2024/2025 CFL (non-Bomber) Off-Season Thread

[bigg jay]

1 minute ago, rebusrankin said:

Taylor Powell for back up

I'd like that but he's not a pending FA this off-season.  BLM might be the present starter in Hamilton but not the future so I imagine the ticats will try to extend Powell before 2026.

[TBURGESS]

3 hours ago, Fatty Liver said:

Zach has remained remarkably healthy in his 5 seasons in Wpg, never missing more than the occasional game and ensuring they've made it to the GC every season.  Can't think of another QB that hasn't missed substantial playing time over the same time period.

How much of that do you attribute to the O line he's been behind? 

2 hours ago, Mark H. said:

In the GC itself, yes.  But I don't think they achieve 4 consecutive west division championships - without ZC under centre.

No way to prove it, but I still say that we'd have done as well with any of the top half of the league QB's because the rest of the team is that good. 

[Booch]

4 hours ago, TBURGESS said:

Wins are a team stat, not a QB stat. 

If VAJ was our QB, I'd say we'd have won the same number of GC's as we have with Collaros, maybe more. It's not like Collaros lit up the other teams.

I'd say prob more...an average performance even by VAJ would have trumped any thing Zac has done in a grey cup

 

3 hours ago, Mark H. said:

In the GC itself, yes.  But I don't think they achieve 4 consecutive west division championships - without ZC under centre.

That's something you can't really gauge...that being said being surrounded by the elite talent in its prime like ZC was...a quarterback just had to not be a moron...ZC landed in the ideal spot...I bet VAJ would have been just fine.. and the coaching and environment around him could have elevated his game even more in my opinion ..where has he been on an overwhelming elite team? Look at ZC in last bit of Hamilton and all of aSask...he looked like finished hot grabage

[kelownabomberfan]

34 minutes ago, Booch said:

I'd say prob more...an average performance even by VAJ would have trumped any thing Zac has done in a grey cup

 

Jason Boltus would have done better in the 2024 Grey Cup for us...argh...

[Mark H.]

1 hour ago, Booch said:

That's something you can't really gauge...that being said being surrounded by the elite talent in its prime like ZC was...a quarterback just had to not be a moron...ZC landed in the ideal spot...I bet VAJ would have been just fine.. and the coaching and environment around him could have elevated his game even more in my opinion ..where has he been on an overwhelming elite team? Look at ZC in last bit of Hamilton and all of aSask...he looked like finished hot grabage

I have absolutely no doubt, that ZC's career was rejuvenated by playing with top notch talent around him. 

[wbbfan]

13 hours ago, Fatty Liver said:

Objectively it looks like the early loss of Schoen and later Woli, plus the introduction of multiple rookie receivers on a steep learning curve was largely responsible for the downturn in Zach's production and an uptick in his stress level.

Those things didn’t help, but he was much worse in the early games before guys got hurt. Worse than every game but the gc any way. 

[Booch]

1 hour ago, wbbfan said:

Those things didn’t help, but he was much worse in the early games before guys got hurt. Worse than every game but the gc any way. 

yup...exuses are essentially for losers...and he didnt look great with all his players in to start.....and even before the run we made he still wasnt great....wasmt overly great during.....and save for the West Final which may have been one his best games in general since being here, he didnt really look 600kish worthy all yr....and looked typically nad in the Grey Cup...again

[GCn20]

14 minutes ago, Booch said:

yup...exuses are essentially for losers...and he didnt look great with all his players in to start.....and even before the run we made he still wasnt great....wasmt overly great during.....and save for the West Final which may have been one his best games in general since being here, he didnt really look 600kish worthy all yr....and looked typically nad in the Grey Cup...again

A ton of that falls on our OL, especially early in the year, and our rotating door of rookie receivers. He got better as the season went on as the OL gelled and the new receivers worked out the kinks.

[wbbfan]

12 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

A ton of that falls on our OL, especially early in the year, and our rotating door of rookie receivers. He got better as the season went on as the OL gelled and the new receivers worked out the kinks.

I do agree the ol early on gave no help. First half of last year was the worst ol play he’s seen in blue n gold. 
 He was also just not game ready after skipping pre season and parts of camp. 
 The play call was also not conducive to getting the offence in a rhythm the entire year. If zach wasn’t getting time and the WRs weren’t clicking with him buck had nothing to help slow things down and make easy gains. Or adjust to take what the D gave. 
It was the worst stretch of offense we’ve seen in ages. And many players have blame, none save for maybe Brady are blameless. 
 

If healthy the ol are certainly settled together now. I’d really like to see an upgrade at any ol position in the off season. But I think the only chance will be internal development. 
 However just having the unit play like they did down the stretch last year will help a lot. 
 Oc will be a big factor in our success on offence this year. We need some one who can reign in zachs impulse to chuck. I worry that guy doesn’t exist in our staff already. 
 

Last year was an embarrassment for zach too. He hasn’t played that bad since the stretch to end it in Hamilton. I’m hoping we see angry motivated zach early and often in 2025. 

[17to85]

Grey cup aside I thought Zach was quite good the back half of the season. Rest of the offense was very hit or miss. Some fresh ideas on offense certainly might not hurt though I'm not sure if it was a buck problem or a player problem. Guess we will see.

[GCn20]

17 hours ago, TBURGESS said:

How much of that do you attribute to the O line he's been behind? 

No way to prove it, but I still say that we'd have done as well with any of the top half of the league QB's because the rest of the team is that good. 

Not last year. A guy like Harris or BLM would have been crushed behind our first 6 games OL. After that....yea probably be a few QBs that would have great seasons with us.

