Blue Bombers - 2024 Regular Season - Discussion Thread

[Booch]

1 hour ago, JohnnyAbonny said:

This past offseason, what top Canadian was available to switch the ratio had they decided to move on from Brady? 
 

 

we dont even need to flip the ratio tho....W e can function just fine with an import RB and 5 canadians on offense (3 ol and 2 Rec) and 2 on defense...so this ratio flip is moot...We choose to maintain it as Canadian...And paying BO what he wants which to me is an overpay...and carry a serviceable RB to back him up in Auggie costs us around 350k of cap space. 

Really if we declare a 5 and 2 designation for where we use our Canadians, we can easily back BO up with Smith...or any other American back we roster as an in game replacement, and a multi game replacement

The fact we allocate about 1 million in cap space to ZC..BO and JA is bad salary management in my opinion. 

Rosary could have filled JA role for just over half the price, and offer more in the passing game...and getting a back like the one in Ottawa ...or a Carey type...Mills....Pre-injury Standback is not a hard task as there are literal 100's to choose from in the States...so entry level deal there for a bruiser with more athleticism could of easily off-set some of that albatross of a contract that ZC has us over the barrel with now.

Same with the dumb money paid to Kramdi for basically average at best production...and still after 3 yrs brain fart after brain fart...And again...a Canadian isnt really needed there either....another example of poor allocation of sms for production you get....toss in Biggie and Ba's money and you see why right now we appear to be in a bit of cap hell

This also leads right back to clinging to guys....over valuing tenured vets, and not having the foresight or the willingness to look forward..transition, and continually get better...we been to content at looking back and being content on past success and showing loyalty to players past their usefulness

In the last 3 yrs...where have we actually gotten better or restocked the cupboard with top line talent...with big upside?

I will say Adams/Woods/Fox/Garbutt....then again if Walker wasnt looking for bigger money he would have basically be pencilled in the lineup...and Bennett not being hurt or whatever the issue is there...he would have been seeing likely Jake Thomas reps too

So Likely 2 of the 4 mentioned wouldnt have been kept, and Hubert probably would not have gotten on the roster to develop and show potential (he has done more in 3 games than Bennett did all yr)

We'd be watching heavy doses of WJ...having to work with Thomas...and Walker eating most the reps...and not sure who off the edge to compliment WJ but an insane amount of Bennet spelling off whoever it was...There would have been no need in Osh eyes to keep any of the best interior guys we have had out this yr because ...heck we have returnees Walker..Thomas..Schmeck..Bennett...so we good and solid...and just the thought of that scenario is enough to make u wanna puke

[Bigblue204]

Yeah no need to flip another spot if they went American at RB. Bringing back JA was a mistake IMO. Along with a few others that have been discussed.

[wbbfan]

1 hour ago, Bigblue204 said:

A lot of people said that about Allen. People also said that about VA, people said that about Fajardo. Writing a guy off after barely 2 seasons in the league is short sighted. He needs time. I hope it's the Bombers that give it to him.

That's not really an apples to apples comparison though. When you have a star Canadian (especially MOP level star) at any position they will command more $$. If Philpot continues his season you don't think he'll be up there with the highest paid wr? What did Fantuz get? What was Henoc making in his prime? If Betts had stuck around he'd be up there. Point being, star Canadians always come at a premium.

How many Canadians have won mop in the past 25 years though? 
 I don’t actually, because the leagues market for wrs has crashed because of the mega deals. Look at what schoen got. 
 Henoc, mostly took over pays from none contenders instead of playing on better teams until he was late in his career and used as a rotational guy. 
 Rb stars don’t make star money. They make 40 cents on the wr dollar mostly. 
 Harris wasn’t the too paid back till he left here and his contract was a huge albatross. 
I doubt any team is paying half of what we are paying for at rb. The 

[JohnnyAbonny]

Totally agree on Rosery, we didn’t need JA back. 

I get what you guys are saying, and we are in fact overpaying for offence in general. 

I think letting Brady go would have done more damage to the brand/casual fan perception than the team itself. 
 

