Per 3downnation, these are our free agents ... basically everyone but Zach, Vaval, Peterson, Clercius, Randolph, Wallace, Pokey Wilson, MCI, Allen, T. Jones, and Leroux the longsnapper.  

Quarterback

Chris Streveler (A)

Running back

Brady Oliveira (N)

Receiver

Kody Case (A)
Nic Demski (N)
Dillon Mitchell (A)
Dalton Schoen (A)
Jerreth Sterns (A)
Keric Wheatfall (A)

OL

Stanley Bryant (A)
Tui Eli (N)
Chris Kolankowski (N)
Eric Lofton (A)
Patrick Neufeld (N)

Defensive line

Willie Jefferson (A)
Cameron Lawson (N)
Tanner Schmekel (N)
Jake Thomas (N)
James Vaughters (A)
Jamal Woods (A)

Linebacker

Tanner Cadwallader (N)
Shayne Gauthier (N)
Kyrie Wilson (A)

Defensive back

Terrell Bonds (A)
Michael Griffin II (A)
Nick Hallett (N)
Evan Holm (A)
Demerio Houston (A)
Redha Kramdi (N)
Enock Makonzo (N)
Deatrick Nichols (A)
Jamal Parker (A)

Specialist

Sergio Castillo (A)
Jamieson Sheahan (G)

Edited November 12, 2025Nov 12 by johnzo

37 minutes ago, CrazyCanuck89 said:

They've cut their teeth on special teams. How else are they supposed to earn reps? How many reps do they get at practice?

You have to show you are as good or better than the man in front of you. Period.

Just now, rebusrankin said:

JSK, I don't get the move unless JY has dreamed up a defensive alinement with 12 linebackers.

You don't get why we would bring in one of the top WIL Lbers in the league?

59 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

That's where I see Ceresna in the 30.

Will be interesting for sure.

He isn't a nose. He could play some edge in a 30, but that is pretty unwise for maybe the best 3-tech in the league, who is also pretty advanced in age and had injury issues last year. 4i alone is a beating to take. Forget nose. The most nose he would play is in cheetah pack 40 fronts with an end rushing from the 3 tech spot. Which we have done very little of the last 2 years.

Noo chance would Ceresna agree to come here to play nose, probably not even 4i.

3 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

None of the DL we have signed are nose candidates. We have added some to the NL, but not signed any.

Corney only got meaningful snaps when guys were hurt. Kongbo got more, but in roles not suited to development, Waggon was saddled to teams almost exclusively.

Neg list NTs added is kinda what you do prior to signing them. Pretty damn clear signal of what we are soon to sign if you ask me.

2 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

He isn't a nose. He could play some edge in a 30, but that is pretty unwise for maybe the best 3-tech in the league, who is also pretty advanced in age and had injury issues last year. 4i alone is a beating to take. Forget nose. The most nose he would play is in cheetah pack 40 fronts with an end rushing from the 3 tech spot. Which we have done very little of the last 2 years.

Noo chance would Ceresna agree to come here to play nose, probably not even 4i.

With all due respect, you have zero idea what J.Ceresna would agree to do. He played DE in Edmonton when they used 30 fronts. How is using him at DE in a 30 front at all unwise? It is the best use for him if you ask me. I have no doubt he would play little to no NT in a either a 30 or 40 front.

Edited 4 hours ago4 hr by GCn20

Edited 4 hours ago4 hr by Noeller

57 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

You have to show you are as good or better than the man in front of you. Period.

You don't get why we would bring in one of the top WIL Lbers in the league?

I don't understand bringing in another vet linebacker when we already have 2, an up and comer in Woodby, plus 2 young nationals who play the position who need reps.

38 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

Neg list NTs added is kinda what you do prior to signing them. Pretty damn clear signal of what we are soon to sign if you ask me.

With all due respect, you have zero idea what J.Ceresna would agree to do. He played DE in Edmonton when they used 30 fronts. How is using him at DE in a 30 front at all unwise? It is the best use for him if you ask me. I have no doubt he would play little to no NT in a either a 30 or 40 front.

It is, but the thing about the NL is those guys could sit for 2-3 years or be removed in 2 weeks without an offer.

It'll come down to what kind of ends we sign and if/when/how many Nts/Dts we bring in.

I mean, do you understand the physical toll and wear that playing 0-1 and 4i puts on your body? The transition from 3 tech to 0 is extremely rare amongst pros, and non-existent for guys 30+.

They ran less 30 front in 23 in edmonton than we did last year. That year, they used Ceresna all over the DL in 40 fronts. That was also maybe the worst D in the league in 23.

I detailed a bit of the issue with 4i vs 3t. It is a gigantic difference going 1-on-1 with a Canadian guard vs playing the gap between the T and G.

We ran as much assymetrical nose based 40 fronts last year, and significantly more in all the years prior to 24, than we have 30 fronts.

48 minutes ago, Noeller said:

On the bombers site it sounds like they plan to keep broxton on the left side, slide stan to right, and have Rando battle for rt/guard, while Vanterpool also battles for a guard spot.

