...Lawless says Riders looking at Ottawa Asst GM and John Murphy as potential new GM. Have asked for permission to speak to both. Fwiw.

42 minutes ago, Taynted_Fayth said:

I'd be interesting to see the reaction if Jones lets smith walk. I know from reading the riderfans site there is a lot of people easing their minds with an "in Jones we trust mentality", but really, to walk into an organization like that with it's fan base, get rid of fan favs immediately your almost setting yourself up for a lynching if you dont produce immediately.  

 

If anything I think most people could forgive a poor 2016 given the state of the 2015 riders, and it takes time to rebuild, but these moves imo just riled up a mob and put instant eggshells in front of jones and company.  this could be shaping up to be some fun times in riderville 

 

I agree. Jones didn't have much talent on that roster to begin with....now it's as bleak as a prairie snow storm. Ottawa had better talent after the expansion draft than the Riders have right now. Letting go of the heart and soul of Riderland will not play out well when this team is 5 games below .500

.....and it's looking like they will be. So far, half the team has been released and Mo Price and Shawn Lemon, have replaced Chick/Dressler. That's a downgrade in talent no matter how you slice it. They may need to do this for cap reasons, but it didn't make their team any better....and they were already an abomination.

I know it's early in the offseason, and early in the rebuild, but this team is in need of  talent infusion that I don't think the best of the best could pull off in one offseason.

Edited January 18, 201610 yr by gcn11

Riderfans this winter ...

Sask lives and dies with Durant...  if he doesn't get hurt last year, Taman and Chamblin are still there...  same goes for Jones - if Durant comes back, he's gold, if his career is over, Jones is probably gone after three years

they do have rumors going on over there about Durant is either gone by refusing to take pay cut, or somehow being shopped for trade (how is that even possible with his $ and health?) and Harris is as good as theirs.   but im going out on a pretty big limb to say most of that is straight McCallum brand house paint.  

I just can't see Jones going into this season with as big a question mark as Durant is, unless he has absolutely no other choice. And honestly, I hope Harris is the next one up, 'cause I don't trust that guy either.

1 hour ago, gcn11 said:

 

I agree. Jones didn't have much talent on that roster to begin with....now it's as bleak as a prairie snow storm. Ottawa had better talent after the expansion draft than the Riders have right now. Letting go of the heart and soul of Riderland will not play out well when this team is 5 games below .500

.....and it's looking like they will be. So far, half the team has been released and Mo Price and Shawn Lemon, have replaced Chick/Dressler. That's a downgrade in talent no matter how you slice it. They may need to do this for cap reasons, but it didn't make their team any better....and they were already an abomination.

I know it's early in the offseason, and early in the rebuild, but this team is in need of  talent infusion that I don't think the best of the best could pull off in one offseason.

Anyone who thought the riders would turn it around in one off season were setting themselves up for a big let down.

That's just it, it's pretty unrealistic that next year is that cornerstone, 2017 would have likely been the target, and probably most fans could accept that. However thanks to taman doin' how he do, he's practically villainized Jones for a lot of the fans (probably more so the fair weather ones who don't accept any reason, only dwell on the reality their beloved players were out right cut by him).  Now if Jones doesnt win this upcoming season,  the backlash to these transactions should amplify insanely.

 

If we think bomber fans get ridiculous after losses, I don't think we've seen anything yet.

1 hour ago, iso_55 said:

Jones has a huge ego. It'll get knocked down a few pegs in Regina. One thing we do know that other than the Argos wherever he went he made enemies.  I've never heard any bad stories about John Hufnagel. He may be a tough boss at times but he's likeable & fair. The way Jones screwed him around, well that's saying something.. 

I'm really hoping that Jones does his thing and moves on within 2-3 years leaving Riderville completely unfulfilled.

