2023/2024 Blue Bombers Off-Season Thread (BRADY’S BACK! DALTON’S BACK!)

[Noeller]

about time to start this thread, and we'll give the first word to Our Man Tait: 
 

 

[Super Duper Negatron]

Everyone who is without a contract for next season, take one step forward. Not so fast Demski!

[Noeller]

4 minutes ago, Super Duper Negatron said:

Everyone who is without a contract for next season, take one step forward. Not so fast Demski!

and Zach.... but not many more than that. 

[rebusrankin]

So Collaros, Demski, Lawler, Holm, Wilson are the only notables coming back? Better than nothing.

[Fatty Liver]

Two under-the-radar players they must retain are Walker and Lawson, too much invested in their progress and no obvious replacements for their skill level currently on the roster to let them walk away.

[bearpants]

50 minutes ago, Noeller said:

about time to start this thread, and we'll give the first word to Our Man Tait: 
 

 

So what's everyone's feelings on this list?... Let's organize this a little better and add my thoughts:

Brown - yes
Oliveira - yes
Jefferson - yes
Kolo - no
Neufeld - yes 
Rose - yes with competition for his spot
Nichols - yes
Woli - yes... unless the team decides to move on and roll with BOLO... I could probably live with that
Walker - yes with competition
Thomas - no
Prukop - yes unless somehow Streveller is in the mix
BOLO - yes - see above
McCrae - yes with competition
Kramdi - yes
Jeffcoat - yes - at a reduced salary and reduced work load
Hardrick - yes with competition 
Hansen - yes
Hallett - yes
Gray - yes
Grant - yes
Gauthier - yes... special teams only please
Miller - can retire
Castillo - yes with competition
Bryant - if he wants to be back, he's welcome
Briggs - can retire
Bailey - yes
Augustine - no, should be replaceable in the draft
Alexander - yes with competition
Schoen - yes
Lawson - yes
Houston - no, please let someone else overpay for his occasional interception
Cole - yes
Clements - yes
Cadwallader - yes
Darby - no

Edited November 21, 2023 by bearpants
didn't expand the tweet and missed several players

[Arnold_Palmer]

1 hour ago, Noeller said:

about time to start this thread, and we'll give the first word to Our Man Tait: 
 

 

I would be okay moving on from a large portion of these players, and re tool. Being stuck with a roster that hasn’t been good enough to get the job done for the past two years and is only going to get older and rake up a larger portion of the cap to me is the wrong move. We still have a talented enough core to build around but we need to bring in some fresh blood. It was nice a lot of guys have taken discounts to try and get the job done with this current group of players but it’s time to retool on the fly. 

[Fatty Liver]

14 minutes ago, Arnold_Palmer said:

I would be okay moving on from a large portion of these players, and re tool. Being stuck with a roster that hasn’t been good enough to get the job done for the past two years and is only going to get older and rake up a larger portion of the cap to me is the wrong move. We still have a talented enough core to build around but we need to bring in some fresh blood. It was nice a lot of guys have taken discounts to try and get the job done with this current group of players but it’s time to retool on the fly. 

I wonder if that advantage is waning after striking out two years in a row, players careers are too short to accept discounts multiple times.

[Booch]

1 hour ago, rebusrankin said:

So Collaros, Demski, Lawler, Holm, Wilson are the only notables coming back? Better than nothing.

eli

[bearpants]

13 minutes ago, Booch said:

eli

pretty sure Bighill is officially under contract for next year too

[kelownabomberfan]

2 hours ago, bearpants said:

pretty sure Bighill is officially under contract for next year too

Adam Bighill inks 2-year extension to stay in blue and gold | CBC News

[rebusrankin]

I saw this on the other site in a discussion on Brady potentially leaving to go to the NFL. The argument was make Augustine the starter. My take is Augustine is not a starter and Winnipeg should move on from him. Honestly if Brady leaves find a quality american. If you need a Canadian RB Anshwi out of Montreal or Adeboye out of Toronto interest me more.

[Doublezero]

3 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

I saw this on the other site in a discussion on Brady potentially leaving to go to the NFL. The argument was make Augustine the starter. My take is Augustine is not a starter and Winnipeg should move on from him. Honestly if Brady leaves find a quality american. If you need a Canadian RB Anshwi out of Montreal or Adeboye out of Toronto interest me more.

