bluedawg

Tanner McLachlan is going to be in the NFL for a while. Theo Johnson also, and he might even be an NFL starter for a while. I would think the 2 UBC OL, the Illinois OL, the Boston College OL, the Howard OL and potentially the Memphis LB will sign NFL deals or be drafted. When is the last time the Bombers took a player, early or late, who had signed an NFL deal? They just don't seem to be as willing as other teams to wait.

The Hodge mock draft seems decent but I think it's missing the mark with the Bombers. Here's what I think are the Canadian draft needs: WR - I've got to imagine they'll bring in a WR to compete with Jeremy Murphy early in the draft for a dress roster spot FB - This one is obvious. We dont have one iOL - I think the iOL is going to be set but the team needs to add someone to sit on practice roster this year and develop LB - Jesse Briggs retired. Shayne Gauthier probably doesn't have much more in the tank. Need a guy who can be a core ST stud and develop into a rotational player at the least LS - Mike Benson is going to be 37? Would be good to find someone who can be the LS of the future. I would hope the Bombers go WR/iOL/LB in some order with the three top 20 picks and go from there

This same thing that happened with Dublanko also happened with Jordan Williams, he just didn't play in the NFL first (only had a rookie camp try with the 49ers). His wiki says he "nearly joined the Redblacks" as an American in 2019 but was convinced to get citizenship and enter the CFL draft in 2020. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Williams_(linebacker,_born_1994) Funny that both times it is a linebacker targeted by the Redblacks!

Schoen was always a Danny McManus special from everything I've read

https://rolltide.com/sports/football/roster/kendall-randolph/8115 Looks like he played tackle, guard and tight end across a 6 year career at Alabama and then spent training camp and preseason with the Seattle Seahawks as a guard. Would assume he will be in the mix at OT for us. Must be pretty athletic to be playing some tight end at Alabama

Jeremiah Gemmel is a nice add at linebacker. Instinctual, fast, high motor guy who was a team captain for a high-level NCAA team. Also, would stay away from the NFL draft buzz articles. They have no idea what they are talking about on there

I disagree on Cole having great instincts but I will say it was obvious that he improved on that from beginning to end of the season. The guy was originally recruited to Michigan as a highly-touted WR, then was a safety and kick returner at Mississippi State. Clearly a great athlete who has potential. Will be 27 when training camp starts and in his 3rd year with club so should be approaching his peak!

I believe Dino Boyd also was a Bomber first

I think after two years with Malik Clements and Brian Cole both on the team as backup LBs, they chose to re-sign Cole and try to find new young LBs to fight for an active roster spot. Must have thought Clements was not good enough in some way to be the heir apparent to Bighill. Fast but was in the wrong place a lot from what I saw. The Michael Ayers kid is the only one I think we've signed so far but I expect to see very healthy competition in camp there

Thiadric Hansen is probably cooked after the Achilles. Plus he's 31. Assuming Koromoko will compete with the 21st Canadian for a special teams type of role. Then maybe a battle for the punting job this year between the guy we had last year and another global? I will say, I see doom and gloom around here on the lack of signings but I think there's going to be A LOT of competition this year from young Canadians and Americans fighting for legitimate roles on the team. That should get people excited. Might be some growing pains but I'd think the plan would be coach the young guys up and let them get experience throughout the season and hope to gel by the time playoffs role around.

Plan seems to be keeping the core together while also getting younger. And rely on internal improvement from some of the younger players plus the U.S. scouting department to fill some holes. Success is going to hinge on whether the team can find solutions at right tackle, defensive end and defensive tackle. Also hopefully find a future middle LB to take over for Adam Bighill after this season

If the Bombers do go with a rookie DE in Jeffcoat's place, which of our rostered players do you guys think has the best change to take over that spot? 6 contenders right now: Celestin Haba, TyJuan Garbutt, Nate Givhan, Ali Fayad, Jordan Lewis, John Waggoner I think Celestin Haba would be the favorite right now but also think Ali Fayad is a sleeper. Former MAC DPOY w/ NFL experience who started some games in USFL last season.

