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

[voodoochylde]

Running back the core of a roster that *clearly* wasn't good enough last season ... what could go wrong?

[bearpants]

50 minutes ago, Noeller said:

This seems like a not good move when you've got Shay and Smith needing reps....

Not to mention Ayers and Woodbey...

I hate this signing... not that I don't like Kyrie Wilson... because he has given us some really quality years.... I just hate the idea of playing a 33 year old (let's be honest, he's starting at WIL) on the down side of his career when we have multiple ealry to mid 20s guys ready to play and needing reps... just doesn't make any sense to me 

[wbbfan]

29 minutes ago, Pete said:

Looks like were rounding up the gang for one last ride

At TC, we ride! lol

 

Honestly, I could see taking Kyrie over Jones in a situation we would never entertain. 

You use Kyrie as the naturalized import. You start Shay/Smith at Mac, Woodbey at Wil. (Kramdi goes to S, Allen to the corner.) Then Kyrie can play special teams, sub in situationally for the run and pass as needed for either LBER, including a half of the Canadians' snaps if they are struggling, or if you go to a 30 front, you can put Kyrie in and kick Woodbey out to dime. 

Jones would have been in the league long enough to qualify as a naturalized player the following year, and with us to qualify.

Jones is awful in pass cover, kyrie like wj I could see being more effective if used in fewer reps. 

Of course, we aren't going to use the naturalized American rule, or Kyrie in that role, or move on from Jones. I expect, if Kyrie is healthy out of camp, he will be the starter no matter how any one else plays. 

 

 

 

Edited 5 hours ago by wbbfan

[3rdand1.5]

Well, this is the first move I don't like......I like Kyrie, but IMo his time here should have been up. Just the harsh realities of the game...younger healthier guys ready to take over.....

 

 

[GCn20]

Here we go again with KW. Makes no sense at all. You guys can be happy with his offseason but I am not. So far all he's done is overpay guys that we definitely wanted back but at what cost? He got rid of Kola. That is his best move this offseason but one a blind monkey could have made. Bringing back Kyrie just reinforces that KW has not learned much, This should have been a no brainer parting of ways for our GM.

[wbbfan]

6 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

Here we go again with KW. Makes no sense at all. You guys can be happy with his offseason but I am not. So far all he's done is overpay guys that we definitely wanted back but at what cost? He got rid of Kola. That is his best move this offseason but one a blind monkey could have made. Bringing back Kyrie just reinforces that KW has not learned much, This should have been a no brainer parting of ways for our GM.

And Thomas. But yeah, the paydays and bringing back guys like Kyrie do make it much more questionable. We have yet to see what the spending is in free agency. With massive needs on DL and WR, I can not see us being inactive. 

FA, and then the draft, are going to be keys to the offseason quality. We need to kill it in both. 

[Stickem]

Keeping Kyrie smacks of the ol Thomas routine....'hanging on way too long' when the best before date has come and gone....Why do we do it??? partly because Osh likes the old vets and is partial to keeping them when it's prudent to part ways...Having said that I liked the Bryant signing because I believe he still has lots of game left....Just can't say the same for Wilson....

[17to85]

1 hour ago, bearpants said:

Not to mention Ayers and Woodbey...

I hate this signing... not that I don't like Kyrie Wilson... because he has given us some really quality years.... I just hate the idea of playing a 33 year old (let's be honest, he's starting at WIL) on the down side of his career when we have multiple ealry to mid 20s guys ready to play and needing reps... just doesn't make any sense to me 

Yeah this is where I'm at. Wilson was really good at one point, but given a lengthy injury history and his age it's the perfect spot to move on and go younger at.

[GCn20]

14 minutes ago, Stickem said:

Keeping Kyrie smacks of the ol Thomas routine....'hanging on way too long' when the best before date has come and gone....Why do we do it??? partly because Osh likes the old vets and is partial to keeping them when it's prudent to part ways...Having said that I liked the Bryant signing because I believe he still has lots of game left....Just can't say the same for Wilson....

Walters signs players not Osh. If an over the hill vet is re-signed that is on the GM. PERIOD. All this nonsense that Osh brings back guys, and it's not true. He may lobby his GM, but any GM who does his job properly should recognize when a coach is being too loyal then veto. I'm sorry if that hurts the OSH bash train, but the coach cannot be blamed for roster movement in the offseason. But..but...but...the GM needs to respect the coaches wishes. No...no he doesn't.

Edited 3 hours ago by GCn20

[Stickem]

Just now, GCn20 said:

Walters signs players not Osh. If an over the hill vet is re-signed that is on the GM. PERIOD.

