trueBlue83

sounds like he would have been a great fit in the Bombers offence! would have been Nichols favourite target!

I'm pretty sure with how the Bombers organization is structured, such a thing would be damn near impossible. Wade Miller is accountable to the 12 person Board of Directors, who's primary role I would think is to analyze the financial situation of the club, being publicly owned. Don't think such a thing would slip through the hands of these highly credible folks: https://www.bluebombers.com/board-of-directors/ What a crazy statement!

Oh I get the premise, I just don't think the way 3downnation worded it is factual. There wouldn't be 2 contracts in place for next season, so you can't pay a value of something that's null & void. Call it what it is, it's a poaching penalty!

If you're not first you're last! 😉

by taking a promotion elsewhere, aren't you essentially backing out of your contract?? seems like there shouldn't be anything payable to Claybrooks from Calgary if he's waiving that contract. Doesn't make sense that he'd have a contract with Stamps and the Lions for 2019. Compensation should be there for sure, but it doesn't make sense that you'd be paying half a contract that would be voided. Isn't it usually compensation like a draft pick that teams would give up??

was just mentioned on TSN radio that Claybrooks signed in BC, but not seeing anything official yet.

But in 2016-17, Nichols was largely successful when defences weren't keying in on the dump pass to Harris. Teams have adjusted, which is proof based on this receiving production this season. When you take away that short pass, Nichols doesn't seem to have nearly the success. If the offence is built to run and play the short pass game, having a mobile QB is going to be essential. Nichols is a pocket passer, and he has lower than average completion % when going long. This is a problem. At least Harris & Massoli are a threat to connect on the deep balll. For that, my opinion is they both rank ahead of Nichols.

Back at the old stadium in the Chairman's lounge, I once saw Bob Cameron chug a full beer, get up on the table and plank (I think thats what the kids called it), and hold himself up there for almost a minute. This wasn't more than 6-7 years ago, so he would have been in his late 50's. That was legendary stuff! Then he went and crushed another beer with Walby!

Jesus... this is where things got confused. It was SpeedFlex who said 'Nichols is not mediocre' and then you commented on my response to that. Got the comments mixed up! My apologies.

so you wouldn't place Trevor Harris or Jeremiah Massoli ahead of Matt Nichols? Ray is done... I will be absolutely shocked if he doesn't retire. He's probably still got the tools to give it one more go, but with the freak injury he sustained, you've got to think between him & his family, they'll decide to hang em up! He has nothing more to prove.... especially not playing on the Argos squad.

but.....

you can call it pathetic all you want... you're the one making excuses for Nichols play and claiming that it wasn't mediocre, with damn near a full season of play that indicates otherwise. And to claim that I have a dislike for the player... that's fine. Not totally accurate, as I do like the guy and think he's a good person. All I'm really trying to get across is that I don't feel this is the guy that's going to get us a Grey Cup. That said.... the Bomber brass clearly isn't going to make a change between now and training camp, so I'm just going to stop beating this dead horse. We're stuck with Nichols, and unless Streveler comes to training camp and absolutely steals the starting position, Nichols will be "the guy" to start the 2019 season. Do I like it? No. Does my opinion matter? No. We'll just have to see how things go next season to see who's ultimately correct in the assessment of whether Nichols is an elite QB or not.

I wasn't talking about the training camp injury.....everyone knows that happened. You indicated he was "probably dealing with an injury all season". I am yet to see anything stating that Nichols was dealing with a major injury at the end of the year. Everyone thought 'good, he's back to normal' after the bye week post Banjo Bowl. So... saying he was hurt all season, you're making assumptions.

Yes, I am simply speculating. Isn't that what the basis of this site is? Opinions & speculation? Streveler may not have been picking up steam, that was a poor choice of words. But I think him getting a few more games would have done wonders for his development, because once Nichols was ready, he would have lots of game film of his to study and then some time on the sideline to watch and learn. And I did go back and read what you wrote.... you said Nichols knee was hurt. So... yeah, you want to talk about making claims you can't substantiate. Where have you heard or read proof of this?

My point is that we were going into a back to back situation against BC, arguably the weakest team in the West to start the year. Even with Nichols like production, Streveler could have come out with the W in those games. Bombers won 41-19. Nichols stat line: 16/29 (55.2%) for 162 yds. Wow! That's a huge improvement! The QB play regressed slightly, but we still came out with the W. Sorry to trump your ridiculous theory that we couldn't have won that without almighty Matt behind centre!

