wbbfan

He was here iirc. He was late to arrive from an NFL camp, but he was on our AR for a good chunk of 22, like 2/3rds of the games. He played a lot of teams and rotated some on D. He started the last game or two and played really well. Yeah it does feel like a wasted pick. It is kind of tough for us to have a Canadian for basically 1.5 seasons out of the draft. I like dobson, but I wouldn't have given him the star payment for a level he hasn't reached yet either. Especially with wallace waiting. But the OL pipeline is a whole lot dried than it has been at any point before.

I think with the cfl you always have guys like that. Wouldn’t be singleton. But stiggers, Alford, Isiah adams, Sydney brown, maybe good-jones, or maybe some one whose rights are owned by another team is cut and we trade for them. Like Doug brown back in the day.

Yeah I get that. I think we are a couple more solid vets and a break through player or two away from genius off season or couple injuries/crash n burns away from completely bungled. I like the idea of how we are doing this year. I think we should’ve done It sooner, and need more volume still to make it work. I think the draft will be where we can really start to dial in how good this off season was. If we draft again like last year it’s gonna help a lot.

It’s true. But their short fall isn’t due to diminishing by way of adding less talent then they lose each year. Toronto is the model every one wants. Calgary before them. But we are not willing to dump vets at their peak. We want to dump em when they’ve got nothing left or get paid.

We never have chased free agents hard. I do agree with not over paying lawler, ford, and Dobson. We’ve lost a lot of top tier guys in the past few years. we have to replace those guys some way. We haven’t been replacing top tier talent with top tier talent. It doesn’t have to be our guys, or other teams free agents. Can be trades, developing guys, signing nfl cast offs who excel etc. we hit with ford last year and lost him just as fast. So as much as that’s a credit, it’s a fault too. We can’t just be developmental for other teams. Walters n co need to do better with the alternative routes if they aren’t gonna thump free agency. Toronto has been doing it by developing, trading, nfl and obscure finds. Bc has spent in free agency and made trades while doing well off the in league off casts.

Just my 2c, but I think we became reliant on the team approach from the front office. Having soo many guys tied up in discussions with other teams on positions kinda exposed this weakness. And to be fair, previously I think it was our strength. This is why we've produced soo many front-office guys league-wide. But at the end of the day we need better from the top half. Very much so. Even Schmekel showed incredible motor, effort, and ability to maintain that play through all his snaps. He lacks the raw physical attributes to dominate, But he has the big ones that make him a guy worth keeping around. I still think he should be moving to OL, and filling the role gowanlock was signed to play. but you can make a career as a Canadian in the CFL with a blood n guts, lunch pail attitude and work ethic. Especially if you have decent football IQ. Also like Hubert showed. If bennett had an once of what those guys have he wouldn't have been a 10 game in 4 years under achiever with Florida Atlantic.

That’s a good question. I think we will add one or two more league FAs who will be depth / fringe starters. Likely at db and ol. Then I think we will spend more on rookies coming up, dangle some extra cash to get guys up early, and probably pay the pr guys full dollar. While maintaining room for nfl cut cfl players like Wilson. If we manage to get 2 more fringe starters/starters, and maybe another depth Canadian that’ll be fairly good off season work, leaving us room to be first with a bullet on any nfl cuts we want. If we miss on nfl cuts again, fail to see some one step up into an all star, or another rash of injuries to our top talent, this off season will sink our gc ups in hurry. Yeah I’d take Hubert, Kongbo, etc. I even prefer gowanlock who has some situational uses. I don’t see Bennett every becoming much of any thing.

That is more for vaughters than I expected. Other wise pretty fair deals. You're right, I thought he was on their pr in 24 but doesn't look like he was.

Still a solid teams guy for them. Good move. Hey was with Montreal in 24 after we cut him, then he was under contract in 25. I believe he was cut and or injured in camp with them last year and sat out after that. Think he's turning 29 this year. As much as any one I think he's TCF.

Yuuuuuppp. +/- tds for/against they were +3. The bombers despite massive offensive problems and injuries were +8. Edmonton was +2.

Yep plus great athleticism, high 4.3 40 with tremendous acceleration. Great football iq, good reliable wrap and tackle guy with great ball skills. Great competitive dog mentality too. Projects as a defensive half, and could likely play any spot in the back end. Definitely a blue chip prospect.

