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

[WinnipegGordo]

Jake Thomas interview. It wasnt mentioned in the clip but Jake is one of the new CFLPA vice presidents.

 

[kelownabomberfan]

24 minutes ago, WinnipegGordo said:

Jake Thomas interview. It wasnt mentioned in the clip but Jake is one of the new CFLPA vice presidents.

 

What does that pay? You get a voucher for one free pita at Pita Pit?

[Pete]

below are the 

Projected Cdns as of this date

 Starters:   Olivera     Demski      Neufeld     Kolankowski      Eli      Wolitarski   Lawton 

primary backups: Kramdl  Hallet   Augustine   Dobson   Thomas    Ford    Gautier    Murphy   Bennet

special teams Caldwader. Benson, Kelly

above account for 19 of 21 starters, 2 of which Jones and Kramdl may also become starters if needed

on the bubble: Smeckle,  Beeksma, Charboneau Hallet, Macdougall

Of the 19 starters I would say we could use upgrades on Bennet, and  Thomas,  With 10 draft picks we are in decent shape

Edited March 6 by Pete

[Booch]

5 hours ago, rebusrankin said:

I think Kelly could be a ST ace this season and Murphy likely gives us a few catches but I don't see a huge impact from any of the 2023 draft class if a huge impact is quality starter.

Kelly already was a demon on teams...why he wasnt on roster all yr if/when healthy was again bizzare...putting Schmeckle on in lieu of him some games was just dumb...as he played no teams...had minimal if any reps on defence and did zip with them...one nice play all yr and was a guy funneled right to him

[Mark H.]

6 hours ago, wbbfan said:

 

They did, because they hated losing. The defence expected to carry us to wins then. Even though especially in 21 our offence could as well.

 

That's my point - Osh had teams that hated losing. I'd say the O for both of those teams was very physical as well. In the trenches and blocking downfield.

[Goalie]

21 minutes ago, Booch said:

Kelly already was a demon on teams...why he wasnt on roster all yr if/when healthy was again bizzare...putting Schmeckle on in lieu of him some games was just dumb...as he played no teams...had minimal if any reps on defence and did zip with them...one nice play all yr and was a guy funneled right to him

Schmeckle. lol. I feel he was kept around cuz some guy told Osh what schmeckle means in Hebrew/Jewish and they got a kick out of it. Cuz dude sucked. 

[kelownabomberfan]

18 minutes ago, Goalie said:

Schmeckle. lol. I feel he was kept around cuz some guy told Osh what schmeckle means in Hebrew/Jewish and they got a kick out of it. Cuz dude sucked. 

Maybe this year they'll take a chance on Andrew Qadib.  

[GCn20]

6 hours ago, Noeller said:

some real "nose of the plane is pointed straight down" takes in this thread for sure.... cripes. Not much in the way of expectations for '24...

My expectation is a Grey Cup. I see no reason whatsoever why that would not be a fair expectation.

[Stickem]

12 hours ago, Goalie said:

Schmeckle. lol. I feel he was kept around cuz some guy told Osh what schmeckle means in Hebrew/Jewish and they got a kick out of it. Cuz dude sucked. 

Schmekle ....sheckel....Osh thought the guy was 'money'...............

[Mike]

14 hours ago, Pete said:

below are the 

Projected Cdns as of this date

 Starters:   Olivera     Demski      Neufeld     Kolankowski      Eli      Wolitarski   Lawton 

primary backups: Kramdl  Hallet   Augustine   Dobson   Thomas    Ford    Gautier    Murphy   Bennet

special teams Caldwader. Benson, Kelly

above account for 19 of 21 starters, 2 of which Jones and Kramdl may also become starters if needed

on the bubble: Smeckle,  Beeksma, Charboneau Hallet, Macdougall

Of the 19 starters I would say we could use upgrades on Bennet, and  Thomas,  With 10 draft picks we are in decent shape

I guess … except if we get an injury at pretty much any position other than the defensive secondary.

Augustine is not a full time running back (although we’d go American there), Jeremy Murphy is nowhere near as proven as BOLO nor does he bring the same toolset, our DL depth is nowhere near as good as some of these other teams, our OL depth has been thinner than it’s ever been. We’ve got 7-8 starting calibre players and a bunch of kick chasers. That’s about it and that’s not good enough for a team with championship aspirations. The draft will be huge for us. 

[blue85gold]

1 minute ago, Mike said:

I guess … except if we get an injury at pretty much any position other than the defensive secondary.