I'd be shocked if Oliveira isn't back in Blue and Gold next season. But curious: why would you say Augustine is not a starter?

[wbbfan]

Brown n Brady will be the really interesting ones this year. that and who does or might not be brought back. 

[bustamente]

If Brady does seek out the NFL or doesn't re sign here and the Bombers need to go import at that position then the safety position probably switches to non import. 

[Noeller]

I think there's a chance this team could look a lot different next year, and not for the better...... 

[wbbfan]

15 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

I saw this on the other site in a discussion on Brady potentially leaving to go to the NFL. The argument was make Augustine the starter. My take is Augustine is not a starter and Winnipeg should move on from him. Honestly if Brady leaves find a quality american. If you need a Canadian RB Anshwi out of Montreal or Adeboye out of Toronto interest me more.

1, Augustine is the wrong kind of back. He isn’t that get 5 most every touch grind it out back. He’s boom or bust. 2, He isnt good enough blocking or catching to be an every down back in the cfl. 3, We would need another ni to be his back up which puts us in a bad spot if Brady comes back. 
 We’ve been starting extra nis and wasting dis half the year. If we lost Brady we’d just flip rb to an imp spot and keep Augustine to back up the imp. Lots of good imps floating around that would murder defences behind our line. 
 

Finally, Brady is not getting an nfl. Look. Keep in mind Marshawn Lynch ran a 4.4 40. Brady’s 40 is waaay too slow by nfl standards. He ran soo much inside zone stuff with few consistent wrinkles for him in carrying the ball. He doesn’t have tackle breaking power vs nfl sized front 7s. He’s gonna be 27 next year and has carried the ball 460+ times the last two years with 80 catches. Schoen didn’t even get a look last year. 
 

Rb is the deepest youngest position in the nfl. They aren’t going looking for guys like Brady with the amount of Carries he has. 

[Super Duper Negatron]

6 minutes ago, Noeller said:

I think there's a chance this team could look a lot different next year, and not for the better...... 

I think spending no time developing depth this year all but guaranteed that.

[wbbfan]

12 minutes ago, bustamente said:

If Brady does seek out the NFL or doesn't re sign here and the Bombers need to go import at that position then the safety position probably switches to non import. 

Sam, dt, 3 ol, 2 wr. That’s 7. No one is gonna roll into the season with 2 ni dbs starting imo. S is an awful position to flip unless you have an exceptional ratio breaker imo. 

[BBlink]

Doesn't matter, have Evan Holm

[bigg jay]

5 hours ago, Booch said:

eli

Jackson 😂

[Super Duper Negatron]

1 minute ago, BBlink said:

Doesn't matter, have Evan Holm

Media hype aside, Holm was great this year. Unless of course Biggie was suggesting Holm screwed up on that one TD, in which case **** Holm. 😀

[bustamente]

5 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

Sam, dt, 3 ol, 2 wr. That’s 7. No one is gonna roll into the season with 2 ni dbs starting imo. S is an awful position to flip unless you have an exceptional ratio breaker imo. 

Then more Holm to safety, plus I wanna get away from the any starting linebackers being Canadian unless his name is Judge

[rebusrankin]

51 minutes ago, Doublezero said:

I'd be shocked if Oliveira isn't back in Blue and Gold next season. But curious: why would you say Augustine is not a starter?

Oh, I'd be shocked if he wasn't either.

@wbbfan states it really well. For Augustine, I think he's been here five years and has never emerged as a starting RB and don't think it happens next year in his age 31 season. He and Brady competed for the job and they split the job the first 6 games or so last year and he didn't emerge.

Edited November 22, 2023 by rebusrankin

[Doublezero]

6 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

Oh, I'd be shocked if he wasn't either.

@wbbfan states it really well. For Augustine, I think he's been here five years and has never emerged as a starting RB and don't think it happens next year in his age 31 season. He and Brady competed for the job and they split the job the first 6 games or so last year and he didn't emerge.

OK fair enough, although I'm not sure Johnny A was really given the chance to actually compete for the starting job. He never got enough reps. Few starts he managed to get in prior years, he show some real flashes. I know I'm in the minority but I think he's very under-rated.