Wow!

3DownNation

Ottawa Redblacks trade Dru Brown to Winnipeg Blue Bombers...

The Ottawa Redblacks have traded Dru Brown to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. The Ottawa Redblacks (0-2) will visit the Montreal Alouettes (2-1) at Percival Molson Stadium on Sunday, June 28 with kickoff s

6 minutes ago, Booch said:

Yup..Clercius will be good to compliment Demski and Neild and be the first guy up for injury to a Canadian as well as being used properly within the offence...But him when being back shouldn't be more confirmation in our coaches minds that 3 CDN guys is smart...cause its not

Ceresna went out basically whole 2nd half...the fact we don't have a plan to adjust scheme with personnel if injury occurs and play to strengths of who is still able to play is just coaching blunder and ineptitude to the highest degree...and why I think at times our coaches look dumbfounded when things arent working...and players confused...christ 75% of game is played with guys out of natural position...or trying to perfect knowing 3 different spots on defense in a game..no wonder it looks disjonted and like utter confusion...guys are just playing to not eff up...having to think before reacting...not just playing fast and free and instinctively reacting in a split second...the 1..2 second lag where guys arent just reacting like they should is killing us...prob why some give such a cushion cause they need the extra lil bit of time to see what they need to do...and teams have picked up on it and a fast striking offence just eats us alive

Time to give it up...realize your base set defense and who fits best where...and let them play...rotate as needed and when down/distance and circumstance calls for it

Bringing gys in over and over...moving guys out of their actual spot to just give a different look...but basically still playing your actual same defensive style and scheme fols nobody, but our actual guys on defense...and is pointless...and not needed

no...they should focus on their actual defined role...and stay in it...not be made to play 2..3..4 different roles...alongside other guys moving around constantly...getting in no flow...killing familiarity...that be the fastest and easiest fix...that is why there is always this confusion..lack of execution...guys always a step too late...a yard or 2 too far away..they cant just react without thinking...they have to think..process...then react...and that time they are already in chase...or the offence has completed the play for a easy gain..

Playing out of position is different than not knowing your assignment.

48 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

We need another stud IMP receiver one that is in the Mack, Lawler mould. 50/50 specialists who can stretch the field. This 3 NAT receiver group would be fine if we had an Emilus or someone of that ilk but we are rolling out scrubs as our third NAT. This won't work. Clercius is not the answer either. Time to give up this pipe dream of 3 NAT receivers. That being said our defence is a far greater problem right now. Our OL went to complete shyte after Neufeld went down, but I expect that to happen to some extent with in game injuries.

Roster needs are to turn over every stone to get another IMP receiver that isn't just a place holder. Coaching needs are for JY to pull his head out of his ass or be fired. Let Richie take over. I was absolutely blown away by the number of times we went 3 man front but didn't have Ceresna out there. Can someone explain that to me?

Agree about our pathetic defence, disagree about Clercius. He has played well on occasion when Hapless Hogan was the OC and appears to have all the physical requisites to be a good possession receiver. RE: Ceresna. did the Esks let him go because he had become injury prone?

2 minutes ago, bryan35 said:

Playing out of position is different than not knowing your assignment.

when you need to know 3 different ones in a game....yu arent reacting anymore...thinking too much...and being a step slow...or confused to what you need to do...can look like both...not knowing assignment, and being out of position

1 minute ago, Booch said:

when you need to know 3 different ones in a game....yu arent reacting anymore...thinking too much...and being a step slow...or confused to what you need to do...can look like both...not knowing assignment, and being out of position

Absolutley agree on that. Which players are being asked to play 3 different positions on D?

Just now, bryan35 said:

6 minutes ago, bryan35 said:

Absolutley agree on that. Which players are being asked to play 3 different positions on D?

depends what we running...some 2 true safety sets..we will use 2 guys...then run it again flip em around...sometimes add a totally different guy onto it...so someone has to fill their spot...will have the sam play a hb role and role the hb into the sam spot...we bring kelly in...and not sure wtf role he is..and who comes out cause of it...we will play a lb at end or as a modified rush end/jack....then sometimes run Kramdi up to do it and not sure who falls back to his spot...or we swing Griffin there to do it, so someone has to pick up the SAM spot....Just too much moving parts, and guys playing a role they not really suited to, just for "confusing" the offence?