11 minutes ago, Taynted_Fayth said:

That's just it, it's pretty unrealistic that next year is that cornerstone, 2017 would have likely been the target, and probably most fans could accept that. However thanks to taman doin' how he do, he's practically villainized Jones for a lot of the fans (probably more so the fair weather ones who don't accept any reason, only dwell on the reality their beloved players were out right cut by him).  Now if Jones doesnt win this upcoming season,  the backlash to these transactions should amplify insanely.

 

If we think bomber fans get ridiculous after losses, I don't think we've seen anything yet.

Most Rider fans are bandwagonners that jumped on around 2007. They have no perspective on what a bottom-up rebuild is. Jones will lose this year and Riderfans will scream bloody murder. It's the Rider fan way.

14 minutes ago, gcn11 said:

They have no perspective on what a bottom-up rebuild is.

Neither do Bomber fans, most just put their faith in the current regime and follow blindly. There's a big difference between what Jones is doing in Regina and what has been happening here for the past 7 years.

16 minutes ago, pigseye said:

Neither do Bomber fans, most just put their faith in the current regime and follow blindly. There's a big difference between what Jones is doing in Regina and what has been happening here for the past 7 years.

lets say the current regime was taking over in 2006 after that turd of a 05 season, and walters/Osh came in and immediately released Stegall and Brown.  and possibly lose more (Smith, Durant, already cut brackenridge). Do you think they would have made it to year 3? after moves like that this fan base would have catapulted them outta town like prohibition was in style

4 hours ago, Throw Long Bannatyne said:

The reality is that a healthy Drew Willy will make almost any receiver look good, I would rather the Bombers put most of their F.A. spending into positions that will keep Willy healthy and positions that will endanger the health of opposing QB's.

This, big time.

26 minutes ago, Taynted_Fayth said:

lets say the current regime was taking over in 2006 after that turd of a 05 season, and walters/Osh came in and immediately released Stegall and Brown.  and possibly lose more (Smith, Durant, already cut brackenridge). Do you think they would have made it to year 3? after moves like that this fan base would have catapulted them outta town like prohibition was in style

Berry made 35 roster changes from 2005 to 2006, some good players but mostly bad.

I really thought Dressler would have signed somewhere by now.... wonder what's taking him so long

3 minutes ago, James said:

I really thought Dressler would have signed somewhere by now.... wonder what's taking him so long

What's the rush?

.@rodpedersen - #Riders officials confirm "good talks have been had with Darian Durant"

34 minutes ago, Noeller said:

.@rodpedersen - #Riders officials confirm "good talks have been had with Darian Durant"

With regards to his services no longer being needed as they are going in a different direction (Harris)?

33 minutes ago, Dirty30 said:

With regards to his services no longer being needed as they are going in a different direction (Harris)?

I wonder if the talks are going as well as the talks that they had previously with Dressler and Chick...Those negotiations apparently were going well also..

CFL News ‏@CFL_News - #Riders John Murphy says there's no truth to anyone suggesting Durant won't be Riders QB.

 

14 minutes ago, TBURGESS said:

CFL News ‏@CFL_News - #Riders John Murphy says there's no truth to anyone suggesting Durant won't be Riders QB.

Those bottles aren't going to fill themselves!

 

 

 

 

Very interesting stuff going on in Riderville that's for sure. And neat quote from Nichols. Awesome to see him find a cause so quickly in his tenure. 

What is this love affair with Smith? He looked OK but certainly didn't have me wishing hard that he wore blue and gold...

Edited January 19, 201610 yr by Blueballz

Oh that the Riders cut more players and suck in 2016.

Anybody want to see them with a 2-7 record at the LDC, fans in an uproar and then Dressler scores 3 tds for us and we break the streak with Chick adding two sacks?

Dressler and Smith feels like the same situation as Burris and Willy in 2014.  We needed a QB desperately enough that we threw coin at whoever was available at the moment, and good on us for doing it.

I'd be over the moon to get either of them, they would both be serious upgrades for our team. Both of them would have led the Bombers last year in receiving, and both had to play with Bomber-level quarterbacking for long stretches of last season.