JuranBoldenRules

Beck is another dancing QB out of BYU. What's with the fadeaway throws? He leans back when he's throwing half the time, and he's not really under pressure. Not a lot of encouraging new CFL QB prospects this year so far.

If it were affiliated with the NFL and they were willing to take a big loss for several years but help them find good venues and put the games on television it would have a shot. The problem is that the minor league for football and basketball in the US is the NCAA, and nothing can ever really compete. In both sports there have been loads of minor leagues and teams come and go with none really having any longevity, other than arena football.

What's "experimental football?"

I wonder if they'll dress Carrier and Taylor. Taylor has looked pretty bad, putting balls on the turf too.

The classic preseason downing of a punt by a clueless American rookie.

Doesn't help when his receivers don't finish their routes.

Kinda like Chavon Walker. 3 times in this game if he just finishes a run by dropping forward he has Ottawa in 3rd and less than a yard if not 1st and 10, but each time he cut back again to try to get outside and each time they ended up punting. Even when he has a good game he has to drive his coaches insane.

I think he'll last the season. They pushed all the chips into the middle of the table with that scheme, in terms of the players they've recruited and the positional coaches, Martin, McDiarmid and Scheper are Etcheverry's coaching posse. Now that I think for a second, Jackson might be one of Etcheverry's guys too.

I'm not saying success or failure as a whole. I'm just saying as far as the class of rookie imports goes, it's pretty underwhelming. One thing I will say, this is the CFL - a lot of you tend to forget that. Sorry guys, I love the sport, and I love our game, and I love our league. But for the upteenth time, we are not a MAJOR league. We are not viewed that way. I won't call us a 'bush' league, not by a long shot, but we are not the answer to anyones prayers. My point? Mike, the best imports aren't here yet my friend. They're with Henoc, chasing their 'dreams' in the NFL. I think our import talent was fine. I also think come late August/September when the NFL cuts start you'll find more players coming that we can 'upgrade' with. That's just a CFL fact, not bias, not an 'opinion', but fact. Except all those guys who were cut in August the last 3 years are looking for work. It's not as concrete as you present it in terms of how and when guys come north. Besides, how often do we see guys actually step in in September and make an impact? Someone help me out here because I don't remember many. Greg Carr. He's about the only one I can think of. Him too, and IIRC he didn't even get into a NFL main camp the year he signed with the Bombers, same as Hunt. So they weren't really NFL cuts, just guys who were waiting for a call.

I'm not saying success or failure as a whole. I'm just saying as far as the class of rookie imports goes, it's pretty underwhelming. One thing I will say, this is the CFL - a lot of you tend to forget that. Sorry guys, I love the sport, and I love our game, and I love our league. But for the upteenth time, we are not a MAJOR league. We are not viewed that way. I won't call us a 'bush' league, not by a long shot, but we are not the answer to anyones prayers. My point? Mike, the best imports aren't here yet my friend. They're with Henoc, chasing their 'dreams' in the NFL. I think our import talent was fine. I also think come late August/September when the NFL cuts start you'll find more players coming that we can 'upgrade' with. That's just a CFL fact, not bias, not an 'opinion', but fact. Except all those guys who were cut in August the last 3 years are looking for work. It's not as concrete as you present it in terms of how and when guys come north. Besides, how often do we see guys actually step in in September and make an impact? Someone help me out here because I don't remember many. Last guy here would have been Philip Hunt I think.

Jackson has coached special teams in the past too, also with Ottawa in CIS.

I'm not saying success or failure as a whole. I'm just saying as far as the class of rookie imports goes, it's pretty underwhelming. One thing I will say, this is the CFL - a lot of you tend to forget that. Sorry guys, I love the sport, and I love our game, and I love our league. But for the upteenth time, we are not a MAJOR league. We are not viewed that way. I won't call us a 'bush' league, not by a long shot, but we are not the answer to anyones prayers. My point? Mike, the best imports aren't here yet my friend. They're with Henoc, chasing their 'dreams' in the NFL. I think our import talent was fine. I also think come late August/September when the NFL cuts start you'll find more players coming that we can 'upgrade' with. That's just a CFL fact, not bias, not an 'opinion', but fact. Except all those guys who were cut in August the last 3 years are looking for work. It's not as concrete as you present it in terms of how and when guys come north.

