GCn20

I know some people are skeptical about how strongly we may pursue players this year in FA, but I believe we will see a real push this year. The Grey Cup does not come to our yard very often and I think the Bomber brass has the green light to spend and I think they have been positioning our team for the big spend for over a year now.

You are assuming that there were actually Heenan dollars to spend. Taman said in his interview after Heenan signed in the NFL, that he was going to outbid anyone for Heenan but that it would have had major effects on his current roster had he done so. I think you are probably right. Taman would have had Heenan's contract money from last year and additional money from sms going up but I believe if Jones comes here someone will have to go or not be resigned to make room for him. If nothing else, I hope Taman drives the price up for the stamps, they've done it to us in the past. If Jones hits FA, Taman won't be the only one driving up the price.

You are assuming that there were actually Heenan dollars to spend. Taman said in his interview after Heenan signed in the NFL, that he was going to outbid anyone for Heenan but that it would have had major effects on his current roster had he done so.

I think that the Bombers and Ottawa will be the two busiest teams of FA day. If that is your definition of active then definitely those two teams will have the most calls in to the most players. Who is the most successful....well we shall see. The only teams I see as not being potential players are Hamilton and the Riders. However, if Taman sees someone he likes he may blow the wad and trim salary elsewhere.

I am sure some have said the same about you. Juvenile is calling down an entire forum, uninformed is doing the same....oversensitive...well guilty as charged I guess. What a completely needless and classless potshot to take at a fellow BlueBomber forum. Shame on you.

One of the things I really love about the CFL is that it is a 9 team league. It makes it much easier to really know the opposition and not just my favorite team. In the NFL, other than the big name players it's hard to develop an interest in the opposing team.

Rob Bagg for example went from being chronically injured to being the only starting receiver to start every game last year. If the Riders can get 13-14 games out of Watson I think they'll be happy. If this actually happens I will be very angry, and also wonder if the Winnipeg training staff all got their degrees via online universities based in Aruba. Very little chance of it happening. Every year the same injury, every year more and more time missed. His hammy is getting worse not better. 3 years we waited for a healthy Cory Watson....that is ample time to decidedly say that him playing a full season is a very slim chance.

Not a big surprise. This was the rumor for a month or so now.

My feelings are hurt. I'm not good enough to argue with? Ripper you are a great ambassador of your team on this forum. Still a Rider fan but respectful of where you are posting.

He won't. That's the problem.And it's why he keeps coming back. What a low life. Thanks to Rich for banning him.AGAIN!! He won't. That's the problem.And it's why he keeps coming back. What a low life. Thanks to Rich for banning him.AGAIN!! That's the thing. Ignore him and he becomes even more inflammatory, hijacks more threads etc. Thanks Rich for looking into this. We appreciate the due diligence in protecting the integrity of the site.

When Taman was here he believed in his first offer also being his best offer, presumably to "wow" the player and get him to sign before the money goes to someone else and the offer is pulled. Why do you think Heenan hasn't already seen Taman's best offer and passed? How do you know what Heenan has or hasn't seen? Heenan is concentrating on NFL right now. Heenan may be eyeing the NFL, but he is also made it clear he wants to test CFL FA if that doesn't work out. NUMEROUS sources including your own GM have said so. Players don't test FA unless they want to leave, or are unhappy with what their team has offered them so far. Simple as that.

There is no way we get Heenan. We would have to GROSSLY overpay for SK to let him go -- he's a local boy, old man is a Riderdouche, blah blah. He wants to go to the NFL. Or play in SK. I would like to say take a huge run at him to get SK to burn a bunch of cap money to keep him, but they dont follow the cap anyway so whats the point? I love the CFL and defend it up and down. But the way the cap is treated makes me think it needs a serious cleansing So we grossly overpay. It's not like the Bombers are up against the cap like the Riders. I don't know about you but I'm tired of seeing our qbs being used for punching bags by other teams defensive linemen in the league. I don't care what they pay the guy to sign him. Just sign him. How do you know the Riders are up against the cap when you don't have access to salaries? Taman said he will be aggressive on the 10th. No he didn't. We've gone around this mulberry bush with you already Migs at BB.com. Anyone still doubting this is MIgs...go over and read the Rider thread on BB.com. The exact same arguments and statements that Migs was using there, he is trying to re-invent over here.

Esk's payroll was two to three times what the other teams were paying. Comparing that to the current Riders spending less than 100k more than other teams is hilarious to say the least. How about the stamps paying Flutie one million a year, why don't we talk about that? Or the Argo with Rocket Ismail?"WE'RE NOT CHEATING AS BADLY AS OTHERS CHEATED!!!11!!!"don't ever change Rider fans, don't ever change. How do you think the Stamps can pay for 2 starter quality QBs, Cornish, Hughes, Lewis, Federkeil, Wall, Raymond, McDaniel, Simpson, etc?I swear some think the Riders are the only team that commands their star players to be paid top dollar. Exact same argument you tried using a BB.com Migs....what did you copy and paste it.

