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, 201610 yr by Mr Dee

8 hours ago, rebusrankin said:

3 games with BC in 2014, 1 with the Riders last year. The fact that two clubs have gotten rid of him is a concern.

2 clubs with questionable Olines as well....don't see him making much of an impact.

15 hours ago, J5V said:

It's not good that these O-linemen are sitting on the FA list without being picked up by someone. Are they no good? Are they too expensive? Does no one but us need OL help? 

The Canadians left are awful, and a lot of awful guys have already been signed out of desperation like Keeping.

Basically every Canadian OL who hit the market this year is a centre, generally guys who can't block well enough to play any other position on the line.  Keeping is at least a reasonable athlete although we'll be in big trouble if he has to play anywhere but centre.  A guy like Norman is a total slob who has basically rode his couch right out of the CFL.

You're going to see a lot more teams going with 3 imports on the OL.

Need to have warm bodies for camp. I don't see Hardrick doing much other than filling a camp roster spot - the only thing I will say is that he's been the victim of being a mid-season addition both places he's been. He's never been in a CFL training camp.

1 hour ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

The Canadians left are awful, and a lot of awful guys have already been signed out of desperation like Keeping.

Basically every Canadian OL who hit the market this year is a centre, generally guys who can't block well enough to play any other position on the line.  Keeping is at least a reasonable athlete although we'll be in big trouble if he has to play anywhere but centre.  A guy like Norman is a total slob who has basically rode his couch right out of the CFL.

You're going to see a lot more teams going with 3 imports on the OL.

Times they are a changin

10 hours ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

The Canadians left are awful, and a lot of awful guys have already been signed out of desperation like Keeping.

Basically every Canadian OL who hit the market this year is a centre, generally guys who can't block well enough to play any other position on the line.  Keeping is at least a reasonable athlete although we'll be in big trouble if he has to play anywhere but centre.  A guy like Norman is a total slob who has basically rode his couch right out of the CFL.

You're going to see a lot more teams going with 3 imports on the OL.

It's about time this happened. Going with 4 or 5 Nationals is just too difficult.

10 hours ago, Mike said:

Need to have warm bodies for camp. I don't see Hardrick doing much other than filling a camp roster spot - the only thing I will say is that he's been the victim of being a mid-season addition both places he's been. He's never been in a CFL training camp.

I think Hardrick and Daniels are pretty much on even footing going into camp.  It's not like Daniels is a proven commodity and he seems to be a little fragile.

Until he got injured last year, Daniels looked great in the RT spot....

11 minutes ago, Noeller said:

Until he got injured last year, Daniels looked great in the RT spot....

I'd argue that he looked average at best.  But what's your point?  6 decent games and you're ready to hand him a spot?  All I said is he's not proven and that's a fact not an opinion.

Scouts MUST be able to find an import OL...  like what are they doing, scouting the other CFL rosters?

12 minutes ago, Floyd said:

Scouts MUST be able to find an import OL...  like what are they doing, scouting the other CFL rosters?

Has everyone gone insane?  There are over 3 months until training camp.  There will be more American rookie OL signed.

1 hour ago, Atomic said:

Has everyone gone insane?  There are over 3 months until training camp.  There will be more American rookie OL signed.

This

They have 3 free agent tryouts in the next week and a half.  They are far from being set for camp.

1 hour ago, Atomic said:

Has everyone gone insane?  There are over 3 months until training camp.  There will be more American rookie OL signed.

It's a proven fact that no CFL team has ever cut a good player.

Really....how many proven performers do we have on this OL, presently.    One?    Still work to do...

I understand how recruiting works and when training camp starts...  but the OL is a concern right now, Chungh and Goossen still young, Neufeld sucks, Daniels is okay...  Bryant needs a bounce back year

Hardrick is a weird signing - yes, teams cut good players but usually two teams don't.  

The Greaves trade is looking bad, not signing Selvish Capers is a strange move.

The 2nd round we gave up for Neufeld ended up being Ainsworth...  

Sure we picked Chungh but five or six other teams got starting OL in that draft.  Not stocking up on OL/DL when there was still talent in 2nd round was strange.

Right now, I just don"t understand the OL recruiting plan... I guess we'll find out.

