Mike

Reaves should be a counter since his draft year was more than 2 years ago.Griffins is the only non-counter assuming he has never been to another CFL camp before ( I don't believe he has ) So that means the Bombers have 2 open spots on the TC Roster. How do you figure Reaves' draft year was more than two years ago? It was 2014 by my count.

Surprised they cut Downs, thought they'd give him and Wilson a chance after they JUST signed them. Not surprised by Montgomery. Bryant + Benton I thought were early front runners but the roster has improved since their signings. They do have only 74 guys now and I think Reaves is a non-counter so they have at least 1 and maybe 2 more roster spots to fill.

... are we really going to act like the potential downside of him signing elsewhere doesn't exist?

This. x1000

Anyone who wants a quick boost to their football knowledge, I'd highly recommend taking a look at this http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/greg-cosell-s-draft-preview--are-there-any-starting-qbs-outside-the-top-two-152516444.html Shows you a brief idea of what the pros look at vs. what we as fans look at It's not CFL related, but there is a section that looks at CFL prospect Brandon Bridge. Still worth a read though.

That's just a silly game to play. If we played that game 2 months ago, why sign Stanley Bryant, cause he might get hurt. Go with the smart money, start Taormina and save 80 grand. What a silly answer. Bryant is a known upgrade over January and we sorely needed O line upgrades. Well worth the money especially over a guy who shouldn't be starting in the first place. Willy's a sophomore starter who was great for the first 5 games then looked like a rookie for the rest of the season. If he was one of the top 2 QB's in the league, we'd not be having this discussion. BTW: The point I was trying to make, which went over your head, is that we have a lot more on the line if we give Willy his 150K raise, 100K of it as a signing bonus than we do if we simply wait and let him earn his raise. You're right there's hardly any risk involved in allowing him to play out the last year of his contract and test free agency while we also have his heir apparent (to some) hoping to head to the NFL next offseason.

Or maybe the deal is easier than you think to make and it's just a matter of financing it in a way that suits the team and Willy the best. Either way, this is probably one of the better debates we've had on this forum this offseason so let's keep fighting.

I never said we were against the cap when I said Vega's cut may be related to a Willy extension. You're talking like you know, when in reality you have no clue what our cap situation is.Let's say Walters projects to be $300k under the cap before the season starts. A Willy extension puts him over that, so he cuts Vega to sign Willy and still allow that $300k cushion. Regardless of your thinking related to the cap, you're making it sound like one had to be done, in order to do the other.Yes that's exactly what I'm saying. I don't know for sure that's the case, but the two moves (Vega cut and Willy extension) might be related. I never once said that the Bombers were tight against the cap. I sense either a bit of backpedaling or a bit of misunderstanding between two sides here. TrueBlue just said "you're making it sound like one had to be done in order to do the other" - had to. And you said "yes that's exactly what I'm saying" but then say "I never once said that the Bombers were tight against the cap" If you're not saying they're tight against the cap, why would there be a need for them to release one player simply to afford another?

I never said we were against the cap when I said Vega's cut may be related to a Willy extension. You're talking like you know, when in reality you have no clue what our cap situation is.Let's say Walters projects to be $300k under the cap before the season starts. A Willy extension puts him over that, so he cuts Vega to sign Willy and still allow that $300k cushion. I don't need to know the specifics of our cap situation to know that we're nowhere near a position that forces our hand in personnel decisions. We have one of the cheapest starting quarterbacks in the league, we have very few players on their second CFL contracts and we've been involved in the bidding on multiple high price tag players even recently. A move like Vega, to me, wasn't about clearing space. It was about the reality of a price tag to performance ratio that didn't favor Vega. Our best player at mini camp was a guy looking to take Vega's spot, Vega probably had some kind of bonus due for arriving at training camp and they decided the chance of him actually winning the spot wasn't high enough to warrant paying that bonus. When Walters says moves are based on the salary cap, I think a lot of people take that to mean clearing space is necessary. That's not necessarily what he is saying. What he is saying is these days, cash isn't infinite. You only have so much to spend on players and if you aren't earning your contract, you're not going to stay employed. All I'm saying is we don't need to find a way to afford a Drew Willy extension right now. As mentioned earlier, I'm sure it's something they've already budgeted properly for, they're not irresponsible enough to have to find a way to come up with the money. Especially not in April.

