With Rookie Camps getting underway Wednesday, it's time to talk about the 2026 CFL season!

5 minutes ago, Bigblue204 said:

I agree about the Merc thing...it's not as clear cut as he just chased the money. He made it clear he was planning on retiring a Bomber but it didn't seem to be a shared dream from the Bombers....anyway...Basically everything else you have said could be matched up with most/all of the top receivers. (which speaks to the lack of talent we had) He's a bit long in the tooth and if I'm picking a WR to bring in, he isn't the #1 choice. I'm not sure giving a 32yr old WR a 3 yr deal will work out. I very much doubt he sees the full amount or if he does, if Hamilton gets the full value. Injury concerns are part of the context on why the deal might not be a great one for Ham.

Did he make that clear by leaving to play with Edmonton or leaving to play with Hamilton?

7 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

Because I don't think you can throw out things like yards per target and yac, and catch % in a vacuum without giving at least some context to a players usage. Might not change the interpretation, but it needs to be addressed IMO.

All of those numbers speak to usage.

The context is there in terms of targets. He gets more passes directed his way than anyone else on the field. In terms of stats, the only way for a receiver to get catches and yards is to be targeted.

What numbers do you think give context to usage?

17 minutes ago, Bigblue204 said:

I agree about the Merc thing...it's not as clear cut as he just chased the money. He made it clear he was planning on retiring a Bomber but it didn't seem to be a shared dream from the Bombers....anyway...Basically everything else you have said could be matched up with most/all of the top receivers. (which speaks to the lack of talent we had) He's a bit long in the tooth and if I'm picking a WR to bring in, he isn't the #1 choice. I'm not sure giving a 32yr old WR a 3 yr deal will work out. I very much doubt he sees the full amount or if he does, if Hamilton gets the full value. Injury concerns are part of the context on why the deal might not be a great one for Ham.

yup...clock is ticking there and thats a lot of scratch for this juncture in his career...and if we were/are to throw top dollar at a receiver now...it be for a guy not 30 yrs old yet

13 minutes ago, Jesse said:

Did he make that clear by leaving to play with Edmonton or leaving to play with Hamilton?

He made it clear when he said as much to ed tait.

11 minutes ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

All of those numbers speak to usage.

The context is there in terms of targets. He gets more passes directed his way than anyone else on the field. In terms of stats, the only way for a receiver to get catches and yards is to be targeted.

What numbers do you think give context to usage?

a lot of his targets too, are in 2 and 3 man coverage....so excessive yac is not gonna happen regardless who you are, and a lot of the catches are contested too, to some extent

Just now, Bigblue204 said:

He made it clear when he said as much to ed tait.

When? After he already signed in Ham?

Kenny is going to always get a lot of targets because he make crazy catches. When in doubt, chuck it up there.

1 hour ago, blue85gold said:

When? After he already signed in Ham?

I believe so.

4 hours ago, Mike said:

"Best and most impactful" is literally an opinion, not a fact. He was not the most productive receiver in the league in 2025, either by volume or on a per-game basis. He is what he is at this point and I'm really of the belief that he's more of an electric highlight reel receiver than a winner, not to say he's not productive but he's not a player I'd be looking to add to my roster. He's a target vacuum who catches a relatively low percentage of the balls thrown his way.

One stat I've become a fairly big fan of is yards per target and Lawler registered at 10.02 last year.

Dohnte Meyers 12.13, Justin McInnis 10.82, Nic Demski 10.88, Keon Hatcher 11.64, Dejon Brissett 10.67 all more productive per target and all with a better balls caught % than Lawler too ... Lawler wasn't even the most reliable target on his team, he caught less of his targets (59.7%) than Kiondre Smith (73.5%) and Tim White (66.6%) and to me, that's a statistic that becomes even more impactful when you consider that he was 2nd in the league in targets with 144. The only receiver who really even comes close to being as unreliable as him with a comparable level of productivity is Eugene Lewis. Couple that with the fact that despite being targeted 144 times, Lawler didn't even rank in the top 25 in the CFL in YAC.

He's a highlight reel receiver, but he's not a winning football player. His numbers all point to the fact that he's productive, but he's also a relatively unimpressive player once the ball is in his hands and he's a drive killer. It's not a smear opinion on Lawler, I think he's a hell of a receiver and he's got some of the best go up and get it ability I've seen in a long time, but I just don't think it's anywhere near a fact that he's the "best" receiver in the CFL.

Thanks for the football talk, you've given me something to chew on.

Sheed gets a player development coaching job in d2 with west chester pen. That dude was born to coach kids. I bet he gave the dr a motivational speech when he was born.

3 hours ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

All of those numbers speak to usage

Yes but they weren't used to talk about usage, they were used in the context of performance.

In my opinion it's simply a case where there needs more discussion surrounding all those stats.

15 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Not at that price.

You are assuming that he would have not signed with the Bombers for anything less.

43 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

Yes but they weren't used to talk about usage, they were used in the context of performance.

In my opinion it's simply a case where there needs more discussion surrounding all those stats.

Nothing you've said in this discussion makes any ******* sense and the lack of countering with something you think speaks to what you say wasn't discussed makes it just that much more pointless.

