Target Date for Free Agency Feb. 9th 12 noon ET - 11 am Winnipeg - 9 am Kelowna 

The Bombers will lead into the pre-draft weekend with a press conference tomorrow, February 5th, at 10:00am to discuss Free Agency as it pertains to the Blue Bombers.

Below is a list of the Bomber's free agents:

Capers, Selvish    OL    International    

Gibson, Thaddeus    DL    International    

Hajrullahu, Lirim    K    National    

Marshall, Cameron    RB    International    

Newman, Graig    DB     National  

Pontbriand, Michel-Pierre    FB     National    

Washington, Demond    DB    International

Moore, Nick    WR    International 

Shell, Lin-J    DB    International    

Walker, Chevon    RB    International    
 

Extended :

Daniels, Jace    OL     International    Extended (12/14/15)

Nichols, Matt    QB    International    Extended (01/05/16)

Richardson, Louie    DL    National    Extended (01/25/16)

 

We already know N. Moore won't be extended, and I've assumed Walker and Shell are gonzo, so that leaves 7 players, including 3 Non-imports. How many of these 7 guys will be announced as re-signed by Walters tomorrow?

Any guesses or half wishes, preferences?

Marshall? Hajrullahu? Pontbriand? Newman? What about Washington?

Edited February 9, 20169 yr by Mr Dee

He knows his team has hemorrhaged talent and the Bombers have closed the gap

Curious if Scott Mitchell was all over the Ticats when they had similar off-seasons.

1 minute ago, rebusrankin said:

I have complained long and hard about Kyle Walters. Today though the work has been excellent. Overall talent is better. NI talent is better.

Think he did a good job with the Canadians obviously, but the work at WR with Smith and previously Dressler is good because he identified the roster weakness and also that our scouting in that area has sucked.

Just heard on the radio that huff took a cheap shot on us? Hasn't BC signed more guys then us?

Also they said that Moore signed for multi years , Chad Owens changed his twitter account to a pic of a lion and that Cummings is still being looked at.

I don't get the Bomber hate exactly, They identified areas of need and went out and got those guys.

Harris - we needed a RB... we got one, he's from here, wanted to be here. Lochard? With Harris here now and BC going International at RB, it makes sense he would follow his buddy Harris

Smith - Our receivers needed to be upgraded, essentially, Dressler replaces Moore and Smith is an upgrade on whoever from last year, I'd suspect we see 4 Internationals starting at Receiver... Denmark,Dressler,Smith,Adams???,Kohlert. 

Medlock - was no secret we needed a kicker, we got one.

Shologan - DL was a weak spot last year, Shologan helps. 

Keeping - Vet OL who can play center and guard and is a good guy off the field, helps the leadership on the team. 

 

I don't know why anyone would be upset or angry over the Bomber signing these guys, It's not like they are signing them for the sake of signing them... Who did we sign from Calgary? Which of these guys did Calgary want? I don't get it really.

 

Free Agency... identify areas of need and go and get the guys you want. That's what Walters did. 

 

This is the whole point of free agency isn't it? 

 

Edited February 9, 20169 yr by Goalie

Hufnagel is right to a large extent.  

 

There needs to be improvement on the procurement side for the Bombers too.  These signings alone won't make a huge difference.  Our lines are still both below average.

He's certainly not wrong, but it's also very easy for him to say considering they're coming off a season where they lost only four times, and we've missed the playoffs the last four years.

4 minutes ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

Hufnagel is right to a large extent.  

 

There needs to be improvement on the procurement side for the Bombers too.  These signings alone won't make a huge difference.  Our lines are still both below average.

Bombers need free agency to upgrade scouts.

Edited February 9, 20169 yr by Throw Long Bannatyne

5 minutes ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

Hufnagel is right to a large extent.  

 

There needs to be improvement on the procurement side for the Bombers too.  These signings alone won't make a huge difference.  Our lines are still both below average.

seems rather petty for one GM to critique another publically. We picked up a few players via FA, still a long way to go before a finalized roster though

Edited February 9, 20169 yr by Taynted_Fayth

they hate us cus they anus. I wonder if we just blew past the cap or if we had actually cut back to be this far under the cap. 

