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

[Jesse]

Just now, Arnold_Palmer said:

Well yeah but I mean with the allegations of not getting along with teammates. I was curious to know what those issues were.

This year, large group of teammates were upset at the unvaccinated group that was putting their season in danger.

 

[camper_2]

3 hours ago, GCJenks said:

As a Bomber fan I love this. As. CFL fan I wonder how this makes the league look…

Sadly, the re-hiring of Chris Jones should never have been done by Toronto, this past summer. He didn't deserve a 2nd opportunity with them, let alone the CFL, now. He claimed he had his dream job (coaching in his home town, plus the NFL Cleveland job, after he left the Riders high/dry, which sadly Rider fans don't see it, as he does no wrong). His leaving or screwing other CFL teams is his passion, as in: Riders (all CFL coaching staff were set at the time, although Rider nation was upset with the Bombers as we should have given Lapo an opportunity to interview), Eskimos (after winning the Grey Cup, no need to cerebrate with championship team, focus on another team ), Argos (there is something there, but can't remember) & the Stamps (I know Huff was really upset with him when he left). 

Now, with the Elks, yes he will find ways to improve the team quickly and the winning will happen sooner than later. But with him come the shenanigans as we all saw with the Riders (fake injuries during the game creating play stoppage, player stashing and anything else that comes to his mind). 

I have posted earlier about Chris Jones and my dislike for his ways. He can coach/manage a football team, that I know. But, in my way of thinking there are capable people in our league that could have done the job(s) in Edmonton or for that matter in Toronto earlier this year. He definitely can/will do a quick fix, but for how long he stays there or even the CFL, is my question.

Remember, Edmonton, under lots of fanfare, 2 years ago, you guys paid a head football coach for a complete year to sit on his back side, collect his salary & leave for the NFL on short notice. Hopefully, its not a repeat, with Mr. Jones. In closing, I'm disappointed with the group that was the Edmonton selection group, but like the outcome in Ottawa.

[Bigblue204]

3 hours ago, Arnold_Palmer said:

What exactly has happened with Trevor Harris? 

I'm pretty sure it was Pruneau who called him out after he left Ottawa for pointing fingers at everyone but himself when things went wrong. And the Dlineman who played for edm (name escapes right now) and now plays for the Als complained more about his play style than personality.....but even that is telling a bit. He did walk it back once Harris joined the Als...but where's there's smoke...

And of course the medical issue that mysteriously disappeared allowing him to get vaccinated. 

Add on his age and cost and I fail to see the upside. 

[Noeller]

1 hour ago, Arnold_Palmer said:

Well yeah but I mean with the allegations of not getting along with teammates. I was curious to know what those issues were.

Most of that likely because he wasn't vaxxed... 

[Eternal optimist]

1 hour ago, Bigblue204 said:

I'm pretty sure it was Pruneau who called him out after he left Ottawa for pointing fingers at everyone but himself when things went wrong. And the Dlineman who played for edm (name escapes right now) and now plays for the Als complained more about his play style than personality.....but even that is telling a bit. He did walk it back once Harris joined the Als...but where's there's smoke...

And of course the medical issue that mysteriously disappeared allowing him to get vaccinated. 

Add on his age and cost and I fail to see the upside. 

I feel like the defensive lineman you are referring to is Almonda Sewell, but I cant source it bc im lazy af right now

 

Christmaaaaaaaas

[Booch]

28 minutes ago, Eternal optimist said:

I feel like the defensive lineman you are referring to is Almonda Sewell, but I cant source it bc im lazy af right now

 

Christmaaaaaaaas

It was Sewell

[Geebrr]

Sewell basically called him soft and a quitter.

Not a great label.

[SpeedFlex27]

13 hours ago, wbbfan said:

That's interesting. Idk why you bring a guy like Buono in ghrn go against his recommendation. 

 

Money, money, money. Dolla bills, y'all. Easy to spend $$$ when it's not your own.

[SpeedFlex27]

Eddie Steele who I think we all respect when he spoke out abouth Elks organization, in particular Brock Sunderland & then was fired from his analyst job on the Elks radio broadcasts says on twitter that free agents are lining up to sign with Edmonton. That may be a bit of an overstatement I think but we also know free agents want to sign here as well.  What's going to be interesting is what Jones does with both Cornelius & Arbuckle, two qbs he never signed & may not want. I think one of them will be gone & he looks to sign an experienced veteran starting qb. Hello, Dane Evans. 

