Doublezero

There is going to be good competition at virtually every position. I'm most interested to see who emerges DB WR and OL. Would not be surprised to see at least one more WR and RB before camp - ex Purdue receiver Gary Bush? We have so many Canadian coaches who know this 3-down, wider field, offensive motion game inside out. So it seems likely that some very talented American players could lose jobs to Canadian players that are not quite so skilled technique-wise but who are athletic, work hard and have 3-down football smarts and pedigree. It seems work ethic and attitude will go a long way with this new regime. On OL I thought Jarvis Jones and Dan Knapp looked good for us in limited action last season. We look to be building some NI depth on the OL so Jones and Knapp could be among those on the bubble. On D, I can't imagine our defence without both Sears and Washington but you never know, players like Sears and even Suber could be in trouble since the competition looks to be so much improved.

Wow. Disappointed to see Tyrell Parker released. I liked the way he brought it. Unless he can't pass a physical, I'm sure another club will sign him.

I hope so!

If he is healthy Terrell Parker could be it. He looked good last year before he got nicked. Seems he has been working very hard offseason to rehab and come back in perfect shape and 100% healthy. I sure like what I saw of him fleetingly last season.

If you watch really carefully you can see he favours his left knee ever so slightly on the rollout sprint. If you didn't know he'd injured it, his guarding of that joint would be unnoticeable. It shouldn't be a problem since he plants with his right leg. I actually like this kid's mechanics. Good foot speed. Good accurate arm. Looking forward to seeing him on the clock and under fire.

Max Hall was starting to grasp 3-down football in the latter part of last season and his play improved as Bombers O-line got its act slightly together. I think he's a smart QB who was put in a very tough situation in Winnipeg. He was Bombers starter for about half the games last season and has played more CFL downs than all our other QBs put together. Hall also showed he is willing to stand in there and take some pretty hellacious hits. I disagree with those who say he has a noodle arm - if he gets into a rhythm he can be effective. I'm looking forward to seeing him improve with MB's offensive makeover and a year of experience under his belt. Here's a recent radio clip where he talks about about a bunch of things, including the differences between CFL and NFL, and says he's looking forward to the coming season: http://www.1320kfan.com/common/page.php?pt=Former+BYU+QB+Max+Hall+On+Monty+In+The+Morning&id=4563&is_corp=0

Don't forget his attitude. Doesn't matter if you win or not. Always sounds like he doesn't mind losing. Very disappointed to hear Walters & Co. have expressed even the slightest interest in KG. This hugely diminishes my confidence in their judgment. What kind of message does it send to Drew Willy, who is our #1 QB, according to O'Shea, and who is earning starters $$$? I'd be wondering if this regime is trustworthy. Also shows the new regime is out of touch with the experience Bombers had with KG first time around. It was too bad we didn't get anything for him when Kelly cut him loose, but so many fans were ecstatic to see him go. KG is a me-first heartbreaker who always, always, disappoints at clutch-time. Having him here would be a terrible distraction (thousands would be booing every time he trots on the field) and any playing time he got would take away from the development of our future QBs. I'm sure this has been put to rest now that Pierce is aboard as coach, but I am officially alarmed by the questionable decision to go after Glenn.

I completely agree with this post.

Anyone know why Brohm was on Hammy's 9-game injured list? What was the injury? What's the prognosis for full recovery? Why didn't he play after returning to the line-up?

Korey Banks is doing a great job of promoting the Bombers. Looks like Lewis has his option year left with CGY. Later tweet he said let's not get ahead of ourselves. But if he was available - would we have cap room? And where would he fit? We look to be set at SB. Lewis is a steamroller though, even if Huffer thinks he has lost a step.

If Lulay's rehab is on schedule he may be ready for TC iirc. Yes but wouldn't Glenn be much better insurance then Pierce/Elliott? With the Glenn gets released scenario, BC might go after him but I don't think Glenn would want to sign there and be stuck behind Lulay. The question is, where could he sign where he wouldn't stand behind someone else. BC: Lulay Edmonton: Reilly Calgary: Tate/BLM Regina: Durant Winnipeg: Willy Ottawa: Burris Hamilton: Collaros Toronto: Ray Montreal: Smith Montreal or Winnipeg might be the only possibility (with a slight tilt to Montreal because they haven't come out and said Smith is the starter...at least I don't remember them doing that) if they're willing to let him start for the year to allow Willy or Smith a little more time to develop. Montreal has a lot invested in Troy Smith. He will start. Expect him to be a bright light this year. Where that leaves Glenn, who knows? Personally I wouldn't want him in a Winnipeg uniform again.

First we NEED a RB... seeing as simpson and ford have not been re-signed. You can't seriously be worried that we're not going to find running backs...that's the easiest of all... Worried that we can fin a Rb? No. Worried we are going to find a great running back that can run out in the open, up the gut and can block? Yup. RB are easiest to find, but finding great RB isn't easy. Ford and Simpson aren't great running backs either. I agree neither Ford nor Simpson have been great for us. Interesting that of the 99 RBs in Indianapolis Colts history, Simpson is ranked 36th. Another RB who came to us via the Colts was Ronald Humphrey (during the Reinebold era in 1997) but he got cut at training camp, which was held in Portage la Prairie. Humphrey was a power back and is ranked 45th best RB in Colts history. I think quick, slashing-style runners like Roberts and Sheets are better suited to CFL ball than the NFL style power backs. I would think for sure Bellefeueille can, and will, handle the RB coaching. Here's the link to Colts rankings http://www.fantasyfootballchallenge.com/32-14-2/indianapolis-colts-running-backs.html

MB's offences are heavily run-centric. And he's a former RB himself, if I recall. Definitely he will be able to help the backs and coach them up to learn 3-down ball on a wide field.

