Free Agent Frenzy

[Brandon]

I'd assume the Walker choose Toronto because of the night life and maybe proximity to the east coast.

[Nolby]

6 minutes ago, Brandon said:

I'd assume the Walker choose Toronto because of the night life and maybe proximity to the east coast.

He chose it because Toronto obviously has an amazing quarterback and is a major football city.

[pigseye]

9 hours ago, sweep the leg said:

The Stampeders put that theory in doubt.

How so, retaining your free agents is just as important as signing the best available and Calgary does just that. 

[pigseye]

9 hours ago, Arnold_Palmer said:

Bull. It’s through scouting, and drafting. You can add, heck a free agent signing may even put you over the top but you do not build through free agency. 

Scouting and drafting will get you a solid foundation but it's retaining and acquiring the best players that wins championships. 

[pigseye]

1 hour ago, DR. CFL said:

Remember before all these WRs became 200K players some other team and scouted, recruited and developed them. 

That doesn't really have anything to do with winning championships though. 

[do or die]

An entire week of frenzy.   Need to have some gin, and lie down.....

[Blueandgold]

As badly as I want us to get a big play reciever, at this point I’d be happy if we saved our cash for when Matthews is done waiting for the NFL or better yet if a Zylstra becomes available. 

I don’t want us to blow our load on a player like Manny, honestly I’d just sign Dressler cheap and go with three Canadian receivers to start the year if we can’t recruit an effective one. A guy like Simonise could end up being exactly what we need and he’s already on the team.  

[sweep the leg]

17 minutes ago, pigseye said:

How so, retaining your free agents is just as important as signing the best available and Calgary does just that. 

Yes, ie "building" their own team. You're using a very broad definition of "arms race" if you're including keeping players they've scouted and developed.

[JCon]

7 minutes ago, sweep the leg said:

Yes, ie "building" their own team. You're using a very broad definition of "arms race" if you're including keeping players they've scouted and developed.

And the Bombers retained the most talent prior to FA. 

 

The pretzels that people are twisting themselves into to try to prove that Walters is failing is incredible. The double speak is confounding. 

[JCon]

12 minutes ago, Blueandgold said:

As badly as I want us to get a big play reciever, at this point I’d be happy if we saved our cash for when Matthews is done waiting for the NFL or better yet if a Zylstra becomes available. 

I don’t want us to blow our load on a player like Manny, honestly I’d just sign Dressler cheap and go with three Canadian receivers to start the year if we can’t recruit an effective one. A guy like Simonise could end up being exactly what we need and he’s already on the team.  

There's a whole lot of former CFLers down south trying to get a very few gigs. Many will be coming back to the CFL. 

 

Of course, I'm hoping that includes Zylstra, though I'm 50/50 that he'll get released this spring. 

Edited February 15, 2019 by JCon

[Bubba Zanetti]

Enjoy playing in front of 17 people Derel and paying $31,482 per month for a bachelor studio apartment.

#lifechoices

[sweep the leg]

Just now, JCon said:

There's a whole lot of former CFLers down south trying to get a very few gigs. Many will be coming back to the CFL. 

 

Of course, I'm hoping that Zylstra, though I'm 50/50 that he'll get released this spring. 

I don't see Zylstra coming back. He's too good. Bryant Mitchell is the guy I think is most likely to come back. Maybe even Duke. I think a big part of his success was being bigger and stronger than everybody in the CFL. He won't have that same benefit down there.

[JCon]

Just now, sweep the leg said:

I don't see Zylstra coming back. He's too good. Bryant Mitchell is the guy I think is most likely to come back. Maybe even Duke. I think a big part of his success was being bigger and stronger than everybody in the CFL. He won't have that same benefit down there.

Zylstra ain't young and the clock runs out in NFL. We'll see in time. He just needs a chance and he'll catch on, I think.

[wbbfan]

44 minutes ago, Brandon said:

I'd assume the Walker choose Toronto because of the night life and maybe proximity to the east coast.

I assume he has no idea what cost of living is like in toronto vs wpg. 

[Tracker]

3 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

I assume he has no idea what cost of living is like in toronto vs wpg. 

I'm pretty sure that he will find a rent-friendly place with the help of MLSE.

[bearpants]

17 hours ago, kelownabomberfan said:

ok so we've got Logan Couture at center....fair enough.  Hope that Geoff Gray is good enough to start.  It really sucks that Goosen retired, I was looking forward to him pushing guys down the field again like in the WSF.

