TBURGESS

Yes we do have a special teams coach. Who?

I don't know if Edwards was even protected in the Ottawa draft. He said something at the time that he wanted to retire as a Bomber, which I took to mean he wasn't protected because there would be no reason to bring it up if he was.

Can't say that I like the way the coaching staff is shaping up. Our HC has zero HC or DC or OC experience at any level. Our OC had more than half a season last year to turn things around and didn't. We kept our receivers coach even though our receivers looked best in their first games for us then go downhill from there. Our DC's Mad Scientist ways led to him not being in the CFL since 2010. We don't have a special teams coach yet, but we had one who was top 2 in the league last year. It's not hating. I can see why folks are underwhelmed.

You and me both. He is everything you want in a vet leader.

As usual Captain 20-20 hindsight calls another correct prediction. As usual Mr. Irrelevant has nothing really to say. Last year I chose Edwards as the surprise TC cut and I was wrong. This year I said he'd likely not make it to TC and I was right. Just cuz you didn't see it coming, doesn't mean others were also blind.

Yup. Several folks actually. Good luck to Edwards though. He was a good one.

It's a C+ for me. Randle and Moore are upgrades. Kohlert is the same and Newman is a special teams guy IMHO. Our NI strength is actually worse than last year right now. We didn't pick up any NI starters to replace Muamba's contribution as our best NI last year and we didn't get any O lineman. Losing Sorenson only hurts because that leaves us with Kowalczuk as our centre or converting one of the other NI O Lineman or expecting our 2nd overall pick to start right away. Losing Stewart isn't that big a deal either. Laurent is still in play though. If we pick him up, I'd upgrade us to a B+. Add in Matthews and it would go to an A.

Kelly's an import so he won't be backing up the NI's.

I like the idea of picking up Nick Moore. Decent receiver. Good Size. Not too old. Still has upside.

Now on to Glenn. Please don't trade anything for Glenn. He will be available later on if we want him for nothing. Personally, I don't want Glenn at all right now. Maybe if we start off really badly and we need to change QB's to get some wins after the first 3rd of the season, but not now.

would you even read the answer though? your track record on these things is pretty shaky. Sometimes I don't read everything you type because you've been wrong so often and your obnoxious too. My track record? I'll put mine against yours any day. Lets review. I was against Mack in his last two seasons. Against the Jade and the Pencer draft picks. Wanted Laurent instead of Kito because we needed a DT more than yet another young receiver. Your track record is exactly the opposite. Loved Mack. Argued with anyone who didn't like the Jade or the Pencer draft picks. I can't remember if you wanted Kito or not, but I'm going to guess you supported that move too cuz you loved everything the great and powerful Mack did.

If you're going to continue the conversation, you might as well answer my question.

I hate the idea of losing a DI spot to a kicker.

I was a big Diamond Feri fan when he was in Montreal. Looked to me like he'd lost a step or two in Regina. I hope this rumour isn't true.

what does BD means? Beaten Defender? Big disappointment I thought it was Beaten Deep.

Not surprising. Good luck to him.

Pardon me for not going through each layer of the posts and only answering the last 'point'. If you know they made the best choice with the information they had at the time then the extra available Imports and NI's are red herrings and they make no difference at all to keeping or cutting Glenn. That decision is based on SMS and if they get any trade offers.