After his first season that would've been a rookie deal as well. Because he was on practice roster deal before that and typically teams will re-do the practice rosters contracts to add another year at the end of the season. Likely the reason why Evan Holm and Jamal Parker both have another year left on rookie contracts. So even if it wasn't Ricky's first deal technically, I'm almost positive he was making very close to the minimum

Ricky Walker was on a rookie deal last year though, no? Don't think there's any savings letting him go. Think they role with rookie level salary at DT every year

You don't need to release a player to let them tryout for the NFL. Holm tried out for Denver and Minnesota this year IIRC and did not get let out of his contract because apparently neither team intended to sign him. Now that the window is over, he's back with the team. Same thing happened with Schoen last year when he did some NFL tryouts. He didn't get released because nobody was signing him.

I'm not sure where Marcus Hillman plays in the CFL exactly but his highlights are f****** awesome

My 2 cents on the Yoshi leaving for 120K signing and 460k over 2 seasons is that he is a good player and SSK felt that it was in their best interest to overpay for a shot at 2 years of all-star production. It could help sure up their biggest weakness and also hurt us to win-win for them and the extra cash is worth it to them and necessary to get anyone to move to Regina. Also I bet SSK isn't done making big-time signings I bet they will go all-in this year and will maybe try to poach another one of our players. Hopefully Demerio or Winston.

Ronnie Brown and Chris Smith are both exciting additions to the RB room whether or not Brady is back

https://draftscout.com/dsprofile.php?PlayerId=1091983&DraftYear=2023 Ronnie Brown was actually really fast at his Pro Day (4.46) with an insanely good 4.00 short shuttle time (which is a good measure of start and stop quickness and ability to change direction fluidly)

What's y'alls top 3 list of Bomber pending free agents you'd be most surprised if the team brought back? Mine: 1. Demerio Houston 2. Dakota Prukop 3. Ricky Walker Also my sota hot take is that the team is going to move on from MULTIPLE all star, core players because of $$$

Feeling like there's going to be quite a bit of turnover. Wouldn't be shocked if only 6-8 of these guys are back when camp starts

What made Stove a "true DT" and Sayles and Walker not? Stove was the best DT in the league at the time... Sayles was playing at a near All-star level for us and then was an All-star as soon as he left and got more shine on a team without Willie and Jackson overshadowing him... Ricky is not quite as good as either Sayles or Stove. I'm not disagreeing with anyone there. But he's a solid starter in this league, not a guy that was hurting the defense. I'm not saying Ricky couldn't be improved upon, just that I think it's ridiculous to say we need a "true DT" just because we were so spoiled with Stove and nobody has been able to replicate his production in the last few years. We need what everyone needs, a stud pass rushing american defensive tackle who generates pressure because he is too athletic for slower Canadian interior linemen to handle. Ricky does that, just not as well as the aforementioned players

A glaring hole? Casey Sayles was one of the best DTs in the league in '22 and was again in '23 after the Bombers let him walk. Even last year it's overblown to say DT was a glaring hole. Should they have just handed Ricky the starting DT position with minimal competition? Definitely not, but even then Ricky performed well in '23. Teams look for gap shooting 3-techs out of their Americans and have their Canadian DTs work the 1-tech spot and plug against the run. Not an active poster on here but read a lot on the team and closely watch/record every game and frankly disagree with you here, though I do respect your opinion

This is giving Prukop too much credit. Even though Cornelius has struggled with his mental processing in the CFL, he's much more talented as a passer. He has a very strong arm and has flashed capable starter ability at times. Prukop, on the other hand, scares me when doing anything but running a QB sneak. If we could upgrade from Prukop to Corn as the short yardage backup, that would be a win. Especially if Buck can get something out of him that Chris Jones couldn't.

People in this thread seem to think Canadian rookies and Globals make less than American rookies? The league minimum across every player is 70k. In the event that Damian Jackson was replaced by a rookie Canadian fullback, there would likely be no money saved for example. Obviously recent signings like Deatrick Nichols, Cam Lawson and Redha received big pay raises. Lawson and Redha especially coming off rookie deals and I bet Nichols is one of league's highest paid DBs now. And guys like Lawler and Demski are going to getting more money after taking less last year to make the cap work. I think as fans we've got to temper expectations about how many guys can be brought back. The cap is not fluid it is very real and it is going to force the team to make some very tough decisions this offseason. I'm excited to see what direction we go in, who gets brought back, and which new young guys step up!