2021/22 - CFL Offseason - Non-Back-to-Back Grey Cup Champion Thread

[Pete Catan's Ghost]

On 2021-12-17 at 4:46 PM, Bomber_fanaddict said:

https://www.cfl.ca/official-2022-free-agent-tracker/?fbclid=IwAR1ZBvYT79YO5A4IfAmctxxo6XrZHIyYlbj82OyFJOKl2GoYOrcgfNcnUq0
 

 

314 potential FAs! Wow that’s a lot! That’s about 35 per team. Going to be a circus come FA time lol. 

It's going to be awfully tough for other teams to try and sign our guys away. The only thing others can offer is more money (or a starting position for our backups), because our team culture, coaches, playoff $, fans, and stadium are all second to none. 

Edited December 21, 2021 by Pete Catan's Ghost

[SpeedFlex27]

22 minutes ago, JCon said:

It's too much. The league and PA need to find a way to make contracts longer. We need 2 to 3 year deals to be the norm, not the exception. 

We know that one year deals were pushed by the PA for various reasons but it all comes down to money and certainty. 

Let's find a solution. 

The league has to stop releasing players days before a signing bonus is due. GMs make a committment then live up to it. At the same time if a player pulls a Darian Durant he can't keep the signing bonus. It must be returned in full by a specified date. The CFL can't afford guaranteed contracts so a solution has to be found about compensation after a player is cut. Especially after the 9th game  & beyond of the season. 

[Sard]

6 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

The league has to stop releasing players days before a signing bonus is due. GMs make a committment then live up to it. At the same time if a player pulls a Darian Durant he can't keep the signing bonus. It must be returned in full by a specified date. The CFL can't afford guaranteed contracts so a solution has to be found about compensation after a player is cut. Especially after the 9th game  & beyond of the season. 

I don't begrudge teams letting guys go just before a bonus is due.  I remember reading something a couple of years back that basically said that agents put those clauses into contracts to force a team's hand to either keep a guy on, or release him before free agency so that he can get a head start on negotiating with other teams.  I don't see it as a bad thing that the teams have done at all.

Edited December 18, 2021 by Sard
typo

[SpeedFlex27]

2 minutes ago, Sard said:

I don't begrudge teams letting guys go just before a bonus is due.  I remember reading something a couple of years back that basically said that agents put those clauses into contracts to force a team's hand to either keep a guy on, or release him before free agency so that he can get a head start on negotiating with other teams.  I don't see it as a bad thing that the teams have done at all.

It's a sore point with players & they'll never agree to go back to longer term contracts without the bonus money situation taken care of.

[Mark H.]

9 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

It's a sore point with players & they'll never agree to go back to longer term contracts without the bonus money situation taken care of.

Exactly.  Wasn't it Kevin Glenn - who was cut right before he would have received $150 000?

[wbbfan]

10 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

It's a sore point with players & they'll never agree to go back to longer term contracts without the bonus money situation taken care of.

And guaranteed money fixed. It's a pretty terrible situation for them. 

The cfl has a short off season coming up will need a new cba that hopefully fixes contracts and they think they have time to fully review all of the unique rules for the cfl. Crazy. 

[TBURGESS]

They want to look at everything. My ideas:

3 downs.

Same number of guaranteed Canadian starting spots.

X Americans, Y Canadians, Z Globals. QB's don't have special rules. Canadian QB's are Canadians, roster as many or as few as you want. QB's can play any position and more than one can be on the field at the same time.

Eliminate the 3 or 4 year Americans who become pseudo-Canadian backups.

Minimum 2 year contracts, not guaranteed.

NFL window from day after GC to January 15th. CFL retains players rights if they come back from the NFL for the contract length.

SMS goes down to current low limit. No change to bonuses. 

16 game season. Every team plays every other team twice. (Lower SMS = less games)

Longer than 4 hour work days.

More contact practices.

Single division. No east/west. No cross-over. The top 4 teams get home playoff games.

