance from the last 2/3s or so of last year. But if he can take a step forward at db and be more useful as a back up, and more consistent and secure in the kr game we will be in a great spot. 

 There is a decent chunk of guys im excited to see in year 2. If a couple have that game slowing down process we could see some new star power on this team. 

[WinnipegGordo]

8 minutes ago, BBlink said:

That's awesome. The existing ones were starting to have problems. Glad they are on top of this

While I was hoping they would also increase the size of the screens, I am glad they are improving the resolution.

Now, if they just make use of the full  screen for replays on occasion.

I know they need to advertise and show the score but they should be able to use the full screen for video more often.

[17to85]

40 minutes ago, Rich said:

https://www.bluebombers.com/2026/01/19/winnipeg-football-club-announces-installation-of-new-high-resolution-video-boards-at-princess-auto-stadium/
 

 

More room for ads!

[HardCoreBlue]

2 hours ago, 17to85 said:

Well with the goal post fuckery necessitating more short placement punts he might be very useful

Call me a traditionalist but i still like a kicker with consistent well placed quality hang time kick to help out his cover team. He can do it, i’ve seen it, just like to see it more.

[rebusrankin]

Vaval being back is another positive. Walters off season so far has been very good.

[Noeller]

Vaval back is massive....

[Goalie]

Guess Vaval took the guarantee over the non guarantee. Or what. Either way great news for bomber fans. 

Edited 17 minutes ago by Goalie