GCn20

Yep, and that is on top of his 100k roster bonus on Jan. 15

Me neither. I would just eat the 100k and thank him for his services. The only thing I can think of is that the Esks want to make sure that Ford doesn't bolt during the NFL window which seems like a very remote of a chance to me.

I think that is almost a foregone conclusion.

Ryan also thought he would be the RIder's best choice for HC about a month of so ago, so I would take his assessment of HCes with a giant grain of salt. Dude is just trying to stay relevant by making outlandish comments every couple of months I think. Sad really.

Kyle Walters is a busy guy this past week. Great job.

Sub par offence and defence? Our defence was the best in the league and our offence was very narrowly ranked second..

He was not fired, he was simply before his time and misunderstood. He is the Nikola Tesla of the CFL. lmao.

Sure that's the fear. The question is whether that fear has any merit. 100k offseason bonus on Jan 15 and a further 100k that is guaranteed later on. If the Esks want to limit their liability to Cornelius to 100k they must turf him prior to Jan. 15.

Hard to say. Depends a lot on what other teams do as well.

Randle is a good comparable, although I think Nichols is better than Randle was.

It will absolutely be very tough to keep him. No doubt about it. If we do it would almost certainly end any hope of retaining Prukop and another veteran player and that's assuming no one offers him starter salary. Would not surprise me to see Calgary in on him, as well as Edmonton and Ottawa. I doubt anyone is giving him guaranteed money on this next contract. Failing that I definitely go one year contract as a player unless someone wants to blow their brains out in the hard money department. He, at best, will get first time starter offers of money. No way I sign for more than a year of that. I base that on my own personal assessment that Brown is an intriguing but not surefire QB solution. GMs around the league may not share my assessment and he gets a very nice hard money offer. In that case sign the multi-year deal.

We can afford whatever we decide we can afford. If the Bombers want to pay him 250k...no problem...it just means we have to sacrifice elsewhere. How much we pay our QBs depends solely on what our management feels is the cost benefit to doing so. However, should we decide that Brown is a priority sign at too far over what he is making now then people better get used to watching Schoen and/or Brady playing somewhere else. That would be the likely trade off. Worth it? Not for me to decide but I wouldn't. Not in the age of short term contracts in the CFL.

Right now, there are no situations he can walk into (unless Calgary, Toronto, Hamilton become options) where he can be fairly confident of being the starter and having even a decent OL. I only list TO in the small chance that Kelly bolted for the NFL. Edmonton, Riders, and Ottawa all have terrible offences and all mainly because their OL's suck.

Hey, I'm not saying he does have infinite time. Just saying if the contract from one of the tire fires doesn't blow me away I might wait one more year. What Brown opts to do...who knows. If the RBS or Riders offer me 400k hard money and I was Brown, I would probably take it on a one year deal.

True..,.and we see QBs regularly bet on themselves and that might happen with Brown. However, rarely do you see the next great thing QB go to a tire fire and have success. When you see young QBs stepping up to have success its generally when they go to a situation where that team has strong pieces but is just a QB away from success. When was the last time a young inexperienced QB went to a tire fire and had success? I can't think of any offhand. Reilly went to Edmonton but they had a decent offence in place and all they needed was a QB1.

I guess teams could offer him a base 250k with play time incentives to 400k and that might be appealing to him and then offer another young good prospect the identical contract and let the best man win. Would that be enough to lure Brown away....maybe...to SOME teams but I ain't going to a train wreck for that.

Yea...I mean some years, like 2022, you get a run on them (3 in the top 10) but most times it is mainly skill guys and QBs with just a salt and peppering of trench guys. It's a supply and demand thing. Lots of OL and DL available each year. Then you take the CFL and if we have 8 good OL available it's probably how the draft will shake out 1-8. Actually...maybe not...Saskatchewan probably does not draft one because O'Day is stupid.

Yea...he is a cut above fringe NFL roster guy. He is at worst productive backup. He will have a job until he loses a step. For sure. The occasional trench guy that goes top 5 it's because they view him a generational talent at his position. True. However, the odd one still sneaks in as a high draft pick.

For sure. There is absolutely no doubt that roster turnover will be happening and is necessary over the next couple years, but throwing out guys who are still performing at a high level is not the way to do it. For sure. However, you have to look at what's available too. RIght now, realistically, there is Ottawa and maybe the Riders. Both are train wrecks. Wait a year and you might see openings with better teams with better chance of success.

What gives me pause on the whole get rid of Zac and keep Brown train of thought is that our backup QBs have historically always been over rated by the fans. Barnes, Elliott, Marve....all guys who we raved about and thought like were a lock to be the next great CFL starter....none of them carved out any kind of CFL career beyond backup. Second, is the age argument. There are a ton of examples...too many to list...of QBs playing at a high level and leading their teams to championships well into their late 30s. It's a red herring argument imo. The third is the argument that ZC has not played well in Grey Cups so we should get rid of him. What has Brown done in big games, in fact what big games has he even played? We have no idea how he would respond to this kind of pressure and that would concern me greatly. In fact, what teams has Brown even beaten that are good? Way too unproven for my liking. He is developing nicely and on a team without a QB I would be glad to take him and give him a shot. That is not our current situation though. I completely agree that the very best career move by Brown would likely to be to sign what you are describing this year. The only teams that might give him a sniff right now are train wrecks where success would be very difficult.

Most under rated defensive player in the league.

That's all fine and good, but how long do you think we can save money if Brown were to emerge as a star? Not long, one season. How long could cutting ZC loose and finding out that Brown could not handle the starting duties cripple us? A long time potentially multiple seasons. There is no way that Brown signs anything more than a one year prove it contract on the cheap anywhere.

If we lose Dru and he goes onto great success, good for him. No team can keep all it's young up and coming stars. I would rather lose Dru now and see what happens than to keep him and turf ZC. If Dru turns into this generational QB, and let's be serious, that's a long shot....then maybe we try lure him back in FA down the line. Worked for a few teams already. Mike Reilly, Henry Burris etc all QBs who left their original team for a starting opportunity and then went back when the starting job opened up.

I agree in what you are saying as far as the CFL goes where trench talent is hard to acquire. In the NFL the top of the draft will always be skilled guys mostly, and that is because there is a plethora of line talent available. The exception to the rule mostly being blindside OT which are coveted guys.

He was the number one rated QB in just about every category and led us to a first place finish. Almost every CFL pundit was hailing him as the probably MOP up to about game 15. If that is chinks in the armor, it's still performing at a very high level. Not in 2020 it wasn't. Collaros was OK in that game, nothing special. That is basically our team approach to offence in the playoffs though.