If we go 3 imp or more on the OL, and stay reasonably healthy, this team is gonna be worlds better than what we saw the last 2 years. Back to winning games in the trenches.

Also, we are gonna maul teams in the pre season. our 2nd team OL unit is crazy deep.

If Zach stays clean, and trusts it, I still think he can surgically rip teams apart.

1 minute ago, wbbfan said:

It is, but the thing about the NL is those guys could sit for 2-3 years or be removed in 2 weeks without an offer.

It'll come down to what kind of ends we sign and if/when/how many Nts/Dts we bring in.

I mean, do you understand the physical toll and wear that playing 0-1 and 4i puts on your body? The transition from 3 tech to 0 is extremely rare amongst pros, and non-existent for guys 30+.

They ran less 30 front in 23 in edmonton than we did last year. That year, they used Ceresna all over the DL in 40 fronts. That was also maybe the worst D in the league in 23.

I detailed a bit of the issue with 4i vs 3t. It is a gigantic difference going 1-on-1 with a Canadian guard vs playing the gap between the T and G.

We ran as much assymetrical nose based 40 fronts last year, and significantly more in all the years prior to 24, than we have 30 fronts.

We ran what we could do last year because of personnel. Younger likes 30 fronts, it was the defensive system he played a lot in as an Argo. I'm not saying you are wrong, just that what we are doing seems to align with his love of 30 fronts. I would suspect our 30 fronts wouldn't exactly be the traditional 30, more of a 30 using a lot more LBer blitzes, which is one of the reasons we signed JSK in my opinion. A Lber that can blitz from depth which Jones didn't show he was particularly great at.

Such a massive signing for the club....

3 minutes ago, Noeller said:

If Zach stays clean, and trusts it, I still think he can surgically rip teams apart.

I hope so.

2 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

We ran what we could do last year because of personnel. Younger likes 30 fronts, it was the defensive system he played a lot in as an Argo. I'm not saying you are wrong, just that what we are doing seems to align with his love of 30 fronts. I would suspect our 30 fronts wouldn't exactly be the traditional 30, more of a 30 using a lot more LBer blitzes, which is one of the reasons we signed JSK in my opinion. A Lber that can blitz from depth which Jones didn't show he was particularly great at.

You have that backwards. We ran what we changed to partway through 24 due to personnel limitations. Then we moved sharply back away from it last year in camp and stayed away.

Idk if JSK has that in him still. He had it in spades the last year here, then we didn't see even flashes of it afterwards. If he does, boy, that would be a great fit.

If he doesn't, and we do want to use a jack, we do have a chunk of smaller tweeny end prospects.

We need guys who make the AR to round out our front anyway you cut it. We should have a really good idea of what we are looking to do between now and the weeks before camp.

We have also prolifically recruited Nose/Dts in the past. Never done well at the edge, but if we do go back to a 30, they should be able to find studs to make it work.

The best Ds in the world run modular play calls these days. Breaking down front, pressure, and coverage seperatly then combining them into plays. Which creates a massive amount of utility and customizability to the situation. We've done that with JY more and more. Did it some with Hall too.

I think the Modular style of D play call, with 30 base front, is ideal for the CFL. With the yard off the ball and holding calls enforcement rarer and rarer, you have to focus on disruption and hits taking sacks when they come. It's not like the US, where you can semi-frequently blitz for hits/sacks. It just doesn't work up here in this era. But you can push a C back into a QBs lap and mess up his rhythm. You can flush a pocket, move around and close passing lanes, and exchange droppers/rushers leaving the qb with no idea on any play who or how many are coming. And the best way to do all that stuff, is with the 30 front.

But like everything else, D in the CFL, it depends on the versatility of your AR. If we have guys who can play inside out on the line, guys who can rush from a 3pt and stand up while playing lber or db, lbers who can cover in pass or dbs who can play down hill and in the box, we can take it to offences like you seldom see from Ds these days.

13 minutes ago, Noeller said:

If Zach stays clean, and trusts it, I still think he can surgically rip teams apart.

I hope so, we are all betting on it happening. I mean, only place to go is up. And with a better OL, wrs, and a competent offensive system/playcall, zach couldn't ask for more.

26 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

It is, but the thing about the NL is those guys could sit for 2-3 years or be removed in 2 weeks without an offer.

It'll come down to what kind of ends we sign and if/when/how many Nts/Dts we bring in.

Yep, not all of the DT's on our Neg List are recent adds either - a couple of them have been there for months so it's more of an indication of what they are targeting rather than a clue that they'll sign soon.

Neg List moves are all over the map too - some guys sit on there for years & some only for a few days. Some get signed while others get dropped. Some even get dropped and then are re-added later on - recent signee Khris Bogle is a good example of that. He was added 2 months go, dropped after a month only to be re-added a few days later before he was signed (Calgary also had him on their list at one point).

