2022 Off Season - Back 2 Back Champs Edition

[Booch]

27 minutes ago, TBURGESS said:

As it stands right now:

Out:
Adams         - OTT
Alford           - NFL
Antigha        - EDM
Darby          - OTT
Harris          - TOR
Jones           - MTL
Kongbo        - NFL
Lawler         - EDM
Richardson   - BC

That's a ton of talent and more losses to come.

In:
Ellingson

who's the more to come?...fringe guys...really curious all these key pieces we still gonna lose....do explain

Who would u have rather we let go, and then had to replace with just as good or better...for same value or less in FA of Bryant, Hardrick, Neufeld, Couture, Woli, Bailey, Johhny, Brady, Willie, Jackson, Biggie, Thomas, Rose, Maston, Grey, Miller, Taylor, soon to be BA, Ellingson, Briggs, Gauthier, Benson??

And wait till free agency and pay way more?...of all the starters, along with Miller, Briggs and Gauthier all woulkd have got snapped up in a heartbeat

[SpeedFlex27]

Booch, do you think Ricky Collins could fit in here?

[Booch]

25 minutes ago, blue_gold_84 said:

Pretty much to be expected when you're back-to-back champs. Eight starters from 2021 gone shouldn't be shocking considering what some teams were offering these players in terms of money.

On paper, the roster is worse but that doesn't necessarily stand for much at this point in the off-season. It is what it is.

I wouldn't say its worse when the season hasnt even started...

Sask signed a couple linebackers and Spitty....their oline still sucks...no RB...Dline is weaker...DB's are weaker, and they lost or havnt signed many of their depth guys...we better on paper right now

BC has 2 unproven QB's...weak oline, They signed stove and a few other peices, but nothing thats gonna make them world beaters all of a sudden, and all the new pieces need to gel...we btter on paper right now

Edmonton...jettisoned some of their good Canadian players on defense....still have a average oline....lost their best one due to retirement, way overpayed for an average player in Lacy...not sure even what their dline will look like....we better on paper there too

Cgy...that is who we be battling with for 1st I believe...but they too lost some pieces, but also retained some key guys...and they have depth...cause they dont spend stupidly ...just like us

Just because a team or 2 blows their wad on a shiny new toy, or two....doesnt matter when they didnt adress their huge needs and weaknesses

 

 

1 minute ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Booch, do you think Ricky Collins could fit in here?

if he not your number one guy sure...1000 yard guy in 2019....over 600 yards in 12 games last year...still under 30, be a good compliment to Demski/Woli/Bailey and Ellingson...knows the league and the waggle...return kicks too in a pinch if u need him to....prob get him cheap as well...

[TBURGESS]

45 minutes ago, Booch said:

who's the more to come?...fringe guys...really curious all these key pieces we still gonna lose....do explain

Who would u have rather we let go, and then had to replace with just as good or better...for same value or less in FA of Bryant, Hardrick, Neufeld, Couture, Woli, Bailey, Johhny, Brady, Willie, Jackson, Biggie, Thomas, Rose, Maston, Grey, Miller, Taylor, soon to be BA, Ellingson, Briggs, Gauthier, Benson??

And wait till free agency and pay way more?...of all the starters, along with Miller, Briggs and Gauthier all woulkd have got snapped up in a heartbeat

Castillo is rumoured to be going to EDM. I'd hardly call him a fringe guy.

Eli is the 6 OL, but likely won't be back due to Covidiot-ness. Not a starter yet, but a key backup piece.

Alexander isn't signed yet and even if/when he is, he won't be a starter for the first third of the season. 

McQuire looks to be moving on, meaning our backup QB spot is actually worse than it was last year and it was bad then.

Grant's not signed yet. Maybe he's back. Maybe not.

It is what it is. When you're the top team in the league, other teams will want your players. You're destined to be worse the next season UNLESS you can sign good replacements. We'll see if that happens before TC.

 

 

[Brandon]

1 hour ago, TBURGESS said:

As it stands right now:

Out:
Adams         - OTT
Alford           - NFL
Antigha        - EDM
Darby          - OTT
Harris          - TOR
Jones           - MTL
Kongbo        - NFL
Lawler         - EDM
Richardson   - BC

That's a ton of talent and more losses to come.

In:
Ellingson

I wonder if any other teams currently or in the past in the CFL has ever lost a group of players?   

I wonder what the Bombers are going to do without the ability to replace these now gone players with recruiting and/or free agency.    

I wonder when the Bombers will ever prove that they can recruit new talent and/or demonstrate that they can find depth at many positions?

What did we do last year when we started brand new DB's?  How did we ever survive with brand new talent?

