Free Agency Frenzy

[Mike]

4 minutes ago, Jimmy Pop said:

I guess what I'm wondering - and yeah, yeah I get it's February - are we better now than we were at the end of last season?  Does Nevis & Okpalaugo improve the pass rush enough and how do they fit Hall's scheme?  Seems like we still need some help at LB.  Defence in general got picked on a lot last year, often made to look better than they were because of TO's generated, IMO. 

Our offence seems to me to be a game-managing type unit over one that'll go toe-to-toe with the league's elite. Receivers are good, but not great. QB is good, but not great. LaPo is Lapo. We need another monster year from Harris, and hope he stays healthy. 

It is nice to have a cohesive team for a change, though.  We should be able to come out of the gate strong given we'll have less new pieces to work in. 

As we become a better team, people will need to keep in mind we're never going to be better on paper in February than we were at the end of the previous season. If we're filling holes with recruits, how can we do that in February?

[Ripper]

12 minutes ago, sweep the leg said:

They signed a bunch of talented players in fa last year too and it blew up in their faces, so I'm taking the wait and see approach with them. Dennis should really help them, but Lafrance & their new safety both get mehs from me.

Happy about Dennis, soso on Lafrance, potential is there, and kinda meh on the safety. 31 with head injuries..  Really like the Nevis signing for you guys, great addition

[mbrg]

1 minute ago, Ripper said:

Happy about Dennis, soso on Lafrance, potential is there, and kinda meh on the safety. 31 with head injuries..  Really like the Nevis signing for you guys, great addition

Every free agency has hits and misses.  Hindsight is 20/20.  You can make a great move and not get a great result.

The Bombers used 3 FA classes to put together the guys they won with last year.  Some of the great signings of 2014 were not here for 2016.  Some were.  Nic Moore was a big deal when he was signed.  Just couldn't get the return on the investment.  So then we added Adams.  And the year after that Smith and Dressler.  Bryant has been here for a few years now.

One offseason will never be enough to fix a team that is a complete disaster no matter who you buy because you can't buy chemistry.  It took us 3 seasons of aggressive shopping combined with making a lot of other solid moves.  Ticats used to spend like madmen every season and until somewhat recently still sucked no matter who they bought.

Last year's FA class paid no dividends for the Riders even though they spent aggressively.  If they make the right decisions and get lucky, someday it might.  Hindsight will eventually tell us if any of the guys you signed yesterday contributed to that turnaround.

[SpeedFlex27]

Where are the Riders getting all this money? Weren't they over the cap in 2016? The Commissioner will be all over Jones about this. The CFL won't stand for it. There will be consequences. Oh wait.

[Brandon]

2 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Where are the Riders getting all this money? Weren't they over the cap in 2016? The Commissioner will be all over Jones about this. The CFL won't stand for it. There will be consequences. Oh wait.

They dumped Durant ,  that alone gives them money for Dennis.       The rest of the signings were not that large.    

I do hope that they give a lot of cash up front and that it comes around and bites them in the end.

[Tracker]

PS: It was hardly a frenzy maybe more like a brief flurry.

Edited February 15, 2017 by tracker

[BBlink]

I'm starting to think we will be rotating our Canadians into our linebacking core more often this year.

Signing Nevis gives us a run stopping force in the middle of our d-line, and while I expect to see Thomas rotating in quite a bit, I think our base package will have another American DT beside him.

Losing Burnett and our roster clearly points to using more Canadians at linebacker.

All that said, we always knew we would be rotating our NIs around on defense.

[Ripper]

7 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Where are the Riders getting all this money? Weren't they over the cap in 2016? The Commissioner will be all over Jones about this. The CFL won't stand for it. There will be consequences. Oh wait.

Riders were no where near the cap in 2016. You must be thinking of your selves, re working deals to stay under cap last year.

[Floyd]

LaFrance at $110k seems like a pretty fair deal to me...  especially if I'm expected to believe that $100k a year for Hurl is 'fair value'

Really thought Lapo would look at 4 import rec and 2 NI rb/sb types

Heading into the season with JFG/Coates is meh... and I really don't want a receiver at fifth overall unless Simonise is for sure finished with his NFL dreams.

[Ripper]

6 minutes ago, Brandon said:

They dumped Durant ,  that alone gives them money for Dennis.       The rest of the signings were not that large.    

I do hope that they give a lot of cash up front and that it comes around and bites them in the end.

Dennis coming in at 170k can easily be offset by getting rid of Best. We are in good shape, hope we get Deane too

[Ripper]

1 minute ago, Floyd said:

LaFrance at $110k seems like a pretty fair deal to me...  especially if I'm expected to believe that $100k a year for Hurl is 'fair value'

Really thought Lapo would look at 4 import rec and 2 NI rb/sb types

Heading into the season with JFG/Coates is meh... and I really don't want a receiver at fifth overall unless Simonise is for sure finished with his NFL dreams.