No waiting for both teams to make changes before starting the play clock, unless there is an injury, set the ball, whistle time in.

Eliminate triple headers by playing on Thursday thru Sunday until NFL starts, then Thursday thru Saturday with a double header on Saturday.

Grey Cup on the same week as Remembrance day every year.

Saturday playoff games.

Sunday Grey Cup.

[wbbfan]

50 minutes ago, TBURGESS said:

They want to look at everything. My ideas:

3 downs.

Same number of guaranteed Canadian starting spots.

X Americans, Y Canadians, Z Globals. QB's don't have special rules. Canadian QB's are Canadians, roster as many or as few as you want. QB's can play any position and more than one can be on the field at the same time.

Eliminate the 3 or 4 year Americans who become pseudo-Canadian backups.

Minimum 2 year contracts, not guaranteed.

NFL window from day after GC to January 15th. CFL retains players rights if they come back from the NFL for the contract length.

SMS goes down to current low limit. No change to bonuses. 

16 game season. Every team plays every other team twice. (Lower SMS = less games)

Longer than 4 hour work days.

More contact practices.

Single division. No east/west. No cross-over. The top 4 teams get home playoff games.

No waiting for both teams to make changes before starting the play clock, unless there is an injury, set the ball, whistle time in.

Eliminate triple headers by playing on Thursday thru Sunday until NFL starts, then Thursday thru Saturday with a double header on Saturday.

Grey Cup on the same week as Remembrance day every year.

Saturday playoff games.

Sunday Grey Cup.

Why the hell would players agree to a 2 year none guaranteed deal. Seriously they just took massive reductions in salary this year. The usfl and xfl are about the start up. If you do that the cfl will be gone in a couple years. 

[Booch]

Not sure why league can't work a partial guarantee into contracts...reduce the signing bonus in lieu of more salary..and if u dump a guy prior to contract completion...player gets a percentage of his signed deal... Kind of inline with what the signing bonus would/ could have been if done the old way.

I am sure that players would agree to smaller signing bonus if it allowed for a bigger actually salary...with the agreement that If they cut/releaed prior to contract expiration they will recieve a singing bonus type compensation.

Would make teams less Apt to sign rental type one yr fix type guys...allow for true team building and consistency...and also if I guy is dumped likely be more able to catch on somewhere else without throwing that teams sms into the crapper cause that player could conceivably sign for less as he doesn't have to make up for what he may have budgeted making that yr as he was let go with compensation

With this as well I'm talking in a player's second deal...not rookie entry deals as technically u don't want to hamstring a team with compensation for new players who don't pan out...veterans...

Edited December 18, 2021 by Booch

[Mike]

2 hours ago, TBURGESS said:

They want to look at everything. My ideas:

3 downs.

Same number of guaranteed Canadian starting spots.

X Americans, Y Canadians, Z Globals. QB's don't have special rules. Canadian QB's are Canadians, roster as many or as few as you want. QB's can play any position and more than one can be on the field at the same time.

Eliminate the 3 or 4 year Americans who become pseudo-Canadian backups.

Minimum 2 year contracts, not guaranteed.

NFL window from day after GC to January 15th. CFL retains players rights if they come back from the NFL for the contract length.

SMS goes down to current low limit. No change to bonuses. 

16 game season. Every team plays every other team twice. (Lower SMS = less games)

Longer than 4 hour work days.

More contact practices.

Single division. No east/west. No cross-over. The top 4 teams get home playoff games.

No waiting for both teams to make changes before starting the play clock, unless there is an injury, set the ball, whistle time in.

Eliminate triple headers by playing on Thursday thru Sunday until NFL starts, then Thursday thru Saturday with a double header on Saturday.

Grey Cup on the same week as Remembrance day every year.

Saturday playoff games.

Sunday Grey Cup.

This all sounds good until you realize there’s absolute nothing gained by the players in this proposal 

[TBURGESS]

1 hour ago, wbbfan said:

Why the hell would players agree to a 2 year none guaranteed deal. Seriously they just took massive reductions in salary this year. The usfl and xfl are about the start up. If you do that the cfl will be gone in a couple years. 

