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

[wbbfan]

6 minutes ago, Booch said:

casue he a national...no reason he should be making more than Ceresna other than that

Still for a Canadian that’s bananas. Not as crazy as fords deal cus he is a good edge rusher but damn. How do you compete with half a million tied up between those two? 
 Should’ve been more than Lawson but under 180k imo 

 

6 minutes ago, Atomic said:

Having trouble following the new CFL FA process. It looks like there are several good Canadian OL still available but I might have missed something. Is Sean McEwen available? I think he'd be a great add. I'd also not be opposed to starting 3 American OL and hoping Gabe Wallace wins a spot.

Only Dobson has moved which is really odd 

[HardCoreBlue]

21 minutes ago, sweep the leg said:

Sorry if this has already been said, but I saw on twitter that the Elks paid Robbie Smith $230k & Ceresna got $225k. 

Apparently the Elks are going to bring in a placekicker (insert other positions as appropriate) who is going to play for free. 

[Bigblue204]

Just now, HardCoreBlue said:

Apparently the Elks are going to bring in a placekicker (insert other positions as appropriate) who is going to play for free. 

That's according to farhan

[SpeedFlex27]

1 hour ago, bluto said:

We have a guy with the mental toughness to come back from the brink of being out of the game to be our #3 when our QB1 was out. He very quickly rose to the point of contending to be starter in camp but the decision was made for Dukes. Dukes had two good games to start with and Arbuckle accepted his spot at #2. Dukes floundered and Arbuckle came in as our guy. Kelly returns, plays like we knew he could and Arbuckle quietly goes back to his support role. Kelly gets broken at the end of the East final and icewater-in-his-veins Arbuckle comes in to seal the win. He then becomes the entire focus of the 111th and goes out and executes to the point of being the game MOP.

You wouldn't want him? Really?? If you'd have had him instead of us, you'd be champions.

[Mike]

1 hour ago, wbbfan said:

230k for smith? That’s kinda nutty. 

Yeah that is a wild number to pay.

[Bubba Zanetti]

Elks and Ticats making it rain. Weve got some big coin off the books with Bighill and Lawler gone. Wonder if Walters has something in store. Pickings starting to get slim mind you.

[Noeller]

Former Bomber...

 

 

[rebusrankin]

2 hours ago, HardCoreBlue said:

Apparently the Elks are going to bring in a placekicker (insert other positions as appropriate) who is going to play for free. 

They told me I can play WR. They can't pay me and I have to buy my jersey too.

[Goalie]

58 minutes ago, Bubba Zanetti said:

Elks and Ticats making it rain. Weve got some big coin off the books with Bighill and Lawler gone. Wonder if Walters has something in store. Pickings starting to get slim mind you.

Myles Garrett to Winnipeg. lol. 

[rebusrankin]

I'll put this out to the universe, McEwen or Couture as a target to upgrade our center spot.

[Mark H.]

4 hours ago, rebusrankin said:

They told me I can play WR. They can't pay me and I have to buy my jersey too.

Playing for Pizza

[Noeller]

38 minutes ago, Mark H. said:

Playing for Pizza

One of my favourite Grisham books... Read that once a year. 

[GCn20]

19 hours ago, Mike said:

How is the OL “the same if not better” when we have literally only subtracted one player (a Canadian and a division all-star) and added zero players. 

You consider Dobson a loss, I don't. We can argue about that if you want but you won't change my mind on that.

18 hours ago, Booch said:

same question on how is the dline better?....we subtracted 3 guys who played (FOX/Garbutt/Haba) added an over 31 guy to replace...and re-upped Jake...who will not be the jake of 2024....hahaha....so i see no upgrade there

Canadian kid who used to play for Argo's??..Maybe we gonna go Canadian at safety and looking for bodies....I'd be fine with that..I'd say Kelly has to be the front runner

minimize the need for all but 1 Canadian DT ...

Addition by subtraction on both the DL and OL. Sorry, all i see is a bunch of scrubs walking away.

18 hours ago, Goalie said:

DL. Better but not by much. Woods and Adams are solid. Lawson should be an improvement on Jake. Vaughters and Person are solid ends apparently. 
 

LB. Improved with addition of J Jones for sure. No bighill in the middle = improved by default  

DB. Hard to say, Holm Nichols bonds are quite solid  Ford is a loss but for 230 I can live with it 

 

OL  currently worse  we lost a dude  didn’t add anyone yet  worse  

 

WR  it’s worse but prob not by as much as we all think  

 

Yep...I see Lawson coming back as an improvement that will radically chance JT's usage, I see Vaughters as way better than Haba/Garbutt. 

[17to85]

Yeah the dl should be better with Lawson back (at worst he is better than schmeckle) and vaughters should be better than the des who weren't good enough last year. Another year of experience for woods and adams shouldn't hurt. That group plus linebackers should be improved this year.

[Booch]

1 hour ago, GCn20 said:

You consider Dobson a loss, I don't. We can argue about that if you want but you won't change my mind on that.

Addition by subtraction on both the DL and OL. Sorry, all i see is a bunch of scrubs walking away.

