2024/2025 Blue Bombers Off-Season Thread

[SpeedFlex27]

On 2025-02-14 at 4:29 PM, BigBlue said:

YUP! Same as every year…

Bellyaching because we didn't make wild offers and upset the balance of paying the rest of the team well… And we are finally making all the changes we were bellyaching about not doing earlier. Booch continues his personal vendetta against Michael O'Shea. We probably deserve Mr. Friesen of the Sun.  Now we have someone else to shut Idown.

 

You're the guy who says we should keep our mouth shut yet here you are. Why aren't you leading by example? Clearly, it's do as I say but not not as I do.

Edited Saturday at 11:46 PM by SpeedFlex27

[SpeedFlex27]

1 hour ago, Colin Unger said:

The last time we signed a free-agent receiver with a similar profile to White Jr it worked out pretty well. In fact White Jr. was more productive in Montreal than Terrance Edwards was when we signed him.  All some guys need sometimes in the CFL is to take the experience they already have and get a fresh opportunity and role.

You do realize that Edwards signed with the Bombers in 2007? So, "the last time" was 18 years ago. The last time we signed a running back from Lincoln, Nebraska. That was 70 years ago & it worked out pretty good too. Just sayin'. However, I do get the meaning of your message.

Edited Saturday at 11:55 PM by SpeedFlex27

[Brandon]

1 hour ago, Colin Unger said:

The last time we signed a free-agent receiver with a similar profile to White Jr it worked out pretty well. In fact White Jr. was more productive in Montreal than Terrance Edwards was when we signed him.  All some guys need sometimes in the CFL is to take the experience they already have and get a fresh opportunity and role.

We've signed dozens of mediocre receivers since the signing of Terrance Edwards.     I don't get what is similar between Edwards and White Jr outside of playing for Montreal?

[Mike]

3 minutes ago, Brandon said:

We've signed dozens of mediocre receivers since the signing of Terrance Edwards.     I don't get what is similar between Edwards and White Jr outside of playing for Montreal?

Nothing. It’s a weird comparison, especially with Darvin Adams sitting right there.

Too bad neither one of Darvin or TE literally had their knee explode into a million pieces before we signed them like RWJ.

[do or die]

28 minutes ago, Brandon said:

We've signed dozens of mediocre receivers since the signing of Terrance Edwards.     I don't get what is similar between Edwards and White Jr outside of playing for Montreal?

At least we had Josh Johnson, last year...... 

[17to85]

1 hour ago, Mike said:

Nothing. It’s a weird comparison, especially with Darvin Adams sitting right there.

Yeah i was just going to bring up that Adams is a much better guy to use as a comparable. He was a seemingly depth signing that turned out well. 

But like you said, using a guy with injury issues as a comp probably not the best anyway.

[Goalie]

Reggie White Jr might not compare to anyone we have brought in recently because of the knee exploding issues he’s dealt with. At one point RWJ was a big time deep threat and legit receiver in the league. That was prob 2 3 seasons ago now tho. I think if he makes the active roster it’s a win. I’m honestly not expecting it tho. Boom or bust in my opinion and I’m leaning towards bust, no reason just feel he ain’t gonna be what he used to be. I think the receiver from Sask has some interesting potential tho so I think in RWJs case, there’s just gonna be a few to many talented guys that he has to beat out.  I could see him being an early cut honestly or not even making it to camp. But I could see him also being what he was, the injury issues suggest he’s closer to done tho. 

Edited Sunday at 02:17 AM by Goalie

[wbbfan]

We should be able to find a good wr. Especially now that we are looking at more diverse skill sets at that position. Not just an army of 6’2 +/- 1, 215 +/-5 guys who run a 4.55-4.6. 
 

Im interested to see how we do finding ol, and dl with the front office changes. We’ve struggled with ends for ages, and imp tackles for a while. 

[Brandon]

35 minutes ago, Goalie said:

 At one point RWJ was a big time deep threat and legit receiver in the league. 

