GCn20

Yea,,,,we've seen a ton of guys show lots of promise only to blow out knees etc. over the past several years. That's why the search is always on. Those guys are put through the meat grinder. Me neither. I can't think of many teams that has a DT for more than a couple years because of the meat grinder, particularly at NT, that the position is. I am sure we will find someone fairly easily through recruitment. How long he lasts is a different matter.

I disagree. DT is hard to find guys who stay healthy and have long productive careers but to find good ones isn't terrible difficult. All the guys you have listed are dominant because they were able to last longer than a couple years before their bodies gave out on them.

One of the very few positions that are pretty easy to recruit imo. Need almost no time to get up to speed, and have long NFL careers as a general rule so the NFL isn't hoarding them on their PRs. I wonder how Stam Peters is feeling about this. If the Stamps were too cheap to re-sign a stud like Thurman what makes you think they will pony up for Sankey? The Stamps got away with being cheap for a lot of years through the great recruitment/talent assessment of Murphy/Hufnagel but that ship has sailed. Players aren't playing their on the cheap anymore, and it appears their recruitment isn't what it used to be. Time for Dickenson to wake up and smell the roses before they wither and die on him.

I'm not suggesting they could ever compete for our established receivers, but certainly the presence of two other leagues would dip into the prospect pool somewhat. Therefore, the less available top prospects the more the existing stock becomes worth. Not to mention the fact that the NFL expanded PRs and eligibility is really laying a smack down on availability of players particularly at skill positions.

Yea no kidding. Maybe the XFL/USFL is having an impact at this position.

Yep. Lofton was a purely short term depth move when we lost Richmond, and our younger OTs were determined to be too green. He was signed literally because he had some game experience. He never was a replacement for Stan, or Yoshi, just a kind of emergency back up until our good young OTs were a bit more ready.

Not to mention we have an OL as well, (for the RIderfans thinking that Weineke, Harris, and Lewis would fix things).

The RIders are paying very dearly for that privilege if reported salary rumors are true.

You are thinking they won't throw 300k+ at Lewis too? I am not so confident in O'Day's competence.

Reddit saying 220k per. I will wait for a media confirmation though.

We couldn't afford him at 300k that's for sure. I think we need to stick to that mentality this year too. You are right, I misread one post. TBH, I wouldn't want to pay more than 250k per for ANY receiver but if that's what it takes for Lawler on a long term deal, then so be it.

It seems pretty apparent to me that Lawler loves his money just as much as he loves playing for the Bombers. He wasn't afraid to go to the tire fire that was Edmonton last year for the $.

This last half hour, we have all been pretty excited about this news. However, just last year we were thankful that Walters never paid that kind of cash for a receiver. What has changed?

We have the luxury of sober thought in our organization. Other GMs are in straight up survival mode and don't care what the crippling contracts they sign today might do next year, or the year after because they are just trying to survive this one. Unfortunately, these are the guys that set the market as a general rule. Do you think Jeremy O'Day cares that his plan may fail? He doesn't have a plan. He is going to throw wads of money at band-aids to buy time. One of those band-aids is going to be Eugene Lewis, and I would bet a million dollars that it will be well over 300k per. Unfortunately, for us Lawler is Lewis's equal and it will be very tough to convince him to take far less that Lewis will get.

Problem is that the Riders will likely set the market in the next day or two with an eye popping 350k offer to Lewis.

I don't think we land him for 250k. I have a feeling 275k is the bottom end of what we can expect with idiots like O'Day making unproven and over the hill players the among the highest paid in the league, Mind you, our 275k is Edmonton and SSK's 300k because of the certainty of playoff cash.

Yea...but not at 330k. I want to see what Lawler/Schoen in the same receiving corps would look like...BADLY...but that's just too much. However, if Schoen leaves and I'm sure Walter must have a pretty good idea on that, it changes our need dramatically.

Correct. No one can offer him guaranteed cash.

Yea. I think that our ability to pay Lawler for the next 3 would have been much easier had we been able to up front a ton of his cash before January.

His entire roster at every position group is in shambles. There is absolutely no way he can make this work in one offseason. No team could. There isn't enough cap space. Therefore, the prudent thing to do would be to commit to the rebuild because that is what this is. Instead he is throwing a quarter of his cap at 3 players, one of whom is to old to be around when this rebuild is complete and happens to be the QB, hoping it will turn things around. Makes no sense and was pretty much what he did last year too. Just running it back.

Well, there is some pretty obvious mutual interest. Lawler will have to bring his numbers down but in the end I don't think anyone offers him anywhere close to what he is asking. Same with Lewis. 300k per is going to be the very top end of what receivers can expect.

No one is paying Lawler a million over 3 years but I don't blame him for asking.

Hard to say if a contract was actually ready to go, or just a commitment from both sides to sit down and hash it out.

Here is my take on O'Day's offseason so far: 25 pending FA's going into FA spells rebuild, so what does he do? He puts out a massive offer sheet to a 37 year old QB that MIGHT have a good year left in him but probably not two. Has done nothing with his incredibly inept OL so far, but tried and failed to get Desjarlais. Is reportedly wooing Eugene Lewis, which would be a great add, but he currently has no other receivers at all worth anything really. So, to date he has half a DL, no LBers, a secondary that got lit up like a Christmas tree last year, a historically inept OL that he has not addressed whatsoever, No playmaking receivers....hell no real receivers at all, and potentially an ancient QB that has been riddled with inconsistency the past 2-3 years, a coaching staff that still hasn't been completed, a lame duck HC, and 25 spots on his roster that will be impossible to fill all through recruitment meaning he will have to overpay in FA. This is a GM that is drowning right now and just flailing his arms and legs about as the riptide takes him out to sea. Yep...he's killing it alright.

I agree. However, he's going to ask for the moon for sure. That's negotiating 101.