Colin Unger

Do you care to expand on the skeleton of what it used to be comment? The way i see it our secondary is "essentially" unchanged. Winnipeg didn't seriously go after Houston because besides costing us the Grey Cup he isn't anything special. He lead the team in interceptions because he was the most targeted defensive back on the team. As it stands right now we have a differences makers re-signed in the secondary and will need to find one corner and a couple backups. We've never really had trouble finding DB's. There's a reason why the top corner's in this league are making chicken scratch compared to other positions but the two halfbacks (Nichols and Holm) we have coming back are special players in this league. Linebacking core is unchanged. Healthy Wilson could make an impact. Defensive line is the only area really deserving comment. It looks like Jeffcoat's time was up in the CFL. Its easy to argue that the entire league viewed his performance last year as essentially replacement level based on the lack of offers. That leaves us with losing Ricky Walker.... This is what makes the bombers D a skeleton? Ricky Walker? I mean he was decent for us but by no means was he at the level we had been accustomed to in years past. With the alternative leagues down south cutting half of the jobs this offseason and reducing salaries on the rest of them I think Winnipeg can easily find a DT and a Corner. Keeeeeeeep dreaming!

Speaking of top DB's today is the day that the NFL option window closes. I guess Holm is officially coming back?

There is already an article on 3rddownnation about this. Its 100% financial. He threatened to retired if he didn't get a raise. The team was willing to negotiate with him but they never ended up agreeing to terms so her retired. I'm not convinced this isn't a negotiating ploy. Have to wait and see if one side caves. Im going to assume that the bombers won't cake in this situation. He would still need to come to camp and earn a starting job vs competition. And the competition is going to be playing more likely for league minimum. There's a lot of tackles with at least one year of pro experience who just came available when the XFL/USFL merged.

Don’t want to be that guy but do we have a kicker?

I wouldn’t see a reason for Richmond to get much above the minimum. I would think he won’t be gautenteed the job but he will have a leg up. There will be competition I would think.

That’s a lot of money for a guy who I thought was washed up after watching the Grey Cup.

Can’t imagine Ottawa is going after Schoen after re-signing Hardy. Already have Hardy, Ryhmes, Acklin, and Addison under contract.

Id spent up on Ouellete over Kadeem Carey personally. I like Ouellete's style. He would make us even more physical than we were with Brady and Carey has a significant injury history. After Brady and Ouellete that's when id be looking for bargains like Carey.

Exactly. You can't give him the best money that's out there. Not when so many other have taken discounts to help the team. He's going to have to accept at the very least slightly less then whats being offered.

That wasn’t my understanding of it. I thought the rules were changed a few years back to provide a roster benefit to utilizing a Canadian qb.

I don’t view him as a backup qb. I think he will be a significant part of the offence. If Brady leaves I think we will sign a pretty good replacement. I’m looking at our last two Grey Cup losses and thinking that an added element like Streveler could have made the difference in either of those games. Games where we had access to Brady and Schoen. If we lose them we are still going to be good at receiver and running back.

The issue for Streveler was that Dru Brown was graduating to being a starter MBT came back to the cfl. Tre Ford is available in a trade to teams as well and he offers a cheaper price point and Canadian status. Bombers probably the only team with full confidence they know how to use Streveler. Things would be different if Paul Lapolice was still head coach in Ottawa.

This is the biggest signing to me. Brady and Schoen more replaceable than Streveler. This will extend Collaros career IMO.

That name better comes with a revenue boost. Definitely less classy than IG Field or Canad Inns Stadium.

A lot of that has to do with CFL becoming ever more inclusive on what the definition of a Canadian is.

One thing working again Wolitsarsky is half the time when he makes I catch I thought it was Schoen who was targeted

Emilus had over a 1000 yards last season. There's quite a few Canadian receivers last year who put up some good numbers who flew a little bit under my radar.

Where do Samuel Emulis, Jovon Cottoy, Justin Mcinnis, Kiondre Smith rank?

Chances are by now they have a pretty good idea of where things are going with Schoen and Brady. We are so close now that is hard to imagine these players not seeing whats out there in the tampering window before decided whether or not to come back.

So im not sure why you're acting like the bombers are so hidden on their offseason strategy. Basically they big-ticket elite guys like Brady, Schoen, Jefferson, Bryant ect.. These guys are top priority and they aren't going to hand out a bunch of raises to mid-level guys like Gray before they have some clarity on the big-ticket players.

Id like that too but how do we actually pull that if considering there's likely other teams out there willing to offer him a starting job and a pay rise?

Basing it a lot of an article on CFL.ca. https://www.cfl.ca/2024/01/16/landry-bombers-ready-to-navigate-free-agency/ Running back Brady Oliveira, the CFL’s Most Outstanding Canadian in 2023, tops that list but he is by no means alone in the category of key veteran players whose decisions set the tumblers on everything else clicking. Receiver Dalton Schoen’s contract is about to expire. So are the contracts of offensive line stalwarts Jermarcus Hardrick and Stanley Bryant. And defensive lineman Jackson Jeffcoat. To name a few. The Bombers have a big list of primetime players on the potential free agents list. “There is a delay while we sift through all of that,” explained Walters. “But once one or two, three of those guys get locked in and we have a ‘here’s the direction we’re going,’ then I think the rest of things will move fairly quickly.” “Once your highest price point guys get slotted in, or you realize you can’t get them, then the ball can get moving on everything else.”

Any player who's a pen Right but you have to ask yourself why some of these guys haven't re-signed yet? The strategy clearly seems to be to get the top players to commit first and then with what money is left you try and sign the players of lower value. If Gray was untouchable he'd be signed already.

Im not taking any of this lightly. But im also looking at two elite players who played for scratch last year and need to get paid. I wouldn't let an elite player go just to keep our 5th best offensive lineman when we have Dobsen, Tui and 3 high draft picks. If we have to make some significant salary cuts this might very well be a good way to go about doing it. Exactly! I don't want to lose anyone either. I want to keep him but i think he's probably going to make a heck of a lot more than the 9th pick in the draft this year and that could be a way to Brady or Scheon. My preference is for Kyle to work magic again and keep everyone we had last year. I just don't know if thats going to be possible.

I never said that. Do you think twisting what I said for your purposes makes you a strong man? The replacements are the guys we already have on the roster. Like Tui, Dobsen, and Jeremy Murphy. The draft picks are to rebuild the depth after elevating some younger players. That was made clear in my original post. Looking at the roster now what's the drop off from Gray to Tui vs the drop off from Schoen to Ontaria Wilson? The drop off to Tui is nothing. He's probably better than Gray.