You don't think that Osh is in Walters ear continually.....lol....don't be so naive....It looks to me sometimes that they've been together so long they work on on one brain

[wbbfan]

2 minutes ago, Stickem said:

You don't think that Osh is in Walters ear continually.....lol....don't be so naive....It looks to me sometimes that they've been together so long they work on on one brain

Yeah, that just isn't how football in this day and age works. 

KW stated in I believe the season-ending presser, or the one for the extensions, that the nature of the working relationship between him and Mos is not one is the boss. He said it used to be a lot of tug of war over every single move, and that it's closer to being on the same page now. But he also picked his battles.  

If you look back at the past 30+ years of this team, the number of times the GM was the HC's boss is few and far between. It's about as many seasons as the GM was the HCs errand boy. And most of those outliers went or ended very poorly for us. 

[GCn20]

22 minutes ago, Stickem said:

You don't think that Osh is in Walters ear continually.....lol....don't be so naive....It looks to me sometimes that they've been together so long they work on on one brain

For sure he is. However, that is exactly the problem I am pointing out. KW should not be in complete lockstep with his HC. IF Walters is to do his job properly then he MUST make the final decision, and not necessarily be a yes man for his coach.

Edited 3 hours ago by GCn20

[GCn20]

11 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

Yeah, that just isn't how football in this day and age works. 

KW stated in I believe the season-ending presser, or the one for the extensions, that the nature of the working relationship between him and Mos is not one is the boss. He said it used to be a lot of tug of war over every single move, and that it's closer to being on the same page now. But he also picked his battles.  

If you look back at the past 30+ years of this team, the number of times the GM was the HC's boss is few and far between. It's about as many seasons as the GM was the HCs errand boy. And most of those outliers went or ended very poorly for us. 

That is all fine and good. However, it is not a flaw for a GM to over rule a HC when it comes down to it. MOS is a player's coach and with that comes a very real vulnerability as a coach, and that is loyalty to a fault. Walters MUST be able to make that distinction when it happens and act accordingly....and yes that is how football works in this day and age, and every other day and age, MOS may not like it, but that is where they need to find the ability to work together despite each men having differences of opinion. The GM has ALWAYS been the boss of the HC except the times one man had both titles and that was when disaster struck.  This nonsense of KW must do what MOS wants for the kumbaya of the front office is just a cop out. 

[Piggy 1]

I was secretly hoping we would find some loonies to sign Wynton McManis........or has he re-signed with Argos? 

[Pete]

24 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

Walters signs players not Osh. If an over the hill vet is re-signed that is on the GM. PERIOD. All this nonsense that Osh brings back guys, and it's not true. He may lobby his GM, but any GM who does his job properly should recognize when a coach is being too loyal then veto. I'm sorry if that hurts the OSH bash train, but the coach cannot be blamed for roster movement in the offseason. But..but...but...the GM needs to respect the coaches wishes. No...no he doesn't.

This feels like Osh telling Walters he wants Kyrie back, then Walters signs him knowing full well if he doesn't O'Shea is gonna dig his heels in anyway.  But this isn't new, we knew what we were getting when we signed O'Shea for another 3 years

[wbbfan]

4 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

For sure he is. However, that is exactly the problem I am pointing out. KW should not be in complete lockstep with his HC. IF Walters is to do his job properly then he MUST make the final decision, and not necessarily be a yes man for his coach.

Can you think of any successful cases of that being the case currently, or recently, in the cfl? For the life of me, I can't think of a time the GM and HC weren't in lock step. Even the two power-mad guys in Montreal are united. 

2 minutes ago, Piggy 1 said:

I was secretly hoping we would find some loonies to sign Wynton McManis........or has he re-signed with Argos? 

Still a pending free agent. I'd love him, but I don't think we kick the tires on him. 

[GCn20]

20 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

Can you think of any successful cases of that being the case currently, or recently, in the cfl? For the life of me, I can't think of a time the GM and HC weren't in lock step. Even the two power-mad guys in Montreal are united. 

United does not mean that every decision is made together in total agreement and that a GM never exercises the right to over rule his HC. I can't think of any instance where a GM just automatically bows to every wish of a GM. He may try to accommodate as much as possible but I cannot name a single instance of any GM doing whatever the HC asks of him. That's nonsense. So, in that regard I can think of many instances of success where the GM and HC are separate roles and have had great success. Any team who has both a GM, and a HC and has won recently has done so because the GM has built the roster, albeit with input from many sources including the HC, then negotiated the deals that make sense and then the HC coaches what he is supplied with.

I have zero doubt that almost every GM supplies the kind of team that the coach requests, and that he listens to the coach when it comes to specific players that mesh with what the coach is looking for. I, also, have zero doubt that most GMs don't sign every single player that a coach wants.

