With Rookie Camp getting underway Wednesday morning, it's officially time to talk about the 2026 Winnipeg Blue Bombers!

10 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

How can you call Gavin Cobb serviceable? He only suited up for 4 games last season while just starting 2 & catching just 6 passes for 51 yards.

were you expecting 12 catches for 250 yards and 4 TDs from the fifth receiver?... he knows his role, he can catch, run, block, and backup as a kick returner... again, not an all-star but a serviceable guy as your 4th Canadian receiver... to say "Anything is better than Cobb" is just a poor take

6 hours ago, Booch said:

he's prob a better option than any import not named Wilson or White in all honesty lol

I like the add...as well as the Condell add as it seems we have learned from past and have moved on from just internally promoting even when not warranted...so kudo's to this decision

yeah...agreed Mayala should be on speed dial immediately as the season hasnt even started and Demski is already questionable...guy is proven and a cfl vet so no learning curve

If Eli isn't starting then its from injury...He didnt even take what...5 snaps at center did he? Elsbury was decent but not great. And if you are building your best roster you need to look at ripple effect of ratio adjusting.

Elsbury eats up a import spot swaying us to this stupid start 3 Canadian receivers and we don't have the horses for that, nor the depth and to do such a move that import has to be lights out good....it also takes away the ability to add that extra import defender...say a legit DT or another tweener gy who can play inside and out...so you have a avergae center...a weaker wr core....and a leaner defence

Turn that around...Start ELi who will be no worse than the pylon we had last yr....and likely after a few games settled in as one the better centers...a better wr group with 3 imports and possibly a new guy in that group that lights it up, and a deeper defense as you can add another difference maker there....And if Eli is knicked let Vibert at it, and didnt we draft this Daniels cause he was this shitkicker where we could forego using an OL in TE sets?....or so we were told

One dumb move can make the offence, and the defence weaker when you look at the whole makeup of things...who wants to wager cash on if we make a smart...or dumb decision?...lol

Maybe Eli isn't one of O'Shea's pets- like Tony Jones and it is starting to look like the usual list of favoured players is being assembled.

9 hours ago, bearpants said:

were you expecting 12 catches for 250 yards and 4 TDs from the fifth receiver?... he knows his role, he can catch, run, block, and backup as a kick returner... again, not an all-star but a serviceable guy as your 4th Canadian receiver... to say "Anything is better than Cobb" is just a poor take

To say that Cobb with 6 catches averaging 8.5 yards a catch on his Bomber resume is either solid or versatile is wrong. We have no idea if the guy can actually consistently play at the CFL level. We've had receivers with better numbers than that cut in the past. If we have to start him then we did little to improve our receiving corps from last year.

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by SpeedFlex27

15 hours ago, blue85gold said:

Where did you see this?

Also according to the transaction wire Lidster and a DT named Carter Hooper were "DEL" to the active roster? Normally says Free Agent when someone is DEL

DATE	TEAM	NAME	POS	A/N/G	COLLEGE	ACTION	STATUS
2026-06-01	WPG	LIDSTER, Brady	K	N	Windsor	DEL	Active Roster
2026-06-01	WPG	HOOPER, Carter	DT	N	South Dakota	DEL	Active Roster

I was looking at roster on team site...so who knows whats accurate I guess...He used to be on Pr there, so who knows lol

10 hours ago, Tracker said:

Maybe Eli isn't one of O'Shea's pets- like Tony Jones and it is starting to look like the usual list of favoured players is being assembled.

Tony Jones was a West all star last year. I get your point but TJ is not a pet. He is a good MIKE, he's no Bighill in his prime, but the disrespect he gets around here is 100% unfounded. If you wanna talk about pets we have half a dozen MUCH better examples than that. The guy lining up next to TJ for instance.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by GCn20

2 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

Tony Jones was a West all star last year. I get your point but TJ is not a pet. He is a good MIKE, he's no Bighill in his prime, but the disrespect he gets around here is 100% unfounded. If you wanna talk about pets we have half a dozen MUCH better examples than that. The guy lining up next to TJ for instance.

