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

[wbbfan]

7 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

A meniscus tear is easily fixable unlike a ligament tear especially an ACL. The recovery time is a fgraction of the time for a meniscus. if everything heals properly with rehab Ceresna will be good to go come training camp.

The Bombers slept thru ftree agency last season not seeming to care if anyone signed or left. I hope we never have an off season like that again. Looks like lesson learned. 

Is Nick Arbuckle a gfree agent? 

nah he’s locked up sadly 

 

6 hours ago, ShyGuy said:

NIL definitely isn't helping things here.

The baseline for a power 4 QB has to be around 500K/yr for NIL at this point? Tough sell getting those guys to come up here for 2 years making peanuts just for a chance to be able to make almost as much as they made in college.

nil money is no joke. Very very few will retire on that money, but it certainly slows down the flow of guys here. And leaves them far more comfortable sitting and waiting for chances at a pr spot. 

Cfl qb money for the young guys has to go up. 

 It also hurts that a guy like rourke put up a huge season and barely got a sniff. It’s been a long time since the days of the cfl prouducing qbs like garcia flutie etc for the nfl. Or the nfl taking long looks at guys like dickie and burris. 

[Goalie]

12 hours ago, bb1 said:

Maybe we didn't go after a backup because we are fairly confident in getting Taylor Elgersma here? 🤞

I think Perkins is probably the backup to Zach and honestly eventho he hasn’t played a cfl snap, I think he’s similar if not more talented than most current cfl backups. I’d take Perkins over ford for example. Maybe id sign Masoli as a qb coach tho or something like that just cuz but yeah im not sure there’s any back ups who have played snaps who are future starters. 

and the other guy, well he’s a Kent Austin fan so you know Kent has told him about the cfl. That dude looks like a solid blue chip young prospect  

Streveler had heart but If being honest we won a game with him throwing 10 passes and argument could be made we would have won by more if he threw 8 passes. 

3 perhaps 4 American oline  3 guaranteed really but 4 is possible? I think the goal is to keep zachs jersey clean  

Edited 1 hour ago by Goalie

[JohnnyAbonny]

39 minutes ago, Goalie said:

I think Perkins is probably the backup to Zach and honestly eventho he hasn’t played a cfl snap, I think he’s similar if not more talented than most current cfl backups. I’d take Perkins over ford for example. Maybe id sign Masoli as a qb coach tho or something like that just cuz but yeah im not sure there’s any back ups who have played snaps who are future starters. 

and the other guy, well he’s a Kent Austin fan so you know Kent has told him about the cfl. That dude looks like a solid blue chip young prospect  

Streveler had heart but If being honest we won a game with him throwing 10 passes and argument could be made we would have won by more if he threw 8 passes. 

3 perhaps 4 American oline  3 guaranteed really but 4 is possible? I think the goal is to keep zachs jersey clean  

I wouldn’t be opposed to 4 American OL. They just couldn’t really go with 8 Canadians again then right? 
 

Starting 7 would be 1 OL, Olivera, 3 WR, Lawson, Kramdi, unless I’m forgetting someone. 

[Mike]

13 hours ago, Brandon said:

But that is my point.   We can spend big money on a 1 - 2 guys in FA each year and still have enough money to sign other quality free agents.    This year we paid the highest amount for a RB and an olineman.   We also paid big money for a receiver, a dlineman,  another oline, etc....   

It's not like Walters has to wait 5 seasons to save enough money to start spending again.   At no point did we ever have a Rourke/Adams situation as they had in BC.  

 

There’s also the reality that I see a lot of people on social media (not here) missing, which is that a lot of our veterans aren’t getting raises.

I guarantee you Willie, Kyrie, Bryant, Neufeld, Eli, Castillo as a whole make less than they did last year. 

We also let go of some big ticket low impact players … Ceresna over Vaughters was less than $100k increase. Tim White over Dillon Mitchell was maybe a $50k cap increase. Jonathan Jones and Peyton Logan are gone and their cap hits were decent. Even Jake Thomas had a decent cap hit that is now off the books. 

We paid big money to Pokey, Holm, Lawson, Kramdi, Brady and some others but a lot of that went on the 2025 cap and a lot of it came from offsets elsewhere and that’s probably exactly why we were able to come out swinging on a guy like Broxton. It may not result in a return to the glory days (also, it may) but I can’t help but be impressed with what Walters has done with the cap so far.

[Mike]

5 minutes ago, JohnnyAbonny said:

I wouldn’t be opposed to 4 American OL. They just couldn’t really go with 8 Canadians again then right? 
 

Starting 7 would be 1 OL, Olivera, 3 WR, Lawson, Kramdi, unless I’m forgetting someone. 

I’m curious to see if we actually use the roster exemption spots this year, since we never have. It’s been a bit murky so I may admittedly not completely understand it.

Pretty sure we have to start 8 “Canadians” but one of them can be an American with enough service time. This is the one that baffles me, since we consistently deploy enough veterans. 

We could also use the designated Nationalized American and I’m wondering if that’s what they do with Ceresna. The Bombers have been adding a LOT of DT types to the negotiation list lately, which makes me wonder if they’re still going to try and find a big body there and utilize the inside-outside ability Ceresna has.

Not being inside the mind of Walters or O’Shea, it’s impossible to say what they’re thinking but what I would personally do at this point with the way our roster is built … I’d declare 6 Canadians (Brady, Demski, Nield, Neufeld, whoever plays center and Stan) on offense and 2 Canadians (Lawson and Kramdi) on defense to get to 8 and then I’d start a rookie DT next to Lawson and make Ceresna the designated Nationalized American on defense … rotate him in for Lawson up to 25 snaps, rotate him for Willie or the other American DT the rest of the time. 

We also could use a designated Nationalized American on offense in addition, but I’m not really quite sure how you’d work that since your 6th OL is probably Gabe Wallace which you’re happy with. 

[Goalie]

30 minutes ago, JohnnyAbonny said:

I wouldn’t be opposed to 4 American OL. They just couldn’t really go with 8 Canadians again then right? 
 

Starting 7 would be 1 OL, Olivera, 3 WR, Lawson, Kramdi, unless I’m forgetting someone. 

I mean 2 OL = 8. But yeah that looks about right. Stan could be nationalized tho no? That would be pretty big honestly. So could Willie really. 
 

I thought you had to put in some service with the same team so I’m thinking Stan can be “nationalized” as could Willie and Kyrie now. I’m not sure Ceresna can be since he hasn’t been a bomber. 

Edited 38 minutes ago by Goalie

[Goalie]

Is Walters done now or should we expect a couple of more cfl FA signings and If so, what we thinking. Who we thinking. Few interesting names out there. 

Edited 35 minutes ago by Goalie

[Mike]

30 minutes ago, Goalie said:

I mean 2 OL = 8. But yeah that looks about right. Stan could be nationalized tho no? That would be pretty big honestly. So could Willie really. 
 

I thought you had to put in some service with the same team so I’m thinking Stan can be “nationalized” as could Willie and Kyrie now. I’m not sure Ceresna can be since he hasn’t been a bomber. 

Stan, Willie, Kyrie or Ceresna could be for us. It’s 3 with one team or 5 with any team.

[rebusrankin]

I have to figure Walter's is done with free agency.

 

[Booch]

10 minutes ago, Mike said:

Stan, Willie, Kyrie or Ceresna could be for us. It’s 3 with one team or 5 with any team.

Holm..Nichols...technically Griffin too as he in yr 3