They've agreed to it in the past and they don't have any bargaining strength. Go on strike, the CFL dies, and 95% of them don't have football jobs.

The XFL and the USFL may start up and may last a year or two and they will take CFL players no matter what the CFL SMS is.

15 minutes ago, Mike said:

This all sounds good until you realize there’s absolute nothing gained by the players in this proposal 

Less games played for the same salary isn't nothing.

[Bomber_fanaddict]

The last time the Riders won the Grey Cup the Number one song was Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus…..

 

ok that was weak, I’ll see myself out 🤣

[wbbfan]

3 hours ago, TBURGESS said:

They've agreed to it in the past and they don't have any bargaining strength. Go on strike, the CFL dies, and 95% of them don't have football jobs.

The XFL and the USFL may start up and may last a year or two and they will take CFL players no matter what the CFL SMS is.

Less games played for the same salary isn't nothing.

That's previous centuries thinking at best. 2 new leagues 40 percent increase in nfl pr money and sizes going up. And you want to try and hold the players feet over the coals. Ambrosie isn't much of a brain trust but thankfully even he has more between his ears than your jack kevorkian suicide solution. 

[TBURGESS]

1 hour ago, wbbfan said:

That's previous centuries thinking at best. 2 new leagues 40 percent increase in nfl pr money and sizes going up. And you want to try and hold the players feet over the coals. Ambrosie isn't much of a brain trust but thankfully even he has more between his ears than your jack kevorkian suicide solution. 

40% increase in NFL money doesn't matter to 90+% of CFL'ers as they'll never get a chance to get it & for the 10%, the CFL can't/won't match it. XFL/USFL avg pay is $50K US and their QB's get a lot more. Players who want to take the chance, will, with or without a slightly bigger player SMS.

The CFL can't afford to up the SMS much if at all. Guaranteed contracts are a huge risk. Player gets hurt, or doesn't do the work off season and he still gets paid? I don't think so. Pay bonuses even if the player gets cut? Why would teams agree to that?

The players have almost everything their own way. They have 1 year contracts. They can go the the NFL. When they come back, they're free agents. They go where the best paycheck is or to teams who have the best chance at playoff dough.

That's why I suggested less games for the same money. A raise with less wear and tear on the players bodies.

[Noeller]

 

 

[Geebrr]

Makes sense. You want to be hired by your boss. Not have some new person come in and not want you. 

Can they do anything right? Doomed for failure

[Noeller]

 

 

[Noeller]

 

 

[Geebrr]

Good for the CFL that Hamilton keeps it's coach.

I look forward to beating them in many more Grey Cups

[Noeller]

 

 

[SpeedFlex27]

4 hours ago, Noeller said:

 

 

Bomber fans had a few rough seasons as well after the previous braintrust was all fired after the 2013 season. It took awhile for things to fall into place but we had patience & we never stopped believing, no matter how painful it was to watch the Bombers slowly turn it around.  

The Elks are finally going thru that long awaited inevitable downturn that probably should have happened 40 years ago after the last dynasty but didn't because they had people running the show that knew what they were doing. It's really only been ONE very bad season since 1970 & the fans in Edmonton have just abandoned the team by the thousands. I sympathize with their plight but don't feel very sorry for them. Now they know how we felt being kicked when we were the 98 lb weakling by other teams in the league. 

[Geebrr]

7 hours ago, Noeller said:

 

 

Let's see how this goes without Michael Reilly.

[BBlink]

I'm expecting to lose a coach or assistant GM. I wonder how often it doesn't happen with a Grey Cup winning team.

[rebusrankin]

Glad Hamilton is keeping Orlando.

[Goldkobra]

Naylor is reporting that Shawn Burke is the new Redblacks GM

https://twitter.com/TSNDaveNaylor/status/1472591447731978250?s=19