I hope you aren't refering to me. After reading your post, let me guess, you are a twelve year old posting in your parents basement. Who uses the word douchbag anyways?Thanks for the welcome Well, I never named names or singularly picked you out so it's funny how that message offended you. And if I never mentioned you then I have nothing to apologize to you for.Besides, what better way to flush out a guy with an ego the size Migs has than by being insulting. For all I know it is you Migs so you're welcome back. Migs has done this before here & on other sites being perma banned only to come back under some new nickname he came up & denying it's him only to be discovered later. Time will tell if Migs has come back as he has a definite posting style. If you're not Migs then no need to be offended. In case you don't know MIgs or whatever name he calls himself he is probably the most loathed & hated poster anywhere posting on the CFL universe. I'd say he is a POS but it has redeeming qualities because it is expelled fecal material. Migs isn't even that. Wide Right & Ripper, you'll find that I'm not a bad guy here & neither are most others if you are posting & respect our team or don't play the Prider routine constantly. I'm more than willing to give you guys a chance. I welcome you & other CFL fans here if they give good takes. It may not seem like it after what I said above but I do. But, please remember that this is a Bomber forum & the Riders are a huge rival so your team will take shots from time to time.More than any other team. It's how you handle it that will determine if you stay here long term or not. Anyway you say you're not Migs so I believe you. I personally am convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is Migs.

Allright Migs...I mean Wide Right....and Ripper, you've convinced me. Fingers in ears to tune out all logic.....CHECK Head firmly buried in sand to tune out the truth,,,,,CHECK "The Riders don't cheat" mantra successfully brainwashed into cerebral cortex....CHECK "The Riders will have obvious cap issues" argument not making it through the re-inforced extra thick skull.....CHECK I think I'm ready to be a Rider fan now. Damn....there it goes, my brain turned on again and logical thought took over. Sorry to disappoint Migs and Ripper. You almost had me this time. It's not often that I am so hungover that the lack of all thought processes leave me open to the power of suggestion, Maybe next year.

You guys sound surprised that Taman is getting all these guys in under the cap? It should come as no surprise at all. In fact, I am willing to wager that he signs Heenan at some point for over 200k as well. This, however, does not make the Riders a better team. Common sense would dictate that Heenan should shake free because cap pressure through the rest of the lineup. Most GMs would probably agree. Not Taman...not his style. He will spend copious amounts on his top 10 players and sacrifice further down the depth chart. The star players will play like stars but the Riders will lose because Bob La Janitor and Fred Le TowelBoi making league minimum will be starters, and there entire depth chart will be picked off the scrap pile or retirement villas of the league. Injuries will hit and the Riders will begin being decimated. The Riders will finish sub .500 and everyone will blame the vets for underperforming and a couple will be thrown under the bus or coaches will be fired, for not getting more out of the Safeway bag boys they had throughout the lineup. We have all seen this movie play out before in Winnipeg. Cripes, in 2008 we were getting beat like a rented mule but managed to put 6 players on the league Allstar team. How? Because we had zero depth on our team. It sure appears that Taman is hell bent on not leaving any cap room for his depth. That is a good thing for the rest of the West.

See you in Sept Mr. Wild. Unless he is absolutely lights out in the first couple days of camp we are likely getting him back. The Steelers obviously signed him as TCF,.

Maybe Walters is trying to extend Watson and he denied it and (1) expressed intentions to be traded close to home or (2) will walk out as FA after this year and sign on any East team. So Walters, instead of losing him for nothing, pull the trade when Taman bit the bait. I don't like to put the cart before the horse, but the "why" of this trade as far as Taman's concerned doesn't have a lot a good answers - except for one. Taman really wants to make sure he has 3 bonafide NI starters at receiver for next season because he knows they are going to have to change the ratio, because he's fairly certain Heenan won't be back. Taman has a different philosophy than I do but he's not an outright dummy. This trade doesn't make much sense unless I view it from Heenan angle, which doesn't make it a spectacular trade for him, but at least a logical one. I apologize for any hopes this may raise, I know there's a pretty good chance they'll be dashed later on. I agree with your assessment. Watson is way too expensive not to be a starter. I think they know that they are in tough with the ratio and needed to make this move. It would appear that Taman has given up hope of signing Heenan for the price tag he is willing to pay him. That could mean that Heenan ends up in the NFL as well....either way, I love watching the Riders squirm just to field 7 Nats. I have never seen a GM decimate a teams overall NAT talent so quickly. Not all of it his fault, but he must wear it,

Well it appears pretty obvious that the Steelers didn't see big upside in him. Hopefully he catches on somewhere else, if not he would look great at WIL for us.

Could be that Wild hadn't signed it yet and the Steelers changed their mind.

If he was going to do that, I would think this would have ended up being a three way trade. My suspicion is that there were no takers out East....well none that were willing to pay what Taman paid.

Sustainability and cap management. Right.. But you don't have to be under the cap until the end of the year.. Sooo.. That gives you alot of time to get it sorted out with injuries etc. Like the move, but not sure why it would be about cap space. It was about cap space. Sure the trade could have come later without harming our SMS any, However, the timing of this move does a few things to our benefit. One...it signals to potential FAs that we have had back door contact with that we are serious about spending money in FA. Two....it takes cap space immediately away from the Riders as they try to sort out who they can keep or more importantly can't keep. Three....it gets us a high pick in THIS year's draft...a draft that is being billed as the best since 2008. Watson was going to get dumped no matter what. This was the best time to do it.

That tweet is what cap hell looks like. 225k for Getzlaf?!.....Getzlaf?! A productive receiver to be sure, but if he was worth that ungodly sum he sure managed to hide it from everyone else besides Taman. Good Grief...news of Taman's contract signing amounts just border on bizarre. I guess the Rider fans may be correct and they might very well have two 200k receivers in their lineup this year. They sure weren't counting on Getzlaf being one of them though.

Als probably realized how screwed they'd be without both he & Carter so they gave him everything he wanted. According to Popp last week they had an offer sitting on the table that would make SJ the highest paid non-QB in the league. Sounds like he got everything he wanted alright.

Would love to see Ken Moll added to the fold of Bomber recruiters again. Can hate Mack if you want, but it's tough to deny that Moll was a good scout.