Blue Bombers - 2023 Regular Season - Discussion Thread

[Tracker]

2 hours ago, Brandon said:

As free agents if they were so desirable then why hasn't any other team picked them up?

When you look at the GMs of the Elks, TiCats and Riders, you may have an idea.

[wbbfan]

3 hours ago, Brandon said:

As free agents if they were so desirable then why hasn't any other team picked them up?

Tc and pr scouting is dead in the cfl. But we still haven’t finalized all the roster moves with the pr. 

[Jesse]

5 hours ago, TrueBlue4ever said:

O’Shea was only close to being fired in the eyes of certain impatient fans. The powers that be had faith in him. They were rewarded, and again showed why clubs should not make decisions based solely on fan emotion on a message board. 

And we’ll agree to disagree on “repeatedly making bad rosters”. I see 6 straight 10+ win seasons, 3 straight Grey Cup appearances, 2 wins, two straight home West finals, and the best regular season won-loss record in the 93 year club history last season. Don’t usually see bad rosters pull off that. 

1. Before putting Nichols in, MOS was absolutely on the hot seat. You can have faith in a person, but at a certain point, a change would have had to have been made. Thankfully, we never got to that point.

2. Everyone here believes we have the best roster in the league (at least, over the past 3-4 seasons). That does not mean every decision that has been made is the right one. Criticism is allowed and, at times, justified. No coach is perfect and MOS’ game day roster decisions happen to be his weak spot. 

[Booch]

Yeah he was on the hot seat...Its not like they gave him 1 yr and were then gonna pooch him...took him 3 yrs to start the turn around...in pro sports thats an eternity, and for us it all worked out

And the bitchin' about his roster makeup/management has been thrown about here for years...basically right from the start, it's not something we just have been moaning about now, and yes....we have been ultra successful despite it when you look at it....again...sometimes luck and breaks will massage over and hide weak areas

That last game...prime example...Only 2 legit ends....heck I would go as far as say 2 legit dlineman in general (WJ and Haba) who got bagged out by 2nd half and got next to no help from Bennett/Scpackle/Thomas/Walker...4 guys I would be hard pressed to see any reps, let alone meaningful rotational reps on any other team, and the one guy who looks to have some potential (Fox) got minimal reps.....and it has a ripple effect on the back end...Also was Darby illness affecting his play, and got sat partway through game cause he was bagged...so only viable backup we had was Kramdi...Nice special teamer but not a legit starter as we seen...same with Lawrence...ws having horrible game, and we had no backup to put in and let the bleeding stop...to me...thats just not acceptable.....

[Blue In BC]

12 hours ago, Eternal optimist said:

RE: Salima, if the plan all along is to start a CDN in that position, why even bring americans in at that spot? Is CDN talent at the position that lacking, or is it simply an attempt to push other players in TC?

Every position in TC needs to have alternatives to balance the workloads and run drills.  A QB needs needs receivers to throw to and DB's to cover them for example. Many RB's may be alternate choices for a returner or a DI spot in general.

This biggest issue is injuries in TC and possible forced adjustments due to ratio. 

Nothing unusual here.

[GCn20]

13 hours ago, Eternal optimist said:

RE: Salima, if the plan all along is to start a CDN in that position, why even bring americans in at that spot? Is CDN talent at the position that lacking, or is it simply an attempt to push other players in TC?

You bring guys in because they have talent, Up to them to kick the door in. The plan is to play a CDN there, but if you bring in an IMP to compete it is because there might be a sliver of a chance that he seizes the opportunity or maybe finds a different way to stick around. 

[Booch]

goes back to what I brought up in the past...a lot....and I mean A LOT of talented guys have balked coming up here for TC and risk injury when they know...and have been told by players they know and even agents, that they are coming into a situation where they behind the 8-ball and if they competing for a spot that is likely going to be Canadian, that they will likely get cut because of it...even when player is inferior...also if there are some established vets, they know that getting on roster is almost impossible even for a back-up in game spot...again...due to ratio....and some guys that actually have extreme talent just won't take that risk coming here basically with no shot, and risk injury and derailing any chance they could get down south

 

[GCn20]

15 minutes ago, Booch said:

goes back to what I brought up in the past...a lot....and I mean A LOT of talented guys have balked coming up here for TC and risk injury when they know...and have been told by players they know and even agents, that they are coming into a situation where they behind the 8-ball and if they competing for a spot that is likely going to be Canadian, that they will likely get cut because of it...even when player is inferior...also if there are some established vets, they know that getting on roster is almost impossible even for a back-up in game spot...again...due to ratio....and some guys that actually have extreme talent just won't take that risk coming here basically with no shot, and risk injury and derailing any chance they could get down south

 

For sure....Brendan Taman in an interview once said that finding CFL calibre talent isn't that hard really, the hard part is convincing them to come up here. He said that the CFL has about a 10% success rate at convincing IMP players to sign a contract.