Edited December 22, 2021 by SpeedFlex27

[wbbfan]

3 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Eddie Steele who I think we all respect when he spoke out abouth Elks organization, in particular Brock Sunderland & then was fired from his analyst job on the Elks radio broadcasts says on twitter that free agents are lining up to sign with Edmonton. That may be a bit of an overstatement I think but we also know free agents want to sign here as well.  What's going to be interesting is what Jones does with both Cornelius & Arbuckle, two qbs he never signed & may not want. I think one of them will be gone & he looks to sign an experienced veteran starting qb. Hello, Dane Evans. 

I think what he means is they are lining up expecting the impatient Jones to heavily over spend to speed up his process. 

 

[rebusrankin]

Hopefully none of our guys head to the Elks. I knid of hope Jones signs a bunch of his old Rider players and both team suck next year.

[GCn20]

4 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Eddie Steele who I think we all respect when he spoke out abouth Elks organization, in particular Brock Sunderland & then was fired from his analyst job on the Elks radio broadcasts says on twitter that free agents are lining up to sign with Edmonton. That may be a bit of an overstatement I think but we also know free agents want to sign here as well.  What's going to be interesting is what Jones does with both Cornelius & Arbuckle, two qbs he never signed & may not want. I think one of them will be gone & he looks to sign an experienced veteran starting qb. Hello, Dane Evans. 

I like Eddie Steele, and respect his braveness to tell everyone what they already knew, but at the end of the day he is a big time Eskimo homer. Before the Esks slide and his eventual termination he was as nauseating and outlandish as Luc Mullinder. There will be a few guys who go Chris Jones way because he allows his defences to run the room, but he is a notoriously cheap GM at contract time. I don't see a parade of FA's going his way because even in SSK he couldn't really attract many. Most of his guys were always reclamation projects or weird out of position experiments. Name a top notch FA that he was able to land and more importantly keep. He even lowballed Willie and was the guy that eventually caused the rift that walked him out the door in SSK.

Edited December 22, 2021 by GCn20

[wbbfan]

14 hours ago, Noeller said:

Willie does love Coach Jones (he's been pretty public about that) but I'm not sure it's enough to leave this winning org at this point in his career....

Yeah I mean he's considering just staying here full time.

First I love willy and his family if he retires here I'll he thrilled. 

2nd willy in 2019 was one of the most dominant defensive forces in league history. 

I hope willy gets a reasonable salary to stay this year. 2021 willy was a good step back from 18 and 19. He's about to turn 31 and he doesn't look like he's lost a step. Maybe it's the missed season missed pre season or the messed up year. 

 At this point we can't easily replace if we can at all guys like collaros Bailey Lawler biggie ba Darby Castillo or more than 1 starting ol. 

 It feels like Jeffcoat will be hard to retain on the open market. Dl Cbs and hbs we seem to be able to replace easily.  If any thing stove is the top priority imo on the dl. 

So I hope they can reach a good deal maybe heavily incentivesed with a good signing bonus to keep willy. 

This could be a tough off season. It's hard to keep a championship team together and continue to improve. 

[GCn20]

18 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

Hopefully none of our guys head to the Elks. I knid of hope Jones signs a bunch of his old Rider players and both team suck next year.

Take a look at Jones roster in SSK and it wasn't built on FA. He is not a big spender in that regard. The only big FA that he ever signed was Charleston Hughes. Jones likes to GM to prove he is the smartest guy in the room. He loves to roll the dice on players he thinks underachieved elsewhere because his ego believes he can rebuild them. His roster Rider is literally all guys that Murphy recruited or other teams let walk to FA for one reason or another. Even Hughes was a guy Hufnagel let walk to FA because he thought he was past his best before date. Huf was wrong on that one...but those are the types Jones likes to sign.

[JCon]

Let's not forget what a masterful job Jones did as a GM in Saskatchewan. He needed to play a WR at DB because there was no depth. This guy is genius.

[GCn20]

14 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

Yeah I mean he's considering just staying here full time.

First I love willy and his family if he retires here I'll he thrilled. 

2nd willy in 2019 was one of the most dominant defensive forces in league history. 

I hope willy gets a reasonable salary to stay this year. 2021 willy was a good step back from 18 and 19. He's about to turn 31 and he doesn't look like he's lost a step. Maybe it's the missed season missed pre season or the messed up year. 