As per his cfl.ca stats...

0 =  100 yard games

His longest reception is 45 yards in length,  after that one big reception he has a handful of 30 - 35 yards receptions.  I wouldn't consider that a deep threat?  

 

[wbbfan]

5 minutes ago, Brandon said:

As per his cfl.ca stats...

0 =  100 yard games

His longest reception is 45 yards in length,  after that one big reception he has a handful of 30 - 35 yards receptions.  I wouldn't consider that a deep threat?  

 

Yeah, he's a catch-and-run guy. Mitchell is our over-the-top guy. But the old-style over-the-top deep threat is more about usage, it's IMO 40 ish yard completions where you've gotten behind the D and beat them over the top. Darvin Adams didn't have as many 40-50-yard catches despite being that guy.  

[Goalie]

1 hour ago, Brandon said:

As per his cfl.ca stats...

0 =  100 yard games

His longest reception is 45 yards in length,  after that one big reception he has a handful of 30 - 35 yards receptions.  I wouldn't consider that a deep threat?  

 

Right. Should compare more to guys from 30 years ago. 

[SpeedFlex27]

2 hours ago, wbbfan said:

We should be able to find a good wr. Especially now that we are looking at more diverse skill sets at that position. Not just an army of 6’2 +/- 1, 215 +/-5 guys who run a 4.55-4.6. 
 

Im interested to see how we do finding ol, and dl with the front office changes. We’ve struggled with ends for ages, and imp tackles for a while. 

Until recently, our record of finding even just one legit receiver wasn't very good. Remember  Greg Ellingson? Walking injury the entire time he was here. More time in the tub than on the field. It took us years to find Lawler, Let alone put together an elite CFL receiving corps.

[wbbfan]

6 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Until recently, our record of finding even just one legit receiver wasn't very good. Remember  Greg Ellingson? Walking injury the entire time he was here. More time in the tub than on the field. It took us years to find Lawler, Let alone put together an elite CFL receiving corps.

We struggled more finding a good vet wr in fa. We did well with our own guys. And for a long time, wr was the excuse. It hasn’t been our primary limiting factor for a long long time. It was who and how we got WRs the ball. Not much any wr can do when every d knows the pass is going to be with in 5 yards of the line and short of the first down. 

[SpeedFlex27]

12 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

We struggled more finding a good vet wr in fa. We did well with our own guys. And for a long time, wr was the excuse. It hasn’t been our primary limiting factor for a long long time. It was who and how we got WRs the ball. Not much any wr can do when every d knows the pass is going to be with in 5 yards of the line and short of the first down. 

Not just that but Walters kept signing these 30 plus year old wide receivers whose best days were beind them. Most of them seemed to always be injured. There was Adarius Bowman from Edmonton, Weston Dressler from the Riders & Greg Ellingson of the Ti Cats & RedBlacks. None of those 3 worked out. All free agents. We signed a bunch of free agent receivers including RWJ who had a serious knee injury. Hoping the new scouts are better at evaluating free agent talent than Goveia & Ringmaiden were when they were here. 

Edited Sunday at 05:49 AM by SpeedFlex27

[Colin Unger]

10 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Until recently, our record of finding even just one legit receiver wasn't very good. Remember  Greg Ellingson? Walking injury the entire time he was here. More time in the tub than on the field. It took us years to find Lawler, Let alone put together an elite CFL receiving corps.

What's the relevance. Since that time we've been fairly consistent in finding receivers.  Bailey, Schoen, Lawler, Wilson.   Wheatfall has potential as well. 

[Mike]

10 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Not just that but Walters kept signing these 30 plus year old wide receivers whose best days were beind them. Most of them seemed to always be injured. There was Adarius Bowman from Edmonton, Weston Dressler from the Riders & Greg Ellingson of the Ti Cats & RedBlacks. None of those 3 worked out. All free agents. We signed a bunch of free agent receivers including RWJ who had a serious knee injury. Hoping the new scouts are better at evaluating free agent talent than Goveia & Ringmaiden were when they were here. 

