2024/2025 Blue Bombers Off-Season Thread

[Brandon]

Thomas should be the guy you bring in mid season after losing 2 - 3 guys in one game.  I don't see the point of wasting time with him when even if it only taking 15% of the reps... give that play time to a young guy who may in a season or two actually produce. 

[Stickem]

It's starting to look like a 'rinse and repeat' look to this season...Yeah....that's all it would take seeing the punter re-upped and most likely with no competition for the position brought in....Then I think the writing will be on the wall for sure, and as it is now, it's starting to resemble the writing you find on  'subway walls' 

[rebusrankin]

38 minutes ago, Pete said:

Certainly we dont need/want Thomas to take 85% of reps, Hopefully Lawton proves to be an option. However our starting cdn depth could be tested esp if ford doesn't return or we decide we need to go import at guard on OLIne.

Some who say Smeckel is a better option must be watching different games.

Samson I would like to see get a chance. but who knows if hes a viable candidate

I hope we do have a strong option at the draft for a starting cdn, If we can get a cdn safety then the need for a cdn dlineman is reduced as well

Signing thomas gives us options hopefully we are able to upgrade but it all depends on whos available.

 

 

 

BO, Demski, Woli, Clercius, Wallace, Neufeld, Kolo, Eli  Kramdi, Lawson, Kelly, your point about needing Canadian depth or potential starters is false.

[Fatty Liver]

5 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

BO, Demski, Woli, Clercius, Wallace, Neufeld, Kolo, Eli  Kramdi, Lawson, Kelly, your point about needing Canadian depth or potential starters is false.

Big year for Kelly, he needs to step it up.  Can he become a starting Safety or is he destined to be a career ST and backup? Ratio flexibility in the secondary is always a bonus.

[Tracker]

2 hours ago, Fatty Liver said:

I figure a roomful of pro football staff who's livelihoods depend on the decisions they make know more about Jake's value to the team than the entire Internet combined. The Bomber organization has earned the respect and the record to field the team they choose to, keeping in mind, it's hard to be perfect.

But its easy to be rigidly stupid.

38 minutes ago, Stickem said:

It's starting to look like a 'rinse and repeat' look to this season...Yeah....that's all it would take seeing the punter re-upped and most likely with no competition for the position brought in....Then I think the writing will be on the wall for sure, and as it is now, it's starting to resemble the writing you find on  'subway walls' 

"The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls.....and tenement walls". Or is it Quizno's?

[wbbfan]

11 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

BO, Demski, Woli, Clercius, Wallace, Neufeld, Kolo, Eli  Kramdi, Lawson, Kelly, your point about needing Canadian depth or potential starters is false.

How so? That’s the starter quality top half of the Canadians on our AR. It’s the next group of 10-12 guys that needs to improve. 
 

Our ni depth is solid upper middle tier in the cfl. Every single teams needs to improve it every single year. 
 As much as any thing, our gc wins were based on incredible ni talent and depth. That’s extremely rare to have at such a level. 
 

We need another ni db who can cover. We need another ni de, ni wr, ni rb, and one or two Ni ol development guys. On top of that every year you need to bring in 1-2 ni teams guys to push and be the next man up as needed. 
 Highest needs are ol, db, rb, and de imo. 

8 minutes ago, Fatty Liver said:

Big year for Kelly, he needs to step it up.  Can he become a starting Safety or is he destined to be a career ST and backup? Ratio flexibility in the secondary is always a bonus.

Yep. Imo he’s already good enough to be the average cfl ni S. A basic role player, but he’s flashed the ability to make really smart plays and the athleticism to fill bigger gaps. I really like the kid, he’s a a rich man’s hallett who is also healthy. 
 If he can take a step forward in progress he gives us a great chance to move on from BA as a starter. (Ba would be tremendous as the dime sub db/NA) 

[Pete]

39 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

BO, Demski, Woli, Clercius, Wallace, Neufeld, Kolo, Eli  Kramdi, Lawson, Kelly, your point about needing Canadian depth or potential starters is false.

thus far we haven't seen Kelly, Eli or even Wallace perform well enough yet to say they are starters and if a cdn went down on defense we wouldn't start 3 cdn receivers.

The other issue is that most teams have 7 dlinemen  on game rosters, If we start Jefferson/Lawson/Woods/new de we'd need three backups. Two might be DI , but the third would likely have to be cdn. right now our choices are Thomas, Smeckle, or Samson. Let the best man win and the other two on practice roster.