West all-star because tackles111!!!!

I'd rather a MLB that makes plays not tackles.

2 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

Tony Jones was a West all star last year. I get your point but TJ is not a pet. He is a good MIKE, he's no Bighill in his prime, but the disrespect he gets around here is 100% unfounded. If you wanna talk about pets we have half a dozen MUCH better examples than that. The guy lining up next to TJ for instance.

this is exactly my problem with Tony Jones... he kind of represents what the team has become over the last few years... he's good, some games even very good... but nowhere near elite... and his position seems to be set in stone, with no competition... why are we so set on being just good and not trying to be great?... Unless you have prime Bighill, you should have at least 3 or 4 MLB candidates in camp trying to improve the position...

3 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

West all-star because tackles111!!!!

I'd rather a MLB that makes plays not tackles.

I would too but Bighill is gone. Look around the league, the role of the MIKE has changed in the CFL.

2 minutes ago, bearpants said:

this is exactly my problem with Tony Jones... he kind of represents what the team has become over the last few years... he's good, some games even very good... but nowhere near elite... and his position seems to be set in stone, with no competition... why are we so set on being just good and not trying to be great?... Unless you have prime Bighill, you should have at least 3 or 4 MLB candidates in camp trying to improve the position...

We did have 3-4 candidates in camp, and we even signed Santos Knox to compete. Not sure where this fictional narrative of no competition comes from? Because TJ keeps winning the job?

Dust off your fur coats for the home opener, Strevy's throwing a retirement party. 😄

37 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

West all-star because tackles111!!!!

I'd rather a MLB that makes plays not tackles.

The worst Lber in the league in coverage.

33 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

I would too but Bighill is gone. Look around the league, the role of the MIKE has changed in the CFL.

We did have 3-4 candidates in camp, and we even signed Santos Knox to compete. Not sure where this fictional narrative of no competition comes from? Because TJ keeps winning the job?

It is changing, but it is going more to a large zone defender, less to the between-the-tackles run stopper.

I don't think the rookies were here with a real chance to win that spot, kinda like how we keep bringing in imp rbs. That said, I think they went into camp reasonably open to the 3 vets at Lber.

If Lber was an open battle, Smith would've cleanly won 1 starting spot. And I doubt that is happening.

Lber isn't the most impactful position on the field in the CFL, and the more we play guys like Woodbey the more we can cover up for Jones ' deficiencies in pass d.

42 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

We did have 3-4 candidates in camp, and we even signed Santos Knox to compete. Not sure where this fictional narrative of no competition comes from? Because TJ keeps winning the job?

It’s so weird that some people here have become fixated on Jones. To quote bearpants “he's good, some games even very good... but nowhere near elite”. Why is that a problem? I’ll take good to very good. Not every guy on every team can be elite. How many guys in the CFL can we even label as being elite?

1 hour ago, GCn20 said:

We did have 3-4 candidates in camp, and we even signed Santos Knox to compete. Not sure where this fictional narrative of no competition comes from? Because TJ keeps winning the job?

JSK should have been brought in to compete for WIL... do you honestly believe any of the rookies in camp had an shot of wining the MLB job?

59 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

West all-star because tackles111!!!!

I'd rather a MLB that makes plays not tackles.

Yup....context is key with his stats...He is good depth...but we can do better for sure

1 hour ago, GCn20 said:

Tony Jones was a West all star last year. I get your point but TJ is not a pet. He is a good MIKE, he's no Bighill in his prime, but the disrespect he gets around here is 100% unfounded. If you wanna talk about pets we have half a dozen MUCH better examples than that. The guy lining up next to TJ for instance.

if we being real with ourselves...we could cut either..or ...or even both....or DA one and start one of Woodbey/SMith/ayers in those spots and not see any drop off...prob see increase in impact plays...not tackles after yards were gained or in chase mode

59 minutes ago, bearpants said:

this is exactly my problem with Tony Jones... he kind of represents what the team has become over the last few years... he's good, some games even very good... but nowhere near elite... and his position seems to be set in stone, with no competition... why are we so set on being just good and not trying to be great?... Unless you have prime Bighill, you should have at least 3 or 4 MLB candidates in camp trying to improve the position...