Edited 18 hours ago18 hr by JuranBoldenRules

4 minutes ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

Nothing you've said in this discussion makes any ******* sense and the lack of countering with something you think speaks to what you say wasn't discussed makes it just that much more pointless.

5 hours ago, Booch said:

to weigh in...Would Lawler have made us better last yr...yup

Would he have been our best receiver...yup

Did he show up in playoffs for us making key catches...yup

Is he one of the top receivers in the league currently based on all things relevant to receivers and how you slice and dice it...yup

Sure he will have multiple games where he seems to disappear, but what receiver doesn't and was that due to scheme/gameplan...how defenses are playing?...Our own Nick Demski will as well go multiple games with little to no impact/stats but that doesn't tell the whole story of what the receiver did that game beyond the stats sheet...did they draw coverage away from other's allowing them to get the stats?...go watch the film

As for lack of tac...last yr 14 passes resulted in td's and a lot of his TD's were endzone shots....he also makes crazy catches laying out his body making an insane catch where you wont get yac...also in Edm thats how he broke his collar bone, and his wrist here too was from result of crashing down post catch...so again sometimes stats dont tell the story when the context of the play is excluded

He came back for less one time....And when he went to Hamilton this time....of we didnt basically ignore him till last minute, and came to him with a deal similar to Ham...and not necessarily topping it...he would have stayed again....so the merc label again isnt actually 100 percent factual

If we are down 7 in the last minute of the game, and I can pick any receiver in the CFL to throw long to, it's Kenny Lawler every time.

On 2026-05-26 at 1:59 PM, Goalie said:

I enjoyed Kenny as a bomber but the greatest bomber receiver I’ve ever seen is number 85 Milt Stegall and it’s not close. Milt was consistent game in game out. Dude didn’t really ever go MIA. Never was an off field distraction either. Some folks didn’t like his humour or cockiness if you will but never caused problems. Stuck around even when we sucked. Wanted to win so badly as a bomber.

I enjoyed Kenny and I get why guys chase the bank if you will but I respect a guy like milt who probably could have but didn’t. Wanted to win here. Kenny seems to just chase the money. I get it. It’s all good but I think I prefer guys who putting winning first. All the power to him, some GM paid him. That’s great. A sucker is born every day. Good for Kenny but he’s not the greatest bomber receiver ever or even close.

really... the best receiver is CFL history is the best Bomber receiver you've ever seen?... what a bold take! 😁

1 hour ago, bearpants said:

really... the best receiver is CFL history is the best Bomber receiver you've ever seen?... what a bold take! 😁

100% how I felt when I read the post...

The real problem isn't paying Kenny Lawler 300k a year or not.

The problem is our US scouting has been the absolute shits going on 5 years. Can't win sustainably like that. Yeah we can go buy free agents, like Broxton, Ceresna, pay someone like Lawler. The fact we can hardly even find good US players let alone impactful ones basically since Schoen, Holm is a major problem. You win when you find those guys.

You could pay Lawler and he could break his arm or drive drunk, not renew his visa or whatever and not be playing anyways. You need a steady stream of good players to win. When we had that, we won. Now we're grasping at being a 9-10 win team.

3DownNation

CFL signs six-year broadcast agreements with Bell Media a...

The Canadian Football League has signed new media agreements for the 2027 season and beyond, headlined by a renewed commitment with Bell Media while DAZN joins as a new broadcast partner. Six-year agr

Tf is dazn? is that one of the free streaming channels like tubi? Tsn carrying less games is good for quality but surprising tbh how much live sports do they still have?

More stuff on youtube is a great move though. Wonder what the financials are. I hope it’s not one of those deals for less money but with the potential to make more

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by wbbfan

So to watch all Bomber games will need to pay for TSN and DAZN accounts? Lovely

I don't like having to pay for another service just to watch all the Bomber ganes.

27 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

3DownNation

CFL signs six-year broadcast agreements with Bell Media a...

The Canadian Football League has signed new media agreements for the 2027 season and beyond, headlined by a renewed commitment with Bell Media while DAZN joins as a new broadcast partner. Six-year agr

Tf is dazn? is that one of the free streaming channels like tubi? Tsn carrying less games is good for quality but surprising tbh how much live sports do they still have?

More stuff on youtube is a great move though. Wonder what the financials are. I hope it’s not one of those deals for less money but with the potential to make more

It's a huge streaming platform worldwide. Called Da Zone.

Current pricing for Dazn is $35 a month ($25 a month if you want to commit for the whole year). Through some gams on YouTube, will you need to pay for a YouTube subscription as well?

Garbage. I hate the way the world is going with all the streaming bullsh**t. Playoff games no less. Well, frees up my Saturday nights now.

Edited 57 minutes ago57 min by Bubba Zanetti

54 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

It's a huge streaming platform worldwide. Called Da Zone.

44 minutes ago, Rich said:

Current pricing for Dazn is $35 a month ($25 a month if you want to commit for the whole year). Through some gams on YouTube, will you need to pay for a YouTube subscription as well?

wow not what i was expecting. I think i recall hearing they host some fight stuff.