I wouldn't bother because he's better suited to guard and we don't need a guard. That would be my guess as to why I cut him - the concern I'd have if I was BC is that they don't really have a Canadian to fit in there right now. I still think the bigger mistake they made was cutting Lavasier Tuinei and I really have a gut feeling the Bombers are going to sign him. Maybe it's just wishful thinking because I've been wanting us to sign an Oregon Duck forever but I can really see Tuinei being the type of receiver we'd want.

Also ... there's literally zero chance we're up against the cap at this point. We still have lots of money to spend. That's why isolating moves like the Vega release to suggest it was in order to afford Willy isn't a suggestion that carries much backing.

Exactly. Your contingency is still going to be there for guys like Mulumba or Bilukidi either way and anything you're going to have to pay them if they pop up spontaneously is worth paying the penalty for (and there's no risk of us falling into the draft pick loss zone at this point) so if the space is there, it'd be silly to not use it.

Getting married and wanting that security in a location could be part of it. Nothing is guaranteed but maybe signing now firms up a plan to set down roots in Winnipeg, instead of having to wait a year to see how it plays out.

The crux of the matter is... 'Is Willy a franchise QB'? If you think he is then you want to lock him down for as long as possible no matter the cost. If you think he's a JAQ (Just another QB) then you don't care if he's signed or not. If you're not sure (Me) then you want him to prove it before you give him the big bucks. The reality is either he's worth the money or he's not. I agree that we don't know the definitive answer to that yet but here's the catch. If he's not worth the money, then it doesn't matter what happens this year, we're not going anywhere as a team so it's not like the amount of money we have tied up in him will make a difference. If he is worth the money, then paying him and firming up control of his rights is a great move. The contract isn't guaranteed, the sooner we can get it signed, the better for us.

Exactly Rich. Take the opportunity when you can. And they will. So many thrifty Manitobans would rather let a franchise QB walk away than pay them anything more than a steal of a deal.

Walters will be working tirelessly to get a deal done. There's almost zero chance Willy walks into training camp without a new extension. It's clearly the right move, Willy has said he's open to negotiating, so play the game for a bit to make everyone feel like they worked their hardest at the deal and then sign it and get it done.

To be fair, the whole "Myers was bad" thing also had a lot to do with Buffalo being an absolute dogshit team. He was never as bad as people were making it seem.

Enstrom is what he is. He's a responsible puck-moving defenseman who takes pressure off the other half of his pairing and gives them a good shot to flourish. He's undersized, his offensive abilities are trending in the wrong direction and he is prone to struggles with the physical aspect of the game. That being said, he's still our 1LD and he's still a damn good defenseman. He's not a complete hockey player, but he's the only guy on our roster capable of playing 20+ minutes on the left side at this point in time and unless there is a clear commitment to moving Trouba to the left side or unless we want to gamble on Morrissey being ready for a huge workload in his rookie season, we need to keep Toby. Winnipeggers love the lunch bucket defenseman. That's why we love Stuart, even though he's an anchor tied to whoever his partner is. He's physical and he gives it his absolute best night in and night out, but he takes way too many gambles for a 3rd pairing defenseman and he is far too prone to unawareness in our own zone. But because he's the blue collar defenseman in a blue collar city, we love him, flaws and all. I'm included. I love Stuart, but I know I should be more critical of him.

Move Toby to the right side and then he's not as valuable because we have lots of RHD and then we can trade him.

Mateas projects as either a guard or a center.

Dude, you're reading way too much into that. Good call. Don't worry, much more of this and you're going to get all the credit and acknowledgment you desire. Just don't be surprised when it's not the kind you were looking for. You know that saying, "when you keep running into the same problem over and over, maybe you're the problem"? That's you. There's a reason almost every single regular poster here has taken issue with something you've said at one point or another. Take a look around man.

Durant could be one that meets that criteria.Doubt it. When asked the question he mentioned Covington. Durant has been eligible for a while now. Covington is newly eligible but he hardly should be altering the top of draft boards. Could even be Wagonner, a stab at him in the supplemental makes a guy like Shortill or even Ackie less important with one of those second rounders. Covington? Meh. Not buying that he makes many rearrange their top rankings.

Durant could be one that meets that criteria.

Kent Austin should know all about him. His resume seems interesting enough that a team might be willing to spend a second or third round pick on him. I would imagine Winnipeg will be interested.

I don't mind it although I'm surprised Greg Peach survived.