2024/2025 Blue Bombers Off-Season Thread

[rebusrankin]

2 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

Walters plan "alright Osh, I'll sign Thomas if it'll keep you happy"

Then first day of training camp a mystery assailant hammers Thomas in thr knee cap with a tire iron and he's on the IR all year. Everyone is happy.

He's already hired Booch?

[Sard]

24 minutes ago, bigg jay said:

I'm going through the other teams schedules and so far I've found we have by far the worst schedule in the West.  Aside from the byes being the shits, we are the only western team that has 2 short weeks (5 days between games in June & August).  FTR, Technically Calgary does too but their 1st short week is their 2nd pre-season game where most players are only playing a handful of snaps - they have one 5 day week in regular season.   The Riders have no 5 day short weeks at all and easily have the most balanced schedule I've seen.

Going to look at the East schedules later on and see what those look like.

Maybe the league is trying to help get a different team in to represent the West in the Grey Cup?  

[17to85]

11 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

He's already hired Booch?

That's the beauty! Booch has already committed to the work pro bono.

[JuranBoldenRules]

38 minutes ago, bigg jay said:

I'm going through the other teams schedules and so far I've found we have by far the worst schedule in the West.  Aside from the byes being the shits, we are the only western team that has 2 short weeks (5 days between games in June & August).  FTR, Technically Calgary does too but their 1st short week is their 2nd pre-season game where most players are only playing a handful of snaps - they have one 5 day week in regular season.   The Riders have no 5 day short weeks at all and easily have the most balanced schedule I've seen.

Going to look at the East schedules later on and see what those look like.

I don't mind it if it's a back to back.

But bullshit if not.  We have a bunch of back to backs they could have tighter weeks between.

Also crazy how much we play BC and Calgary in the first 8 games.

Edited Thursday at 06:07 PM by JuranBoldenRules

[bigg jay]

Just now, JuranBoldenRules said:

I don't mind it if it's a back to back.

But bullshit if not.  We have a bunch of back to backs they could have tighter weeks between.

Not back to backs and there's travel added in to boot.  We are in BC on June 21st and then home against Edmonton on the 26th and then we are in Calgary on August 9th before hosting Ottawa on the 14th.  It'd be easier to swallow if it was a homestand but nope.

[captaincanuck12]

Ffs on Jake Thomas.   Schedule is meh..

Edited Thursday at 06:24 PM by captaincanuck12

[Mark H.]

Just a model of...consistency...

[Super Duper Negatron]

Looks like the presser for all of our free agents signings is about to start:

[Bubba Zanetti]

S**t signing, s**t schedule. Thank God the Bacon Mushroom Melt is back or it may have been toaster bath day.

[Pete]

3 hours ago, HardCoreBlue said:

We're literally at the point where he's taking a job away from a more suited candidate.

Sends mixed messages in the locker room. 

re Thomas  - just who is a more suited candidate? If we are going with Lawton as a regular you need to have another national as a backup dt.

Just look at the free agent listing, there are at most 4 national dt available and only one of which (ACHEAMPONG Samuel) has more than 2 tackles (Acheampong has 8 and can't stay healthy) Thomas had 23 tackles ly. .

You think Smeckle should have his spot with 6 tackles last year?.

The anti Thomas sentiment around here is unbelievable given his record and effort every game 

Unl;ess we are able to draft a strong talent Thomas is the best option right now.

Edited Thursday at 06:58 PM by Pete

[ShyGuy]

4 minutes ago, Pete said:

re Thomas  - just who is a more suited candidate? If we are going with Lawton as a regular you need to have another national as a backup dt.

Just look at the free agent listing, there are at most 4 national dt available and only one of which (ACHEAMPONG Samuel) has more than 2 tackles (Acheampong has 8 and can't stay healthy) Thomas had 23 tackles ly. .

You think Smeckle should have his spot with 6 tackles last year?.

The anti Thomas sentiment around here is unbelievable given his record and effort every game 

Unl;ess we are able to draft a strong talent Thomas is the best option right now.

The Bombers have definitely played with more NATs than required the last few years so it's not a given the backup DT has to be Canadian. You can throw a dart at the draft board and probably find someone who could give you what a Jake Thomas in his 13th year would give you, nice guy to have around or not. The fact of the matter is... if he wasn't in Winnipeg where else would he be? In case of emergency you could always kick the tires and bring him back

[rebusrankin]

11 minutes ago, Pete said:

re Thomas  - just who is a more suited candidate? If we are going with Lawton as a regular you need to have another national as a backup dt.