 

Edited Thursday at 11:02 PM by Pete

[rebusrankin]

10 minutes ago, Pete said:

thus far we haven't seen Kelly, Eli or even Wallace perform well enough yet to say they are starters and if a cdn went down on defense we wouldn't start 3 cdn receivers.

The other issue is that most teams have 7 dlinemen  on game rosters, If we start Jefferson/Lawson/Woods/new de we'd need three backups. Two might be DI , but the third would likely have to be cdn. right now our choices are Thomas, Smeckle, or Samson. Let the best man win and the other two on practice roster.

 

Kelly and Wallace both showed last year they have starters upside or could start in a pinch and you seem to think Jake can. Jake was fine in 2019 but that's six years ago. Now he's taken up SMS $ that could be allocated elsewhere, a roster spot that could be used elsewhere. At a certain point you need to move on. If Winnipeg didn't sign him, nobody in the CFL does.

[HardCoreBlue]

9 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

Kelly and Wallace both showed last year they have starters upside or could start in a pinch and you seem to think Jake can. Jake was fine in 2019 but that's six years ago. Now he's taken up SMS $ that could be allocated elsewhere, a roster spot that could be used elsewhere. At a certain point you need to move on. If Winnipeg didn't sign him, nobody in the CFL does.

Your last sentence is intriguing. I’m thinking/guessing if Winnipeg didn’t sign him that might have prompted his retirement not giving any chance for other teams to pick him up as I’m assuming he wouldn’t want to play for any other team than the BB. However if JT just wanted to continue to play football and put his services on the market, who’s picking him up? 

[Pete]

59 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

Kelly and Wallace both showed last year they have starters upside or could start in a pinch and you seem to think Jake can. Jake was fine in 2019 but that's six years ago. Now he's taken up SMS $ that could be allocated elsewhere, a roster spot that could be used elsewhere. At a certain point you need to move on. If Winnipeg didn't sign him, nobody in the CFL does.

never said Thomas should be a starter in fact I think his main role is in a back up rotational role as most of our back-ups are. My only point really is that we don't have a backup cdn lineman that is a better option right now. And we need one in order to roster an adequate amount of dline men in a game. (assuming Lawton to be a starter).

 I do hope we find a better option but its not there right now.

Edited yesterday at 12:14 AM by Pete

[Booch]

Maybe if a Canadian went down we could utilize the nationalized American like all other teams do instead of running out a sub par Canadian.. there's a thought

I never been a Schmeck pumper but he offers more than Thomas by leaps and bounds...and depth wise...we are same as any other team nationally really...is what it is in the cfl if multiple guys go down. Fact of matter we don't need to rely on a Canadian at DT other than rotational use..Lawson...and Schmeck cover you there...Kramdi is a lock at SAM and Kelley should be the safety in my opinion...Not hallett ...unless we decide to an import there and we do have options for that

Any given snap we need one of Lawson or Kramdi....that's it..one gets hurt we still covered...and if we go Canadian at safety even better...Thomas is not required...draft a guy with upside and roster him like they did Thomas many moons ago

[bustamente]

Thomas wont be getting limited reps, he will start, get pushed around and fall to the ground and be trotted out each and every game.

[Mike]

Argos released Jon Jones, the linebacker not the drug addict UFC fighter and I’m not really sure why. He was on an upward trajectory and then just fizzled out last year.

@bluto I demand answers 

[Noeller]

16 minutes ago, bustamente said:

Thomas wont be getting limited reps, he will start, get pushed around and fall to the ground and be trotted out each and every game.

I'm not 100% sure on that. The only reason he played as much as he did last year was because Lawson went down. Otherwise he woulda been WAY less reps...

[Goalie]

7 minutes ago, Noeller said:

I'm not 100% sure on that. The only reason he played as much as he did last year was because Lawson went down. Otherwise he woulda been WAY less reps...

Is that true tho. I thought the last time Thomas actually got more reps when both were healthy. 

[Booch]

39 minutes ago, Noeller said:

I'm not 100% sure on that. The only reason he played as much as he did last year was because Lawson went down. Otherwise he woulda been WAY less reps...

fack no.....dont even go there...as we didnt need a canadian on the dline....at all...especially not a shittty one

 

[Noeller]

4 minutes ago, Booch said:

fack no.....dont even go there...as we didnt need a canadian on the dline....at all...especially not a shittty one

 

Right... We know that.... But since they'd already decided to go NI DT, I'm just saying that I think last year would have been primarily Lawson with only a little bit of Thomas. It didn't help that Schmeckle was not ready. I'm sincerely hopeful that Lawson is going to take the VAST majority of NI DT snaps, regardless of whether we need to go Canadian there or not...

