2024/2025 Blue Bombers Off-Season Thread

[17to85]

8 minutes ago, Mike said:

I’d take Rourke, but not in the second. Are we really acting like he’s not about to be a 3rd-4th round pick at worst in the NFL draft? Why would you invest a second rounder in the CFL draft in that, free pick or not?

Those are the kinds of moves Calgary made and now look at them. No thanks. 

yeah this team needs guys who can be at least depth as soon as possible not a far flung futures pick. 

[rebusrankin]

Landing even 2 olineman with our top 3 picks would be fine with me. A center and a guard to develop this year and then take over for Kolo and Neufeld would be huge. A Dlineman who replaces Jake would be a dream so I'll say a WR or DB would be nice.

[JuranBoldenRules]

Coakes and Stokman are local guys that we'd be insane to pass on if we get the chance to pick them, both OL.  Coakes is 1st round quality considering availability, C/G type, played lots of centre at UBC.  Dorazio was OL coach there his early years so has had some of the best coaching you'll get at U Sports/NCAA level to be CFL-ready.  Stokman 2nd-4th round range IMO.  Crazy athletic and strong, started as a tackle for Bisons and moved inside as he filled out.  Either one of these guys could be 6th man as a rookie and step in to play, especially Coakes.

If I'm Walters I probably take Coakes first if he's on the board and Stokman with our 2nd pick if he's still on the board.  No use waiting around.  There's enough DB's and receivers in this draft that there will be good ones probably through round 4-5.

The younger Rourke is a legit NFLer and also busted up.  He has the arc of a guy who sits in the NFL for awhile, has a few more camp/pre-season injuries, sits on IR's, retires at 29-30 with bum knees.  I wouldn't pick him until like the 6th round, maybe.

[wbbfan]

37 minutes ago, Mike said:

I’d take Rourke, but not in the second. Are we really acting like he’s not about to be a 3rd-4th round pick at worst in the NFL draft? Why would you invest a second rounder in the CFL draft in that, free pick or not?

Those are the kinds of moves Calgary made and now look at them. No thanks. 

4th round or later I think you can do what ever you want with picks, doesn’t matter much with the miss rate in that range. I don’t think any one should look higher than that for him, it’s a gamble on a gamble. 
 Some one may well get stupid though. I have no idea where he is going to go in the NFL draft but he’s gonna be down there 2-3 years. He could well come up after that and bring no value. 

[TBURGESS]

I'd take Rourke. Huge possible upside for a single draft pick. I doubt he ends up in the NFL for more than a couple of years if that. 

[Pete]

1 minute ago, TBURGESS said:

I'd take Rourke. Huge possible upside for a single draft pick. I doubt he ends up in the NFL for more than a couple of years if that. 

Think he goes in the first two rounds Ly Benedet, Hergel both went and even Wiebe who wasn't available for 24 season went.

 

 

[Mike]

2 hours ago, Pete said:

Think he goes in the first two rounds Ly Benedet, Hergel both went and even Wiebe who wasn't available for 24 season went.

 

 

Little bit different in almost every single way

Rourke is a weird prospect … below average arm strength for a NFL QB, does a really bad job of adjusting if he’s not just left completely untouched in the pocket. Doesn’t strike me as a player who really has any shot of being a NFL starting QB but he’s still 6’5” and was really efficient in college so coaches will give him a chance over and over. Depending on who you ask he’s anywhere from QB5 to QB12 in the NFL draft.

Problem with this for the CFL draft is that he’s already 24 and you have to expect he’s going to get opportunities to compete for at least 3-4 years in the NFL unless he’s so dogshit you don’t even want him as a CFL player.

Gonna almost certainly be way more invested in him than in a Hergel so I’m not sure why you’d run the risk early on. If someone wants to, great … let them. Hope it’s not the Bombers though. 