Imagine if a team like Calgary would ever lose a player or two to the NFL or other teams,  I wonder what would of ever happened if they lost a premium receiver?

 

[WildPath]

3 hours ago, Noeller said:

 

 

Those last two shots of him.... made it hit home. 😢

The business side really sucks.

[17to85]

45 minutes ago, TBURGESS said:

Castillo is rumoured to be going to EDM. I'd hardly call him a fringe guy.

Eli is the 6 OL, but likely won't be back due to Covidiot-ness. Not a starter yet, but a key backup piece.

Alexander isn't signed yet and even if/when he is, he won't be a starter for the first third of the season. 

McQuire looks to be moving on, meaning our backup QB spot is actually worse than it was last year and it was bad then.

Grant's not signed yet. Maybe he's back. Maybe not.

It is what it is. When you're the top team in the league, other teams will want your players. You're destined to be worse the next season UNLESS you can sign good replacements. We'll see if that happens before TC.

 

 

There's probably a better chance we lose Castillo to the NFL than Edmonton. 

Look we need to stop and remember how this team was built in the first place. Couple key free agents but mostly it was guys they drafted or recruited. Lose Stove? Well recruit another guy. Lose Lawler? Recruit someone else. Desjarlais to the NFL? Well There's a reason walters drafts olinemen every single draft. Darby was a guy they grabbed in season as an injury replacement. Kyle walters is all about depth.

[Bubba Zanetti]

11 minutes ago, WildPath said:

Those last two shots of him.... made it hit home. 😢

The business side really sucks.

Im seriously bummed today. Feels like someone died. What a s*** way to finish his career.

[bryan35]

Not sad to see Adams gone. Dropped to many passes and disappeared for multiple games at a time.

Im thinking Harris will have a big drop off in play due to his age and injuries. Solid team guy and leader but it was time to move on.

[GCn20]

14 hours ago, greenrider55 said:

You guys have lost talent, but retained the core that made you successful. You might not obliterate everyone like 2021, but you’ll still be a very good team.

We are still the best team in the league. Book it.

12 hours ago, 17to85 said:

There's probably a better chance we lose Castillo to the NFL than Edmonton. 

Look we need to stop and remember how this team was built in the first place. Couple key free agents but mostly it was guys they drafted or recruited. Lose Stove? Well recruit another guy. Lose Lawler? Recruit someone else. Desjarlais to the NFL? Well There's a reason walters drafts olinemen every single draft. Darby was a guy they grabbed in season as an injury replacement. Kyle walters is all about depth.

Stove missed significant games in 2021 and we won without him, same with Harris, Lawler has been replaced effectively although maybe not fully, Gray was in waiting for a long time and will fill Desjarlais shoes, and Darby played great but so did Maston at that position. I think the depth is already there to mitigate most of our losses. We need to restock the cupboards a bit but on paper we are the best team in the league still imo.

[Mike]

Think it’s impossible to say any team is the best team on paper at this point, too much turnover and changing of key people in key spots.

Not to say it won’t get fixed up, but we’ve currently got major kicking questions (which were a massive issue prior to Sergio last year), no returner and some issues in the defensive secondary plus our Canadian depth took a hit.

On the bright side, we have some good pieces in the pipeline in Dobson (to replace Eli) and Patrice Rene (to replace some Canadian D depth) but they’ve gotta sign.

[Super Duper Negatron]

I think it's safe to say the Bombers got worse this year and a lot of teams got better. The gap last year was huge though, so we had some margin.

[BBlink]

5 minutes ago, Super Duper Negatron said:

I think it's safe to say the Bombers got worse this year and a lot of teams got better. The gap last year was huge though, so we had some margin.

This is what I was thinking. We were dominant for the large majority of last year. This year won't be quite as easy.

Im a firm believer that 2nd year CFL players take a huge leap from year 1. So some of the depth guys we've had that had some playing time last year could just be waiting to take that next step.

Casey Sayles, Kelvin McKnight etc. 

[blue85gold]

Sad to see Darvin and Harris go, but it had to happen eventually. 

Darvin isn't the receiver he once was, but he was still a hell of blocker and great guy to have on the team. Made some big plays when it counted in the 2019 and 2021 playoffs. Nice finish for him in blue and gold catching the game winning TD in the cup.

Harris clearly struggled with injuries last year but looked great when on the field. Too bad they couldn't work out a deal but had to move on to younger guys at some point. He no longer had to be the focal point of the O with Collaros around. For a few years he carried the team, but the team improved enough that he didn't have to carry them anymore. Wish him good luck in TO and glad he's not playing in the West.

 

[Geebrr]

I don't get the Kelvin McKnight love. He is on the Charles Nelson territory for me. What has he done to be excited about? What is he good at?