Jim Barker said in an interview with Peterson on his podcast that the reason he lost his GM job in Toronto was that he listened to his HC too much. (It was a joke because he was in a dual role,) But he went on to further explain that a good GM needs to seperate the roles, as coaches don't care about SMS, or long term viability of the team. They want to win now and that is not a good approach to sustainability. He said the GM has to sometimes tell the coach no to certain players and he said that is very tough to do when you wear both hats.

Edited 3 hours ago by GCn20

[17to85]

There's nothing wrong with a gm bringing vets to camp... but it's up to the head coach to assess camp and decide the vet has lost his job.

[GCn20]

4 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

There's nothing wrong with a gm bringing vets to camp... but it's up to the head coach to assess camp and decide the vet has lost his job.

I agree in general. However, once your coach shows that he is apt to making the wrong decision then you need to take that choice away from him sometimes.  Part of a GM's job sometimes is to know your coaches strengths and weaknesses and help offset them through the players you choose to sign.

13 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

Can you think of any successful cases of that being the case currently, or recently, in the cfl? For the life of me, I can't think of a time the GM and HC weren't in lock step. Even the two power-mad guys in Montreal are united. 

Still a pending free agent. I'd love him, but I don't think we kick the tires on him. 

He'd be a good get, but I think if he was a realistic target of ours we would have probably parted with T.Jones by now.

[Booch]

1 hour ago, GCn20 said:

Walters signs players not Osh. If an over the hill vet is re-signed that is on the GM. PERIOD. All this nonsense that Osh brings back guys, and it's not true. He may lobby his GM, but any GM who does his job properly should recognize when a coach is being too loyal then veto. I'm sorry if that hurts the OSH bash train, but the coach cannot be blamed for roster movement in the offseason. But..but...but...the GM needs to respect the coaches wishes. No...no he doesn't.

I agree....but also Osh has way more say in what you giving him credit for....if we wanna call it credit....Walter's needs to not succomb to Osh's whining and rants...confirmed btw

I sure he heard a lot about his boi JT and KOLO....maybe he didnt wanna hear any more possy whining??

Fact of matter tho..Osh decides the fate of the roster and who is kept..played etc...and of this is soley on Walters as a poor decision (which I doubt 100%) and Osh keeps him over hyounger better talent...and then plays him...or any other older dud at the expense of a better player....proof positive we shoulda moved on from both of em...I smell another putrid camp coming up...questionable rostering...needless play of excessive Canadians and a nice view from 5th looking up

2 hours ago, voodoochylde said:

Running back the core of a roster that *clearly* wasn't good enough last season ... what could go wrong?

yeah...if u havnt learned after 3 failed tries doing it...U never are gonna 

1 hour ago, GCn20 said:

That is all fine and good. However, it is not a flaw for a GM to over rule a HC when it comes down to it. MOS is a player's coach and with that comes a very real vulnerability as a coach, and that is loyalty to a fault. Walters MUST be able to make that distinction when it happens and act accordingly....and yes that is how football works in this day and age, and every other day and age, MOS may not like it, but that is where they need to find the ability to work together despite each men having differences of opinion. The GM has ALWAYS been the boss of the HC except the times one man had both titles and that was when disaster struck.  This nonsense of KW must do what MOS wants for the kumbaya of the front office is just a cop out. 

we shouldnt have butt buddies as GM and HC....Flawed every which way you slice it...we've lived it

1 hour ago, 17to85 said:

There's nothing wrong with a gm bringing vets to camp... but it's up to the head coach to assess camp and decide the vet has lost his job.

something that Osh over the whole tenure he been here he is incapable of...to think he finally gonna in yr 14 is a pipe dream and unrealistic

 

Edited 2 hours ago by Booch

[Atomic]

Going to be the exact same roster as last year minus Kola and Thomas.

Not good enough, and one year older. Wake me up when the 5-13 season is over.

[JohnnyAbonny]

Gotta agree with most, seems like one too many old vets brought back.

Doesn’t feel like they’re going to have a lot left to go hard in FA now. 

[Bubba Zanetti]

1 hour ago, 17to85 said:

There's nothing wrong with a gm bringing vets to camp... but it's up to the head coach to assess camp and decide the vet has lost his job.

Lol, with O'Shea youve got a free ride until you either become a coach or die. Whichever comes first.

Edited 1 hour ago by Bubba Zanetti

[Booch]

34 minutes ago, Bubba Zanetti said:

Lol, with O'Shea youve got a free ride until you either become a coach or die. Whichever comes first.

Yup

For all his good...he is a poor evaluator of talent...or really lacks metrics and intangibles that constitute what and why in players...especially with canadians

[Noeller]

1 hour ago, Bubba Zanetti said:

Lol, with O'Shea youve got a free ride until you either become a coach or die. Whichever comes first.

Like Kolankowski and Bighill.....