11 minutes ago, bigg jay said:

Yep, not all of the DT's on our Neg List are recent adds either - a couple of them have been there for months so it's more of an indication of what they are targeting rather than a clue that they'll sign soon.

Neg List moves are all over the map too - some guys sit on there for years & some only for a few days. Some get signed while others get dropped. Some even get dropped and then are re-added later on - recent signee Khris Bogle is a good example of that. He was added 2 months go, dropped after a month only to be re-added a few days later before he was signed (Calgary also had him on their list at one point).

Might sit there for years for sure. However, adding a few NTs to the neg list shows that is what recruitment is looking for. This is a recent development. Prior to the end of last season we never really had any true NT candidates on our NL. Like any other NL, or any recruit for that matter, finding them and getting them to sign are two different beasts. Phase 1 of trying to sign them is adding them to the neg list once you have identified a player you want to sign/watch their development more closely. If we weren't actively looking for a true NT we wouldn't be scouting them.

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by GCn20

17 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

Might sit there for years for sure. However, adding a few NTs to the neg list shows that is what recruitment is looking for. This is a recent development. Prior to the end of last season we never really had any true NT candidates on our NL. Like any other NL, or any recruit for that matter, finding them and getting them to sign are two different beasts. Phase 1 of trying to sign them is adding them to the neg list once you have identified a player you want to sign/watch their development more closely. If we weren't actively looking for a true NT we wouldn't be scouting them.

Nah, we always keep a mix of guys, including NT,s on the NL. We had a few we brought in just last year, and we kept 2 on the suspended list for not reporting over the last two years+. I think both have been dropped now, though.

It's also an indication that any front we need, we need guys of basically every role type. Which is why we have some 13 DL on the NL currently. Just like we have 8 ol on the NL. We have 10 QBs as well, so 10-ish guys at any given time for a position of need is about right. We also don't really **** around with RBs, Ks, or Ps on the NL. Even Lbers are pretty rare; we have 2 right now, and both are DB/s tweener Lbers.

So our NL is always concentrated heavily with DB/WR, Ol/DL, and QBs. 8-10 of each of those, plus or minus 2-3, and the odd smattering of other positions mixed in now and then.

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by wbbfan

19 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

Might sit there for years for sure. However, adding a few NTs to the neg list shows that is what recruitment is looking for. This is a recent development. Prior to the end of last season we never really had any true NT candidates on our NL. Like any other NL, or any recruit for that matter, finding them and getting them to sign are two different beasts. Phase 1 of trying to sign them is adding them to the neg list once you have identified a player you want to sign/watch their development more closely. If we weren't actively looking for a true NT we wouldn't be scouting them.

Not exactly true - just based on our current neg list, we had added Anthony Campbell to our list prior to last season & Xavier Carlton during the season. Neg lists are pretty fluid so I would have to dig around to see who else may have been on there and was signed or dropped but we definitely have had some prospects. That said, we have added a much bigger number of them over the last month (6 by my count) so it is a position they are focusing on right now.

3 hours ago, GCn20 said:

The question of who will MOS roster is legit. I am pretty stoked that Walters is bringing in guys that are legit enough to make him look foolish if he doesn't utilize them. No offense to J.Jones last year but JSK is a guy that if you keep him out of the lineup, then the HC has to draw some legit fire. If anything, it demonstrates that Walters is in control of who is getting signed again.

I like Walter's work this yr, and he is kinda setting the table and taking away some of the past inefficiencies...that being said, until shown different from Osh....I just cant trust yet in him doing the right thing...let alone the smartest, and you nailed it and if JSK has to take a back seat to any one of Jones and Wilson....then Osh should get and deserve all the crticism possible

3 hours ago, wbbfan said:

I don't think we are going to run the 30 base. So it won't be too bad. But we still need bodies on the DL at every role and both passports.

I know we have some good imp DL on our NL. We will see what floods in the form of rookies.

3 hours ago, GCn20 said:

I think we will see a lot of Ceresna at DE in a 30 front.

I think we may see a lot of variations of the 30...Ceresna can handle "some" nose but not ideal...so hopefully we unearth a body mover/consumer

Cersena tho in a legit 30 would be a really nice piece on one end for reps, and if we have the legit nose will thrive in that part of his role...he did before already

Gonna be interesting what JY cooks up as our kind of defensive identity/base...We seem to be piling up a glut of larger bodied LB's for this camp and how they all shake out and who/what is kept is gonna be interesting

Wheatfall signs in the hammer......I think the writing was on the wall for him when we sgned White

2 hours ago, GCn20 said:

Neg list NTs added is kinda what you do prior to signing them. Pretty damn clear signal of what we are soon to sign if you ask me.

With all due respect, you have zero idea what J.Ceresna would agree to do. He played DE in Edmonton when they used 30 fronts. How is using him at DE in a 30 front at all unwise? It is the best use for him if you ask me. I have no doubt he would play little to no NT in a either a 30 or 40 front.

The person you quoted is agreeing with you. A 3-4 DE tends to lineup as a 4I or even 4 shade.