GCn20

For sure we can up Schoen if we want to, but it means our recruitment will need to be top notch and some vets will need to effectively moved on from. I find a FA spend highly unlikely. You've named 8 guys. That's still 560k to replace them at rookie salary.

We pushed him out the door. We offered him 3rd string money and told him he would have to jump through hoops to get it. How can I make that claim? My calculator tells me so. Add up the salaries. I did it at the beginning of this year and couldn't find enough left over for even regular PR based on reported salaries. While some of those are probably off by a few thousand here or there, it still doesn't allow for the type of spending you guys suggest is happening on the PR. Maybe at one time we did that but our wiggle room is very narrow now. Maybe Richmond at double pay or something like that, but not game cheque. Of course, envelopes of cash do happen in this league...we all know that but that doesn't count against SMS anyway.

Your math is correct. I stated 120 but am sticking to 115 as being his salary as reported on 3DN. They could pay a guy a million to sit on the PR....but no team does it. The Bombers definitely do not. Name me the player on our PR making 71k right now. No way. They might get paid more than the 500 bucks a week but zero chance any of them are making league min on our PR. Our current 45 man SMS would not allow for such spending on the PR. We would 6 game IR them if that was the case.

This is quite obviously true based on the contracts handed out to Harris this offseason, and to Kelly today. I would put Kelly at a hair above average for sure...but highest paid in the CFL? He has looked pretty average in many games this season. Wonder what 5-6 big name players will be shown the door this offseason to fit the extra 500k into the SMS? I value QBs a lot but making a game manager QB a 600k man is gonna hurt them. He is not a QB that can carry a team on his back.

Wow....this seems awfully premature to me. I think Kelly is a good QB, but he has 10 starts under his belt. True...but the discrepancy at QB can be waaaaay more. No position players in the CFL making Collaros/Kelly bank.

Agreed....add country music singers while the freaking Grey Cup is going on to that list as well.

A QB can make far more in the CFL if they are good than in either of those leagues. A lot more. I'm thinking Kelly's new contract has to be in the 600k per range and that's more than he could make in the XFL or USFL in 3 years.

You get no argument from me on that. The Bombers were totally justified in how they approached it.

PR guys get paid PR pay. Once they are on the active roster they get paid league minimum. You take 120k guy off the AR, you MUST replace him with a guy making a minimum of 71k. That could be 18 different guys theoretically all getting one game cheque coming up from the PR but SMS hit is still 71k minimum. Therefore the very best you can do when taking a guy off the AR is to lower the salary to league minimum. No matter what EVERY team will have 45 men each week making at least 71k. If one of those guys from the year before was making 120k and you replace that roster spot with a rookie making 71k the SMS savings are 44k and that is the best you can hope for. Unless, of course, we had guys sitting on the PR making 71k a year anyway...which no team does.

The Bombers were clearly ACTING suprised when signed in TO imo. They pushed him out. Imo, the evidence is very clear on that. Actions speak louder than words on that. Andrew Harris agrees with your interpretation. Said so himself.

Yea....I mean it's possible he gets a PR offer, and I hope he does for his sake but if he doesn't he has the option of playing here or taking a year off football and earning nothing. Couple that with the fact that 95% of players who don't latch onto a PR in the first 48 hours don't ever....and 95% of them return to the CFL...I am unclear on why Hodge would make such a statement with such overwhelming odds against it being accurate.

No it doesn't because you still have to roster someone to replace Auggie and pay them at least league minimum. If we don't dress a NAT backup, we still have to roster a NAT somewhere to replace Auggie. No player on the active roster leaves without a minimum league salary at least being added back. Doesn't have to be at the same position but a roster spot vacated is a roster spot to be filled. The formula is very simple for any and every player we move on from. Their current salary minus the cost of replacement salary which at the very least is 71k per. The very most we can save on Auggie is 115k minus 71k. That's 45k we can use towards Schoen, and lose our NAT RB ratio if BO goes down.

Kelly wanted to play close to home if he was gonna make 75k CDN dollars. Newsreel at 6. If I'm coming from the US to play on a rookie contract for 50k USD I would be pretty picky too. His NFL window was closed already, he wasn't desperate to play just anywhere.

I agree. We pushed him out the door. I, for one, have no issue with that. It was time.

