25/26 CFL (Non Bombers) Off Season Thread

[rebusrankin]

I really like Brady but him at $250,000 to $275,000 versus paying Mills, Butler or Bell $150,000 to $160,000, I think I'd go for the later option.

[HardCoreBlue]

59 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

I really like Brady but him at $250,000 to $275,000 versus paying Mills, Butler or Bell $150,000 to $160,000, I think I'd go for the later option.

How much is 'establish the run to open the playbook up' worth to the Bombers?

Some assume whoever we replace BO will be an easy plug and play but I'm not too sure with what BO offers outside of pure yardage and saving puppies.

Tough decisions to be made. KW have fun.

[wbbfan]

44 minutes ago, HardCoreBlue said:

How much is 'establish the run to open the playbook up' worth to the Bombers?

Some assume whoever we replace BO will be an easy plug and play but I'm not too sure with what BO offers outside of pure yardage and saving puppies.

Tough decisions to be made. KW have fun.

I mean, every back we've plugged in has had success. That is the tendency with zone systems as well. If you can identify/coach backs into pressuring the gap while also doing a good job of reading the blocking, you will succeed. Remember the broncos sticking random FA FBs in at tail back and having them average 5+ yards a pop and enough yards a game to get 1200-1500 a year? The point of tangibles is worth looking at. Brady is a fantastic blocker. But he also crafted him self into that role. Harris was too, but Augustine did a massive amount of work to go from terrible to pretty good at pass blocking, and MCI has taken huge leaps and bounds blocking too. Now, it is a far cry from being the lone back pass blocker in games during the regular season. But you only gain that final step by doing it. I am pretty confident that with marty, brady and the rest of the guys in the RB room that will hold over that we can coach guys up to be atleast good enough in pass blocking. 

[GCn20]

If you give a CFL calibre 20+ touches a game they are going to rack up big yardage. I love Brady ball, but I don't think Brady is our only option to do it with.  This last contract my heart was happy but my head said it's a terrible contract. This time both my heart and my head say it's a bad idea. Sorry Brady, but your attitude over the last year was not to my liking.

Edited 5 hours ago by GCn20

[sweep the leg]

2 hours ago, rebusrankin said:

I really like Brady but him at $250,000 to $275,000 versus paying Mills, Butler or Bell $150,000 to $160,000, I think I'd go for the later option.

Depends what we do with the rest of our roster and who our Canadians are. We need to play them somewhere. If we want better Canadians on the ol or at rec we’ll have to pay through the nose for them. 

We’re in some trouble right now with our Canadians. Only two of them were good last year and they’re both fas looking for raises. We really need to hope our young lbers can step up and we hit a home run in the draft.

[GCn20]

2 minutes ago, sweep the leg said:

Depends what we do with the rest of our roster and who our Canadians are. We need to play them somewhere. If we want better Canadians on the ol or at rec we’ll have to pay through the nose for them. 

We’re in some trouble right now with our Canadians. Only two of them were good last year and they’re both fas looking for raises. We really need to hope our young lbers can step up and we hit a home run in the draft.

An extremely valid point. We can't let high calibre NATs walk out the door without spending those savings on other high quality NATs. Walters did an abysmal job of this over the past 3 years and needs to wake up in that regard. We have seen a mass exodus in overall talent without replacement at NAT, and really all positions. I don't want BO back on a boat anchor of a contract, but I don't want his savings not used properly either.

Edited 5 hours ago by GCn20

[wbbfan]

2 minutes ago, sweep the leg said:

Depends what we do with the rest of our roster and who our Canadians are. We need to play them somewhere. If we want better Canadians on the ol or at rec we’ll have to pay through the nose for them. 

We’re in some trouble right now with our Canadians. Only two of them were good last year and they’re both fas looking for raises. We really need to hope our young lbers can step up and we hit a home run in the draft.

Canadians, and who our outlier contracts are. You will always have a few guys earning a premium, but you can only afford so many. Also depends on how many rookie-scale overachievers you have. I see a very good chance that we will go with no premium pay DL other than Lawson. 

For Canadians, Lawson at dt, 1 lber, 1 db, 2 wrs, minimum 2 on ol. If they hit the free agent market, I would prioritize a guy who is a significant positional upgrade and a ratio win, especially guys like Allen and Woodmansey. 

[Booch]

3 hours ago, GCn20 said:

A 250k+ contract to a running back, ANY running back, is going to hinder any team unless they put up MOP calibre numbers and clutch performance. We got hosed on his contract last year.

yeah we kinda did...and the last 2 yrs...he's been dealing with injury issues...trend?..anomaly?...hard to say but his big price, and the fact if he goes down there will be a huge drop off in production if we refuse to go import there...I just dunno

Sure we can 6 game him and not absorb the cost, but his huge salary, along with ZC's 600k...still on books and affects who else we sign before even the first snap of TC...We gotta go young and trust in the scouting and eject salaries of Gauthier..Kolo..Thomas..Kramdi (as he is the lesser of Nichols and Holm in our bloated secondary salary mess)......Hallett...Wilson...Even T.Jones.

