GCn20

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.

It will be tough to fit him in without making some tough choices elsewhere. Any combination of Neufeld, Biggie, Bryant, or Hardrick deciding to hang them up would supply enough cash to keep Schoen. However, those too would be tough losses.

I believe he has a big pay raise coming for sure. How do we fit him? Don't know if we can. However, it will all depend on who all is returning I guess.

I have never expected a loss either. Always a chance for a win, it's why you play the game.

What spots? Secondary? Nope. Linebackers? Nope. DL...yes with the caveat that we do have Haba, Fox, and Hansen in the mix. OL...nope...Dobson and Eli are the future and we just are not going to start any OTs just to get them seasoned. No team ever does. QB...nope...if Brown stays. RB?....no need to worry for a few years...Receiver...nope. I would like to see a new NAT DT added, the return of Ford (which I honestly believe the Bombers were banking on somewhat), and for Eli to push Kola off the starting centre job....but in the scope of a football team roster these are pretty minor problems to have. If this is the extent of our teams weaknesses we are looking pretty damn good. Quite honestly, these types of problems can easily be addressed in FA if we needed to. There is nothing expensive there.

What part of our depth concerns you?

It's Farhan driving the bus on it I think. He simply won't write about anything else...lol. It is completely insufferable....but it was bound to happen with the first NAT QB that actually looked really good in the CFL. TSN has been pumping NAT QB for many years now, and they probably feel all their hard work finally paid off with the Rourke's. lol. Makes the swing and misses they made on the Brandon Bridge/O'Connor hype trains look like distant memories.

A NAT DB of his calibre is always welcome. Last year he played lights out when given a chance. He also excelled on the teams last year, so at the very least he brings a ton to the table there.

Agreed. It was unrealistic to think, and unfortunately many people jumped on the hype, that Tee would do much in his first start. After which he was mercilessly criticized for his poor play. I have never seen a rookie QB in his first start take such a brow beating afterwards.

The point of my narrative is that Taman, and this is completely accurate, painted him as the future of our QB room and a bonafide superstar in waiting. Expectations were so high for him after that he couldn't just be a rookie CFL QB learning our league. I get that he had a career before us, but you know as well as I do, that the transition to the CFL takes time. Cripes, I remember before Glenn got hurt the fan base was already pushing hard for Martin to take over and Glenn was playing some decent ball. He was a CFL rookie and he was shredded for playing like one.

I am pretty zen about the whole roster usage with our record and consistently blowing out some really good teams. I get the frustration...but I'm just not seeing it as a big issue right now. If we start losing or not playing well, I reserve the right to circle back on this though.