You guys signed Hurl for 135k

[Mike]

Just now, Floyd said:

LaFrance at $110k seems like a pretty fair deal to me...  especially if I'm expected to believe that $100k a year for Hurl is 'fair value'

Really thought Lapo would look at 4 import rec and 2 NI rb/sb types

Heading into the season with JFG/Coates is meh... and I really don't want a receiver at fifth overall unless Simonise is for sure finished with his NFL dreams.

I'm not a big Hurl guy either, but do the research ... Canadians on their third deals make six figures. Even Nic Boulay just got 100k+

[Mike]

Just now, Ripper said:

You guys signed Hurl for 135k

uhhh when? We're talking about his new deal with us.

[sweep the leg]

Just now, Ripper said:

You guys signed Hurl for 135k

Where'd you see that?

[Brandon]

Maybe we draft a NI receiver...  

Also just because we lose burnett... this doesn't mean we can't bring in another young guy from down South to replace him.

[Floyd]

Just now, Mike said:

I'm not a big Hurl guy either, but do the research ... Canadians on their third deals make six figures. Even Nic Boulay just got 100k+

Well... Hurl probably made six figures on all his deals...  Taman was in love with him and then Walters 'overpaid' in FA

For me, LaFrance has more upside for roughly the same price...  we're loaded at LB/ST 

In terms of cap management, I don't see the benefit of Hurl...  MAYBE if the plan is for him to share starting duties with Greenwood...?

[Ripper]

3 minutes ago, Mike said:

uhhh when? We're talking about his new deal with us.

Correct me if I'm wrong, because I may be remembering it wrong but was not Hurl signed for 135k/year when you brought him in?  I wasn't talking about now. Personally I'd give him a apple and road map if I was you

[Mike]

Just now, Floyd said:

Well... Hurl probably made six figures on all his deals...  Taman was in love with him and then Walters 'overpaid' in FA

For me, LaFrance has more upside for roughly the same price...  we're loaded at LB/ST 

In terms of cap management, I don't see the benefit of Hurl...  MAYBE if the plan is for him to share starting duties with Greenwood...?

The benefit is that he's great on special teams. Not saying this is your perception, but it seems like there are a lot of people who have this idea that just about anyone can play special teams at a high level as if the positions are not as important as the positions on offense or defense. There is value in having guys who are responsible with their assignments, can play multiple teams and can do it at a high level.

That's why guys like Hurl and Boulay make six figures. They've earned it with the high level of play they bring on teams, and they're competent enough as backups in a pinch as well. The salary cap is what, $5.15 million? A guy making 100k makes 1.94% of that so quite frankly, I'm not all that worried about it.

[Mike]

4 minutes ago, Ripper said:

Correct me if I'm wrong, because I may be remembering it wrong but was not Hurl signed for 135k/year when you brought him in?  I wasn't talking about now. Personally I'd give him a apple and road map if I was you

We just signed him to a new deal, he was a free agent. Not sure why you're not talking about now, what do old contracts based off old expectations mean?

[Ripper]

3 minutes ago, Mike said:

We just signed him to a new deal, he was a free agent. Not sure why you're not talking about now, what do old contracts based off old expectations mean?

Didn't mean to cause any confusion. I guess I figure old contracts are somewhat of a place where negotiations begin on new ones. I doubt he signed for less than he was making before.

[Bigblue204]

3 minutes ago, Ripper said:

Didn't mean to cause any confusion. I guess I figure old contracts are somewhat of a place where negotiations begin on new ones. I doubt he signed for less than he was making before.

I'd be blown away if he didn't. He was signed first to be a starting MLB for us. That didn't pan out at all. His role was heavily reduced last year, even though we didn't have a true MLB starting. He's not a starter in the league, everyone knows it, he knows it. So safe to assume he knew he wouldn't get starters money.

Edited February 15, 2017 by Bigblue204

[Mike]

4 minutes ago, Ripper said:

Didn't mean to cause any confusion. I guess I figure old contracts are somewhat of a place where negotiations begin on new ones. I doubt he signed for less than he was making before.

Why would you doubt that? There's zero chance he got the same deal as before.

[Stickem]

7 minutes ago, Ripper said:

Didn't mean to cause any confusion. I guess I figure old contracts are somewhat of a place where negotiations begin on new ones. I doubt he signed for less than he was making before.

We were on the way to letting Hurl walk....I doubt very much he came close to the dollars we first signed him for...Get real....In fact I was really surprised that we retained him

[TBURGESS]

Anyone got any links to what Hurl got this time around? I doubt he's making as much as last year, but $100K after $133K seems like an unrealistic drop to me.

[mbrg]

30 minutes ago, Floyd said:

In terms of cap management, I don't see the benefit of Hurl...

You need to take a look at the guys making the tackles after Medlock kicks the ball away.

If we're in this for the cap management, there is no benefit to signing anyone.  Have a roster of zero players and we can win cap management.

Call it subjective if you want, but I think the Bombers had the best downfield coverage in the CFL last year.  Hurl was a big part of that.