If you want a rush end/Jack kinda guy for some sets...dress one who is bult for and is actually suited for it...Not a db or tweener LB...You want a strong safety type gig...Dont use a Kelly in that spot...as he is not it....We used to fail miserably using Hallett there...now its kelly...Smith played a role like that in College...and played it well...Know your fricken players and use accordingly...thats just some the examples

12 minutes ago, Booch said:

depends what we running...some 2 true safety sets..we will use 2 guys...then run it again flip em around...sometimes add a totally different guy onto it...so someone has to fill their spot...will have the sam play a hb role and role the hb into the sam spot...we bring kelly in...and not sure wtf role he is..and who comes out cause of it...we will play a lb at end or as a modified rush end/jack....then sometimes run Kramdi up to do it and not sure who falls back to his spot...or we swing Griffin there to do it, so someone has to pick up the SAM spot....Just too much moving parts, and guys playing a role they not really suited to, just for "confusing" the offence?

If you want a rush end/Jack kinda guy for some sets...dress one who is bult for and is actually suited for it...Not a db or tweener LB...You want a strong safety type gig...Dont use a Kelly in that spot...as he is not it....We used to fail miserably using Hallett there...now its kelly...Smith played a role like that in College...and played it well...Know your fricken players and use accordingly...thats just some the examples

ok that isn't going to work well when players are playing totally different roles/positions. I never watched/noticed that much moving around but if JY is doing that on a regular bases... not good.

18 minutes ago, Booch said:

depends what we running...some 2 true safety sets..we will use 2 guys...then run it again flip em around...sometimes add a totally different guy onto it...so someone has to fill their spot...will have the sam play a hb role and role the hb into the sam spot...we bring kelly in...and not sure wtf role he is..and who comes out cause of it...we will play a lb at end or as a modified rush end/jack....then sometimes run Kramdi up to do it and not sure who falls back to his spot...or we swing Griffin there to do it, so someone has to pick up the SAM spot....Just too much moving parts, and guys playing a role they not really suited to, just for "confusing" the offence?

If you want a rush end/Jack kinda guy for some sets...dress one who is bult for and is actually suited for it...Not a db or tweener LB...You want a strong safety type gig...Dont use a Kelly in that spot...as he is not it....We used to fail miserably using Hallett there...now its kelly...Smith played a role like that in College...and played it well...Know your fricken players and use accordingly...thats just some the examples

ya thats not going to work well if JY is doing that regularly. I haven't watched closely enough to notice that.

54 minutes ago, Tracker said:

Agree about our pathetic defence, disagree about Clercius. He has played well on occasion when Hapless Hogan was the OC and appears to have all the physical requisites to be a good possession receiver. RE: Ceresna. did the Esks let him go because he had become injury prone?

The thing with Clercius. Demski and Nield are better. Corcoran and Cobb (don’t hate Cobb as depth) are not starters. Corcoran isn’t a cfl receiver, Cobb is prob ok as depth. (He’s bounced around a bit but has had a career) The problem is Clercius is also Canadian. So starting him means 3 cdns and definitely rostering Corcoran and Cobb as backups. Clercius backing up allows another yank to start and right now we need that big play 50 50 guy every other team has.

Scouting also sucks. Drafting as well. We don’t have the talent to start 3 Canadians. They could put the American on now and axe Kyrie or at this point my Canadian born husky X would be a better CB than Moxey.

Edited June 29Jun 29 by Goalie

It's kinda obvious that the Bombers don't see Eli as a starting centre.

3 hours ago, TBURGESS said:

It's kinda obvious that the Bombers don't see Eli as a starting centre.

