SpeedFlex27

We must be the only professional league who lets another football league poach its players without compensation. Look what teams in soccer pay when players transfer from one professional team to another or go from one league to the other. Country to country. As far as the CFL goes with free agency among its own teams, we draft or sign a player & develop them. Then bang, as soon as their contract is up, players leave their original team. The team that spent the money developing these players lose them for nothing. I think we need to take a hard line with the NFL & demand compensation. The same hard line with CFL free agency. Have restricted free agency among teams in the league until players reach a certain age or a certain number of years of playing experience before they can leave a team without compensation. I just look around & for millions of young Canadian football fans, the CFL means absolutely nothing to them. Part of that reason is because of the way the league is run. With the CFL, everything is free. Complete free agency among teams. Players free to sign with NFL teams even if they are under contract. I just feel the CFL's business model is broken & because of that we average 19-22,000 a game year in & year in & year out with little growth. We lose out in the 18-35 year old demographic because they don't take the CFL seriously as a pro league. That has to change.

Yeah, I'm complaining but lots of things going on with the team, I guess. All it means is that I care about the team. The Biggie thing is just a head scratcher to me. I don't disagree with him not being offered a contract. I actually agree with that decision. It's just how it's been handled. I've been fired once or twice in my career. Don't have to worry about it now that I'm retired. I know that I received a phone call saying to be at the office at such & such a time for a meeting where the boss delivered the bad news. It wasn't pleasant but it was done in person. I just don't get how a GM & Head Coach can just ghost a player of Biggie's stature like that. To me, it's all about respect.

So, it takes 3 months to take a cell phone out of their pocket & call? Nope. Don't buy it.

We move on from Biggie but give Jake Thomas a new contract. Go figure.

For a team that claims to have this great "culture" & players wanting to come here, we sure treat our departing veteran players like ****. Bighill had to call Kyle Walters to find out the team has moved on from him??? Walters couldn't have picked up the phone, invited Biggie for lunch or to a meeting with him & O'Shea & be told in person? That's garbage treating a future Hall of Famer like that.

What did we do thirty years ago? I'd argue that the quality of Americans coming up here back then was better than or equal to now. Yes, I know there weren't rival leagues like the UFL or expanded NFL rosters but still, if the NFL wants to raid our rosters then they should pay for teams for the privelige of taking our players. Then, we'd know for sure if a player like Ajou is just training camp fodder or is a serious prospect. As a league, we seem to cut off our nose to spite our face, Too much freedom for players moving around. Fans have nothing vested in most players which hurts loyalties. Most fans can't name all the players on the rosters or their numbers unlike when I was a young fan many years ago. Less investment leads to fan apathy. That's a huge problem.

Just curious, why is the Ajou signing great for Canada & the league? I don't get my fellow Canadians. We have a President attacking us everyday, threatening tariffs, wants our resources at the same time saying we have nothing his country needs which is so much **** & wants us to be the 51st State. We say we hate him as well as being part of the US. We don't like being bullied by a big mouth American. You'd think we would be proud of everything Canadian including the CFL. But we can't as a Nation get enough NFL, MLB & NBA because it's American. We burst with pride everytime a CFL player gets a sniff from the NFL. Like it's supposed to validate simehow that the CFL is a great league when we already know that it is. My attitude is **** off NFL. You want to sign our players under contract then PAY US when you do!!! A hundred thousand dollars per player minimum or stay away.

Yeah but he's got that big smile according to Suitor.

Yeah but....

Shoddy way how Ladco treats its tenants. Apartments in shambles with workers able to wreck private property. Maybe even steal their stuff as well.

Two of our leading receivers were neutralized with injuries. And our starting middle linebacker limped thru the entire game with a severely pulled hamstring (I believe). Biggie got exposed on that one TD when he couldn't cover the back out of the backfield. Then, the excuses started that we didn't know if that was Bighill's man or not. (Sure). Osh stubbornly didn't accept any repsonsibility for doing the dumbest thing a HC has ever done in the history of the Grey Cup championship. He played three guys who were injured & couldn't compete physically. They never should have been on the field. They had no business playing. Cost us a 2nd consecutive Grey Cup.

It'll be interesting to see how he does. Adapting to the American game should be easier than an American college qb adapting to Canadian football but he'll only get a week of practice & it depends on how may reps he gets in practice.

Only CFL teams celebrate when NFL teams raid their rosters. I guess we really are nothing but a developmental league.

Breaking News: Mike O'Shea says Jake Dolegala will be calling the plays this season. He said as Dolegala is QB3 & under contract & he has no plans to play him, he might as well make himself useful on the bench. Added O'Shea, "If we can save a few bucks & not hire an OC then I'm all for this".

Zach's taken some shots but he's also a solid 218 lbs so I think most hits he absorb just rolls off the guy. We all know that one more headshot will probably be Zach's last so protecting him should be Job #1 for our line. Streveler has been seriously hurt a couple of times passing in the pocket. The last one was a dirty hit to be sure but the guy got close enough to hurt him.

Our performance on the OL is slipping year to year in pass pro. Not so much in the run game. I'm hoping that we sign a couple of studs in free agency to reset that line so the Zach's performance improves.

As I said, the dumb mantra of Next Man Up ultimately fails. As you go down the line at certain positions like the OL, over time the backups get weaker & weaker. If the talent isn't replenished or replaced, then you end up with 35 year old starters whose better days are behind them. Or an inferior inexperienced player who has sat on the bench for years with his development stunted. Suddenly he's thrown to the wolves to ultimately fail. Once an OL hits 32 or 33 years of age, they should start fearing for their jobs. They can't afford to take large gaps of time off to rest. If they can't keep up then sayonara.

Some guys play better at other positions. In this case, it's not a stretch to think Eli could be a better Center than a Guard. Although the way things go with Osh, we'll probably never find out as he has his Boy at Center.

I hope he starts again. Talk about an overrated back.

You hit a home run with this post. Exactly as I feel. This wanting to play at home is bullshit. Pay your players to stay. Don't always expect a discount because our culture is supposedly so good that players will want to stay. Also, this Next Man Up mantra always runs dry eventually as you run out of quality Next Man Ups.

Mack Herron was just a bad dude all around. He was a gangbanger in Chicago from the time he was a teenager to his death. He lived the life right to the very end even though he became very wealthy & rich enough to walk away from it all but he chose not to. Herron spent the majority of his adult life behind bars. Blink was a quirky player but nothing at all like Herron.

Cue Suitor talking about the insightful coaching of Harris whenever the Riders rush for a first down.

And whose fault is that??? Same head coach who plays guys in the Grey Cup who are injured.

You want to win a championship? Well, it starts on the line on both sides. Do you really think we have what it takes right now?

I think they will be. I'm hoping the Bombers are as well but I don't think anyone can figure out if they'll try to re-sign most of their vets or go into free agency looking to sign some guys from other teams.