No, just expecting to see more quality players. Too many easy cuts IMO.

An edge rusher would have been nice too, to complement Vega. We settled on CFL average players in a couple spots, hopefully they continue auditioning guys throughout the season and aren't too loyal to guys like Peach and Kelly.

Oh good. A 35 year old Korey Banks and an MLB who no one else wanted. what about randle? willy? moore? newman? eventhough he is hurt. Unless a starting qb, starting cb and starting receiver isn't good enough. Can i ask you an honest question? What exactly did you expect from this regime in one off season? for them to completely over haul the team? Cuz i don't think that was likely, our main issue is our lack of non import depth, that can't and won't be fixed any time soon, that will take time through drafting. Do you think Winnipeg was high on the list of free agent destinations? We were the joke of the league last season, it's going to take some time to get rid of that reputation. You don't lose that reputation over a few months, it's going to take a few years. We were 3-15 last season, most free agents in every sport wont sign with a team that Sucked. We sucked. It sucks that we sucked but, before going and writing this new group off, should probably give them a chance first. None of those excuses matter when it comes to import competition, talking rookies, not veteran CFL free agents. 99% of the time they have no say in where they end up in the CFL if they decide to pursue the CFL, they could care less about the history of the Blue Bombers. This is the worst competition among import spots I can remember since Taman ended up running the show solo after Ritchie was fired, basically the only solid competition was at DB, and Maher was a good option too. Import scouting and procurement is something a front office can really control, whereas the non-import issue is a longer term solution of drafting and developing. Hopefully some of the rookie imports who made the team show us a little more when the games count.

It's hard to remember a training camp where not a single rookie DL really stood out, yet we cut a guy like McAdoo who looked decent in real games last year.

Is he the rush end from Ohio State? That guy made Jarvis Jones look like a Winnipeg Rifle tossed into a pro game in the first pre-season game.

Dumas played most of the second half in Calgary at safety.

I can't wait to see how our secondary (including OLB's) shakes out. Outside of Washington and Randle, I could see almost any combination of the guys left filling the other spots. They might have to one game IR some guys like Bruce Johnson and Mo Leggett to keep them around. Dumas and Unamba seem like PR candidates.

I'm surprised 4 imp OL are on the roster, and 10 imp DB's, while Johnson, Reed, Urrutia (although he's still listed on the roster) were outright cut. There's going to need to be a lot of manoeuvring still.

What about one where you are not trying to push the pocket? That's the defensive equivalent of saying "why would we want a centre who snaps the ball?" Unless the tackles are going to run back and cover receivers every down, you need guys to move the line and fill gaps. If Ted Laurent was interested in being a Blue Bomber, we wouldn't be having this discussion.

Lefty Can anyone recall the last good CFL QB who was a lefty, other than Stefan LeFors of course? I can't.

Some people are saying that is a failure on recruiting…what if it's success by Kelly? The Bombers last successful days, Jamie Stoddard was a mainstay at 5th WR. A sticky hands guy without much flash that just caught whatever was thrown to him as a 5th receiver. Why not Kelly? Kelly is not that type of receiver at all, and he's an import. A WR who doesn't do anything on routes coming into the field just isn't of much value and will limit the offence, unless he was an all-world deep threat, which he isn't despite that being his strength. Kelly is more like a Chad Plummer, if you want a comparable from that era.

LOL. he ain't coming here, if anywhere he's going back to hamilton. I don't disagree that he probably wont come here but why would you say he would go back to Hamilton? Read the tweet.

Lawless makes me laugh. We should record this date and then wait for his first article tearing the regime he loves so much apart. He changes his strong opinions weekly, just look at the Kane column this week.