We have inhouse guys already on entry level deals for most part to cover all those guys, plus a possible draft gem or 2...and I would think some of the new scouting staff guys brought on last yr will have more beefit this

We can go minimal salary in several areas and be able to be very proactive with both lines, and a legit WR....

[Booch]

56 minutes ago, sweep the leg said:

Depends what we do with the rest of our roster and who our Canadians are. We need to play them somewhere. If we want better Canadians on the ol or at rec we’ll have to pay through the nose for them. 

We’re in some trouble right now with our Canadians. Only two of them were good last year and they’re both fas looking for raises. We really need to hope our young lbers can step up and we hit a home run in the draft.

Thing is...we only need 7 true starter caliber Candadians....so if you do 3 on the oline...2 receivers...and 2 at anytime on defence you can easily navigate the sms..this trying to make 9...10 guys a thing with sub par talent in a good 3 of them for most part is just dumb...not to mention costly

There are a lot of quality Canadians that are gonna be free...and some that wont necessarily break the bank either, but we need to have open mind and be willing to change who we play and where as our Canadians

 

[GCn20]

15 minutes ago, Booch said:

yeah we kinda did...and the last 2 yrs...he's been dealing with injury issues...trend?..anomaly?...hard to say but his big price, and the fact if he goes down there will be a huge drop off in production if we refuse to go import there...I just dunno

Sure we can 6 game him and not absorb the cost, but his huge salary, along with ZC's 600k...still on books and affects who else we sign before even the first snap of TC...We gotta go young and trust in the scouting and eject salaries of Gauthier..Kolo..Thomas..Kramdi (as he is the lesser of Nichols and Holm in our bloated secondary salary mess)......Hallett...Wilson...Even T.Jones.

We have inhouse guys already on entry level deals for most part to cover all those guys, plus a possible draft gem or 2...and I would think some of the new scouting staff guys brought on last yr will have more beefit this

We can go minimal salary in several areas and be able to be very proactive with both lines, and a legit WR....

I think a lot of our 2nd year guys should be ready to step up into more active roles for sure. 

 

8 minutes ago, Booch said:

Thing is...we only need 7 true starter caliber Candadians....so if you do 3 on the oline...2 receivers...and 2 at anytime on defence you can easily navigate the sms..this trying to make 9...10 guys a thing with sub par talent in a good 3 of them for most part is just dumb...not to mention costly

There are a lot of quality Canadians that are gonna be free...and some that wont necessarily break the bank either, but we need to have open mind and be willing to change who we play and where as our Canadians

 

Agreed. Spend the wad on a tier one NAT OL, preferable a centre (not sure if there any available) and add QUALITY NAT depth. Draft well, develop better. These are going to be some key areas for us this offseason and season in general. Not a great idea to get rid of Kramdi right now. His contract isn't prohibitive and even if we platoon him we can get our money's worth. We gotta get away from our current DL NAT usage and keeping Kramdi is going to be a necessity in that. We can platoon our young NATs at WIL, and platoon Kramdi at SAM and this will allow us the flex we need to not pay BO the outrageous numbers we are hearing. We need to keep as much NAT roster flex as we can because if Neuf is back it's a roll of the dice, and Lawson/Thomas/Schmek hurt us if we gotta go there again. If another young NAT steps up into a viable starter/platoon guy then we revisit it next season. This, of course, predicates on us getting Kramdi back at a reasonable contract again.

Edited 4 hours ago by GCn20

[Booch]

1 minute ago, GCn20 said:

I think a lot of our 2nd year guys should be ready to step up into more active roles for sure. 

 

Agreed. Spend the wad on a tier one NAT OL, preferable a centre (not sure if there any available) and add QUALITY NAT depth. Draft well, develop better. These are going to be some key areas for us this offseason and season in general. Not a great idea to get rid of Kramdi right now. His contract isn't prohibitive and even if we platoon him we can get our money's worth. We gotta get away from our current DL NAT usage and keeping Kramdi is going to be a necessity in that. We can platoon our young NATs at WIL, and platoon Kramdi at SAM and this will allow us the flex we need to not pay BO the outrageous numbers we are hearing. We need to keep as much NAT roster flex as we can because if Neuf is back it's a roll of the dice, and Lawson/Thomas/Schmek hurt us if we gotta go there again.

Scmeck likely wont be ready anyway so hopefully we dont have him pencilled in as a guy we looking to use

Kramdi is a good rotation depth guy....and has value, but we can be way better for way less at SAM so if he is a role/depth guy he cant be sucking in 140k+ a yr tho

Our second yr guys in Shay and Smith....Woodbey...Allen should all be better than last and more than capable of stepping in and if not starting taking heavy reps....Griffin needs to be re-upped and he wont break the bank so those guys alone...4 on entry level...Griffin very affordable should allow us to be active in fixing our lines

I would think Bailey is gonna push for full rotation usage and if one of the 2 ends we saw takes the job and runs with it then there is another entry level deal playing which helps even further...But Osh needs to be willing to go with the youth movement...and Hopefully Walters see's that and takes some of the deadwood right out of Osh's hands and he has no choice

They are all 2nd yr guys will have another full camp...and all showed well when playing last yr

Neuf has played 17..18..14...18 games in last 4 yrs so is shown he can be durable...I think his vet leadership be key one more yr and he be am ideal 6th of a Rookie/FA signing who isnt pricey or Vibert can take the job as he can cover multiple spots on line

 

[Mark H.]

