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

[17to85]

2 hours ago, GCn20 said:

Willie J is still a very good DE in a limited, rotational role

FTFY

11 minutes ago, Mark H. said:

No idea who that is. I guess that'd be why I'm a football fan first.

I am only aware that there was some bruhahaha about nazis and blue Jean commercials...

[Atomic]

Quote

 

Mike O’Shea, Bombers relying on veteran leadership for 2026

https://www.cfl.ca/2026/01/22/mike-oshea-bombers-relying-on-veteran-leadership-for-2026/

 

 

Haven't we tried this already?

[Tracker]

2 hours ago, Noeller said:

And also NOT a creepy old man... Good work, Mr H...

Kinda  hard to not fall into that category when many young ladies are displaying their naughty bits all over the internet.

[GCn20]

8 minutes ago, Atomic said:

 

Haven't we tried this already?

Yep and it worked for many years.

[SpeedFlex27]

5 hours ago, GCn20 said:

This is going to be a thoroughly unpopular take here, but I think that Elgersma may even be lucky to be a CFL starter and that may never happen. I want to sign him, but for the life of me I don't think anyone should be thinking he's a shoe in for anything.  He will need a ton of development. When I used to coach I went to several coaching clinics down in Texas and California. I got to see the QB factories up close. The kids at these "factories" begin development at age 8. By the time they are in high school they are technically better than any QB in the CIS. They get top notch development by ex pro coaches and players and even their schooling is formatted around their QB development. It's a different world of football in the US compared to Canada. Not comparable in any way. That was just one of many 'QB factories" around the USA

Competition is better as well. Much better. And high schools as well as colleges play more games. Likely at least double. So. a kid that plays in Grades 10, 11 & 12 in Calgary plays 6 games tops. (Unless they have a good team & go on a provincial championship run). The HS season here starts after the LD weekend & ends by or just after Thanksgiving. Short season, Wham, Bam Thank You Ma'am. Most Calgary High Schools have QB Coaches but they can't teach the fundamentals of the new way of throwing the ball.

Why is the football season in calgary for example, so short? So football players can play other high school sports like basketball which just so happens to start right after Thanksgiving. Sometimes, if a high school goes on a run in the football playoffs tghen these basketball coaches have to wait & do they ever complain. I've listened to some disckhead basketball coach complain out loud in the phys ed office about the football season being too long because that entitled basketball coach has to wait for a couple of players to finish their gridiron season.

The kids in the US play 12 game seasons over 4 years. Americans over 8 years of high school & NCAA football also means from 30-50 more games played combined.  Fifty more games of better coaching & competition.

Elgersma is a product of that short Canadian high school & U Sport seasons. My son coaches in Seattle. High schools there start practicing in early August & the State Championships are played at Husky Stadium early to mid December. Kinda tough when the American competion plays dozens of more games at the high school & college level. The seasons for both is months longer which is a disadvantage when you're trying to crack an NFL team. And yet, other American qbs that have this advantage still can't make it either. Never having played in the American system save for a few series in the East West Shrine Game & a few in the NFL exhibition sea season last summer. If you were an NFL head coach looking to develop a qb who would you go with? Who would you trust? Ten were fired this past season.

Tremendous pressure for NFL head coaches to produce & win. So, having trust in a young player is huge. 

Edited 1 hour ago by SpeedFlex27

[Booch]

35 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

Yep and it worked for many years.

we just over did it and kept some long in the tooth guys too long, as we let some 2..3..4 yr guys walk instead....we should have been doing some transitioning each yr....hopefully we learned something

[GCn20]

32 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Competition is better as well. Much better. And high schools as well as colleges play more games. Likely at least double. So. a kid that plays in Grades 10, 11 & 12 in Calgary plays 6 games tops. (Unless they have a good team & go on a provincial championship run). The HS season here starts after the LD weekend & ends by or just after Thanksgiving. Short season, Wham, Bam Thank You Ma'am. Most Calgary High Schools have QB Coaches but they can't teach the fundamentals of the new way of throwing the ball.

Why is the football season in calgary for example, so short? So football players can play other high school sports like basketball which just so happens to start right after Thanksgiving. Sometimes, if a high school goes on a run in the football playoffs tghen these basketball coaches have to wait & do they ever complain. I've listened to some disckhead basketball coach complain out loud in the phys ed office about the football season being too long because that entitled basketball coach has to wait for a couple of players to finish their gridiron season.

The kids in the US play 12 game seasons over 4 years. Americans over 8 years of high school & NCAA football also means from 30-50 more games played combined.  Fifty more games of better coaching & competition.

Elgersma is a product of that short Canadian high school & U Sport seasons. My son coaches in Seattle. High schools there start practicing in early August & the State Championships are played at Husky Stadium early to mid December. Kinda tough when the American competion plays dozens of more games at the high school & college level. The seasons for both is months longer which is a disadvantage when you're trying to crack an NFL team. And yet, other American qbs that have this advantage still can't make it either. Never having played in the American system save for a few series in the East West Shrine Game & a few in the NFL exhibition sea season last summer. If you were an NFL head coach looking to develop a qb who would you go with? Who would you trust? Ten were fired this past season.

Tremendous pressure for NFL head coaches to produce & win. So, having trust in a young player is huge. 

Yep. just about all these kids are insanely good athletes so you go with the ones who you trust to have the experience handling the situations. Unfortunately that kind of blacklists CDN developed players. The only reason Elgersma even got an NFL camp is because he has a huge arm and being a one trick pony is probably why the NFL will never look at him seriously again.

[Atomic]

55 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

Yep and it worked for many years.

Sure, to a certain degree. But when the Bombers were at their best in 19-21 it was the result of several years of big game hunting in free agency for studs like Andrew Harris, Bighill, WJ, Winston Rose, and Stanley Bryant, at the time those guys weren't just veteran leadership, they were the most talented players on the team. I look at the current roster and there isn't any position where we have the most talented player in the league. Maybe Brady. But the veteran leadership for the most part is washed up. It sure looks like they are bringing back 80-90% of the same players (unless MOS cuts them in camp LOL). It's hard for vets to be leaders when they can't bring it on the field anymore. If the Bombers aren't active in free agency and bring in a top name or two AND some impact rookies, it's just going to be even worse than last season. 

[HardCoreBlue]

2 hours ago, Atomic said:

 

Haven't we tried this already?

1 hour ago, Booch said:

we just over did it and kept some long in the tooth guys too long, as we let some 2..3..4 yr guys walk instead....we should have been doing some transitioning each yr....hopefully we learned something

Usually, but not always, your best leaders are also the ones who can also demonstrate their prowess on the playing field. 

I'm not going to name names because my therapist told me to move on.