Sometimes its hard to see what they see...cause they have rostered a lot of sub par guys...still are

Center wasn't an issue last game..thats the funny part..and seeing as Neuf wasn't hurt and will play this week...its obvious we need another playmaker on offence..eliminating having one at the expense of a canadian center who would do just fine is not really good rostering...even sadder is the fact based on ratio and our insistence on playing excessive canadians on defence which also aren't needed...we dont even have to go 3 canadian wr's even with 3 imoort olineman..thats how dense our coach is...just to prove some point which to me I have no clue what it is

On 2026-06-28 at 9:24 AM, Noeller said:

And I'm reluctant to blame the O much considering the OL was a mess as soon as Neufeld was out, and then Pokey going down early forced too much Corky, Cobb and Daniels...

Whose fault is that?

4 hours ago, kelownabomberfan said:

Not the first time a new HC came in & decided to clean house at the qb position. Such is pro football. It's just that Ryan Dinwiddie hung his hat with Jake Maier. Jake Maier???

RD was considered Teflon by most when he was in the Big Smoke, the big empty, turns out he’s some what of an arrogant DBag. I get wanting to go with your guy, that’s fine, it’s not just Maier in Ottawa tho. They signed Greg bell and barely use him. It’s just odd decisions there. Ottawa has been bad a while, the dude above RD also. RD look pretty pedestrian without TOs super scouts.

Edited June 30Jun 30 by Goalie

So Dinwiddie went with Maier over Brown due to concerns over arm strength?

Is Maier known for his arm strength? Looking back at past stats packages he seems to be bottom of the league in depth yards per pass and when he is passing deep seems to be statistically pretty poor. Wouldn't those suggest that he doesn't have much of an arm?

5 hours ago, ShyGuy said:

So Dinwiddie went with Maier over Brown due to concerns over arm strength?

Is Maier known for his arm strength? Looking back at past stats packages he seems to be bottom of the league in depth yards per pass and when he is passing deep seems to be statistically pretty poor. Wouldn't those suggest that he doesn't have much of an arm?

I think there's more to it than that. I've said this before. Brown doesn't have a fiery personality. Whether he throws a TD or an interception. Runs for 20 yards or gets sacked, he just acts the same. Brown needs to add some spark to his game as he has all the tools to be successful. Maybe Dinwiddie saw the same thing.

Edited July 1Jul 1 by SpeedFlex27

Dinwiddie paid $150,000 for a QB who didn't take a snap for him.

If he wasn't even going to give Dru Brown reps in camp and knew he was going another direction, why not cut him before the bonus?

7 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

I think there's more to it than that. I've said this before. Brown doesn't have a fiery personality. Whether he throws a TD or an interception. Runs for 20 yards or gets sacked, he just acts the same. Brown needs to add some spark to his game as he has all the tools to be successful. Maybe Dinwiddie saw the same thing.

QBs and leaders don't need to be fiery. We see soo many people think that being loud is strong leadership these days. It isnt. Dru brown has it where it counts.

3DownNation

Dru Brown addresses Ottawa Redblacks departure, defends a...

Dru Brown made his first appearance in practice with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Tuesday afternoon, giving him a chance to respond to the criticism that was aired by Ottawa Redblacks head coach and g

Confidence, no insecurity and need to punch back at ott, class and professionalism. That is a guy people will follow. On and off the football field.

Edited July 1Jul 1 by wbbfan

8 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

I think there's more to it than that. I've said this before. Brown doesn't have a fiery personality. Whether he throws a TD or an interception. Runs for 20 yards or gets sacked, he just acts the same. Brown needs to add some spark to his game as he has all the tools to be successful. Maybe Dinwiddie saw the same thing.

Yes he needs to be as charismatic as Ricky Ray. Holy crap was that guy a ball of personality!

55 minutes ago, Brandon said:

Yes he needs to be as charismatic as Ricky Ray. Holy crap was that guy a ball of personality!

Yep, he regularly shamed his career back up/caddy jason maas for not matching his intensity

9 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

Yep, he regularly shamed his career back up/caddy jason maas for not matching his intensity

If I had a nickel for every time Maas calmed Ray down, I'd be rich.

2 hours ago, Goalie said:

Scouting also sucks. Drafting as well. We don’t have the talent to start 3 Canadians. They could put the American on now and axe Kyrie or at this point my Canadian born husky X would be a better CB than Moxey.