 At this point we can't easily replace if we can at all guys like collaros Bailey Lawler biggie ba Darby Castillo or more than 1 starting ol. 

 It feels like Jeffcoat will be hard to retain on the open market. Dl Cbs and hbs we seem to be able to replace easily.  If any thing stove is the top priority imo on the dl. 

So I hope they can reach a good deal maybe heavily incentivesed with a good signing bonus to keep willy. 

This could be a tough off season. It's hard to keep a championship team together and continue to improve. 

Willie J followed Jones to the Riders when he was an unknown, and quite frankly got taken advantage of by Jones. In his final season with the Riders Willie was being paid 165k and when he had a MODP calibre season (narrowly losing the West nod to Biggie), Jones lowballed him again to the point that Willie declared he was going to test FA even BEFORE Jones left. I really think that Willie loving Jones is a thing of the past and his final days in Regina seem to confirm that. O'Day made several last ditch efforts to re-sign Willie in the week he had to do so but by that time the damage was done and Walters back door men had let Willie know he would get a fair contract and better treatment a few hours west.

[wbbfan]

18 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

Take a look at Jones roster in SSK and it wasn't built on FA. He is not a big spender in that regard. The only big FA that he ever signed was Charleston Hughes. Jones likes to GM to prove he is the smartest guy in the room. He loves to roll the dice on players he thinks underachieved elsewhere because his ego believes he can rebuild them. His roster Rider is literally all guys that Murphy recruited or other teams let walk to FA for one reason or another. Even Hughes was a guy Hufnagel let walk to FA because he thought he was past his best before date. Huf was wrong on that one...but those are the types Jones likes to sign.

You're right. He doesn't dabble in the fa market. He stabs at a few top tier guys and is ever confident in his ability to scout new us talent. 

 I think he's gonna go after Duke and a qb at the least. 

[GCn20]

13 hours ago, Arnold_Palmer said:

Well yeah but I mean with the allegations of not getting along with teammates. I was curious to know what those issues were.

I have not read any accusations that he did not get along with teammates. There were issues surrounding his vax status but he eventually relented and got dosed. There was an ex-player who called him soft but later suggested he was a great locker room leader. Bottom line is that I wouldn't want Harris as my starter but he would be a first rate backup by any measurable. I would like a developmental guy as well but in all honestly I don't think McGuire is that guy and when you can only dress 2 QBs I don't want a raw rookie dressing as backup.

[JCon]

Just now, GCn20 said:

I have not read any accusations that he did not get along with teammates. There were issues surrounding his vax status but he eventually relented and got dosed. There was an ex-player who called him soft but later suggested he was a great locker room leader. Bottom line is that I wouldn't want Harris as my starter but he would be a first rate backup by any measurable. I would like a developmental guy as well but in all honestly I don't think McGuire is that guy and when you can only dress 2 QBs I don't want a raw rookie dressing as backup.

The allegations come from his days and departure from Ottawa. 

[GCn20]

3 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

You're right. He doesn't dabble in the fa market. He stabs at a few top tier guys and is ever confident in his ability to scout new us talent. 

 I think he's gonna go after Duke and a qb at the least. 

Based on Jones history, QB has never been a priority of his. I could see him sticking with Arbuckle for a season at least. He will go hard after defensive players that he feels have been overlooked by other teams imo.

2 minutes ago, JCon said:

The allegations come from his days and departure from Ottawa. 

So sour grapes then that should be taken with a grain of salt.  Look I'm not suggesting that Harris is the end all be all, but as a backup at a backup salary any team would be foolish not to do it. This idea that teams must build their own QBs is just not accurate.

Edited December 22, 2021 by GCn20

[JCon]

5 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

Based on Jones history, QB has never been a priority of his. I could see him sticking with Arbuckle for a season at least. He will go hard after defensive players that he feels have been overlooked by other teams imo.

So sour grapes then that should be taken with a grain of salt.  Look I'm not suggesting that Harris is the end all be all, but as a backup at a backup salary any team would be foolish not to do it. This idea that teams must build their own QBs is just not accurate.

You should actually read the quotes and the stories before saying that it was sour grapes. 