I also think that with MOS track record, if we’d gone straight American RB, we would have seen 6 other jobber Canadians moved up the roster beyond their value. 

At 26, I don’t think Brady should be retained after his current contract either way. 
 

 

 

[17to85]

2 hours ago, Colin Unger said:

We end up playing extra Canadians because we have our Canadian positions where we have dedicated to drafting depth behind the starters and then we have several Canadians at other positions who are our best player or close enough to our best player at those positions.  I don't favor this strategy  but i do believe this is the rationale for what we're seeing.  The thinking is that if you're going to start an extra american on the offensive line right now then you're not developing a Canadian at a position that we have committed to being Canadian and you risk a situation where injuries can dictate during a game that you actually have to bench an American starter mid game if your non-canadian position Canadian starters get injured. Again i believe this is the thinking but personally when you have some Canadians that are so weak as Thomas and all of our Canadians on the offensive line this strategy doesn't pass a cost to benefit analysis. 

This is a smoking hot wrong take... we start so many Canadians because they build the roster poorly and the PR even worse full stop.

[Bigblue204]

47 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

How many Canadians have won mop in the past 25 years though? 
 I don’t actually, because the leagues market for wrs has crashed because of the mega deals. Look at what schoen got. 
 Henoc, mostly took over pays from none contenders instead of playing on better teams until he was late in his career and used as a rotational guy. 
 Rb stars don’t make star money. They make 40 cents on the wr dollar mostly. 
 Harris wasn’t the too paid back till he left here and his contract was a huge albatross. 
I doubt any team is paying half of what we are paying for at rb. The 

Yes not many...which is why Brady is so rare and deserves to paid more than others. (I'm not saying I like his contract...but I understand it)
Schoen admittedly took less because other offers while more $$ didn't have the team strength. 
So henoc got paid? We're not talking about how good the teams were...we're talking about premium Canadians getting paid a premium amount. I know...his contract may have contributed to his crappy teams...but we're talking about whether or not star Canadians get paid more or not. And history shows they absolutely do.
Harris again took discounts because he wanted to build something.
At the very least, BC was willing to pay more (or at least the same) for Brady.

Again, star Canadians basically across the board get paid more (maybe more than they should).

[JCon]

31 minutes ago, JohnnyAbonny said:

I get what you guys are saying, and we are in fact overpaying for offence in general. 

Our ROI on our offensive spending is quite offensive.  

[rebusrankin]

So people are complaining about Brady making $235,000 when he was MOC and should have been MOP last season but Demski makes $225,000 and is our third wr and not a peep? 

*For the record, I like Demski and Brady and think its other areas that are poor salary amangement.*

[Bigblue204]

19 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

So people are complaining about Brady making $235,000 when he was MOC and should have been MOP last season but Demski makes $225,000 and is our third wr and not a peep? 

*For the record, I like Demski and Brady and think its other areas that are poor salary amangement.*

it's more about market value. demski is right around where he should be for the wr market. Brady is significantly more than the market. 

[JuranBoldenRules]

10 minutes ago, Bigblue204 said:

it's more about market value. demski is right around where he should be for the wr market. Brady is significantly more than the market. 

I'll disagree on Demski.  He's a supplementary piece not a core one.  He's proven every time we've needed him to step up his role that he can't handle it.  And he's on the fading end of his prime.  Falling in love with those guys leads you down the path to hell in a league with a salary limit.  The whole point of building Canadian depth is laughing at Saskatchewan and Ottawa for paying those guys. 

Oliviera could touch the ball 300 times along with being a massive piece in terms of pass protection when he doesn't get the ball.  And he's in his prime right now.  You'd be hard pressed to plop a random American RB in there and get the same production.  There's a decade of being in that wasteland between Roberts and Harris in the recent history of this club.  Yeah Fred Reid was ok for a couple years, not spectacular. 

If you swapped out Demski for Bailey or Dunbar at half the price you wouldn't even notice around the corps led by Lawler and Schoen.

