James

yes, it is interesting... really makes you see how serious he is about the organization. I'm feelin the love as a bomber fan. tis very noble of him!

Sweet

Well, B.C. is reportedly trying to sign Harris to an extension... so we will see how serious Andrew is about coming home in the near future.

I wonder if they'll get Anderson To bulk up a bit and play a more traditional NT role this year? He'd easily be the fastest NT in the league

Ford is still a good RB... He's just not a marquee guy that you build a franchise around. I'm happy to have him back... Will be a good DI for us.

again.... Yuck. Im ok with sitting Anderson for a guy like Ted, but when it comes to guys like Jake Thomas and Ryan Lucas.... not so much.

McCune is 35 years old and is not the be all end all at MLB. Like RB, MLB is fairly easy to recruit for. If we could get him at a decent price and groom one of our young guys for the year McCune has left I the tank.... fantastic. But if we lose out on him I think your going to be the only one that's truly disappointed. The guy I really want.... even More so than Kevin Glenn, is Ted Laurent. I sincerely hope that we over pay him to the point where he's the highest paid D-lineman in the league if that's what it takes to get him here. I do not want to have to start Neufeld or Swiston at Tackle.... What a disaster for a young up and coming QB IMO. Either that or we have to sit someone like Johnny Sears or Chris Randle for the likes of Matt Bucknor or Donovan Alexander.... yuck

I don't think West makes it out of Camp... Could be proven wrong. I wonder if we try and trade Muamba now?

As bad as Boatmen is/was... he was actually a breath of fresh air at the time because of how bad the Tackle before him was. Can't remember his name, but it was pretty historical.

I was always frustrated that the bombers were grooming Swiston at G. This blog really makes me more confident in my analysis of him. I like that Pencer and Swiston are both good prospects at both Guard and Tackle. Makes me feel a little better about the immediate future of the O-line. Hopefully the current coaching staff will groom Swiston at OT and hopefully Goosen or Lavertu can really live up to their hype for us at Center. Then we should be ok as long as we keep drafting OL every year. Thanks for the great read JBR!

I'd certainly take Alexander over who we have currently.... Let's see if the GM shares this opinion.

I'd be fairly excited if we signed him... will give which ever one of our prospects we choose as our future some time to learn the game properly before being thrown in the fire.

If MSW came back and managed to stay healthy, we would have the best receivers in the league.

I think they might feel like Terrell Parker is their solution in the middle. I was wondering that same thing. He'd be a hell of an athletic MLB with great coverage skills for that position... Very assignment sound as well. The only concerns I would have would be, is he physical enough? and durability.

Only way I want a Canadian at RB is if it's Harris. What's going on with Noel Devine? if he'd come fairly cheap I'd be interested in him. I'd much rather have a back up RB returning than a back up receiver. He'd be an awesome RB to have in certain packages as well.

Would Goosen project to be a good Guard in the CFL though?

Its good to know we'll at least be getting a good Center prospect.

has Ted Laurent signed an NFL contract yet?

Mack just didn't put enough emphasis on the O-line is his drafting... other than that he was pretty solid in that regard... Lie 17 said he was just horrible at picking coaches, also too stubborn... not using FA AT ALL cost this team a bit.

Very different. First off, the QB-centre exchange is the most important skill in football. You can't do anything without it. You can't just plug anyone in at centre and expect them to be able to get the ball to the QB at a CFL level, which is the problem with guys like Kowalczuk and Parenteau etc. That is a huge skill in and of itself. The centre makes some calls to protections, but this is way overrated in Canadian football, most plays have the protections built in and basically what both the centre and QB both do is count how many guys are inside the tackles and which gap the defence is centered on, basically what they are playing as the strong side, which 99% of the time mirrors the offence or the width of the field anyways. This is different than American football, mostly the strong side of the field down south depends on the strong hand of the QB since the field is not nearly as wide. This is most of what the calls are, and the protection adjusts based on it, but every guy can see that when they look up, and if you're playing somewhere noisy, there's not a lot you can change at the line. Everyone is watching for potential blitzers, that mostly falls on the QB to make a call to react to that. adjust a route. OL have to block from their inside gaps out and do their best to take whoever comes...that's why you'll often see guys coming off the edge free when a defence sends more than 5. When you see guys come free through the 4 middle gaps, that means someone really screwed up, either took the wrong block or got completely dominated physically. Zone run blocking, it doesn't matter where the defence lines up or how many, they are blocking gaps and chipping upfield. Zone plays head to a side of the field, not a specific gap, you're basically creating a 3 on 2 situation for your blockers all along the LOS on the play side, allowing at least one of those guys to chip and get to the next level to take a LB or HB. The RB reacts and finds the opening. So really a centre doesn't call anything there, every OL needs to read their initial block and come out of their stance properly to get that done. The first 3 steps are key, can't waste any if you need to get upfield, or get a bit wider. I guess it depends what you think a sub-par lineman is. IMO, most of the centres in the league lately have all been subpar, meaning they'd really suck if you moved them to another spot where they actually ended up blocking someone 1 on 1 on the majority of snaps. But that's where the snapping part comes in, a guy who can snap very well and consistently can make a career, even if he struggles to make a block. Just look at a guy like Dominic Picard. If I had a dime for everytime he's literally been carried through the pocket by a DT, I could pay for my season tickets this year. Mostly you're just hoping they can be a good speed bump. Guards need to be more mobile, presumably you want them to be able to get to the 2nd level (LB's, HB's) in run blocking, although there are enough guys around the league lately that don't really have that ability (Kabongo for one). They both need to be smart enough to know where their block is and guards need to be patient enough in pass protection to not give up their inside gaps. Patience in OL is a sign of intelligence and football smarts IMO. This is really what the blitz is all about, challenging the OL to give up their inside gaps and a more direct route to the QB, the QB can read the outside rush, when it's coming right at him there's not much he can do. dude.... nice! you a coach or something? Play in the CIS maybe?

Hamilton signed Myddleton correct? what are they going to do with him? they already have O'neil, Dyakowski, Wojt amoung many other decent prospects for depth. Maybe we can nab one of these guys in a trade!?!?

I've been saying for a while that our biggest weaknesses were OL DB and QB... Looks like Walters has already addressed 2 of the 3. Lets see what he can do about the OL.

I also don't agree with the attitude bit... But the man is a shadow of his former self... He's not good enough anymore

What about Hogue? Not interested in him?

I too am excited to see Robertson... Regarding Cauchy, I'm with Mike on this one... Don't cut him... give him a chance to bounce back and improve. Regarding the safety position, I'd like to see us use Banks there as the starter. That way, we have an injury, Banks steps up to fill in, Cauchy steps in to play Safety. Don't have to use a DI spot and don't have to use guys like Robertson or Bucknor in the Secondary