Have to agree about the scouting...We used to find guys in a pinch BUT lately have come up empty....I don't know who scouts for the argos but whomever it is, they are coming up with some diamonds....Luv that Kahmann kid they found...Reminds me a lot of the type of receiver we used to bring in....We need to bloodhound their scouting and follow them around cuz what we are doing lately ain't cutting it

Edited July 1Jul 1 by Stickem

I wonder if it has crossed the teams strategists , that maybe it might be an idea to insert Dru in a few upcoming games...you know, spell off Zack and let Brown get his feet wet again in bluengold ... Would be a nice change of pace, and give the opposition a different offensive look to ponder

6 minutes ago, Stickem said:

Have to agree about the scouting...We used to find guys in a pinch BUT lately have come up empty....I don't know who scouts for the argos but whomever it is, they're are coming up with some diamonds....Luv that Kahmann kid they found...Reminds me a lot of the type of receiver we used to bring in....We need to bloodhound their scouting and follow them around cuz what we are doing lately ain't cutting it

The amount of brain drain our front office has seen since 19 is truly incredible. We didn't just lose the old guard; we lost the young guys along the way as well. Aside from Danny and Walters, we've probably seen 300% roll over in the rest of the positions since then.

Just like we became an old roster long in tooth at the expense of younger talent, the front office did the same. It used to be Walters would focus on Canadian scouting, Ted was the heart/organizer and guy to really dig into the minutiae on making scout reports, Ringmaiden was the crazy smart guy who found crazy pieces in random locations, and Macmanus was allowed to focus intently on a small, but prospect-rich geographic region. Then Ringmaiden was replaced by Penn (who Ted found and brought in), and we saw our talent strengths change positions, but we saw immediate dividends.

Cyril Penn was the hardest pill to swallow. Truly incredible football mind and US scout, then watched him instantly walk away with Ted. A guy that young and new to pro football is exactly what you need to secure long term.

The front office is like the DL with WJ last year. We got 2 specialists and none of the pieces needed to support that structure anymore. Not only that, we've gone further into the specialized areas with guys like Jauch and Deslauriers. I like both guys, but Jauch overlaps with Danny a lot, and Deslauriers overlaps even more with Walters. Gulakow has taken an even bigger role in the CIS draft as well.

If you don't count DC as front office (in terms of scouting, etc) and don't count Stanley's analytics on offense, we have the same number of Offensive coaches as we do front office guys.

I like most all the front office types we have, but I don't love the fit. It's too much this guy assists that guy and does a bit of this and that. And not enough thoroughbreds running a race in their own area of expertise.

The harsh reality of the front office cap era is you need guys who are modular. Coaches who can really dig into scouting in the off-season, and national scouts who can scout your own team and support countering your own weaknesses. And you need as much horsepower as you can get, just churning through guys and opportunities down in the US nonstop. Be that NFL camps, College camps, Games, Practices, Combines, Prodays, rookie/position Camps, you name it. And most importantly, you need that whole crew to work together and balance each other out really well. You need a process for guys a scout loves. Another guy or two to watch tape, and at least one to go dig in and pick apart the initial report and find what might be missing. Otherwise, you can easily waste years with fool's gold in scouting. (Cleveland Browns syndrome) And if you look at many of our most vaunted additions of rookies over the past few years, you see a lot of fool's gold, and not much real gold.

That is the falling-down point of our scouting right now. While we seem to be trending in the wrong direction for the volume of high-level talent, but we are farthest off in terms of talent/athleticism actually translating to the Canadian game. That, unfortunately, is amplified by the coaching and roster management issues we have.

Edited July 1Jul 1 by wbbfan

3 hours ago, wbbfan said:

QBs and leaders don't need to be fiery. We see soo many people think that being loud is strong leadership these days. It isnt. Dru brown has it where it counts.

3DownNation

Dru Brown addresses Ottawa Redblacks departure, defends a...

Dru Brown made his first appearance in practice with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Tuesday afternoon, giving him a chance to respond to the criticism that was aired by Ottawa Redblacks head coach and g

Confidence, no insecurity and need to punch back at ott, class and professionalism. That is a guy people will follow. On and off the football field.

