25/26 CFL (Non Bombers) Off Season Thread

[GCn20]

1 hour ago, Booch said:

Last year I woulda chased Pickett...but like said here....we way over spending in secondary as it is so that be just robbing from Peter to pay Paul and not really benefitting us

I like what we have in Woodbey, Allen, Smith and Shay and we need to let that young talent keeo getting better, and by what has been seen all will be pretty damn good

Hopefully we sign Griffin to round it out as he would be a big loss, and is just hitting his prime too, and is also just so dam versatile and perfect for Younger's system

We have way bigger priorities than DB. Pickett is a luxury we don't really need on a team that needs quite a bit of upgrading in some pretty expensive areas

[Tracker]

6 hours ago, wbbfan said:

My only concern with Mcewen is health/age. I do think either of those two at 100% is a big upgrade. Eli would be an instant and drastic improvement in the run game. But his lateral work at guard in pass pro was very subpar. He might be one of those rare guys who struggle at guard vs a natural position, like Hardrick. He might also be a guy who struggles head up, and is more of a bully C. Which is fine, again, teams played a nose on Kola once he was exposed. Teams aren't going to start out challenging Eli like that. He's a mauler. He might not win, especially against speedy, talented 3-techs, but he will give you a battle. 

Yeah, that would make a ton of sense. I didn't hear any changes to the football, but if they did, I wouldn't be surprised in the least. I thought the J5Vs were awful when brand new. Most of the time, if you could beat 'em up and get some wear on them, they played a lot better. I remember playing a game in real sloppy conditions with brand new ones, and it was like a 3 stooges bit for the first half. At halftime, they put them in bags with gravel from the parking lot, and we shook them the whole half. After that, it was manageable. 

Eli might be the answer, but we will not know until he has had a few games at center and we need to bear in mind that all those games where he mostly warmed the bench did nothing to enhance his confidence or game experience. 

[wbbfan]

12 hours ago, Tracker said:

Eli might be the answer, but we will not know until he has had a few games at center and we need to bear in mind that all those games where he mostly warmed the bench did nothing to enhance his confidence or game experience. 

It's true that we wont know for a couple of games. We've used the heavy set pretty extensively, especially prior to Hogan's year. I'm not worried about his confidence or game experience. He's come back from two lengthy times away from football in his career, and hes not the type of guy you worry about confidence with. 

The question will be, does he do a significantly better job in pass pro at C than he did at G? He will be, at worst, a slight upgrade in pass pro at C over Kola, and a significant upgrade in run blocking, and in the nuance of playing C.  That will dictate if he is a Couture-level or another stopgap. They also really value his contributions as a 6th ol, if we go back to the heavy set usage, they might want to keep him there. 

[GCn20]

44 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

It's true that we wont know for a couple of games. We've used the heavy set pretty extensively, especially prior to Hogan's year. I'm not worried about his confidence or game experience. He's come back from two lengthy times away from football in his career, and hes not the type of guy you worry about confidence with. 

The question will be, does he do a significantly better job in pass pro at C than he did at G? He will be, at worst, a slight upgrade in pass pro at C over Kola, and a significant upgrade in run blocking, and in the nuance of playing C.  That will dictate if he is a Couture-level or another stopgap. They also really value his contributions as a 6th ol, if we go back to the heavy set usage, they might want to keep him there. 

I'm not willing to roll the dice on Eli without at least trying to get a Centre in FA. There is a reason he never got into the lineup. I don't believe that if he was a better option he would have remained on the bench. The MOS argument is a dud because he has arguably shown more loyalty to Eli than most coaches would have after he walked away. If Marty believed that Eli was better I don't believe for one second he wouldn't have been playing. I truly think Kola was only intended to be a short term stop gap while we got Eli ready and that just never happened. I could be wrong, but it's just as likely as the alternative. My view is backed up by Eli only briefly being used as an injury replacement at OG, and then sat after playing horribly. I like Eli and hope I'm wrong but we have seen with our own eyes that he may represent zero upgrade to us.

Edited 57 minutes ago by GCn20

[SpeedFlex27]

On 2026-01-14 at 7:21 AM, GCn20 said:

I would take him in a heartbeat. Christ we have people here suggesting we move Stan to C. Let's get a real centre so that we can end ridiculousness like that. It seems we are pretty desperate or at least the fans are. Or we can put the goat at a position he has never played, get him injured by the big men in the middle while learning how to snap at age 40. I could barely type that last sentence.

We never said to move Stan to Center. We said he could play there if needed. 

[TBURGESS]

If Eli is better, why hasn't he been the starter?