2 hours ago, wbbfan said:

I do agree the ol early on gave no help. First half of last year was the worst ol play he’s seen in blue n gold. 
 He was also just not game ready after skipping pre season and parts of camp. 
 The play call was also not conducive to getting the offence in a rhythm the entire year. If zach wasn’t getting time and the WRs weren’t clicking with him buck had nothing to help slow things down and make easy gains. Or adjust to take what the D gave. 
It was the worst stretch of offense we’ve seen in ages. And many players have blame, none save for maybe Brady are blameless. 
 

If healthy the ol are certainly settled together now. I’d really like to see an upgrade at any ol position in the off season. But I think the only chance will be internal development. 
 However just having the unit play like they did down the stretch last year will help a lot. 
 Oc will be a big factor in our success on offence this year. We need some one who can reign in zachs impulse to chuck. I worry that guy doesn’t exist in our staff already. 
 

Last year was an embarrassment for zach too. He hasn’t played that bad since the stretch to end it in Hamilton. I’m hoping we see angry motivated zach early and often in 2025. 

Zach got into his own head for a while last year trying to do too much. If he chucks and ducks into the third row 8-10 times more last year instead of forcing things we probably win a couple of those early season losses. I know that sounds Matt Nichols like, but when you have our defence, all you gotta do is protect the ball and not give the game away.

[GCn20]

38 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

Grey cup aside I thought Zach was quite good the back half of the season. Rest of the offense was very hit or miss. Some fresh ideas on offense certainly might not hurt though I'm not sure if it was a buck problem or a player problem. Guess we will see.

Zach and the receivers were definitely not on the same page in scramble rules at the beginning of the season. He was guessing where they were going to go, and he was guessing wrong more often than not. ZC excels on extending the play but when that happens receivers and QBs have got to be thinking on the same wavelength. Takes a while for that to happen. ZC and KW, KC, and OW just weren't on the same page quite often until around game 7-8. Yea...Wilson and KW ran some great routes and made some big plays, but they were not a result of extending a play. That was our downfall, and Buck really should have given the marching orders to be more conservative until the chemistry was there.

[Noeller]

Zach was not a problem in any way. He lost his best receiver, his next best safety blanket receiver, and the OL was a bit of a dog's breakfast all season long. In spite of those issues, I thought he was really good from about LD on. After that West Final I think most of us felt like "...okay, we're back in business now..." but a total fluke injury in the GC changed people's minds. 

I'm actually really excited to see what next year looks like with a new OC and a healthier offensive line up....

[17to85]

2 hours ago, Noeller said:

Zach was not a problem in any way

Ehhhhhhhh not sure we can go THAT far.

[SpeedFlex27]

22 hours ago, rebusrankin said:

Taylor Powell for back up

We'd have to trade for Powell as (I believe) he's still under contract to the Ti Cats. I can't see the Ti Cats dealing him as BLM is one year older & the injury bug could come back or his on field performance may diminish. Powell could step in. Love to have him here, though.

[WinnipegGordo]

 

 

 

[rebusrankin]

Too bad about Leake.

[HardCoreBlue]

18 hours ago, WinnipegGordo said:

 

 

 

Elks gonna be an interesting team to watch this upcoming season. Just have no sense in where they're gonna land.

[Fatty Liver]

56 minutes ago, HardCoreBlue said:

Elks gonna be an interesting team to watch this upcoming season. Just have no sense in where they're gonna land.

Well, if they go all in on Tre Ford they'll probably win aprox. 50% of their games, Bombers would get the same return if they committed to  Strev.

[JuranBoldenRules]

2 hours ago, Fatty Liver said:

Well, if they go all in on Tre Ford they'll probably win aprox. 50% of their games, Bombers would get the same return if they committed to  Strev.

Interesting fact about Edmonton last year...

They had the #1 offense by points per game, yards per game and rushing yards per game and yards per carry with MBT starting.

They dropped to 8th in points, yards and yards per carry when Ford started.

I'm quite happy they've gone "all-in" on Ford.  Good luck to them on their quest to finish higher than 4th in the division with him.

[HardCoreBlue]

1 hour ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

Interesting fact about Edmonton last year...

They had the #1 offense by points per game, yards per game and rushing yards per game and yards per carry with MBT starting.

They dropped to 8th in points, yards and yards per carry when Ford started.

I'm quite happy they've gone "all-in" on Ford.  Good luck to them on their quest to finish higher than 4th in the division with him.

You think Ford has hit his ceiling? 

[wbbfan]

4 hours ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

Interesting fact about Edmonton last year...

They had the #1 offense by points per game, yards per game and rushing yards per game and yards per carry with MBT starting.

They dropped to 8th in points, yards and yards per carry when Ford started.

I'm quite happy they've gone "all-in" on Ford.  Good luck to them on their quest to finish higher than 4th in the division with him.

If they stuck to mbt all year, and canned jones before the start of the year Jackson probably leads them to the play offs. Or atleast respectability. 
 

3 hours ago, HardCoreBlue said:

You think Ford has hit his ceiling? 

he had a mile high ceiling imo, but very little chance of achieving that. More dynamic running vaj for upside, but more realistically, it’s between Nealon Greene and Fajardo. 
 I like his floor as a qb3 who can run some packages n stuff. I haven’t seen the ability to adapt, read, manipulate, or beat Ds. 

[17to85]

11 hours ago, wbbfan said:

between Nealon Greene and Fajardo. 

What's the difference?

[wbbfan]

1 hour ago, 17to85 said:

What's the difference?

A bit more upside on best games especially big games. Greene was more limited. 
 

 

[GCn20]

5 hours ago, wbbfan said:

A bit more upside on best games especially big games. Greene was more limited. 
 

 

The difference is Greene could not make most of the throws, and Fajardo can only make some of the throws.