TBURGESS

This one shouldn't have been close. Edmonton owned Montreal for most of the first half. TOP was hugely in their favour as were every other offensive stat. Edmonton fumbled twice on the 1 yard line and had a TD called back on something that wasn't challengeable by challenging something else on the play. Refs should only be allowed look at what the HC is challenging, not the whole play to stop HC's from challenging just to see if the refs find something else in the play. It should also speed up challenges. Pretty boring but close game until a great pick by Sherritt, a great punch out by Montreal then Glenn comes back in an throws another pick to seal the deal. Those are 2 of the 3 teams we need to make the playoffs. We lost to Montreal and split with Edmonton. I don't know if it's just my blue coloured glasses or have I forgotten how badly we looked in the first 5 games, but I gotta say we look like the best team of the three right now.

Pretty interesting. Players who are cut but asked to stay around while they recover aren't allowed to go to meetings, film sessions or even be physically present at a practice or conditioning exercises. I'll go on record as saying that every team has ignored this rule more than once. Furthermore the CFL knows about it and has turned a blind eye for years. 20 players in this situation (Thanks Atomic for some clarity) is way above normal so I expect the CFL to step in and take action. I don't think they will suspend Jones at all, let alone for a long time. I expect they will add the money the Riders are spending (If they are stupid enough to do it on their books instead of through a secondary person) on extra players to their SMS and to fine the club as per section 8 that Mike posted. If that pushes them far enough over the SMS limit they'll have their 1st round draft pick taken away from them.

I picked against the Bombers in the last 2 weeks and for them this week. Does that make it my fault if we lose?

Who knows how many additional players they have? 10 was just a wild guess just like 95 probably was.

It might be 10 players too, cuz even that would be a lot. I believe that Jones is pushing the limit and the number of players is more than other teams are 'hiding' so it's become an issue. Even the CFL admits to knowing it's happening.

I'm saying getting players jobs that they may not even have to show up to has happened forever in the CFL, even Winnipeg has done it. They used to call it the Taxi Squad. You might want to chat with players we cut but asked not to leave town in case we need them to see how they manage to pay the rent and eat regularly without a job. Most of them are US players. It's a wink wink, nudge nudge situation that everyone knows about. Having unsigned players practicing with the team is where I draw the line. They wouldn't be insured if they got hurt. They wouldn't be protected by the CFLPA. They shouldn't be on the field. BTW: I don't believe the 96 players story. That number doesn't pass the sniff test.

I suspect they are being housed, fed and 'given jobs' by 'Riders Supporters', not technically the team itself. Gives the Riders some plausible deniability. If they are practicing with the team, that's way over the line.

I'm not sure why folks are so surprised. Milt said the Bombers got him a job his first year in the Peg. He thought it was just a job by name, like in college, but they came and woke him up to make sure he made it to work. Maybe Jones is overdoing what other teams have always done. I don't know or even care if they keep extra unsigned players in town. If those players were good enough, they could get a shot on another CFL team. I'm sure it would be more money than they are getting 'off the books' in Regina.

Congrats. You're now the second idiot to do that.

I think we took on significantly more salary than we dropped. You seem to disagree. Yes, I made a mistake with the 250 number for Moore (180) + Denmark (170). (I wonder if some idiot will cut half that line out and use it as their tag line this time as in TBURGESS - I made a mistake.) No one can provide specifics about what to do with the SMS savings. That doesn't make it a bad idea. BTW: 100K of it could go to Nichols playing bonuses if Lawless is correct. I doubt the Bombers accounted for Nichols starting while Willy wasn't on the 6 game. Lets agree to disagree once again. You think it's stupid to get rid of Willy and his stupidly large salary. I think it's stupid to keep Willy with his stupidly large salary. Neither of us is going to convince the other that they're wrong.

What a dumb question. I thought you were smarter than that. Why would any GM save the money only to have it go away at the end of the year. As discussed earlier... Walters would use likely use it to extend players using this years cap which would give us more room next year or to bring in a couple of difference makers to get us over the hump at the end of the season, maybe even to sign a NI draft pick who is currently in the NFL. We went on about a million dollar spending spree in the off season. A. Harris, M. Harris, Smith, Dressler, Shologan, Cummings and Keeping are making more than the guys they replaced. -250K for Moore + Denmark and then we re-signed Denmark so some of that isn't actually off the books. I'd guess we are closer to the top of the SMS than we've ever been since the big 3 took over. One move, cutting Willy, which I know we won't do, would give us an extra 200K or so cushion.