Are you just saying names from the past 20 years? The Bombers have been fairly good at bringing talent into the CFL at the receiver position. Better than most teams in the past 5 years.

[17to85]

21 minutes ago, Mike said:

Are you just saying names from the past 20 years? The Bombers have been fairly good at bringing talent into the CFL at the receiver position. Better than most teams in the past 5 years.

He just seems really bitter and angry about Greg Ellingson for some reason...

[Fatty Liver]

1 hour ago, 17to85 said:

He just seems really bitter and angry about Greg Ellingson for some reason...

Ellingson played well during his one year in Wpg and had great chemistry with Zach, if not for a season ending injury he likely goes over 1,000 yds.  It was also the same year Schoen led the league as a rookie. 

2022

WPG

8

50

38

598

109

3

15.7

46

 

Same could be said for Dressler, only a Bomber for 2 seasons but in that time he was a valuable part of the offence.

Edited Sunday at 06:07 PM by Fatty Liver

[Colin Unger]

17 hours ago, Brandon said:

We've signed dozens of mediocre receivers since the signing of Terrance Edwards.     I don't get what is similar between Edwards and White Jr outside of playing for Montreal?

Similar level of experience and stats the year before we signed them. But mainly the Montreal connection. We fleeced them once we can do it again.

[johnzo]

12 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

N Weston Dressler from the Riders & Greg Ellingson of the Ti Cats & RedBlacks. None of those 3 worked out.

We got a good season from Dressler in 2016, he was a thousand yard guy and led us is catches and yardage.  Was always a Dressler fan so enjoyed see him playing for the good guys.

but yeah when the Bombers don't get good results from signing veteran receivers.  I'd add Nick Moore and Chris Matthews to your list of vets who haven't worked out.

[Brandon]

12 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Until recently, our record of finding even just one legit receiver wasn't very good. Remember  Greg Ellingson? Walking injury the entire time he was here. More time in the tub than on the field. It took us years to find Lawler, Let alone put together an elite CFL receiving corps.

So during our big losing period where we had terrible coaching and rotated terrible qbs we didn't have a quality receiver? Shocking?  

 

[Mike]

1 hour ago, Colin Unger said:

Similar level of experience and stats the year before we signed them. But mainly the Montreal connection. We fleeced them once we can do it again.

So basically, no actual similarities. They just wore the same outfit.

[SpeedFlex27]

2 hours ago, Mike said:

Are you just saying names from the past 20 years? The Bombers have been fairly good at bringing talent into the CFL at the receiver position. Better than most teams in the past 5 years.

Only recently. His track record before Lawler wasn't very good. We had troubles fining & keeping a deep threat that stretched the field. The names I mentioned weren't from the past 29 years, They were from Walters tenure here since mid 2013. Adarius Bowman played only 6 games for the Bombers in 2018. Greg Ellingson played 8 games in 2022. Nick Moore had one very good season in 2015 then tore his knee up doing a stupid TD celebration & he was toast. I just remember a not very good receiving corps & our offense struggled. I hope the guys they have now gell into something good. .

Edited Sunday at 07:44 PM by SpeedFlex27

[Goalie]

1 hour ago, Brandon said:

So during our big losing period where we had terrible coaching and rotated terrible qbs we didn't have a quality receiver? Shocking?  

 

Was that not the Matt Nichols era? Dude wasn’t that terrible. It’s cool how ppl forgetting about Schoen also. He was a guy we brought in recently. Wilson. Wheatfall even but RWJ, im thinking I can’t remember the last time we brought in a guy coming off destroying his knees like this. Maybe that Ryan Smith guy ? I’m not even sure tho. 

Edited Sunday at 07:34 PM by Goalie

[Goalie]

2 hours ago, Colin Unger said:

Similar level of experience and stats the year before we signed them. But mainly the Montreal connection. We fleeced them once we can do it again.

I don’t see a fleecing here. Edwards knees weren’t destroyed