Augustine is not a full time running back (although we’d go American there), Jeremy Murphy is nowhere near as proven as BOLO nor does he bring the same toolset, our DL depth is nowhere near as good as some of these other teams, our OL depth has been thinner than it’s ever been. We’ve got 7-8 starting calibre players and a bunch of kick chasers. That’s about it and that’s not good enough for a team with championship aspirations. The draft will be huge for us. 

Yup and those kick chasers haven't even looked that great at chasing kicks.

[Mike]

13 minutes ago, blue85gold said:

Yup and those kick chasers haven't even looked that great at chasing kicks.

And we lost all of the key ones who did. Who is our Briggs? Or Miller? Or Exume?

We’ve got a few good ones like Cadwallader and I think Jake Kelly and both Halletts offer a lot too but our ST depth is super thin too right now as far as being proven 

[Booch]

Just now, Mike said:

And we lost all of the key ones who did. Who is our Briggs? Or Miller? Or Exume?

We’ve got a few good ones like Cadwallader and I think Jake Kelly and both Halletts offer a lot too but our ST depth is super thin too right now as far as being proven 

I think Charbaneua or however it's spelled should fill Briggs spot....and with 10 picks if we dont trade 1 or 2 for a proven player...we should find some value for teams in the draft....but....and big but is we need to lose the teams only mindset from the last 4 drafts...draft actually players...as any player at pro level can play teams...and will scratch and claw to get on a roster doing so save for fat lineman and the useless big bodied guys who should never have been picked..Hello Schmeckle...

[JCon]

Any chance we move up in the draft to get some key players? 

[Booch]

Just now, JCon said:

Any chance we move up in the draft to get some key players? 

Curious about that....maybe crafty Kyle swings that....could see it atually as we def need to add some top line peices in the pipeline

[JCon]

4 minutes ago, Booch said:

Curious about that....maybe crafty Kyle swings that....could see it atually as we def need to add some top line peices in the pipeline

The only thing I think we can offer in a trade is other picks. Too bad we don't have some depth pieces that we could translate into draft capital. 

[wbbfan]

2 minutes ago, blue85gold said:

Yup and those kick chasers haven't even looked that great at chasing kicks.

To be fair we did some funky stuff with kick cover scheme last year. I think that’ll change and our cover team will look much better. Especially if we keep the right cover guys on the roster. 
 

5 minutes ago, Mike said:

I guess … except if we get an injury at pretty much any position other than the defensive secondary.

Augustine is not a full time running back (although we’d go American there), Jeremy Murphy is nowhere near as proven as BOLO nor does he bring the same toolset, our DL depth is nowhere near as good as some of these other teams, our OL depth has been thinner than it’s ever been. We’ve got 7-8 starting calibre players and a bunch of kick chasers. That’s about it and that’s not good enough for a team with championship aspirations. The draft will be huge for us. 

Yep. Also a big problem is we have hardly any back ups with upside. Thomas is passed it, but most of those guys are bottom 5 nis on the roster. Guys who can play teams and packages but are serious liabilities doing more. Save for Dobson, and Kramdi/ford we could improve on every single one of those back ups. 

We will start 1 ni db again I’m sure. Should be ford. Also likely that we will keep Eli at C, and start Dobson. Dobson as a back up plays guard. Eli can back up c and g. Hopefully Eli takes kolas job and kola is the back up c/g. in which case I’d hope for a young ol with upside who can replace kola but that isn’t likely this year. 
 Also *lawson and *Kramdi. 

We lack candidates for next man up. If Brady or Demski go down we are screwed. 
 Also if Bryant wj, or ba, go down we are screwed. This year needs to see us go younger and develop a new wave of impact players. 
 

17 minutes ago, JCon said:

Any chance we move up in the draft to get some key players? 

Up for targeted guys or down for established league guys I’m hoping we do some thing. 

[Pete]

1 hour ago, Mike said:

And we lost all of the key ones who did. Who is our Briggs? Or Miller? Or Exume?

We’ve got a few good ones like Cadwallader and I think Jake Kelly and both Halletts offer a lot too but our ST depth is super thin too right now as far as being proven 

Briggs was declining last year , Miller didn't play, Ford will outdo Exume, Hallet is our best and is still here, Cole will see more action and  as you said Caldwallader and Kelly are improving (Caldwallader outplayed Briggs).  We  will also be replacing Clements who wasn't very good at st. We've also changed our st coach.  I think you're being way too negative.

We will also be adding in the draft a few players that are being utilized specifically for st .

[M.Silverback]

2 hours ago, Mike said:

I guess … except if we get an injury at pretty much any position other than the defensive secondary.