On the radio the other day they were talking about a 22K game day cheque for Willy (I'm not vouching for the accuracy of this statement). That's 396K in game day checks leaving 15K for bonuses. I'll assume a 10K TC bonus that we've already paid out and 5K in performance bonuses that won't be paid out cuz that's how I roll. Willy's a vet. Gotta cut him by week 10 or pay the whole salary IIRC which leaves 10 game day cheques or $220,000 plus the 5K in bonuses he didn't earn for $225K. Take 50K off to promote our PR QB to 3rd string and we're down to 175K of SMS room to do whatever we need to with this year and more than 400K next year

The longer we wait, the more money Willy gets and the less SMS relief we get. If you sign someone for 150K mid-season (Using Mikes numbers rather than debating what neither of us knows for sure), you're paying out 75K for half a season. You'd have to sign someone at 300K to use the whole 150K on half a seasons salary.

I'll go with Messam.

The same folks who snort derisively and laugh at Taman for his SMS mistakes, have no problem with Walters using 400K+ of our SMS on a backup QB. SMH! For the same money, I'd take Willy over the other 2, but the other 2 would be around 175K and Willy's over 400K and yes... That means a lot.

Come on man... Willy was 1-4 this year and was replaced by Nichols for good reasons, yet you want to go back to when he was Durant's backup to make your point. I'm not pretending that he's a worthless player. I'm saying outright that he's an overpaid backup with very limited successes.

That's where you lose me. Willy hasn't proven to be a capable QB except for 5 games back in 2014. For his level of play we could get Brandon Bridge or Dan LeFevour for less than half what we are paying Willy.

I don't think Willy is a great depth QB at the moment. I seriously doubt that time on the pine will result in him being able to turn it around if he's called upon. His contract makes him untradeable, which means other teams wouldn't want him at his current salary. You're happy to pay it because Davis might not be able to get the job done and Bennett might not be a good enough 3rd string QB. Most don't agree with asking Willy to take a pay cut, which limits the options to cut him or keep him. Cut him allows you to use the money for other things. Keep him allows you to have a backup QB who is experienced in losing.

It seems to me that a lot of Willy fans want to keep him around so he can go back in and prove the Nichols fans wrong, no matter the cost. FTR: I don't think it's time to cut Willy yet. It's only been 2 games, but it's certainly time to put a plan in place. Calling Willy a decent backup QB who we have to keep would be great if he was being paid less than half of what he's currently making. He was overpaid as a starter now he's way overpaid. $400+K for a depth player is a ridiculous waste of SMS. I doubt the Bombers will cut Willy because that would highlight the fact that they made a huge mistake in giving him top QB contract before he became a top QB in the first place. I also suspect they still believe in him despite what's happened this year. The SMS space could be used to increase our depth elsewhere or extend the contracts using this years money or bring in upgrades elsewhere.

So that would be a no then.

Did Lulay lose his job while he was healthy? Was Lulay sucking down a top 5 in the league salary? Nope. cause you know, you want one of the top paid players in the league to actually play and earn his huge salary and the money should be used to improve the team.

The 5th highest paid player in the league is our backup QB because his job has been taken by Nichols, but we need to keep him on the roster until the end of the year just in case he turns he game around on the bench or in case our cheaper starter goes down? That's the argument?

It's funny that most people don't want to see Willy anymore because they don't see him as a starter and because he was a big part of the reason we were losing so often. The same people also argue that we have to keep Willy with his ridiculously large contract because he's the only experienced backup we have and we may need him. I don't see how he can be both too bad to start and too good to let go especially at $400-411K.

That game was hard to watch. Ottawa took 14 accepted penalties for 204 yards, while Edmonton chipped in with 13 for 105. Add in stoppages for turnovers and challenges and you end up with a close yawn fest. The Burris rant and the amount of punishment Reilly can take were the highlights. BTW when did they change the rule on hitting the upright on a FG? Used to be if you hit it and it went in you got 3. Hit it and it went into or through the end zone you get 1. Hit it and it comes back out and you get nothing. Now you get nothing if you hit it and it goes in or through the end zone. Could have been the difference in this game.

Cuz Winnipegers are cheap and they don't like the idea of not getting their money's worth out of Willy. Also, it's bad form to have highest paid player on the team being a $400K+ backup insurance policy.