[Booch]

12 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

For sure....Brendan Taman in an interview once said that finding CFL calibre talent isn't that hard really, the hard part is convincing them to come up here. He said that the CFL has about a 10% success rate at convincing IMP players to sign a contract.

u mean sign his napkin??...hahah....

[GCn20]

14 minutes ago, Booch said:

u mean sign his napkin??...hahah....

Only the ones not BBQ sauce stained already. In fairness to Taman, he had a ton of flaws especially once their was a SMS but he was one of the best at convincing players to sign on the dotted line. If he is having that kind of success then a lot of GMs were having less.

Edited June 29, 2023 by GCn20

[wbbfan]

36 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

Only the ones not BBQ sauce stained already. In fairness to Taman, he had a ton of flaws especially once their was a SMS but he was one of the best at convincing players to sign on the dotted line. If he is having that kind of success then a lot of GMs were having less.

I hear Richard karikari went from 78% to 87%. His signing of the napkin is imminent. 

[GCn20]

8 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

I hear Richard karikari went from 78% to 87%. His signing of the napkin is imminent. 

Yep Taman dropped that ball for sure....but also dodged a bullet in the process. Karikari for 150k back in 2006 would have been a massive overpay.

[blue85gold]

"Nous avons libéré le demi défensif  Kerfalla Exumé. — We have released  defensive back Kerfalla Exumé."

Montreal cut Exume

He'd be nice to have back on STs

[Booch]

yeah...considering he's been here before that should be a no brainer...lets see what we do

[rebusrankin]

Exume would really help on teams and is worth a roster spot over say Szott.

[Booch]

yup....u would think eh?

[Blue In BC]

I wouldn't be opposed to bringing back Exume. The question would be where on the AR could we make room at the moment? Kelly is the rookie DB and he's playing teams. Noah Hallett might be back at some point.  I suppose as far as the Canadians on the AR we haven't always had 5 Canadian OL active. Since Eli is back, that might make Dobson an added luxury on the AR. We could move him to the 1 game IR. A good ST player would have more activity on the AR than having 2 back up OL.

Just a thought. Obviously that has an extra SMS cost and I wouldn't want to risk losing Dobson. Exume might be willing to accept a PR spot though.

[Booch]

6 minutes ago, Blue In BC said:

I wouldn't be opposed to bringing back Exume. The question would be where on the AR could we make room at the moment? Kelly is the rookie DB and he's playing teams. Noah Hallett might be back at some point.  I suppose as far as the Canadians on the AR we haven't always had 5 Canadian OL active. Since Eli is back, that might make Dobson an added luxury on the AR. We could move him to the 1 game IR. A good ST player would have more activity on the AR than having 2 back up OL.

Just a thought. Obviously that has an extra SMS cost and I wouldn't want to risk losing Dobson. Exume might be willing to accept a PR spot though.

There is your answer right there....He's 3rd on depth cart at safety, and where Exume would sit....

[wbbfan]

6 hours ago, GCn20 said:

Yep Taman dropped that ball for sure....but also dodged a bullet in the process. Karikari for 150k back in 2006 would have been a massive overpay.

That’s true. He didn’t live up. But neither did we. Half of tamans best moves may have been luck lol. 
 

1 hour ago, blue85gold said:

"Nous avons libéré le demi défensif  Kerfalla Exumé. — We have released  defensive back Kerfalla Exumé."

Montreal cut Exume

He'd be nice to have back on STs

can’t sign him fast enough! That said I’m always doubtful of us scooping useful fas from other teams mid season. 
 

57 minutes ago, Blue In BC said:

I wouldn't be opposed to bringing back Exume. The question would be where on the AR could we make room at the moment? Kelly is the rookie DB and he's playing teams. Noah Hallett might be back at some point.  I suppose as far as the Canadians on the AR we haven't always had 5 Canadian OL active. Since Eli is back, that might make Dobson an added luxury on the AR. We could move him to the 1 game IR. A good ST player would have more activity on the AR than having 2 back up OL.