[Booch]

Rourke would be the dumbest and most useless pick to use on a flyer...The allure of a Canadian QB also shouldn't be prioritized....like why?.....may as well put time into Dolebanana as he gives the same thing as Rourke would up here...maybe more if he can clean up his issues with ball security within the pocket

Take a flier on a dlineman or a legit O-line guy....it's pretty easy if your scouting group is up to snuff and you have the connections down south to pin point several guys who will be here within 2..3 yrs...There are several in this draft who fall right into that scenario

Hopefully we focus more on guys with legit upside...even ability now to slide in as a "real" back-up if need be or actually push for a legit workload as opposed to our penchant for trying to find this "steal" of a pick for giys who excel at teams....and amount to nothing more....any pro can play teams if thats what their role is gonna be right outta the gate...that issue there is a huge reason why we have a bare cupboard, and in recent yrs when injuries came up we had nothing and preferred to trot out gimps...geriatrics and never were's as fill-ins...sadly we didnt even have sub par guys to plug in and choose to play guys who should not have even made the trip

[Tracker]

On 2025-03-11 at 10:47 AM, Pete said:

This Thomas obsession is really getting old.

And so is Jake.

[SpeedFlex27]

On 2025-03-11 at 10:43 AM, rebusrankin said:

You heard @Pete, time to change the topic from Thomas sucks to Kolo sucks.

Kolo while not being great can at least still play. Not very well but he does contribute. Thomas is roasted, boiled, fried, bbq'd, smoked, whatever you want to call it. He shouldn't be on the field anymore running on his twinkletoes, two & a half seconds behind the other team's running back.  Or  is stood up or pushed back on every pass play. We're making fun of the guy but it's really not funny as Thomas is a huge liability. He should take a hint from Brandon Alexander & retire. Walters & Osh have ran players better than Thomas out of town. 

[wbbfan]

22 minutes ago, Booch said:

Rourke would be the dumbest and most useless pick to use on a flyer...The allure of a Canadian QB also shouldn't be prioritized....like why?.....may as well put time into Dolebanana as he gives the same thing as Rourke would up here...maybe more if he can clean up his issues with ball security within the pocket

Take a flier on a dlineman or a legit O-line guy....it's pretty easy if your scouting group is up to snuff and you have the connections down south to pin point several guys who will be here within 2..3 yrs...There are several in this draft who fall right into that scenario

Hopefully we focus more on guys with legit upside...even ability now to slide in as a "real" back-up if need be or actually push for a legit workload as opposed to our penchant for trying to find this "steal" of a pick for giys who excel at teams....and amount to nothing more....any pro can play teams if thats what their role is gonna be right outta the gate...that issue there is a huge reason why we have a bare cupboard, and in recent yrs when injuries came up we had nothing and preferred to trot out gimps...geriatrics and never were's as fill-ins...sadly we didnt even have sub par guys to plug in and choose to play guys who should not have even made the trip

I think at a 6th or later, he makes sense if you like his skill set. Personally, kinda meh on him. 

3 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Kolo while not being great can at least still play. Not very well but he does contribute. Thomas is roasted, boiled, fried, bbq'd, smoked, whatever you want to call it. He shouldn't be on the field anymore running on his twinkletoes, two & a half seconds behind the other team's running back.  Or  is stood up or pushed back on every pass play. We're making fun of the guy but it's really not funny as Thomas is a huge liability. He should take a hint from Brandon Alexander & retire. Walters & Osh have ran players better than Thomas out of town. 

Thomas was once a good Canadian player, though. Kolo has always been up jumped TCF. Both are extreme shades of suck. At least we are down to two of those guys. 

[Booch]

2 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Kolo while not being great can at least still play. Not very well but he does contribute. Thomas is roasted, boiled, fried, bbq'd, smoked, whatever you want to call it. He shouldn't be on the field anymore running on his twinkletoes, two & a half seconds behind the other team's running back.  Or  is stood up or pushed back on every pass play. We're making fun of the guy but it's really not funny as Thomas is a huge liability. He should take a hint from Brandon Alexander & retire. Walters & Osh have ran players better than Thomas out of town. 

yeah its not a personal attack on the guy...or just a dislkike....he's well past his usefulness....he never really was uber usefull at his peak....if he had one...rotated in back in the day...but we coulda prob evebn then had a better guy in his role too

Biggie...great player but he got his well deserved criticism and if anything should have been a lil less by us as fans as even tho he was a shell of what he was...he still would make impactfull plays in and around his decining play...JT doean't....really never did 

Criticism generally gets applied on when a guys skills have eroded...or gys who seem to have none....and rightfully so....If a person in the real world starts to decline and not get the job done anymore...or is a detriment to the team...they get walking papers.....same should happen in the Bombers Orbit

[SpeedFlex27]

21 hours ago, Mike said:

Enough about Jake Thomas already. When are we upping our offer to Kenny Lawler?!