Just look at the free agent listing, there are at most 4 national dt available and only one of which (ACHEAMPONG Samuel) has more than 2 tackles (Acheampong has 8 and can't stay healthy) Thomas had 23 tackles ly. .

You think Smeckle should have his spot with 6 tackles last year?.

The anti Thomas sentiment around here is unbelievable given his record and effort every game 

Unl;ess we are able to draft a strong talent Thomas is the best option right now.

Thomas does nothing all game and his effort is a joke. Sampson who we drafted last year can fill the role.

[Booch]

Some said Thomas not an Osh guy....he's100 percent exactly what an Osh guy is...doesn't matter when he got here

Suitable candidates others asked..Lawson...Samson...Schmeckle...any new draft pick who has upside...And realistically we only need one Canadian on field at anytime ondefense anyway.....His presence here just further blocks someone else's development....eats up salary that could have been used elsewhere....has zero upside....for yrs now...only declines furhter....In a role where we were rally in a pinch toactually field enough Canadian then sure...have on roster as a true back up....and let hi8m stand there all game like Osh has done numerous times with other players ....makes zero sense

Even in limited reps to back up Lawsons backup....his productivity is minimal at best....zero sense whatsoever....And yeah Walters signed him but you know damn well it was ot Osh's insistance...Walter's truly need to slap on his big boy G.M panties and not succomb to the baffoonery...and If Osh dont like it.....the FIFO the fack outta tiwn

2 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

Thomas does nothing all game and his effort is a joke. Sampson who we drafted last year can fill the role.

That and he also offers zippo in ST's...jusy a friggin waste...and probably at a minimum of 100k....he should be at league minimum...and then actually compete for a job...which we know won't be happening....same ol same ol shaping up....Wonder who's next...I sure it will be someone

 

[JuranBoldenRules]

11 minutes ago, ShyGuy said:

The Bombers have definitely played with more NATs than required the last few years so it's not a given the backup DT has to be Canadian. You can throw a dart at the draft board and probably find someone who could give you what a Jake Thomas in his 13th year would give you, nice guy to have around or not. The fact of the matter is... if he wasn't in Winnipeg where else would he be? In case of emergency you could always kick the tires and bring him back

They haven't played with more Canadians than required.  They used more Canadians on O and D, yes.

[Booch]

1 minute ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

They haven't played with more Canadians than required.  They used more Canadians on O and D, yes.

on the field at any given snap on how they declare their 7 "starters" and how many on each side of ball....yes they have played more than requiired...as our ratio is set up...we only need 1....thats 1....one......uno...any given snap on defense......how many tmes have we seen 4 or more??...way too many snaps where Thomas and Schmeck got washed away...Hallett was raped in his coverage requirement and we still had Kramdi and Ford at their spots.....there was no need for the sets withthe 2 plugs on the dline and hallet...none...but we rolled that out ad-nauseum...over, and over and over

[HardCoreBlue]

26 minutes ago, Pete said:

re Thomas  - just who is a more suited candidate? If we are going with Lawton as a regular you need to have another national as a backup dt.

Just look at the free agent listing, there are at most 4 national dt available and only one of which (ACHEAMPONG Samuel) has more than 2 tackles (Acheampong has 8 and can't stay healthy) Thomas had 23 tackles ly. .

You think Smeckle should have his spot with 6 tackles last year?.

The anti Thomas sentiment around here is unbelievable given his record and effort every game 

Unl;ess we are able to draft a strong talent Thomas is the best option right now.

This feels like a trick question. Ummm maybe ask our scouting department? I'm assuming there is potential/suitable nose tackle type players in the pipeline to evaluate at training camp? What an odd question you pose.

As well your fourth point I bolded is so off the mark if you've been actually reading most people's posts about JT. We all love him, we love what he's accomplished both on and off the field but like all professional athletes his time has come and gone but of course you come in hot and label it as anti-Thomas sentiments with no context given at all.

 

Edited Thursday at 07:23 PM by HardCoreBlue

[Booch]

Just now, HardCoreBlue said:

This feels like a trick question. Ummm maybe ask our scouting department? I'm assuming there is potential/suitable nose tackle type players in the pipeline to evaluate at training camp? What an odd question you pose.