Edited July 10 by JuranBoldenRules

[Booch]

5 minutes ago, Bigblue204 said:

it's more about market value. demski is right around where he should be for the wr market. Brady is significantly more than the market. 

yeah...Brady makes 65k more than the next highest paid runningback.....To me thats an overpay regardless of Birth Certificate and any awards....Demski and his hard money has him behind 5 other guys...and in close proximity to 4 others...which seems right in line of what someone else would have paid....Some probably more as I am sure he took a bit of a hometown discount

 

[Bigblue204]

2 minutes ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

I'll disagree on Demski.  He's a supplementary piece not a core one.  He's proven every time we've needed him to step up his role that he can't handle it.  And he's on the fading end of his prime.  Falling in love with those guys leads you down the path to hell in a league with a salary limit.  Oliviera could touch the ball 300 times along with being a massive piece in terms of pass protection when he doesn't get the ball.  And he's in his prime right now.  You'd be hard pressed to plop a random American RB in there and get the same production.  There's a decade of being in that wasteland between Roberts and Harris in the recent history of this club.  Yeah Fred Reid was ok for a couple years, not spectacular. 

If you swapped out Demski for Bailey or Dunbar at half the price you wouldn't even notice around the corps led by Lawler and Schoen.

Demskis coming off the best season of his career. He's not a #1 guy which is why he's not being paid like one. He's being paid like he's one of the top Canadian WR. Which he is. Bailey is not demski. For whatever reason Bailey has always been overrated around these parts. 

1 minute ago, Booch said:

yeah...Brady makes 65k more than the next highest paid runningback.....To me thats an overpay regardless of Birth Certificate and any awards....Demski and his hard money has him behind 5 other guys...and in close proximity to 4 others...which seems right in line of what someone else would have paid....Some probably more as I am sure he took a bit of a hometown discount

 

I'm not a huge fan of Brady's contract. But I understand it. I also think this will likely be his largest pay day. He's not a guy is want to lose at this point in his career. So as a gm, get him back in the door and as time goes on try to claw back some of that sms by renegotiating etc.

[Booch]

4 minutes ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

I'll disagree on Demski.  He's a supplementary piece not a core one.  He's proven every time we've needed him to step up his role that he can't handle it.  And he's on the fading end of his prime.  Falling in love with those guys leads you down the path to hell in a league with a salary limit.  The whole point of building Canadian depth is laughing at Saskatchewan and Ottawa for paying those guys. 

Oliviera could touch the ball 300 times along with being a massive piece in terms of pass protection when he doesn't get the ball.  And he's in his prime right now.  You'd be hard pressed to plop a random American RB in there and get the same production.  There's a decade of being in that wasteland between Roberts and Harris in the recent history of this club.  Yeah Fred Reid was ok for a couple years, not spectacular. 

If you swapped out Demski for Bailey or Dunbar at half the price you wouldn't even notice around the corps led by Lawler and Schoen.

this...also is true.....but in regards to an overpay...it's not....do we need to pay that much for our top 3 guys...probably not, and again ratio wise....one of any of our canadian starters isnt neccessarily needed to make the ratio...As it stands with BO...Demski...now Kramdi..we are paying a premium for 2 Canadian spots that technically we don't have to, and that couple hundred grand in savibgs paying an entry level Import or a guy who is coming into his second deal, but isn't in elite status yet who would give you better production at SAM and likely equal at worst value in a slot reciever or RB is huge

4 minutes ago, Bigblue204 said:

Demskis coming off the best season of his career. He's not a #1 guy which is why he's not being paid like one. He's being paid like he's one of the top Canadian WR. Which he is. Bailey is not demski. For whatever reason Bailey has always been overrated around these parts. 

I'm not a huge fan of Brady's contract. But I understand it. I also think this will likely be his largest pay day. He's not a guy is want to lose at this point in his career. So as a gm, get him back in the door and as time goes on try to claw back some of that sms by renegotiating etc.

yeah I wasnt a fan either and when numbers were being thrown around in media I wanted to walk away....I get the reasoning for making it happen...but also with solid scouting, or landing a diff free agent RB we would have been alright too....