 

"I never did anything wrong!!"

[Booch]

3 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

I think at a 6th or later, he makes sense if you like his skill set. Personally, kinda meh on him. 

Thomas was once a good Canadian player, though. Kolo has always been up jumped TCF. Both are extreme shades of suck. At least we are down to two of those guys. 

I wouldnt count our eggs before they hatch..Biggie is as of yet unsigned by anyone...lives and works here....so does Osh....add that up and I bet we get a smoozy press release announcing his return...can almost book that

[SpeedFlex27]

3 minutes ago, Booch said:

yeah its not a personal attack on the guy...or just a dislkike....he's well past his usefulness....he never really was uber usefull at his peak....if he had one...rotated in back in the day...but we coulda prob evebn then had a better guy in his role too

Biggie...great player but he got his well deserved criticism and if anything should have been a lil less by us as fans as even tho he was a shell of what he was...he still would make impactfull plays in and around his decining play...JT doean't....really never did 

Criticism generally gets applied on when a guys skills have eroded...or gys who seem to have none....and rightfully so....If a person in the real world starts to decline and not get the job done anymore...or is a detriment to the team...they get walking papers.....same should happen in the Bombers Orbit

It's even worse when the HC & GM show their favouritism. Playing a burned out player like Thomas at the expense of younger players with potential. Nothing personal, when he does retire in the next decade or two, I'll be the first to congratulate him. 

[wbbfan]

29 minutes ago, Booch said:

I wouldnt count our eggs before they hatch..Biggie is as of yet unsigned by anyone...lives and works here....so does Osh....add that up and I bet we get a smoozy press release announcing his return...can almost book that

I guess anything is possible, but I don't think walters would bring him back. Plus reality must be sinking in that no one wants him. For one of the best lbers ever, being a last gap add mid season after no one wanted him all off season would be pretty embarrassing. 

[Goalie]

15 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

I guess anything is possible, but I don't think walters would bring him back. Plus reality must be sinking in that no one wants him. For one of the best lbers ever, being a last gap add mid season after no one wanted him all off season would be pretty embarrassing. 

They gave him his farewell write up also. He’s not coming back. 

[3rdand1.5]

My 2 cents......OL/DL heavy in the draft...If a guy looks to be a standout on specials we could use some depth but IMO our OL/DL needs replenishment

 

[wbbfan]

25 minutes ago, 3rdand1.5 said:

My 2 cents......OL/DL heavy in the draft...If a guy looks to be a standout on specials we could use some depth but IMO our OL/DL needs replenishment

 

Id say it’s an ok crop that is deep in middle and upper middle tier talent. I don’t think guys will get a lot of nfl attention, but a lot of guys who will be on ARs for the next few years. 
 

It seems like front 6 D is a consistent thing in the draft now. Hoping to see dl/ol/db/wr/rb as our target positions. A versatile ni rb who can play wr would be great. 

 

Its a really good draft for our needs. 
 I don’t think we need to draft for cover teams or niche roles like fb, ls, etc. I do think going forward we should be looking for the next Canadian K/P, or global. Though who knows when that will come up. 

[wbbfan]

I see the bombers advertising a rural flag football league starting spring of this year for kids 10-14. This is brilliant, I hope they end up rolling it out to high schools as well. Younger ages would be great too. 

[SpeedFlex27]

The NFL sponsors a flag league right across Canada. I always wondered why the CFL never did. Hopefully, the Bombers & other CFL teams will start doing that in CFL cities.