I wouldn't mind Logan Couture as a 2nd line center for the Jets... but I'm not sure how a 6'1, 200 lb center would hold up in the CFL...

1 hour ago, Arnold_Palmer said:

Toronto.. 18 wins In the past theee seasons, one playoff appearance. 

Winnipeg.. 33 wins in the past three seasons, three playoff appearances. 

Whatever you say Darrin!

I agree with you... but that "one playoff appearance" was also one Grey Cup win....

[wbbfan]

6 minutes ago, Tracker said:

I'm pretty sure that he will find a rent-friendly place with the help of MLSE.

does mlse know the argos exist? does any one in toronto?

[Mike]

Zylstra, Mitchell or Duke.

Honestly, right now I'm disappointed with the way we tackled free agency. I'm not too bent out of shape about Chungh, since the whole point of developing a strong stable of Canadian OL is to be prepared when departures come up. That's the business. I'm not too disappointed about Loffler, because anyone willing to pay him those dollars is insane. I'm mildly disappointed about JSK, but we kept Bighill and to me that is far more important, so hey, fine. Receiver grosses me out. We needed a WR1 worse than any team in the league and we lost out on all of them.

[blue85gold]

4 minutes ago, Mike said:

Zylstra, Mitchell or Duke.

Honestly, right now I'm disappointed with the way we tackled free agency. I'm not too bent out of shape about Chungh, since the whole point of developing a strong stable of Canadian OL is to be prepared when departures come up. That's the business. I'm not too disappointed about Loffler, because anyone willing to pay him those dollars is insane. I'm mildly disappointed about JSK, but we kept Bighill and to me that is far more important, so hey, fine. Receiver grosses me out. We needed a WR1 worse than any team in the league and we lost out on all of them.

Ya it's disappointing how the receiver plan has worked out so far. Sounds like Walters tried but nothing worked out. I feel the same way I did last year when we missed out on all the MLBs in FA, but hey that worked out in the end. 

[Wanna-B-Fanboy]

28 minutes ago, blue85gold said:

Ya it's disappointing how the receiver plan has worked out so far. Sounds like Walters tried but nothing worked out. I feel the same way I did last year when we missed out on all the MLBs in FA, but hey that worked out in the end. 

QFT

 

let us see what shakes down this year. 

[Blueandgold]

51 minutes ago, Mike said:

Zylstra, Mitchell or Duke.

Honestly, right now I'm disappointed with the way we tackled free agency. I'm not too bent out of shape about Chungh, since the whole point of developing a strong stable of Canadian OL is to be prepared when departures come up. That's the business. I'm not too disappointed about Loffler, because anyone willing to pay him those dollars is insane. I'm mildly disappointed about JSK, but we kept Bighill and to me that is far more important, so hey, fine. Receiver grosses me out. We needed a WR1 worse than any team in the league and we lost out on all of them.

I agree with you, but we offered Walker and Ellington good money but they chose to go elsewhere. There’s nothing we can do about that and paying an import reciever 300K is asinine. 

 I think we’re keeping money available for one of those NFL guys to come back. 

Edited February 15, 2019 by Blueandgold

[voodoochylde]

The problem with receiver (or at least enticing a quality receiver to sign here) is that this offense runs through Andrew Harris.  Couple that with Nichols play style, no receiver is going to put up gaudy numbers.  You want a stud receiver, you're going to have to feed him the ball (or at least sign someone who knows how to put the team first and play the role that's asked .. ego aside).  

[do or die]

Football being what it is.....if you actually had downfield threats on both sides of the field.....we would probably see a few more deep balls, just as SOP.

Some folks talking about Thompkins....who down the stretch, last year:

6 games..... 7 catches 57 yds, 0 TD     Give me a break.

[Bigblue204]

Thompkins is a Slot rec who will get the tough yards. He won't be a regular deep threat. I'm more interested to see what Simonese will do. He burned two of the "top" CBs last year for big plays. I'm hoping his development has continued and he will become a game changer regardless of his passport.

[17to85]

34 minutes ago, do or die said:

Football being what it is.....if you actually had downfield threats on both sides of the field.....we would probably see a few more deep balls, just as SOP.

Some folks talking about Thompkins....who down the stretch, last year:

6 games..... 7 catches 57 yds, 0 TD     Give me a break.

How often did they even try running Thompkins deep though? I'd bet that Andrew Harris had more down field attempts his way. 

Lapo is not the most creative offensive coordinator out there. He thinks speed is what makes a deep threat.