[GCn20]

Brady and Nic are not comparable imo. Brady plays a position that a comparable back could be had for a third of the cost. Nick is getting slightly higher than many just over a 1000 yard receivers get but not by a large margin and because of his passport. Brady has to be a game changer EVERY week to justify his salary. So far he has been a game changer once through 5 games. Not all of that is his fault but that is the reality. If we go back to Brady ball he has a good chance of justifying his contract through the remainder of the season. If we don't, or he can't, his salary becomes an albatross to our SMS. That was always going to be the risk of signing a RB to a big cheddar contract and why it is not often done.

Edited July 10 by GCn20

[rebusrankin]

11 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

Brady and Nic are not comparable imo. Brady plays a position that a comparable back could be had for a third of the cost. Nick is getting slightly higher than many just over a 1000 yard receivers get but not by a large margin and because of his passport. Brady has to be a game changer EVERY week to justify his salary. So far he has been a game changer once through 5 games. Not all of that is his fault but that is the reality. If we go back to Brady ball he has a good chance of justifying his contract through the remainder of the season. If we don't, or he can't, his salary becomes an albatross to our SMS. That was always going to be the risk of signing a RB to a big cheddar contract and why it is not often done.

I'll play. Name me a current CFL RB who can do what Brady is doing and who makes 78,000?

[Booch]

7 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

I'll play. Name me a current CFL RB who can do what Brady is doing and who makes 78,000?

If Carey...Mills...Butler...Brown...that new dude in Ott got the amount of touches BO gets/got...Especially behind when we had a dominant O-line...They would put up same type of numbers..possibly better as they all have more open field break away speed....they not entry level deal guys...now....but they were at one point ....and also still a lot cheaper

But if you truly wanted to find a bell cow type back on an entry level deal...who could catch...run with power, and speed....you wouldn't have a hard time finding one if that was your focus

Edited July 10 by Booch

[JCon]

9 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

I'll play. Name me a current CFL RB who can do what Brady is doing and who makes 78,000?

No one. 

[Bigblue204]

3 minutes ago, Booch said:

If Carey...Mills...Butler...Brown...that new dude in Ott got the amount of touches BO gets/got...Especially behind when we had a dominant O-line...They would put up same type of numbers..possibly better as they all have more open field break away speed....they not entry level deal guys...now....but they were at one point ....and also still a lot cheaper

But if you truly wanted to find a bell cow type back on an entry level deal...who could catch...run with power, and speed....you wouldn't have a hard time finding one if that was your focus

Maybe Butler and Armstrong. But Mills and Carey are not what they claim to be. Carey especially looks like he's about done. 

[iHeart]

Well I was today years old when I found out that Princess Auto Stadium accommodates butts like mine better than Canada Life Centre does

[JCon]

5 minutes ago, iHeart said:

Well I was today years old when I found out that Princess Auto Stadium accommodates butts like mine better than Canada Life Centre does

[iHeart]

Just now, JCon said:

I'm going on Friday they let me and my mom test the seats

[JCon]

Just now, iHeart said:

I'm going on Friday they let me and my mom test the seats

Enjoy. Go early for the tailgate area. 

[Pepper_Brooks]

13 minutes ago, iHeart said:

Well I was today years old when I found out that Princess Auto Stadium accommodates butts like mine better than Canada Life Centre does

On a scale from "whoa" to "Baby Got Back," how much junk in the trunk are we talking?

[iHeart]

Just now, Pepper_Brooks said:

On a scale from "whoa" to "Baby Got Back," how much junk in the trunk are we talking?

It's not as nice as baby got back 

[17to85]

Dragging this alllllllllll the way back after that unfortunate detour...

The thing about Demski is that his value is in a jack of all trades master of none kind of way. Super versatile and can be a weapon in a lot of different ways but he's not the guy you build everything around. He's a complimentary piece. Will you find another guy like Demski? Not likely but you can find comparable producers pretty readily. 

Oliveira I think is a very complete back... only thing really missing is the home run ability but he does everything else so well. Could you find an American to do the job? Yeah I'd bloody well hope so but as a Canadian and local product I don't feel his salary handicaps the team. The biggest salary handicaps are the not good enough backups earning big money for years of service or the old washed up starters.