In a team by team analysis, Duane Ford grades the Bombers' Canadian content as a C+.  The only team with a worse grade is Ottawa.  

 

 http://www.tsn.ca/winnipeg-blue-bombers-season-preview-1.297990?dgjdfsetsdhgdfjdfg

 

Since becoming the Blue Bombers general manager during the 2013 season, Kyle Walters has made it a priority to upgrade the Canadian talent base of a team that hadn’t drafted well for the better part of a generation.

Acting aggressively in free agency over the last two off-seasons, Winnipeg has added potential starters in cornerback Matt Bucknor, linebacker Sam Hurl, receiver Julian Feoli-Gudino, and centre Dominic Picard; along with solid depth/special teams players Graig Newman and Ivan Brown.

Meanwhile, the last two drafts have yielded highly regarded O-Line prospects Matthias Goossen and Sukh Chungh, who should push veterans Picard, Chris Greaves, and Pat Neufeld for playing time as the season progresses; as well as receiver Addison Richards.

Using a “by any means necessary” approach, Walters has also added kicker Lirim Hajrullahu (undrafted free agent), former NFL defensive end Jamaal Westerman (free agent after gaining National status), and linebacker Garrett Waggoner (supplemental draft). The Bombers hope that one or both of the latter two defenders can emerge as the kind of ratio breaker the team has lacked since Henoc Muamba’s departure prior to last season.

 

Maybe he feels the additions of Waggoner and Westerman don't do much to improve the Canadian content of the team as they have yet to prove themselves in the CFL?  No proven ratio breakers on the Bombers so that probably  accounts for the low score.

 

Agree or disagree with his grade?  Why or why not?

 

Grades for the other teams:

 

RedBlacks  C

Argos  B

Als  A

Ticats  A

Lions  B-

Riders  B+

Eskimos  B

Stamps  A+

As much as I would like to believe in our NI, I have to agree that BB don't have a huge stockpile of veteran NI quality. That was our weakness and still is but there is at least some light on the horizon. Current management is heading in the right direction but still a ways to go before we can stand equal to Calgary. BB are way ahead of last year and the year before. But you know the young guys might surprise. If you don't have a little hope then you probably should follow a different team. Maybe you could hang with the Red Blacks, Nowhere to go but up there. 

 

 

 

 

B+ seems high for a Riders team that lost Heenan, Picard and Foley.

They still have Labatte, Best, Emry, Getzlaf, Bagg, Messam... Pretty good core of Canadians.

Messam and Emry are marginal or worse.

And yet still better than what we have. AKA a non existent Canadian running back and Sam Hurl until proven otherwise. Gotta love the people saying Getzlaf and Bagg are on the wrong side of 30 then pointing at Picard as a reason why our Canadians are improving. Can't have it both ways. The TSN grades are fair. We have lots of potentially great Canadians but until they prove it on the field you can't expect anyone to give the Bombers anything more than a barely passable grade.

 

 

yes, you can, actually... skill position players generally tend to decline after 30... while guys in the trenches, especially O-linemen, tend to still be effective into their 30s... some hogs don't peak until their early 30s...

 

 

Easy to generalize like that but when you look at the facts, Bagg and Getzlaf were #1 and #4 in terms of Canadian receivers last season.  Yes they have flaws but so does every Canadian in the CFL... they are still premier Canadian receivers.

We've got depth for sure... it's easy to look at the Bombers and think, "well if they lose 2-3 Canadians to injury, they'll still be okay on ratio, because the drop-off isn't that much."

 

What we don't have is any proven standouts.  I expect that we WILL have some standouts, but none are proven of yet.  C+ is pretty accurate. 

 

 

 

 

 

B+ seems high for a Riders team that lost Heenan, Picard and Foley.

They still have Labatte, Best, Emry, Getzlaf, Bagg, Messam... Pretty good core of Canadians.

Messam and Emry are marginal or worse.

And yet still better than what we have. AKA a non existent Canadian running back and Sam Hurl until proven otherwise. Gotta love the people saying Getzlaf and Bagg are on the wrong side of 30 then pointing at Picard as a reason why our Canadians are improving. Can't have it both ways. The TSN grades are fair. We have lots of potentially great Canadians but until they prove it on the field you can't expect anyone to give the Bombers anything more than a barely passable grade.

 

 

yes, you can, actually... skill position players generally tend to decline after 30... while guys in the trenches, especially O-linemen, tend to still be effective into their 30s... some hogs don't peak until their early 30s...

 

 

Easy to generalize like that but when you look at the facts, Bagg and Getzlaf were #1 and #4 in terms of Canadian receivers last season.  Yes they have flaws but so does every Canadian in the CFL... they are still premier Canadian receivers.

 

 

Since this is based solely on predictions we only really can generalize... and in this case it's much more likely to see Getzlaf and Bagg continue to decline than any o-lineman over 30...

Bagg is going to "continue" to decline?  After he just posted the best season of his career?

Bagg is going to "continue" to decline?  After he just posted the best season of his career?

 

ok fine, start to decline... semantics 

When the talent is unproven....the default position tends to lean towards the negative, until proven otherwise........

When the talent is unproven....the default position tends to lean towards the negative, until proven otherwise........

That is very logical but this is a fan website and logic only visits here. Crazy emotional responses are the regular fare.  We fans are either wildly optimistic or stubbornly pessimistic depending on the type of beverage you prefer. 

 

As much as I would enjoy Riders sliding down, it is going to take a while. We have seen the short term gain , long term pain approach and it is inevitable but it won't come fast enough for Rider haters.

 

When the talent is unproven....the default position tends to lean towards the negative, until proven otherwise........

That is very logical but this is a fan website and logic only visits here. Crazy emotional responses are the regular fare.  We fans are either wildly optimistic or stubbornly pessimistic depending on the type of beverage you prefer. 

 

As much as I would enjoy Riders sliding down, it is going to take a while. We have seen the short term gain , long term pain approach and it is inevitable but it won't come fast enough for Rider haters.

 

 

Yeah, I know......after all this time, still tend to trip myself up, on the logic thing, round these parts......

Dave Ritchie said that each starting rookie would cost you a game during the season.