Mitchell has another article on Huff that will be out tomorrow.

He was baited into the comments by there beat reporter Scott Mitchell

 

John Hufnagel ...

i doubt we have cap issues,  Dressler was a wash with moore,  Medlock/Shologan/Harris/Keeping/Lochard pretty much covered by Hajrullahu/Washington/Newman/Pontibrand and especially Picard

 

smith might be the only one that pushes us close(r)  but im sure there was money for this move too. I dont think we were paying exuberant amounts to anyone (other then picard) last year that warranted some reconfiguring

Edited February 9, 20169 yr by Taynted_Fayth

Agreed with Taynted; we might have spent slightly more on some players but we cut costs in others.  Picard was making much more than Keeping, the difference in salary for Keeping and Picard alone probably helps make up the differences for Medlock and Hajruallahu as well as Lochard and Pontibrand.    I'd be willing to wager that net difference is probably only in the 20-30k range from the list of players we removed to the list of new players signed. 

Huff can shove it up his rear end. We did what needed to be done. His comments sound like a bitter old coot.

 

 

4 minutes ago, Taynted_Fayth said:

i doubt we have cap issues,  Dressler was a wash with moore,  Medlock/Shologan/Harris/Keeping/Lochard pretty much covered by Hajrullahu/Washington/Newman/Pontibrand and especially Picard

I don't know about that.  They are probably pretty tight.  You still have to replace some guys too, like Washington.

Smith, Harris and Dressler are at least 500K.  Moore covers one of them.  The other two are significant $$$ adds over the guys in those spots last season.  You've got about 100k in the trade-off of Picard to Goossen (who re-signed to a bigger deal too).

Hajrullahu, Newman and Pontbriand had insignificant salaries.

I think that there's a very good chance that Bucknor or Kohlert gets dealt/cut for $$$ reasons.

25 minutes ago, The Unknown Poster said:

                    

 

 

Calgary had over 2 months to sign their own guys.  Look what Walters did in an afternoon.

nHuff and puff says we're bad dudes for signing free agents we needed to improve???Get over it ..Says we didn't sign any of ours but went after everyone elses...Was he talking about the riders or us???Also says he prefers to sign his own guys first...Guess he's still trying to contact Simpson and Raymond and it was holding him back in fa...What a joker..

Edited February 9, 20169 yr by Stickem
spelling error

19 minutes ago, Goalie said:

I don't get the Bomber hate exactly, They identified areas of need and went out and got those guys.

Harris - we needed a RB... we got one, he's from here, wanted to be here. Lochard? With Harris here now and BC going International at RB, it makes sense he would follow his buddy Harris

Smith - Our receivers needed to be upgraded, essentially, Dressler replaces Moore and Smith is an upgrade on whoever from last year, I'd suspect we see 4 Internationals starting at Receiver... Denmark,Dressler,Smith,Adams???,Kohlert. 

Medlock - was no secret we needed a kicker, we got one.

Shologan - DL was a weak spot last year, Shologan helps. 

Keeping - Vet OL who can play center and guard and is a good guy off the field, helps the leadership on the team. 

 

I don't know why anyone would be upset or angry over the Bomber signing these guys, It's not like they are signing them for the sake of signing them... Who did we sign from Calgary? Which of these guys did Calgary want? I don't get it really.

 

Free Agency... identify areas of need and go and get the guys you want. That's what Walters did. 

 

This is the whole point of free agency isn't it? 

 

Weren't they in the running for Dressler?

1 minute ago, Pete Catan's Ghost said:

Weren't they in the running for Dressler?

That's a good point. Forgot about that actually. Perhaps some bitterness there. 

Newman did not have an "insignificant salary" we thought he was starting material and gave him solid money to come here. Lirim was still on his rookie deal though so he was playing for peanuts.

2 minutes ago, Goalie said:

That's a good point. Forgot about that actually. Perhaps some bitterness there. 

I don't think it's that, Huf probably doesn't like the new salary structure and doesn't want it to drive up the price he has to pay to retain players.  Old dogs don't like new tricks.

Considering not a single Calgary player has signed with another CFL team, I doubt any of Huffnagel's comments reflect bitterness.

Mitchell is the one behaving like a tool for some reason.