If he can get himself into position to just get in the way some of the time he'd be better than any NI we played at safety last season. That's a bit harsh, but not too harsh. JJ was inserted at Safety for a game or two. Wasn't bad there, considering. (Sorry just re-read that you meant NI's). Yes, a bit harsh. But not too harsh.

Ditto. Parker really brought it before hurting his knee.

OK I am looking at Nelson Martin's track record and from what I can see Martin was DB coach with Etcheverry and Mike Scheper who coached a ferocious Sask defence in 2009, where they led the league in forced fumbles, QB sacks and a pile of other defensive categories. Also in 2010 he was with Riders and then most recently two years DB coach with Hammy. Plus he has a Grey Cup ring as a player. What am I missing? Looks like Etcheverry wants to put much of the 2009 Riders defensive coaching crew back together. What's not to like, they coached a successful, relentless D. We should be so lucky: McDiarmid - maybe he bounces around because he is in demand. What am I missing?

Himebauch or Wylie as OL coach makes me feel very comfortable, but Himebauch doesn't have any experience as a CFL OC. As for the defense, I think Etcheverry is the least of our concerns. McDiarmid and Martin, especially the latter, worry me. Why would McDiarmid and Martin worry you?

Wow, certainly lots of Canadian content and 3 down football knowledge on this Winnipeg Football Club, probably more Canadian coaches/managers than any other team in the CFL: Wade Miller, Kyle Walters, Ted Goveia, Mike O'Shea, Marcel Bellefeuille, Pat Tracey, Markus Howell, along with Nelson Martin and Cory McDiamid if report above is correct. Obviously Walters/O'Shea have purposely recruited a complement of experienced Canadians who understand the nuances of 12 men, 3 downs, 110 x 65 yards and the 20-second clock, because they've been playing/coaching the game for years. It is a different game from US ball.

I think they might feel like Terrell Parker is their solution in the middle. Parker's been working hard to rehab that torn knee. I liked what I saw from him last year before he went down. He could be great for us.

Wouldn't be surprised to see Glenn back in Calgary. Would we then want Tate?

It wasn't Kyle Walters' best day: he seemed unprepared, impatient and rattled. He should have anticipated the questions about Burris/Collaros and whether Willy was Plan A B or C. Still, you can't let a few ignorant reporters get under your skin, no matter how confrontational and seemingly stupid their questions. For years the Bombers have failed to offer this marketplace a competitive team. The local media will be confrontational and critical until there's solid evidence that the new management regime has begun to turn things around.

Drew Willy was always in the mix for us since he was a pending FA, and, personally, I'd rather have a young guy with some promise, maybe, than Burris or Glenn, even if it means another year of pain. I like ZC because he is more mobile and lets go of the ball quicker than Willy. Its not surprising McManus likes DW - they are pocket passers, both. I thought we had a chance at Collaros but I don't see not getting him as a failure, it seems for whatever reason, he didn't consider Wpg an option. Looking around the league, I expect Troy Smith will tear it up this year, along with BLM if he can stay healthy in Calgary. Honestly Collaros could catch fire or bust in Ham, who knows? Lulay and Reilly, meh. I haven't heard much about Levi Brown who was on our practice roster and who I assume will be invited to Bomber TC to compete. Turns out Brown and Willy are good pals, since both were on the Sask roster for 2012 and part of 2013 before Brown was released: So they will be glad to be together again in Winnipeg. Here's what I wonder: if he shows so much promise - why didn't SK try harder to keep Drew Willy? And what about Levi Brown? He played for Cortez in Buffalo and Regina but also was deemed expendable. What do we know that SK doesn't?

Inclined to agree about Max Hall. His arm strength is fine. In fact, he can really rifle the ball into tight places with some accuracy. His reads got better as the season progressed. He took some hellacious hits and didn't break. Look the circus that was going on around him with a coordinator who knew squat about 3-down ball. He's just not very mobile. My worry about Bombers taking on a QB such as Nichols is that Edm is just looking to free up cap room by dumping Nichols to get into a bidding war for someone like Drew Willy. And I am not convinced Wpg should go after Willy either. We would likely overpay.

I was a huge Joe Mack supporter and remain so. He made a mistake right off the bat by hiring Lapo. And he kept Lapo around as HC longer than he should have. But who was to know? Wouldve taken some unusual backbone to fire Lapo after we accidently backed into a GC appearance in 2011. But that is when Lapo shouldve been turfed, immediately after 2011 not almost 1/2 way thru 2012. Joe Mack made another mistake by not challenging Burke on the decision to allow Lapo's surrogate OC, Gary Crowton, who had no CFL experience, to run the offence coming into this season. That included Crowton's decision to cut both Brink and Elliott which probably wouldn't have occurred if they had dumped Crowton end of last year and gone with an OC with CFL experience. So Burke shouldve been challenged on that decision. Joe Mack also failed to fix the QB problem quickly enough for the mob-pandering BOD. So those are the glaring mistakes. The talent level on Joe Mack's Bombers is hugely better than whqat we had, and much better than the win-loss record shows. I can see why he was fired but I don't agree with it. The team was getting very close to turning things around.

I believe Simpson is fast enough to successfully run outside, though he does seem to trip on his own momentum quite often - but that is simply not being patient enough to let he play develop. If you've always been a power-style runner who is forcing the outsdie this will happen. But IMHO Bombers should be doing exactly what they are doing, that is running sweeps to the outside - even more than they have done - to counter opposing D's who are stacking the box on us. We haven't had success running inside for that very reason. And we haven't had success running outside because we don't use misdirection to freeze LBs and we almost never pitch to the RB. I wonder why there isn't more disguise or creativity. When the field is 65 yards wide you should be able to succeed around the end when you're seal blocking.