AKAChip

Brandon Banks is DONE. It's a beautiful sight.

I don't like to make excuses but the punt return TD was almost entirely Medlock's fault. Terrible punt with backspin caused the cover teams to be both off balance and backing off to prevent a no yards call. That was going to be a disaster the moment it left his foot.

Marcus Ball is a petulant child. Perhaps being in the NFL got to his head. There is no excuse for taking that penalty for removing his helmet on the field of play. Selfish, costly and worst of all, completely avoidable.

I like this D a lot. Randle and Heath deserve all the praise they get and thensome. Nevis and Johnson as well. Was pleased with all of Knox, Jeffcoat and Alexander. I was skeptical of how Knox would do at WIL but perhaps he can play the position similarly to Bighill as a natural MLB. Still do not like Lankford but I'll lay off him tonight. It is starting to be clear that this is a solid team with a less than solid QB and offensive coordinator. Not sure that's changing at this point.

Lapo and Nichols are the cure for insomnia.

Looks like Boltus to me.

Bruce Johnson was a safety.

Perhaps it's that you earlier claimed he "looked terrible" and now say he's merely not good enough. Seems like you are fond of hyperbole. I think Wild is average to good, not great and we are replacing him with someone better suited to MLB thus I see the injury as a bad thing. I also find it odd that you seem so against everything and everyone "mediocre" yet you have a deep affection for Matt Nichols.

I hate Lankford so much.

Next 10 would have included Zylstra, Sutton, Rainey, Loffler, Okpo, Law, Gavins, Johnson, Jefferson and Darvin Adams in some order.

I strongly disagree but you are entitled to your opinion. I'd be happy to see your list.

In my opinion, and I will stress it is my opinion, just being a QB does not give you a place in the top 50. Nichols in my mind is not a top 50 player in the league. Top 70, maybe.

I would argue that he is.

It's been three games, you dolt. If I were going to put another Rider receiver in there it would be Holley even before Grant.

I didn't really care to worry about nationality when making this list but the international talent in the league is far more plentiful than the national. But since you asked, the top 20 nationals in the CFL right now: 1. Jerome Messam 2. Alex Singleton 3. Ted Laurent 4. Cleyon Laing 5. Jamaal Westerman 6. Andrew Harris 7. Taylor Loffler 8. Spencer Wilson 9. Dan Federkiel 10. Tyler Holmes 11. Nolan McMillan 12. Zack Evans 13. Sukh Chungh 14. Brad Sinopoli 15. Ryan Bomben 16. Lemar Durant 17. Brandon Revenberg 18. Justin Sorensen 19. Rene Paredes 20. Nic Demski

This is probably a weird time for this but I was bored and inspired to make a list of my own personal top 50 CFL players. This was an extremely difficult venture and comparing players of who play different positions is almost an impossible and pointless task but it would be cool if a number of us made personal lists for comparison's sake. A few things I noticed: - I was surprised at how talent poor Ottawa's current roster is. I was not surprised how talent poor Montreal and Saskatchewan's rosters were. - I am definitely biased towards the Bomber players I like and against those I don't. - Ranking offensive linemen is very difficult. - We are in a very dark age for running backs due to a very pass heavy league plus injuries. - I could not help but put Victor Butler on the list despite only playing 3 career games. He's that good. - I tried to ignore injuries Without further ado: 1. Bo Levi Mitchell 2. Mike Reilly 3. Solomon Elimimian 4. Charleston Hughes 5. Emmanuel Arceneaux 6. Adarius Bowman 7. DaVaris Daniels 8. John White 9. Jerome Messam 10. Ernest Jackson 11. Abdul Kanneh 12. Greg Ellingson 13. Derek Dennis 14. Alex Singleton 15. TJ Heath 16. Bryan Burnham 17. Chris Williams 18. Naaman Roosevelt 19. Ted Laurent 20. Moe Leggett 21. Justin Medlock 22. Jamar Wall 23. Louchiez Purifoy 24. Emanuel Davis 25. SJ Green 26. John Chick 27. Almonds Sewell 28. Jon Jennings 29. Cleyon Laing 30. SirVincent Rogers 31. Shawn Lemon 32. Trevor Harris 33. Jamaal Westerman 34. Jovan Olafioye 35. Victor Butler 36. Travis Bond 37. Micah Johnson 38. Chris Randle 39. Forrest Hightower 40. Bear Woods 41. Ricky Ray 42. Brandyn Thompson 43. Luke Tasker 44. Duron Carter 45. Weston Dressler 46. Zach Collaros 47. Marquay McDaniel 48. Terrence Toliver 49. JC Sherritt 50. Drake Nevis 51. Andrew Harris

I genuinely think Ottawa is a bad team this year. They lost a LOT of talent.

You clearly miss the point. Nevis was a Hamilton find. I am also looking forward to seeing what Jeffcoat can do but as of right now, he has proven nothing. Knox has been here for over a year now and could not beat out Hurl for a starting job.

First of all, Washington wasn't a find. He was on Edmonton's PR last year. I don't think he's any good anyway but that's not the point. I also would not say Carmichael was a "beast" at linebacker in preseason. Perhaps in training camp but not particularly in the games. Third, my intention isn't to overreact or jump to crazy conclusions, I just think this is a fair criticism of Bomber management. Not every criticism is "crazy".

I would agree. In Walters' first year he found Leggett and Bruce Johnson. Since then...

Washington is a lot like Aaron Kelly. Both are in the Greg Carr category. Big, can run a bit but very awkward in their motion.

Right. This isn't a thread solely about Walters or other GMs. It is a statement on the team's ability to recruit imports new to the CFL in general.

I don't hold the GM directly responsible. Like I said, McManus should take a lot of the blame but Walters is responsible to a large degree.

I understand that this is somewhat of a tired topic but I feel like it is not unreasonable to revisit it for the new season. Even as someone skeptical of Kyle Walters' ability as a GM, I can admit he has done a few things well. His trades have for the most part been big wins, he has addressed the team's needs well in free agency and his drafting has been fine. His (and by extension McManus') ability to bring in rookie imports, however, can be described as disappointing at best. Of the 17 import starters and two specialists from the game last night, five were players who were brought into the league by this regime. The others were either free agent signings (Adams, Dressler, Nevis, Medlock, Hardrick, Bryant, Okpo), acquired by trade (Randle, Heath, Nichols), other teams' cuts (Langford, Washington) or from the previous regime (Denmark, Wild). Of the five actual recruits (Leggett, Johnson, Carmichael, Alexander and Bond), two are bonafide stars and the other three it is too early to say. Even if Carmichael is looking to be a bum already. Is it not odd that well into his fourth year as GM, Walters' team is only starting five of his original finds? I would also count Bruce Johnson but if he were healthy, Carmichael would not be playing so that still brings the total to five. I realize there is more to being a good GM than finding new import talent but it just seems ridiculous to me that Walters gets off the hook for this. Since I don't want to compare his work to a GM that has been around for much longer like Huf or Wally, though I still think that would be fair game, I'll do a brief comparison to the recently fired Ed Hervey. From just the last few years he brought in Derel Walker, Aaron Grymes, Dexter McCoil, Zylstra, Kenny Ladler, John White and James Frankin and this is just off the top of my head. And yes, not all of them are still on the Esks but those who aren't got NFL deals. The last two Bombers who got NFL deals were McDuffie and Wild. Neither Walters' finds.

Nah he's back.