I have said this before:

If they are going continue starting Brady at RB, then they should be consistently starting 3 Americans on the OL. 

[Noeller]

9 minutes ago, Mark H. said:

I have said this before

Just once or twice............

[Booch]

if we wanna run anyone....and protect ZC we need to upgrade Center....not necessarily play 3 imports on the line

That would make a huge difference....Neuf was like one of top graded run blocking guards in league....Wallace was good on run too....work in progress in pass....but is that a center issue too....Randolph and Stanly too were just fine in run game...especially big Stan who was always up field doing the dirty work

If we could land a CANADIAN tackle in free agency, then flip Randolph to left guard and even better as we would still have Elo if resigned which I think happens sooner than later..Vibert and Wallce to fill in the rest of the game day roster

 

[Wanna-B-Fanboy]

I just want to throw piles of money at both Lines and build out from that.

Own the LoS and happy things happen.

I

[Booch]

1 minute ago, Wanna-B-Fanboy said:

I just want to throw piles of money at both Lines and build out from that.

Own the LoS and happy things happen.

I

100 percent

[rebusrankin]

I feel like if Eli was going to be a starter it would have happened by now.

[Noeller]

3 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

I feel like if Eli was going to be a starter it would have happened by now.

I've been on the Eli bandwagon since the beginning but am starting to feel like this, too...

[3rdand1.5]

Just looking at CDN's...not $

Brady starting with Peterson/MCI backing up at RB is a great CDN and has great depth (1)

Kramdi and one of Shay/Smith starting at LB/Dime/safety whatever alignment JY calls it is two really good CDN's but with some shallower depth, larger drop offs if the back-ups go in, maybe Kelly can take a bigger step??, but IMO really good pieces to get CDN's on the roster (2 and 3)

Wallace at guard he made steps in the right direction I love his physicality, O-line parts are interchangeable in regards to depth but we need some better CDN O-line depth  (4)

Nuefeld, at guard, and not sure if he can but I as a fan love the idea of his experience moving to center???? has got past his injuries and his veteran presence is important and IMO still a very solid player (5)

Demski at one Receiver spot, and a guy like Kian Shaffer Baker...who seems to be the odd guy out in Sask. with Clercuis and Corcoran as depth, and with certain sets Clercius additionally on the field gives an upgrade and solid rotation and depth (6,7 and even 8 )

That gives us 7/8 IMO really good CDN starters with depth fairly easily, add in Lawson with regular reps and we could field 8/9 on some sets, add another quality CDN O-lineman in FA or maybe Eli or Vibert could step in at C and we could roster 9/10....

My point is we have options, we could weigh out Brady's salary, we could go all American DL, we could go to a 3 American O-line, etc.....and we don't need a ton of pieces to make it happen.

We do need to add CDN depth and IMO at least one top tier starter.....

 

 

 

 

 

[Brandon]

I read on here about what the CFL / Bombers can do to grow the game locally.   So we have a hometown superstar who plays his ass off and is the best player at this position and is Canadian in his prime.   Our response... lets save a few little dollars and go American.   It baffles me on why people would want BO out the door.   Pay the man he's worth every dollar ten times over.    It's like $100 000 is apparently a massive amount of money to save on.   We have $600 000 wasted on the QB position that is not nearly worth that coin.   How about we cut that guy or spend $100 000 less on an olineman that is American.   

Brady is one of a very few guys on this team that we must keep.   

 

[Brandon]

[Noeller]

Adeboye extended as well...

[JuranBoldenRules]

3 hours ago, sweep the leg said:

Depends what we do with the rest of our roster and who our Canadians are. We need to play them somewhere. If we want better Canadians on the ol or at rec we’ll have to pay through the nose for them. 

We’re in some trouble right now with our Canadians. Only two of them were good last year and they’re both fas looking for raises. We really need to hope our young lbers can step up and we hit a home run in the draft.

I don't worry much about D for Canadians.  It's pretty easy to find guys that can fill roles to have 2-3 on the field.  But holy **** is our offense depleted in general and especially for Canadians.

[Booch]

2 hours ago, rebusrankin said:

I feel like if Eli was going to be a starter it would have happened by now.

not on this team with this HC...nope....have to disagree with that...and not just with Eli situation

[ShyGuy]

WR Market is off to a Bonkers start.

25 year old Philpot who has played one full season (his rookie year) and had only one 100 yard game in the regular season (tho what a game) is the highest paid Canadian receiver.

31 year old Hatcher with an Achilles tear on his Injury record is the highest paid non-QB and his deal is almost entirely guaranteed