Augustine is not a full time running back (although we’d go American there), Jeremy Murphy is nowhere near as proven as BOLO nor does he bring the same toolset, our DL depth is nowhere near as good as some of these other teams, our OL depth has been thinner than it’s ever been. We’ve got 7-8 starting calibre players and a bunch of kick chasers. That’s about it and that’s not good enough for a team with championship aspirations. The draft will be huge for us. 

The idea of BOLO (big, US college credentials) was much greater than the reality - 25 receptions in two seasons. I watched Jeremy Murphy a lot in RSEQ as my son plays there, and he is definitely a CFL rotational receiver. I predict he will put up better numbers, run better routes, and make tougher catches than BOLO. Not saying he'll be a star, but Murphy will be better than BOLO. 

[GCn20]

41 minutes ago, Pete said:

Briggs was declining last year , Miller didn't play, Ford will outdo Exume, Hallet is our best and is still here, Cole will see more action and  as you said Caldwallader and Kelly are improving (Caldwallader outplayed Briggs).  We  will also be replacing Clements who wasn't very good at st. We've also changed our st coach.  I think you're being way too negative.

We will also be adding in the draft a few players that are being utilized specifically for st .

The biggest difference will be the change in direction under Miller. I think that Boudreau kinda lost the handle on it last year. Also hoping that we change punters, I think our cover teams were a little out of synch with our punters different style.

5 minutes ago, M.Silverback said:

The idea of BOLO (big, US college credentials) was much greater than the reality - 25 receptions in two seasons. I watched Jeremy Murphy a lot in RSEQ as my son plays there, and he is definitely a CFL rotational receiver. I predict he will put up better numbers, run better routes, and make tougher catches than BOLO. Not saying he'll be a star, but Murphy will be better than BOLO. 

I agree that BOLO's worth may have been a little inflated to many of us, as backup players tend to be in every fan base, but he did show some promise with not many reps.  I hope you are right about Murphy.

Edited March 6 by GCn20

[Mike]

6 minutes ago, M.Silverback said:

The idea of BOLO (big, US college credentials) was much greater than the reality - 25 receptions in two seasons. I watched Jeremy Murphy a lot in RSEQ as my son plays there, and he is definitely a CFL rotational receiver. I predict he will put up better numbers, run better routes, and make tougher catches than BOLO. Not saying he'll be a star, but Murphy will be better than BOLO. 

I wasn’t really talking about BOLO as a receiver. I was talking about his ST abilities, which were significantly different than the areas Murphy is going to be able to contribute.

[GCn20]

1 hour ago, JCon said:

Any chance we move up in the draft to get some key players? 

Maybe, but I think this year should provide us something decent if we don't. 

Just now, Mike said:

I wasn’t really talking about BOLO as a receiver. I was talking about his ST abilities, which were significantly different than the areas Murphy is going to be able to contribute.

Yea...not seeing Murphy doing much on STs.

[Stickem]

We know Miller was very good at what he did...I have every confidence that special teams with regard to covering downfield kicks will be a big improvement....Still have to have the bodies that can get the job done though....As I see it now there has to be an improvement in talent...Kelly is a good start

[wbbfan]

1 hour ago, GCn20 said:

Maybe, but I think this year should provide us something decent if we don't. 

Yea...not seeing Murphy doing much on STs.

Could be a chance to draft rotational players with upside in the front 6 in the cis and global draft this year. If we come out of those any thing close to 16/19 we will be in great shape. If it’s like our last couple drafts we are gonna be scrounging for ni talent. 
 How bout that 19 draft in retrospect though. Desjarlais, kongbo, Brady, Eli, Hallett, and exume. Great draft in general, couple misses but you’d be hard pressed to do better even with hindsight. 

Edited March 6 by wbbfan

[wbbfan]

11 hours ago, Pete said:

Briggs was declining last year , Miller didn't play, Ford will outdo Exume, Hallet is our best and is still here, Cole will see more action and  as you said Caldwallader and Kelly are improving (Caldwallader outplayed Briggs).  We  will also be replacing Clements who wasn't very good at st. We've also changed our st coach.  I think you're being way too negative.

We will also be adding in the draft a few players that are being utilized specifically for st .

Ford is raw as a teams guy mostly returning kicks in college and won’t out do exume who got drafted based on teams ability alone and has been doing it at a high level for 4 seasons. Hallett wasn’t our best teams guy at any point in his time here. Clements cut his teeth in this league as a strong teams guy. 
 We spent the last 3 drafts picking teams guys with little to show for it.