Ha. If he was somewhat injured, it's because he rushed himself back in Week 4 with Streveler starting to pick up some steam, realizing that his spot could really come in to question. BC was awful, and there was no reason for him to jump ahead of his recovery schedule if he wasn't truly ready. This I believe was him telling the medical staff that he's ready to go, when he probably truly wasn't. We had the softest portion of schedule in weeks 4-8, and I'm guessing Nichols wanted those easy W's next to his name and rushed back. Streveler would have picked up wins in those games as well, and he knew it. Probably would have put up better numbers too! I agree with Tracker... the injury is between the ears. Normally right after the season, wouldn't the team release details of a lingering injury that hampered one of their "star" players? Seems to happen everywhere else. Nothing has been said about a Nichols injury to this point, which must mean he was fine!??

If LaPo takes the job in Toronto, what are we betting that his first move isn't making a trade for Matt Nichols? he esentially committed to the Blue & Gold for next season, but maybe after the "vote of confidence" Nichols got from Walters,. LaPo says "nah, time to look elsewhere... I'm not doing this again!". Just a thought!

For anyone to suggest that we couldn't have beat the Riders in that game with even Bennett behind centre is nonsense. Nichols did not "win the game". He threw for just over 150 yards and handed the ball off. Gotta wonder how Harris feels about Nichols potentially making twice his salary next season when all Matt does is ride his coat tails!

But threw for 3 TDs and added one on the ground and 98 yards rushing. Nichols averaged 225 yards per game with just over 1 TD. People can point to us being "run heavy". But Ottawa ran the ball just as much with Powell, and Harris averaged 300 a game. Apparently the Argos are interviewing LaPo for the HC job, so maybe this whole conversation of scheme is thrown out the window in a week or two. maybe a fresh set of eyes to assess the QBs is what we need this offseason rather than just saying "Matt has won us a lot of games".

I thought the presale for season ticket holders was 9-12 this morning??

So did Streveler just go rogue in Week 2 when the Bombers put up 56 points?? LaPo can build a more creative offence, he's not a moron. He's playing with the hand he's been dealt.. #15 behind centre limits your play calling capabilities.

the fact that he can't even take responsibility for his poor play, and shows no accountability at times, I can't see him comprehending why Walters would be asking him to take less money. How many times did he have his post game show chat with Knuckles & Doug Brown, and say he thought he played well, after a mediocre at best, boarding awful game at times. Even with awful production, because he didn't throw an INT, he thought he played a great game. The team has to look at that and think, "if he thinks he's playing well, what's it going to take to think he had a poor game??".

I still believe our record would have been no different had Streveler played all season. Nichols didn't win 10 games this season, the team did. Some, they won in spite of Nichols efforts. Fact remains that he only played 2 relatively solid games all season. When you're hoping he has a good game, but the percentages say he more likely won't, then you've got a problem. Averaging 220 yards passing per game isn't going to get us to the next level when there's even more focus on the running game next season.

if we're looking at numbers... the one I'd like to point out is, when the cards were on the table, and it counted most: 46.9% & 156. 80+ of which we're in the last couple drives when they finally tried to go downfield. Nichols has been playing the dink & dunk since 2016, and his stats have largely been propped up on the shoulders of Andrew Harris. No other QB in the league relies so heavily on their RB as a receiver, and once the league adjusted and started spying Harris, Nichols passing production tanked. The fact that people want to point at the winning record of the team and say keep Nichols because of it, to me, aren't really seeing the big picture. Nichols has operated a dumbed down offence that's built around Harris. A more mobile QB with a stronger arm opens up what LaPo can scheme, and I think that's what needs to happen next year. If Nichols can't operate a more wide open offence, then he's not the guy.

can use the excuse of the wind when it's Nichols, but Streveler misses the pass and it's because he's not accurate. Give me a freaking break. Coming off the bench cold, throwing his first pass of the day in breezy conditions... how are you supposed to have perfect feel. And he just missed that pass by a stride. As far as whoever said we should trade Nichols... once a TO or MTL catch wind that he's being shopped around, why would they pony up much at all? If the Bombers are considering moving him, it's cap related and they'd be likely to cut him anyways. Can't see anyone giving up anything substantial to get him. What did we get him for, a 7th round pick? We would get maybe a 4th rounder at best, and probably be asked to retain some of the salary.