[rebusrankin]

I could see Jeffcoat retire but leaving as a FA seems unlikely. Also why can't Walter's bring back both Jeff's  he did it before

 

[Booch]

33 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

I could see Jeffcoat retire but leaving as a FA seems unlikely. Also why can't Walter's bring back both Jeff's  he did it before

 

Exactly...last year we brought back the same amount pretty much...and all teams are in same boat.....and only so much SMS to go around...the reality is in the new CFL right now is that some vets will have to accept the same pay as previous year, some will have to settle for less, as thats just the business now....or not play.....and there will be a few with nice bumps...we should be fine, as we have pretty much a veteran roster where we will have minimal bump ups...if any, plus the added bonus that the players know if the core guys are back, they have a good shot at 20 to 30k at season end....whereas some teams who we most likely assume will try and pay some larger cash to some prize free-agents have no hope in hell really...or its a big crap-shoot

So with the short career life of a player, the more likely chance of that playoff money is a big draw...why do u think teams like the stamps retained so many guys for years...and for less than they probably woulda got elsewhere??

and on the flip...if we do happen to lose a key guy...which I doubt..or another team or 2 lose a key guy....they will obviously been wayyy overpayed....throwing that teams SMS outta whack, and ripple effect being less money to go around to get a very good replacement, at possibly a lower price, strengthening your overall SMS 

[stevethe3rd]

2 hours ago, GCn20 said:

I like Eddie Steele, and respect his braveness to tell everyone what they already knew, but at the end of the day he is a big time Eskimo homer. Before the Esks slide and his eventual termination he was as nauseating and outlandish as Luc Mullinder. There will be a few guys who go Chris Jones way because he allows his defences to run the room, but he is a notoriously cheap GM at contract time. I don't see a parade of FA's going his way because even in SSK he couldn't really attract many. Most of his guys were always reclamation projects or weird out of position experiments. Name a top notch FA that he was able to land and more importantly keep. He even lowballed Willie and was the guy that eventually caused the rift that walked him out the door in SSK.

I am not sure on the timeline of events. I am sure Jones made an offer to Willie but he left for the NFL in January and then Willie left for the Winnipeg that following Feb. It will be interesting to see how Jones attracts guys or his guys back to Edmonton this off season especially on the defensive side of the ball. 

Guys like Willie Jefferson, Edem, Purifoy, Marshall, Gainey, McCoil. Even Moncreif who is back in Regina telling people that he thinks he will be back with the Riders next year. He gave all these guys there shots in the CFL and for whatever reason guys feel a weird loyalty towards jones whether that be formal players or coaches.  

16 minutes ago, Booch said:

Exactly...last year we brought back the same amount pretty much...and all teams are in same boat.....and only so much SMS to go around...the reality is in the new CFL right now is that some vets will have to accept the same pay as previous year, some will have to settle for less, as thats just the business now....or not play.....and there will be a few with nice bumps...we should be fine, as we have pretty much a veteran roster where we will have minimal bump ups...if any, plus the added bonus that the players know if the core guys are back, they have a good shot at 20 to 30k at season end....whereas some teams who we most likely assume will try and pay some larger cash to some prize free-agents have no hope in hell really...or its a big crap-shoot

So with the short career life of a player, the more likely chance of that playoff money is a big draw...why do u think teams like the stamps retained so many guys for years...and for less than they probably woulda got elsewhere??

and on the flip...if we do happen to lose a key guy...which I doubt..or another team or 2 lose a key guy....they will obviously been wayyy overpayed....throwing that teams SMS outta whack, and ripple effect being less money to go around to get a very good replacement, at possibly a lower price, strengthening your overall SMS 

How much is the Grey Cup bonus do you know Booch? I was suprised how little the players get for the first two rounds of the playoffs after talking to a player on the riders this past week. 

[Booch]

2 minutes ago, stevethe3rd said:

I am not sure on the timeline of events. I am sure Jones made an offer to Willie but he left for the NFL in January and then Willie left for the Winnipeg that following Feb. It will be interesting to see how Jones attracts guys or his guys back to Edmonton this off season especially on the defensive side of the ball. 

Guys like Willie Jefferson, Edem, Purifoy, Marshall, Gainey, McCoil. Even Moncreif who is back in Regina telling people that he thinks he will be back with the Riders next year. He gave all these guys there shots in the CFL and for whatever reason guys feel a weird loyalty towards jones whether that be formal players or coaches.  

How much is the Grey Cup bonus do you know Booch? I was suprised how little the players get for the first two rounds of the playoffs after talking to a player on the riders this past week. 

https://www.totalsportal.com/others/grey-cup-prize-money/