2024/2025 Blue Bombers Off-Season Thread

[17to85]

Most of the kvetching that goes on around here relates to usage of players on D... and yet they D had been good... it's the offense that let's this team down the past few years... just an interesting observation to me.

[bigg jay]

53 minutes ago, MOBomberFan said:

What if an also-ran offered more than a contender even after playoff bonuses? Like I say, money talks, if he can make more $ losing I bet he would/will time will tell and soon

Some times that works (like Stanley Bryant coming here) and some times it doesn't (ask Kenny Lawler about Edmonton).  Some guys will chase the money and some guys will prefer to to stay or go with a good situation/organization.

[MOBomberFan]

Just now, bigg jay said:

Some times that works (like Stanley Bryant coming here) and some times it doesn't (ask Kenny Lawler about Edmonton).  Some guys will chase the money and some guys will prefer to to stay or go with a good situation/organization.

Indeed Stanley Bryant immediately leaped to mind. Muamba was paid quite a bit to play for non-contenders. Lawler wasn't missing his playoff cheque when EDM went 4-14, he got paid real well to be on that loser squad.

[Booch]

46 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

Most of the kvetching that goes on around here relates to usage of players on D... and yet they D had been good... it's the offense that let's this team down the past few years... just an interesting observation to me.

why not be great...to totally off-set an underperforming offence....there's an idea 😉

[GCn20]

1 hour ago, 17to85 said:

Most of the kvetching that goes on around here relates to usage of players on D... and yet they D had been good... it's the offense that let's this team down the past few years... just an interesting observation to me.

At the end of the day, I don't blame the O struggles on usage. In the past 3 GCs their DL dominated our OL. That's not usage, that's just the sad reality that we no longer have the 2019 OL anymore and that teams like TO and MTL have juggernaut DLs. We needed a different type of O usage all 3 of those years and we were playing boom or bust down the field in the entirety of our passing game instead of working the flats. We had to take their DLs out of the game and we didn't.

Edited 14 hours ago by GCn20

[SpeedFlex27]

2 hours ago, MOBomberFan said:

What if an also-ran offered more than a contender even after playoff bonuses? Like I say, money talks, if he can make more $ losing I bet he would/will time will tell and soon

You heard Ed Hervey. He'll spend money but with all the holes he needs to fill, he won't blow a significant amount for a receiver or MLB no matter how good they are.I can't see non contending teams going after McManis. I could be wrong but we'll see. 

[SpeedFlex27]

4 hours ago, Bigblue204 said:

100%. Not something that should be ignored for too long. But I'm doubtful players are looking at those and deciding they don't want to go to wpg because the plane they use to travel isn't great.

Free agency on February 11th, roughly 3 weeks away. Players want to know the type of offense we'll have. Who the OC is. Who will be the receivers coach. Schoen & Lawler would like to know as well. But hey.... yawn... stretch.... there's no hurry.  

[SpeedFlex27]

4 hours ago, Goalie said:

Money goes further in Winnipeg than Toronto Montreal Calgary Vancouver. 
 

im not sure how that isn’t a factor for an American sending $$ back home. 

Well, Toronto has won 2 GC's in the last 3 years. I don't see a whole bunch of free agents from there heading our way. 

[Stickem]

1 minute ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Well, Toronto has won 2 GC's in the last 3 years. I don't see a whole bunch of free agents from there heading our way. 

Cup run in our digs in 25', I hope we throw some cash at McManis and have a real good look at some other fa talent ..We may have to bite it a bit regarding the sms..Meanwhile ..back at the ranch...where the hell is our replacement for Buck..I hope we're not waiting till a few days before fa

[wbbfan]

3 hours ago, greenrider55 said:

He’s a stud, I remember watching him in college.

Inevitable Bombers DB signing who winds up being an all star.

I could see him replacing Griffin as the rotational Wil on 2nd down and passing plays, with griffins moving into a starting role. 

Does the harris thing feel like when Dressler came here to you? Dressler never had the animosity here harris did there, at least through the lenses of my rose tinted glasses. Also, what is your guys expectation for free agency? Do you guy think the riders will be big FA buyers again? 

[BomberBall.]

1 hour ago, GCn20 said:

At the end of the day, I don't blame the O struggles on usage. In the past 3 GCs their DL dominated our OL. That's not usage, that's just the sad reality that we no longer have the 2019 OL anymore and that teams like TO and MTL have juggernaut DLs. We needed a different type of O usage all 3 of those years and we were playing boom or bust down the field in the entirety of our passing game instead of working the flats. We had to take their DLs out of the game and we didn't.

I think having Kola in the middle of the line is a usage problem, but I agree with you on the rest.

[SpeedFlex27]

3 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

I could see him replacing Griffin as the rotational Wil on 2nd down and passing plays, with griffins moving into a starting role. 

Does the harris thing feel like when Dressler came here to you? Dressler never had the animosity here harris did there, at least through the lenses of my rose tinted glasses. Also, what is your guys expectation for free agency? Do you guy think the riders will be big FA buyers again? 

I think they will be. I'm hoping the Bombers are as well but I don't think anyone can figure out if they'll try to re-sign most of their vets or go into free agency looking to sign some guys from other teams. 

[wbbfan]

2 hours ago, 17to85 said:

Most of the kvetching that goes on around here relates to usage of players on D... and yet they D had been good... it's the offense that let's this team down the past few years... just an interesting observation to me.

Offensive issues have been useage as well. Kola, rostering augustine and countless DI's only to never use them, etc. But more so the O has been in game management. I can list lots of guys who have had their useage bemoaned on here. Guys like Agudosi, our KRs, kola, eli, gray, dobson, the early season walking corpse version of neuf, the last year of hardrick, Lofton, using randolph and vanterpool in the wrong spots at times, plus the punter, our 3rd imp wr for much of last year as well. 