[blue85gold]

Just now, Geebrr said:

I don't get the Kelvin McKnight love. He is on the Charles Nelson territory for me. What has he done to be excited about? What is he good at?

Agree here. Hasn't show much in games but apparently is great in practice. That only takes a guy so far. 

[the watcher]

Just a couple of thoughts :

Its sad to see AH go. He put on some of the best performances ever and at crucial times. He will be missed but it's pro sports. We've all seen it before. I'm still going to miss AH but I'm excited to see what our young Canucks can do with more time on the field.

There was no way we weren't going to lose a bunch of players. The dominance during the regular season was epic. It is something we will talk about for years. When that happens the teams we dominated are going to come hunting. Alot of these guys have a 3 to 5 year window before they are done/ trail off. So you know they need to capitalise.  All Walters could do was to prioritise who we could or couldn't keep. 

 

 

[Jesse]

15 minutes ago, Geebrr said:

I don't get the Kelvin McKnight love. He is on the Charles Nelson territory for me. What has he done to be excited about? What is he good at?

No real love, just a guy that got into some games last year so you're hoping he takes a step forward. 

If nothing else, he's a guy that other newcomers have to compete with.

[GCn20]

28 minutes ago, Super Duper Negatron said:

I think it's safe to say the Bombers got worse this year and a lot of teams got better. The gap last year was huge though, so we had some margin.

Who got better? Not Calgary or the Riders. The teams that sucked the most last year made the biggest splash but the gap was also huge for them.

[GCn20]

Andrew Harris could have been a Bomber this year. The choice was his too. Some people saying that the Bombers did him wrong but he owns a big part of it as well. We know guys like Jeffcoat and Bighill are leaving 50-100k on the table to come back, they chose to be Bombers. Andrew had that same choice in front of him, and at age 35 he should have known that this was going to be the way it ended with us someday. If he feels that an extra 50k in Toronto is the way he wants this to go down...that's on him. This won't be a popular take but he valued himself higher than the team imo, and that's his right to do so, but let's not spit out the narrative that the Bombers did anything wrong in their treatment of him. If Harris wanted to sign a contract more indicative of his age, and diminished reliability, he is still a Bomber.

Edited February 9, 2022 by GCn20

[WildPath]

10 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

Andrew Harris could have been a Bomber this year. The choice was his too. Some people saying that the Bombers did him wrong but he owns a big part of it as well. We know guys like Jeffcoat and Bighill are leaving 50-100k on the table to come back, they chose to be Bombers. Andrew had that same choice in front of him, and at age 35 he should have known that this was going to be the way it ended with us someday. If he feels that an extra 50k in Toronto is the way he wants this to go down...that's on him. This won't be a popular take but he valued himself higher than the team imo, and that's his right to do so, but let's not spit out the narrative that the Bombers did anything wrong in their treatment of him. If Harris wanted to sign a contract more indicative of his age, and diminished reliability, he is still a Bomber.

Wonder what the difference will mean to him in terms of sponsorships and outside of football income. Can't imagine a CFLer can make decent coin doing promos and such in Toronto.

[Booch]

15 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

Andrew Harris could have been a Bomber this year. The choice was his too. Some people saying that the Bombers did him wrong but he owns a big part of it as well. We know guys like Jeffcoat and Bighill are leaving 50-100k on the table to come back, they chose to be Bombers. Andrew had that same choice in front of him, and at age 35 he should have known that this was going to be the way it ended with us someday. If he feels that an extra 50k in Toronto is the way he wants this to go down...that's on him. This won't be a popular take but he valued himself higher than the team imo, and that's his right to do so, but let's not spit out the narrative that the Bombers did anything wrong in their treatment of him. If Harris wanted to sign a contract more indicative of his age, and diminished reliability, he is still a Bomber.

Kind of have to agree...Others took less, some big amounts less...a few have done it for a couple yrs now too....why couldnt he?....

[Mike]

42 minutes ago, Geebrr said:

I don't get the Kelvin McKnight love. He is on the Charles Nelson territory for me. What has he done to be excited about? What is he good at?

Guys deserve more than one year to develop if the coaching staff believes in them 

[Jpan85]

Just now, Mike said:

Guys deserve more than one year to develop if the coaching staff believes in them 

Exactly nobody had any faith in Bailey going into year two. You see it with the Stamps where they have guys lineup in development to replace the next guy they are going to lose. 

[17to85]

4 minutes ago, Jpan85 said:

nobody had any faith in Bailey going into year two

I did...

5 minutes ago, Mike said:

Guys deserve more than one year to develop if the coaching staff believes in them 

Collaros as I recall was a guy who lobbied for McKnight as well.