I will never bet cash on the long term durability of any running back because they play a meat grinder of a position, but right now he offers way more value than Harris at a much better price. Does Hodge know he may not have a choice if he wants to be paid to play football? Bailey at his contract is one of the best value veteran contracts in the league.

Thought I read somewhere Gray was 120k, but I can't confirm that because I can't find the source. However, one would have to think he has earned a raise off that. At any rate, my point was it will take more than ham and egger vet contracts off the books for us to keep Schoen. He is in all likelihood going to command 200k in salary vs the league minimum he is playing for now. That's 130k that needs to be found. Can it be done? Sure it can, but not without turning a good number of contracts over to rookies or saying goodbye to a couple big fish and replacing them with rookies. It will be very tough to resign him. Going to take a lot more than a Darby and a Augustine to get this done and that's not even factoring in some other young guys who will be deserving of raises as well. If we are lucky Lawler has a good chat with him about FA, and Schoen stays with us below market value.

Option year is 85k for Dobson. Darby was re-signed on Feb. 5/2023 for 82k according to 3DN. Bailey's contract maxes out at 88k. Couldn't find media confirmation on Alexander, Gray, or Augustine although media did confirm he makes "close" to what BO is getting.

I have never found any source on Neufeld but I am sure he has to be minimum 160k

Yea, there was a big deal made about the contract that Bailey landed on. It was 88k. That is exceptional value. Could we save 15k by going raw rookie...sure...but only an idiot GM would do that. Darby will be gone, but again...he was in the high 80s to low 90s on his contract so it does not represent a lot of savings because we still need to roster someone in his stead and that will be 71k minimum. However, I do believe we move on to give younger blood a chance. Dobson is getting a big raise or we will lose him. Simple as that. I do not think the Bombers want to lose him. Savings will come from guys like Miller who are surprisingly highly paid. Auggie and BO both signed for 115k and 120k respectively according to 3DN. Yea, I think Augustine is a likely SMS casualty to free up BO's raise.

Bailey signed for 88k. It was widely reported. Darby is not anywhere near 6 figures either according to media reports. I call BS on your numbers. Also in what world is replacing Neufeld with Dobson a 100k difference. Dobson is going into FA this offseason and I can guarantee you it will take money to keep him. Augustine with a rookie 60k? No way he is earning 130k this year. Not trying to argue but your numbers are out to lunch.

TBurg called and said what do you mean? There is an alternative?

I expect our team to win every game, quite frankly because we are the best team in this loop imo. They will not win every game, but should, because the only team that rivals ours right now is yours....and we are the better team in that match up too imo. I would say that if we played every team in this league 10 times we should win 8/10 of those games, and I might give TO some credit and say 7/10. Not being cocky either, the proof is in the pudding. Our win/loss record AND overall performance over the past few years is undeniable. TO has a great win/loss record right now, but I think you guys have way more cracks in your armor than we do.

I don't think these players constitute much in savings at all once you factor in the cost of replacement for them. Bailey and Darby...maybe 25k in savings combined if replaced by rookies, Neufeld maybe 20k after you extend Dobson to replace him, and Thomas maybe 20k if you draft a rookie or sign a league min NAT to replace him. That might get one of the two mentioned extended but definitely not both and maybe not even one. Every player that leaves the salary savings are their current salary minus cost of replacement. Dalton and Brady are currently on their rookie deals. Dalton will get 200k on the open market....easily...he might sign here for slightly less but we will need to find at minimum 100k in SMS savings, and Brady easily deserves 130-145k. That's another 70-75k in savings needed. We will need to move on from big fish to get that kind of space. The obvious wild card will be how much savings is created by the 6 game this year to offset the SMS next year.

Mayala has been god awful this season, and most of last season really. Eguaveon will likely play out the string in the waiting game and maybe, if he doesn't hang them up, come back to the league next year I would think. He bulked up a lot in the NFL. He would be a really intriguing possible replacement for Bighill if he chose to hang them up.

Knowing your team only has a small chance of victory, and expecting them to lose are two different things as well. Even in the darkest days of Bomber football I never, ever went to any game thinking we can't win. I knew odds were stacked against us, but if I truly thought we had no chance of victory I wouldn't have gone. Some of my most cherished games I ever attended were when we were terrible but somehow got it together for a game and knocked off a league leading team. The odd game like that is all a football fan has in dark times. Think Regina last week. They were absolutely euphoric after they unexpectedly beat BC. It will probably be their highlight of the season.