Because they were obviously thinking they could turn around and turn Glenn into viable assets. I dunno.. If the bombers or any other team were in their position, would they not draft the BEST unprotected QB they could to Guarantee they have at least one suitable starting QB? Then grabbing another future HOF QB in FA only maked them that much more secure at QB?? I'm not sure i buy that they drafted Glenn in order to trade him.. or that they signed Burris just so they could use Glenn as trade bait. Maybe they did, but is seems like the least likely situation. My guess is that they go into camp with all three QBs and see who produces the most with whatever system they run. One only has to look at our QB situation the last 5 years to realize that if you don't have a CFL quality starting QB your record is gonna be pretty shitty. it's not that they drafted Glenn with the intention of getting Burris and flipping Glenn, it's that when they started to pursue Burris they felt they could do it. Now they're paying 2 starting qbs, one who is angry to not be the starter and one who hates when someone else is breathing down his neck. The Bombers being the only other team that needed a starting qb coming out and saying "yeah we're sticking with willy" is a big FU to Ottawa cause now they've got their qb controversy and they haven't even hit training camp yet. Not sure Ottawa Cares.. They can just CUt Glenn if they want to and its no skin off their back.. Maybe after signing Burris they thought about possibly gettings something for glen via a trade (but what GM wouldn't). Sounds like sour grapes from up bomber fans.. And i wanted Burris.. But i'm not the slightest bit angry or upset with Ottawa.. Naming Willy the starter before training camp is kinda silly and childish if its just to say FU to ottawa. Especially since Willy is unproven and will most likely upset Hall / backup QBs. its really inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.. you don't want to cut glenn though because taking Glenn let Calgary protect more NIs, and wouldn't they have been better off taking one of those NIs than Glenn knowing how things worked out? If they can't turn Glenn into anything then yeah they got qb depth, but they got potential issues with a qb controversy and being an expansion team overall quality and depth will be an issue so they kind of need more variety of assets rather than just depth at one position. You're making the assumption that they knew Burris would be available and that they picked Glenn anyway. That's simply not the case. They could have guessed the Burris was going to be available, and not picked Glenn, but if it turned out they were wrong, they wouldn't have a starting QB. Makes more sense to pick Glenn so they know they have a starting QB and play the Burris card later if it comes up.

what we were actually trying to shout down was this ridiculous notion that he was a failure before he even stepped onto the field. Don't pretend that the hate (yes hate) that some of you showed for the kid was based on anything other than where he was picked in the draft and what your imaginary draft board looked like. It may have started out that way, but you kept it up for 3 freaking years. I personally never hated the kid, but he was a huge stretch where he was picked and he ended up playing 2 good games in 3 years. Every time he caught a ball, the 'I told you so's' came out. You were wrong. I know you won't admit it even now when Jade's not a Bomber. That wasn't Jade hate. It was Mack hate for wasting the 4th overall pick.

The $350 number was the first one I saw on a twitter search and I went with it. A further search shows everything between $250-350K. I DM'd Drew Edwards and asked him but he didn't get back to me. I wish they'd publish the real numbers so we wouldn't have to guess or choose the number we think it might be.

Everyone looked poorly prepared. O'Shea shouldn't have jumped in to say 'Willy's the starter' he should have let Willy answer the question. Are we happy with the QB situation? O'Shea is really happy. Walters then says we are always looking to upgrade every position including QB. Which is it? Figure out what the message is going to be before you get asked and get everyone on the same page. WIlly wasn't our plan C, it just looks that way because of the way is shook out? Really? Everyone in the CFL knows that Burris @ $450+K then Collaros @ 350+K were ranked as the #1 and #2 available QB's even if there is some disagreement about which is 1 and which is 2. Everyone also knows that the Bombers offered both Burris and Collaros more than WIlly. We got the 3rd best QB for the least amount of money. Sounds like plan C to me. Willy said uh more than anything else. A little media practise for him, but the story of his college team going from 0 wins to a bowl game was a great answer, so there's hope.

I liked Stewart, but he was always inconsistent. I'd hope that the Bombers would have told him they weren't going to keep him if that's in fact true. Always better to let folks know what's going on as soon as possible. I never like Jade. He was a huge stretch where he was picked and he only had 2 good games in his 3 year career. A lot of folks around here were pulling for him and would try to shout down everyone who said otherwise. If he makes the Riders, it won't be as a starter.

I guess they are waiting to see if they get a better offer.

It's not about the stats for me. It's about watching the QB's play. Only 4 young guns have made me think 'Starting CFL QB' in the last few years, Smith, Reilly, BLM and Collaros in that order. Willy is better than Hall and Goltz and the best available QB so he is a good pickup, even if he is our 3rd choice. Thats not the same thing as being excited that we just signed our QB of the future. Willy looked pretty good going through his progressions behind the Riders O line, but he was taking 4+ seconds to get the deep balls off which he won't have behind our O line. It's going to be very interesting to see if he can make the right decisions quicker behind our O line. I'm cautiously optimistic that Willy will play OK for a first year starter, but that's hardly anything to get excited about.

Good trade. Jade, I've only played 2 good games in my 3 year career, for Willy who will take the next big step in his career to starting QB. Even if Willy isn't any better than Hall or Goltz, and I believe he is better, it's still a good deal for us.