Just a thought. Obviously that has an extra SMS cost and I wouldn't want to risk losing Dobson. Exume might be willing to accept a PR spot though.

If Kramdi is off probably his spot. Bennett if Jackson jeffcoat is back. That involves flipping a da but would be great. We could dress 7 ol and scratch one but I doubt it. Cadwallader would also be a candidate though not ideal. Bennett is a waste of space on the ar right now. I had hoped his athleticism and age would lead to better effort and production on teams. 
 We could take maruo off too since we have one global. 

Edited June 29, 2023 by wbbfan

[Wanna-B-Fanboy]

Our defense looks like **** right now.

Ok, maybe **** is too strong... pedestrian?

They don't look like world beaters out there... they look like a shell of yesteryear. 

Here's hoping we tweak the roster enough and maybe get some late nfl cuts and a few trades or something... cuz... we are not going to be able to get to the cup on what we have now.

[wbbfan]

2 hours ago, Wanna-B-Fanboy said:

Our defense looks like **** right now.

Ok, maybe **** is too strong... pedestrian?

They don't look like world beaters out there... they look like a shell of yesteryear. 

Here's hoping we tweak the roster enough and maybe get some late nfl cuts and a few trades or something... cuz... we are not going to be able to get to the cup on what we have now.

Our dl could be very good this week. Lbers will be fine and excellent once kyrie is healthy. Secondary, oof. If they don’t get healthy soon the air lifts will come fast. 

[JohnnyAbonny]

I still don’t think the D is gonna look much better without some more help at tackle…Lawson yeah, just he can’t spell Jake and Ricky Walker at the same time. If we were rostering Fox, I’d feel a bit better but we still need an American pile pusher from outside the club. 

Parker is the one I’m wanting back the most at DB. They’re missing that physicality big time. 

Edited June 30, 2023 by JohnnyAbonny

[Booch]

15 hours ago, wbbfan said:

Our dl could be very good this week. Lbers will be fine and excellent once kyrie is healthy. Secondary, oof. If they don’t get healthy soon the air lifts will come fast. 

Clements tho has actuallybeen pretty good.....maybe he gets it this yr....but a healthy and up to speed Wilson is lights out...so when he ready will be a good dilemma

[wbbfan]

1 hour ago, Booch said:

Clements tho has actuallybeen pretty good.....maybe he gets it this yr....but a healthy and up to speed Wilson is lights out...so when he ready will be a good dilemma

True. He had some glimmers last year too. Having him and kyrie both on the ar would be great. Clements is pretty good on teams too. So having him focus more on teams and rotate would be great. 

1 hour ago, JohnnyAbonny said:

I still don’t think the D is gonna look much better without some more help at tackle…Lawson yeah, just he can’t spell Jake and Ricky Walker at the same time. If we were rostering Fox, I’d feel a bit better but we still need an American pile pusher from outside the club. 

Parker is the one I’m wanting back the most at DB. They’re missing that physicality big time. 

Really Lawson should take the most reps at dt. Idk how walker is still around tbh. He’s the most mediocre imp dt we’ve had in aaggeess. 
 

With the three des dressed I wouldn’t be surprised to see use go 3 de with Lawson on the nose. Willy at dt then twisting is deadly. Jeffcoat and Habba are both bull rush loads too. 
 

yeah hope Parker is back soon. 

[Booch]

47 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

True. He had some glimmers last year too. Having him and kyrie both on the ar would be great. Clements is pretty good on teams too. So having him focus more on teams and rotate would be great. 

Really Lawson should take the most reps at dt. Idk how walker is still around tbh. He’s the most mediocre imp dt we’ve had in aaggeess. 
 

With the three des dressed I wouldn’t be surprised to see use go 3 de with Lawson on the nose. Willy at dt then twisting is deadly. Jeffcoat and Habba are both bull rush loads too. 
 

yeah hope Parker is back soon. 

yeah I can see some Lawson and 3 de sets and it causing some issues....Jeffcoat as well when used in middle is pretty effective....He's prob the best pure pass rusher on the roster, and is good against run...when healthy, he's prob the best all around dlineman in the CFL