Prime Bighills come once in a while...But also run of Mill Jone's come often...and settling for that when you can do better....we have better...is just spinning wheels and delaying roster transition another yr. We do that a lot.

People forget Jones came to us from the scrap heap cause Edm had the wherewithal to see a rookie was better and had oodles of upside....and he ended up as ROY....Not like he was a guy teams were all chasing.

We ride giys right into a bloody knub and have zero behind them...or rarely allow a guy to get reps/experience and then we scuffle trying to find a replacement...its a cycle with this group that happens too much....Clinging worked in 2019 thru 2022....but that was an anomoly of having a real good group in prime...and top guys at their position in the league, and we don't have that now...for a while yet we seem to think we do and havn't deviated from that mindset unless forced to, either by player defection or career/season ending injury

How long has it been since we addressed the dline issues once we had no more Nevis...Stove..Jeffcoat..Kongbo?...we were more than happy to run out inferior guys cause they were either A) here already B) a old in tooth vet or C) some coaches fatuation

1 hour ago, GCn20 said:

I would too but Bighill is gone. Look around the league, the role of the MIKE has changed in the CFL.

We did have 3-4 candidates in camp, and we even signed Santos Knox to compete. Not sure where this fictional narrative of no competition comes from? Because TJ keeps winning the job?

what did you see him do to win it tho? and did he even play?...MIKE has changed I agree and Jones skillset, and holes in his game doesnt suit the new MIKE

Being givin the job doesnt always translate into earning/winning it

24 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

The worst Lber in the league in coverage.

It is changing, but it is going more to a large zone defender, less to the between-the-tackles run stopper.

I don't think the rookies were here with a real chance to win that spot, kinda like how we keep bringing in imp rbs. That said, I think they went into camp reasonably open to the 3 vets at Lber.

If Lber was an open battle, Smith would've cleanly won 1 starting spot. And I doubt that is happening.

Lber isn't the most impactful position on the field in the CFL, and the more we play guys like Woodbey the more we can cover up for Jones ' deficiencies in pass d.

yeah he is horrid...and doesnt fit the real requirements of the spot now.

The 3 spots were set in stone before the first player even stepped on field in TC

They finally got it right with Griffin at SAM but if we wanted our best, and group most likely to get really lethal as season went on we would run combo's of Woodbey/Smith/Ayers along with Griffin and situationaly use one of Wilson or Jones

I still willing to be open minded and not pessimistic about roster yet, as we havnt seen anything to indicate whats what in practice yet, and there gonna be guys moving on and off...and onto the IR

But the first depth chart is gonna be a good indicator again of what we are....same ol same ol handcuffing ourselves and quationable guys just standing around game in and game out with nobody getting any development reps....or we are gonna field our best all around athletes and versatile players and kick some butt...guess it is TBD

23 minutes ago, sweep the leg said:

It’s so weird that some people here have become fixated on Jones. To quote bearpants “he's good, some games even very good... but nowhere near elite”. Why is that a problem? I’ll take good to very good. Not every guy on every team can be elite. How many guys in the CFL can we even label as being elite?

i think the discussion is that we arent playing the best option...or giving thebest options the bulk of reps...I've said Jones could be a good depth/situational guy as a DA....As would Wilson...but both blocking the younger playmakers, is redundant and serves zero purpose....6game or 1 game one of em and allow them full pay and there is your insurance if a younger guy huts the wall...or gets hurt...simple roster logic really to get your best players playing and growing...