Id also add that the D last year after the first few was very good. Much better than the previous years D. The 23 D under performed a lot imo. 

[SpeedFlex27]

You want to win a championship? Well, it starts on the line on both sides. Do you really think we have what it takes right now? 

[wbbfan]

1 minute ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

I think they will be. I'm hoping the Bombers are as well but I don't think anyone can figure out if they'll try to re-sign most of their vets or go into free agency looking to sign some guys from other teams. 

Im honestly un sure. All the money they keep spending in FA, this year they finally aren't jettisoning half their previous years FA hall. But it is hard to know what any team is doing cap wise, or if penalties even exist in reality. 

[wbbfan]

Just now, SpeedFlex27 said:

You want to win a championship? Well, it starts on the line on both sides. Do you really think we have what it takes right now? 

I actually think we have the core, if healthy. Wallace, and randolph could be impact players for us this year on the OL. On the DL I really like woods, Adams, fox, lawson and what garbutt rounded into late. 

I think we need to make some tough moves to get away from some old guys, and prioritize spending on the lines in free agency. 2 players, 1 end and C or tackle, away from having the best line play in the league again. And, the continued development of our young guys. 

Perfect world, we make a splash move at C, and DE. Garbutt rotates as a di, WJ rotates in the 30 to 40 swap, jake is either cut or the last NI on the roster, and we heavily rotate fox/lawson/woods and adams inside out. Randolph steps up and becomes the RT, and a new C stabilizes the interior. Wallace steps up and takes a G job. Maybe thats dobson, maybe its paddy rotating and playing the 6th ol. 

[voodoochylde]

19 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

You want to win a championship? Well, it starts on the line on both sides. Do you really think we have what it takes right now? 

If I'm being honest .. I'd say, no ... we don't. 

We may have a few pieces but, overall, we lack physicality and presence on both sides of the ball.

[Fatty Liver]

41 minutes ago, voodoochylde said:

If I'm being honest .. I'd say, no ... we don't. 

We may have a few pieces but, overall, we lack physicality and presence on both sides of the ball.

O-line has been getting progressively worse since 2021, maybe time to switch up the ratio and play another import beside Stan like they did with Travis Bond back in 2016.  That move got the ball rolling in the right direction.

[Tracker]

4 hours ago, GCn20 said:

No denying that. Thanks for the clarification. Although, I would say our coordinators were the ones outclassed. 

O'Shea has to wear most of that.

[17to85]

25 minutes ago, Fatty Liver said:

O-line has been getting progressively worse since 2021, maybe time to switch up the ratio and play another import beside Stan like they did with Travis Bond back in 2016.  That move got the ball rolling in the right direction.

I don't think we're so bad at guard to be honest.... but maybe we need to find a Benedict ibisi to play centre...

[Jets]

2 hours ago, Fatty Liver said:

O-line has been getting progressively worse since 2021, maybe time to switch up the ratio and play another import beside Stan like they did with Travis Bond back in 2016.  That move got the ball rolling in the right direction.

Maybe even before that.  For all the success we've had keeping guys around, we've basically hemorrhaged interior canadian OL since Brendon Labatte. 

Matthias Goossen - elite C, played 4 seasons, went home to be a firefighter.

Sukh Chungh - elite nasty G, played 3 seasons, went home to BC.

Michael Couture - solid C, played 4 seasons, went back home to BC.

Geoff Gray - played parts of 5 seasons, fizzled out and retired to non-football work.

Drew Desjarlais - played 2 seasons, went to the NFL, signed back in Ottawa after returning.

Liam Dobson - possibly leaving? hasn't re-signed yet.


All of these guys are younger interior OL than Kolo and Neufeld, and all of them would be improvements if they still played for us (except maybe Gray who we moved on from).  It would be nice if a couple of these elite interior guys that we developed stuck around for long careers like Bryant.  

[rebusrankin]

Other than Dobson, us losing those players isn't our fault. 2 guys went home to BC, two chose work outside of football and one went to the NFL and then went closer to home and closer to his girlfriend's work.

[Goalie]

12 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

Other than Dobson, us losing those players isn't our fault. 2 guys went home to BC, two chose work outside of football and one went to the NFL and then went closer to home and closer to his girlfriend's work.

And got the bag of cash from Ottawa. 

[Mike]

it would be silly to ignore that the talent that has left us from the OL wasn’t at least partially by design. 
 

at least part of this was that the Bombers didn’t feel the need to be competitive with the open market because the players in house were available as replacements 

 

For all the OL talent that has walked out the door, we’ve never really had a hole on the OL 

[Goalie]

Yeah. All those guys got paid also. Couldn’t afford to keep them even if they wanted to stay. Perhaps the issue is a Dobson was never as good as Chungh was here. Kola not as good as the Goose or even Dominic Picard. And the last few years now we haven’t had a high pick, may have gotten away with Wallace, looks like a good one but he was a 2nd rd pick also. Most the elite OL now are either nfl bound and guys who aren’t, they don’t drop to 8th or 9th pick. We sucked for a bit. Now we don’t.  That’s more so Canadians tho and I suppose Canadian depth overall but historically cfl Olines are 3 Canadians guaranteed minimum. 
 

perhaps the oline *fix* involves 3 Americans starting. 
 

I’ll add this cuz I don’t think the oline was that bad down the stretch. They struggled early but that’s partially probably mostly on the lax training camp and the changes we had. Several of our OL barely practiced all camp and it was a new group. New guard and tackle. They needed reps. Was dumb to not give them any In pre season. 

Edited 7 hours ago by Goalie