GCn20

I believe that when MBT was released by us, someone in the press said an insider had informed them it wasn't due to his football ability. Take that for what you will as to what it means, but after a couple years elsewhere I formed a theory that many share.

Elgersma is up against two far superior 4 down QBs. He literally has zero chance in the UFL of starting. Makes no sense either way other than getting a paycheque while waiting for this mythical NFL interest to come around.

I don't know league wide, but Liam Dobson did the full tour including wanting to play in the USFL before finally arriving here. We had the exact same conversations regarding his want to be here prior to him finally signing as we are having now with Elgersma. I believe we waited a full year before he finally signed. Had the USFL been able to get him a PVisa to play, we likely wouldn't have seen him in 2022 either. I am not sure the UFL is better at getting these visas for NATs now, and that is likely the reason we have not seen Elgersma in the UFL. Dobson had signed a 2 year contract with the USFL that was nullified when they couldn't secure him a PVisa. At the time the USFL contracts only allowed outs to the NFL. That's how close we came to losing a 3rd overall pick. The reason cited for choosing the USFL was that it was only 9k less than the NAT draftee rookie contract but had half the number of games, and wrapped up before NFL TCs. This is the biggest notable draftee I can think of off hand, but I am sure there are others who have taken a similar approach prior to the CFL. Sage Doxtater and Paris Shand are other notable high picks that kicked around the spring leagues prior to the CFL. In Shand's case he just signed his first CFL contract recently.

I get the league's want for cost certainty but it is ridiculous for that quest to be attached to coaching, and NAT draftees. NAT draftees, quality ones, are an issue in this league and having reduced capacity for quality coaching and recruitment just waters down our league's talent base as well. We increased our overall salary cap, yet we can't find a proper wage scale for valuable commodities like coaching and NAT draftees. It's, as you put it, bush. You don't have to compete with the NFL salary wise, but you can't pigeon hole a NAT draftee for 3 years of his career either. Guys will go to the UFL instead or take flyers on weak NFL interest. We've seen it, we are seeing it, it's a problem. It's not imaginary. The top of our draft classes are choosing to chase the NFL despite very weak interest in them. Elgersma is not the first high draft pick we've waited to go through NFL interest then the UFL before coming here.

Elgersma has never indicated that he would only play CFL East. Mulumba had the advantage of having actually made money in the NFL, so the CFL was take it or leave it. Elgersma, if he wants to play professional, has one real choice and no money banked to play games about it. Not the same at all.

Unfortunately, our rookie NAT draft scale dictates what we can offer him....and it ain't much. So S27 may have somewhat of a point. He isn't shitting on the CFL per se, but he is definitely not interested in our NAT draft contract. It is a 3 year contract and pays peanuts, one way out is to stick on an NFL roster/PR for one season, after that teams can negotiate their own financial terms and this is a possible reason he is trying so hard to just get an NFL look....to avoid making 80kish a year for the next 3 years. Shitting on the CFL...nope...shitting on what he is forced to play for for a good portion of his career...quite possibly. If I were a betting man, I would wager that if we could negotiate his rookie contract and compensate him even 150k a year to come on board he would be here.

He never signed in Birmingham, he was drafted by them but according to 3DN he never signed. If he is not there by now it seems to me that there is little chance he will be.

That's his best case, and that is a long shot.

I totally agree. Teams have their top 3 QB spots picked before TC even opens imo. Maybe there is an open competition sometimes for QB3 but even when that happens most of the time the winner is replaced by a recent TC cut from another team. UDFA QBs have a very tiny chance of sticking, one that was developed in the CIS...even less. Elgersma's only remote chance is that some coach falls in love with him for some reason, and that is highly unlikely.

Elgersma didn't do much in that pre-season game. He ran a mostly high % short yardage passing game. The numbers look good but I watched it and he was nothing speclal. It was one read and out of his hands kind of stuff.

The thing is that you can only keep so many guys on the roster and futures can definitely be helpful sometimes when roster spots are limited. Is a 3rd rounder likely to come in and beat out any of your incumbents? That's the question you ask, if not then a futures pick can be the smart pick at that position. Lots goes into the equation, whats our roster makeup currently, what is our projection for our 2nd and 3rd year NATs? How deep is the draft? One shouldn't think that Elgersma is a flyer either. He is a guy chasing a dream that is going to end up here. A NAT QB with a high ceiling and a high probability of being in the CFL sooner rather than later is NOT a flyer. So, in short I agree with your assessment that rounds 3-4 you go realistic fliers, and then hail marys after that IF the draft is not deep or you don't want to draft someone just to have to release someone of equal talent already on your roster.

Elgersma will be here eventually. You guys are getting panicked about nothing. Best thing that could happen for us is that he gets another NFL camp to develop.

I really don't mind if we reach with the extra pick IF it's for a guy that is a bubble NFLer. If we have to wait a year or two I'm OK with that.

Bailey likely slides into the rotation for sure. Not sure he is a FT DE starter but will probably be a nice complimentary piece to our DL.

Vega wasn't a great pass rusher but he did a lot of the other things really well. Yea...his career was way too short.