6 hours ago, Floyd said:

I understand how recruiting works and when training camp starts...  but the OL is a concern right now, Chungh and Goossen still young, Neufeld sucks, Daniels is okay...  Bryant needs a bounce back year

Hardrick is a weird signing - yes, teams cut good players but usually two teams don't.  

The Greaves trade is looking bad, not signing Selvish Capers is a strange move.

The 2nd round we gave up for Neufeld ended up being Ainsworth...  

Sure we picked Chungh but five or six other teams got starting OL in that draft.  Not stocking up on OL/DL when there was still talent in 2nd round was strange.

Right now, I just don"t understand the OL recruiting plan... I guess we'll find out.

Name one other one. You have a very strange knack of how you evaluate our talent compared to other talent, it's a real "grass is greener" approach. Earlier in this exact same post, you say "OL is a concern, Chungh is still young" and then later on say "five or six other teams got starting OL in his draft"

Chungh was the ONLY OL in his draft to start more than 2 games. And he started 18. As a rookie.

But he's still too young, whereas the other teams drafted starters that you have no concerns about - yet they have not even started yet, you're just projecting them that way. This is your strange insistence on going against the grain working against you, man. You're not giving credit where credit is due.

How can anyone be critical of Chunghs' play ...The guy is a rising star in this league and has all- star written all over him...The only thing I'm concerned about Chungh is that he'll head off to 'greener pastures' (nfl) where the benjamins really do make it greener...I also have this bad feeling of him wanting to head home to Cal. (ala Labatte)....I hope we don't make the same mistake with this guy as we did with Brendan and have him wander off...Get him extended Walters ...a smart thing to do.

I have very little faith Chungh will be here in 2017, and I don't mean that as a reflection of him - Just the reality of the situation and past comments from around draft time that he had NFL aspirations...

Considering what the NFL minimum salary is, plus signing bonus money, coupled with the fact it would be paid of course in American dollars and the discrepancy with the Canadian dollar, that's just something Walters can't compete with financially no matter what. It's not nearly as simple as "Get him extended Walters"

Even hypothetically if Chungh signs down south, has a cup of coffee and a number 2 and is among the first cuts, he still wins on a financial level much more than he'd win here signing an extension, and he'd also have the luxury of picking where he wants to go in 2017.

52 minutes ago, Stickem said:

How can anyone be critical of Chunghs' play ...The guy is a rising star in this league and has all- star written all over him...The only thing I'm concerned about Chungh is that he'll head off to 'greener pastures' (nfl) where the benjamins really do make it greener...I also have this bad feeling of him wanting to head home to Cal. (ala Labatte)....I hope we don't make the same mistake with this guy as we did with Brendan and have him wander off...Get him extended Walters ...a smart thing to do.

Played with Dinos but from BC

If Walters gets Chungh's name on an extension I'll be very surprised.

He's a PERFECT example of why the league needs a RFA system.

28 minutes ago, Jpan85 said:

Played with Dinos but from BC

....True....forgot he was from the left coast but played in Cal....In any case both teams Cal.and Leos will probably have their sights set on him in the future, because of their relationship to Chungh....AND yes Mike it's a shame there isn't something in place to protect our valued draft pics..

Such a typical Mike Post... distort the original content and then start defending something that was never attacked...

Chungh is a great prospect, never said he wasn't - but so is Ruby, Beard, Groulx...  yes, we're drafting good OL but so is everyone else.

Its not grass is greener - Richards and Morgan are not good picks, I said that on draft day.  We needed another OL with those 2nd round picks.

The reason Chungh has played so many games is that we don't have any OL depth...  other teams are taking time to develop their guys, bombers don't have that luxury.

It has now been over five years of average OL talent and no depth.

Maybe we'll find another two long-term import starters for the OL... but how many 'great' OL have we tried and then abandoned... Knapp, Jones, Tyler,Howard, etc etc etc

I just don't see the plan.  Right now, it looks like draft, sign stopgap vet (Picard, Keeping) and try flavor of the month import OL.

Before you start howling, I like the Bryant signing... still think he's solid LT.

 

Meh. If they had focused on the OL when I started talking about it, after Kelly destroyed it in 2009, we wouldn't be talking about it now. Not only Walters and co have screwed the pooch on this.

We have had problems with the OL, since about 2008.  Pretty tiring......

The OL problems would go back further than '08, but the Ottawa expansion draft provided some stop gap solutions in '06. Then there was Alex Gauthier who never seemed to miss a game at LT while he was here