As well your fourth point I bolded is so off the mark if you've been actually treading most people's posts about JT. We all love him, we love what he's accomplished both on and off the field but like all professionally athletes his time has come and gone but of course you come in hot and label it as anti-Thomas sentiments with no context given at all.

 

we didnt need a canadian dtackle tho to take 85% of the snaps....so i'd say any one of Fox..Adams..Woods...one the extra d-ends would been more than suitable.....guys who are gonna get better and better with reps....

[bigg jay]

32 minutes ago, Pete said:

re Thomas  - just who is a more suited candidate? If we are going with Lawton as a regular you need to have another national as a backup dt.

Just look at the free agent listing, there are at most 4 national dt available and only one of which (ACHEAMPONG Samuel) has more than 2 tackles (Acheampong has 8 and can't stay healthy) Thomas had 23 tackles ly. .

You think Smeckle should have his spot with 6 tackles last year?.

The anti Thomas sentiment around here is unbelievable given his record and effort every game 

Unl;ess we are able to draft a strong talent Thomas is the best option right now.

We've seen a number of trades this off-season so there's always that route.  Alternatively, if that's not a great spot to use a national, make adjustments to the ratio elsewhere and go with another American at DT.

Edited Thursday at 07:29 PM by bigg jay
ducking auto-correct

[Booch]

Just now, bigg jay said:

We've seen a number of trades this off-season so there's always that route.  Alternatively, if that's not a great spot to use a national, make adjustments to the ration elsewhere and go with another American at DT.

did we ever see a snap with Ford and Kramdi off the field to necessitate a snap for Jake?...to meet ratio?....nope....all you need to know...we give an inferior guys lions share of dline snaps....cause Osh is his Papi....thinks he's awesome.....has an anti american bias....Jake has compromising pics of him....jake threatened him....pick any of those reasons as they make more sense than "he's the best option"

[HardCoreBlue]

5 minutes ago, Booch said:

we didnt need a canadian dtackle tho to take 85% of the snaps....so i'd say any one of Fox..Adams..Woods...one the extra d-ends would been more than suitable.....guys who are gonna get better and better with reps....

If I'm remembering correctly, back in the day your punter and placekicker needed to be CDN to help with the ratio. Now, nope, it would be nice, but nope doesn't have to be. Same with dtackle, doesn't have to be CDN, can be, but doesn't have to be.

[Jets]

5 minutes ago, HardCoreBlue said:

If I'm remembering correctly, back in the day your punter and placekicker needed to be CDN to help with the ratio. Now, nope, it would be nice, but nope doesn't have to be. Same with dtackle, doesn't have to be CDN, can be, but doesn't have to be.

might be true, but between our 3 interior OL, Oliveira, Demski, Wolitarski and even Clercius, we should have at most 1 Canadian on D (Lawson) most of the snaps.  

 

[HardCoreBlue]

29 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

Thomas does nothing all game and his effort is a joke. Sampson who we drafted last year can fill the role.

This is a perfect example that JT the person is not a joke, he's a great guy by all accounts who has accomplished a lot in the CFL. 

It's not that he's dogging it, that he's underperforming where if he put more effort in and tweaked something he'd perform to the standards needed.

He literally just can't no matter what his brain is telling him. Every professional athlete goes thru that sooner than they want it to unless you're a freak of nature like Brady or something. 

Now that I've written this watch JT come out this season and prove he fits into that freak mode and light it up. Fingers crossed. 🙂

[Brandon]

If Thomas isn't replaced after training camp then we have massively failed at recruiting.    

They can't find anyone who is young with any sort of upside that can replace him? 

[Goalie]

5 minutes ago, Brandon said:

If Thomas isn't replaced after training camp then we have massively failed at recruiting.    

They can't find anyone who is young with any sort of upside that can replace him? 

I feel last years camp will be similar to this years. Maybe worse cuz bye week 1. If he’s on the roster by camp he’s on the team prob getting more reps than Lawson. Injury or retirement. Would have to be retirement but honestly from Jake’s POV, get a chance to go out champion in a place you played your whole career? And get paid. Ok. 
 

he’s one of the guys tho that shouldn’t have been signed. Theres a few others still unsigned. 

Edited Thursday at 08:01 PM by Goalie

[Noeller]