[Tracker]

2 hours ago, Mike said:

Argos released Jon Jones, the linebacker not the drug addict UFC fighter and I’m not really sure why. He was on an upward trajectory and then just fizzled out last year.

@bluto I demand answers 

Sometimes old habits die hard.

[SpeedFlex27]

18 hours ago, wbbfan said:

 

Boy if we soft foot the starters through camp that first 1/3rd is gonna be worse than last year. 

You called it. The usual geriatrics we have on this team will get their vacay time during camp like they always do. Like Alexander, Thomas & Neufeld.

Meanwhile, a smirking Mike O'Shea will say they all can miss practice time during training camp & pre season because they don't need to practice. They'll be gone for weeks only to miraculously return in time for Game 1 of the regular season when their starting jobs will be waiting for them. The Old Boys Club really is the Old Boys Club.

The only silver lining with the Thomas signing is they didn't let Willie Jefferson walk away in free agency. How they can say they have money for a washed up player like Thomas while saying they can't afford Tyrell Ford once he comes back from his NFL sojourn? What a travesty if that happens. Easy answer: Walters could have used the money saved by not signing Thomas to sign Ford, Now that financial option is gone. Hamilton will come after him hard in free agency. 

[bluto]

12 hours ago, Mike said:

Argos released Jon Jones, the linebacker not the drug addict UFC fighter and I’m not really sure why. He was on an upward trajectory and then just fizzled out last year.

@bluto I demand answers 

If I had to guess? 3 things:

-salary pinch is real and we're still likely to see a lot of guys get thanked for their service...

-Jones was getting NFL looks not long ago but wasn't that guy as the year went on

-Isaac Darkangelo 

14 hours ago, Tracker said:

"The words of the prophets are written on the studio wall....."

Concert Hall!

[pw13]

59 minutes ago, bluto said:

If I had to guess? 3 things:

-salary pinch is real and we're still likely to see a lot of guys get thanked for their service...

-Jones was getting NFL looks not long ago but wasn't that guy as the year went on

-Isaac Darkangelo 

 

Jones barely played in 2024, first because of ratio issues and then because Darkangelo grabbed a spot and wouldn't let go of it. Argo brass must believe Darkangelo isn't getting an NFL invite, and it appears they might be going with two NATs at LB anyway. I doubt Jones had a high salary, so not much money to be saved. They've done him a favour by letting him get a jump on free agency.

 

[Pete]

5 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

You called it. The usual geriatrics we have on this team will get their vacay time during camp like they always do. Like Alexander, Thomas & Neufeld.

Meanwhile, a smirking Mike O'Shea will say they all can miss practice time during training camp & pre season because they don't need to practice. They'll be gone for weeks only to miraculously return in time for Game 1 of the regular season when their starting jobs will be waiting for them. The Old Boys Club really is the Old Boys Club.

The only silver lining with the Thomas signing is they didn't let Willie Jefferson walk away in free agency. How they can say they have money for a washed up player like Thomas while saying they can't afford Tyrell Ford once he comes back from his NFL sojourn? What a travesty if that happens. Easy answer: Walters could have used the money saved by not signing Thomas to sign Ford, Now that financial option is gone. Hamilton will come after him hard in free agency. 

now your anti thomas bias is having you just make up stuff ignoring any facts.

Smeckle had 6 tackles despite getting a number of chances....6 to Thomas's 23! Thomas.  is one of OSheas boys and  Smeckle isn't far off. We need and should want a better alternative.

Not signing Thomas just means wed have to sign another dlineman, wed save maybe 30k. Not even in the ball park of what it would take to sign Ford. No way do we let that stand in the way of signing Ford if it comes down to that.  Also there is always the option if we do need to cut for salary cap reasons to get a player we need we still can. (or if we are able to draft a better option.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 11 hours ago by Pete

[Goalie]

Ford isn’t even talking CFL contract right now. He’s concentrating on nfl opportunities. Thomas has nothing to do with Ford. 

[BomberBall.]

16 hours ago, bustamente said:

Thomas wont be getting limited reps, he will start, get pushed around and fall to the ground and be trotted out each and every game.

This is my biggest fear.  I’m not sure I can handle watching that again this season.  I’m not proud of how many times I yelled to the sidelines, ‘Get him off the field!!!’

[Goalie]

Is Tyrell Ford a product of the system ? Cuz Demario Houston looked just as good in his spot. I’m curious if he’s being overrated because Canadian db. But really you should be able to find a rookie to play on a minimum contract and save $$$ for elsewhere.