That’s 2/5 on the yikes scale. Demski is a 4/5. Those two are a 5/5 for Edmonton. Holm Kramdi and Demski will do fine here. Edmonton can’t really be sure what to get for all that cash. Yeah his elite quickness should yield a lot of on ball plays other than knock downs which were down last year for him. Idk though on one hand he’s 26 he should be able to to take a step forward. On the other he has already started 2.5 seasons worth of games. I honestly don’t expect him to improve or diminish any time soon. If he does take a step forward I’ll be pleasantly surprised. If any thing he got worse last year. Tremendous mental toughness from him though. Never lets adversity break him.

That’s a big ole yikes. im glad it isn’t us.

Power rankings them self are trash basically year round. That said this is a particularly horridly written article worthy of the vitriol even though it is an off season power ranking which yes is silly.

Same. I hope his cardio is improved from last year and he’s stretched out for the long schedule. More rotation would help him and our dl a lot. I really like Adam’s as a 3 tech, and 4i. But he had strong flashes at nose and 5. I love his versatility and insane athleticism. If he takes the sophomore step forward he’s gonna be a huge piece for us.

https://3downnation.com/2025/02/17/3downnation-cfl-power-rankings-elks-off-season-splash-creates-ripple-but-doesnt-moisten-podium/ By soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It’s is trash, and 3dn the dump. Arise, fair 3dn, kill readers brain cells and pander harder. “We can already hear the accusations of pandering to Rider Nation from fans across the league, but the reality is Saskatchewan didn’t need to do a lot in free agency to climb our rankings. The culture created in Corey Mace’s outstanding first season as head coach made sure virtually every player of importance was re-signed, including veteran difference-makers” One of 6 teams last year with 9 wins or more. Yet they hop soo hard on the nuts of the 9-8-1 riders who got slapped around in the wf.

We struggled more finding a good vet wr in fa. We did well with our own guys. And for a long time, wr was the excuse. It hasn’t been our primary limiting factor for a long long time. It was who and how we got WRs the ball. Not much any wr can do when every d knows the pass is going to be with in 5 yards of the line and short of the first down.

Yeah, he's a catch-and-run guy. Mitchell is our over-the-top guy. But the old-style over-the-top deep threat is more about usage, it's IMO 40 ish yard completions where you've gotten behind the D and beat them over the top. Darvin Adams didn't have as many 40-50-yard catches despite being that guy.

We should be able to find a good wr. Especially now that we are looking at more diverse skill sets at that position. Not just an army of 6’2 +/- 1, 215 +/-5 guys who run a 4.55-4.6. Im interested to see how we do finding ol, and dl with the front office changes. We’ve struggled with ends for ages, and imp tackles for a while.

I agree with that. We lost talent off the top and answered it with depth. Agree. I think secondary is better. As ford to import at the easiest position in the secondary is a wash at worst. The rest will improve by having a second year with a bunch of guys. Plus moving on from ba will improve us imo. our ol will be a bit better by having time to play with each other. Our imp depth is much better but our ni depth is worse, and our star power too level talent is worse. We will be far more susceptible to injuries on the top end of the roster, we need vets we picked up to excel in our system and we really need to hit on an all star with in our development guys and rookies.

At some point I wanna do a thread based on the building styles and what’s changed this year. I’m really interested in seeing how our approach pans out. I like it a lot actually. Though I wish we prioritized some positions like ol a lot higher. if you look at it the bottom 3 teams are big buyers every year the top 3 mostly rely on trades and shrewd moves. Bc has been flipping big contracts more in free agency than top 3 teams usually do, because they keep trying and missing on big guys so they frequently have that room to do so. Plus they just don’t care about the cap. But you look at the lions and Argos their biggest moves have been trades. If there is a big negative this off season for us, (aside from not getting away from old can’t get it done guys) it’s that we’ve missed out on a ton of value in trades when the teams in our range have been cashing in.

Sneaky good pick up imo. Like Dexter as a guy who can elevate the battle for the last starting db. Really like Trey vaval and cam Allen too. Allen isn’t a crazy athlete but average ish. Tremendous instincts and a great fit for our system if he can manage the open field speed. Hes another natural safety which is really interesting. Though I could see him playing an inside wall defender in our drop 7 scheme. vaval is another down field on the ball play maker. 5 blocked kicks in college which is pretty insane. Not an elite athlete but a much better on the field guy than a tester.

damn beat me to it

They would be a great use of some of the money. I think they will also give more money to some rookies to get them north earlier than they might’ve normally come. plus I think we still take one or more free agent stabs at mid level starters/rotational guys.

Yuuuuup. We could’ve gotten nice assets for zach then, and locked in brown on a team friendly deal allowing us to add another high level free agent with ease.