You're right, There's many different ways to be a leader. They don't have to be fiery but show something. That's the key. Either be a shoulder pad slapper & get everyone excited or do it through their play on the field. You want your players to believe when their qb says in the huddle with a minute left. "We're going to score now & win this game!!"
"

1 hour ago, wbbfan said:

The amount of brain drain our front office has seen since 19 is truly incredible. We didn't just lose the old guard; we lost the young guys along the way as well. Aside from Danny and Walters, we've probably seen 300% roll over in the rest of the positions since then.

Just like we became an old roster long in tooth at the expense of younger talent, the front office did the same. It used to be Walters would focus on Canadian scouting, Ted was the heart/organizer and guy to really dig into the minutiae on making scout reports, Ringmaiden was the crazy smart guy who found crazy pieces in random locations, and Macmanus was allowed to focus intently on a small, but prospect-rich geographic region. Then Ringmaiden was replaced by Penn (who Ted found and brought in), and we saw our talent strengths change positions, but we saw immediate dividends.

Cyril Penn was the hardest pill to swallow. Truly incredible football mind and US scout, then watched him instantly walk away with Ted. A guy that young and new to pro football is exactly what you need to secure long term.

The front office is like the DL with WJ last year. We got 2 specialists and none of the pieces needed to support that structure anymore. Not only that, we've gone further into the specialized areas with guys like Jauch and Deslauriers. I like both guys, but Jauch overlaps with Danny a lot, and Deslauriers overlaps even more with Walters. Gulakow has taken an even bigger role in the CIS draft as well.

If you don't count DC as front office (in terms of scouting, etc) and don't count Stanley's analytics on offense, we have the same number of Offensive coaches as we do front office guys.

I like most all the front office types we have, but I don't love the fit. It's too much this guy assists that guy and does a bit of this and that. And not enough thoroughbreds running a race in their own area of expertise.

The harsh reality of the front office cap era is you need guys who are modular. Coaches who can really dig into scouting in the off-season, and national scouts who can scout your own team and support countering your own weaknesses. And you need as much horsepower just churning through guys and opportunities down in the US nonstop. Be that NFL camps, College camps, Games, Practices, Combines, Prodays, Camps, you name it. And most importantly, you need that whole crew to work together and balance each other out really well. You need a process for guys a scout loves. Another guy or two to watch tape, and at least one to go dig in and pick apart the initial report and find what might be missing. You can easily waste years with fool's gold in scouting. And if you look at many of our most vaunted additions of rookies over the past few years, you see a lot of fool's gold, and not much real gold.

That is the falling-down point of our scouting right now. While we seem to be trending in the wrong direction for the volume of high-level talent, we are farthest off in terms of talent/athleticism actually translating to the Canadian game. That, unfortunately, is amplified by the coaching and roster management issues we have.

The coaching & admin cap is the bane of CFL teams. We aren't the only one s suffering. It needs to be eliminated. Great post!!

1 hour ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

You're right, There's many different ways to be a leader. They don't have to be fiery but show something. That's the key. Either be a shoulder pad slapper & get everyone excited or do it through their play on the field. You want your players to believe when their qb says in the huddle with a minute left. "We're going to score now & win this game!!"
"

The coaching & admin cap is the bane of CFL teams. We aren't the only one s suffering. It needs to be eliminated. Great post!!

Yeah, you do have to have some way of getting the best out of your teammates, especially at critical moments. That side of leadership is extremely hard to see from the fan standpoint. I hope Dru has that; he for sure has a lot of the intangibles going for him. The thing that gives me the most hope with respect to his leadership is the late game-winning drive when Zach got concussed, and the big comeback win after Zach was pulled here. He stepped in, and the team stepped up. You see that with general QB changes sometimes- not leadership at that position, but that is usually when the situation is easy, and the comeback is a surprise. Dru came in and elevated us and carried us to wins.

My biggest concern with Dru is health/consistency. If that is good when the day comes for him to take over, we will be in a great position.

Thanks, and yeah, the ops cap is a dumbster fire. It needs to be directly tied to league revenue or the player cap. If anything, that is the best place for the league to invest money on a team-by-team basis. Better coaching and scouting means a much better product and more money for everyone.