Yep...I see Lawson coming back as an improvement that will radically chance JT's usage, I see Vaughters as way better than Haba/Garbutt. 

scrubs that all got signed before FA officially opened....and I guess from your logic then it validates that Osh created a shittty roster of scrubs and guys who werent worthy

Edited 9 hours ago by Booch

[HardCoreBlue]

19 hours ago, bluto said:

We have a guy with the mental toughness to come back from the brink of being out of the game to be our #3 when our QB1 was out. He very quickly rose to the point of contending to be starter in camp but the decision was made for Dukes. Dukes had two good games to start with and Arbuckle accepted his spot at #2. Dukes floundered and Arbuckle came in as our guy. Kelly returns, plays like we knew he could and Arbuckle quietly goes back to his support role. Kelly gets broken at the end of the East final and icewater-in-his-veins Arbuckle comes in to seal the win. He then becomes the entire focus of the 111th and goes out and executes to the point of being the game MOP.

You wouldn't want him? Really?? If you'd have had him instead of us, you'd be champions.

You have a great way of presenting your perspective as fact. Cuz if we did have him (not that I would have wanted him) MOS wouldn't have brought him in anyways so we would have never known just like what would have happened if he brought in Wilson and/or Dolegala. Don't know and never will.

[Booch]

Just now, HardCoreBlue said:

You have a great way of presenting your perspective as fact. Cuz if we did have him (not that I would have wanted him) MOS wouldn't have brought him in anyways so we would have never known just like what would have happened if he brought in Wilson and/or Dolegala. Don't know and never will.

Likely win...was a 1 score game...

[wbbfan]

1 hour ago, 17to85 said:

Yeah the dl should be better with Lawson back (at worst he is better than schmeckle) and vaughters should be better than the des who weren't good enough last year. Another year of experience for woods and adams shouldn't hurt. That group plus linebackers should be improved this year.

Agree, though Lawson if 100% or close to it is head and shoulders better than Jake or shmek. Plus never know, Jake might finally miss games. 
 

 

[bearpants]

19 hours ago, sweep the leg said:

Sorry if this has already been said, but I saw on twitter that the Elks paid Robbie Smith $230k & Ceresna got $225k. 

Smith at 230 is excessive... but I would've had zero issue with that Ceresna deal... outside of Zach and Brady, we don't really have any one who has a "crazy" contract right now (arguably Kramdi).... and Brady is living up to his...

[Fatty Liver]

1 minute ago, bearpants said:

Smith at 230 is excessive... but I would've had zero issue with that Ceresna deal... outside of Zach and Brady, we don't really have any one who has a "crazy" contract right now (arguably Kramdi).... and Brady is living up to his...

Not sure where the extra $400k is going, it appears they're spending less than they did last season.

[bluto]

53 minutes ago, HardCoreBlue said:

You have a great way of presenting your perspective as fact. Cuz if we did have him (not that I would have wanted him) MOS wouldn't have brought him in anyways so we would have never known just like what would have happened if he brought in Wilson and/or Dolegala. Don't know and never will.

Fair enough in that I do believe it to be a fact.

I know that the meme about MOS not trusting backups to the point of playing clearly unfit players over fit ones has a lot of truth in it, but it doesn't answer the obvious question of "what if he had a backup that he did trust?". Full disclosure, I wouldn't have trusted either BB backup QB either. I think they suck. But if Nick Arbuckle was available as your backup when Zach got his boo-boo, I think MOS would've put him in and that you'd have sealed it.

Edit to add: I also think that Cameron Dukes is better than your backups and could've won it for you.

Edited 8 hours ago by bluto

[wbbfan]

4 minutes ago, bearpants said:

Smith at 230 is excessive... but I would've had zero issue with that Ceresna deal... outside of Zach and Brady, we don't really have any one who has a "crazy" contract right now (arguably Kramdi).... and Brady is living up to his...

Demski, he’s our craziest deal along with zach. But yeah slowly getting rid of bad deals. 

[Tracker]

On 2025-02-04 at 8:02 AM, bigg jay said:

Maybe we re-signed Jake as trade bait? Jake & the rights to Darian Durant for Hamilton's #2 overall pick!

With the salary cap going up, maybe we can afford  to give Jake a raise.

[Arnold_Palmer]

11 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

Demski, he’s our craziest deal along with zach. But yeah slowly getting rid of bad deals. 

Yeah it might look slightly bad now because we’re used to success but remember the days when our best Canadian receiver was guys like Jamie Stoddard? Remember when we had American running backs like Nic Grigsby, and quarterbacks like Max Hall? Have premium Canadian players and a premium quarterback take up salary, are all three in a vacuum worth what they make? Well that’s debatable but to have a 1000 yard Canadian receiver, the most outstanding player in the league and Canadian at running back, and Zach who’s been one of the best for a long time I think it’s easy to remember where we came from. 

[Mike]

2 hours ago, GCn20 said:

You consider Dobson a loss, I don't. We can argue about that if you want but you won't change my mind on that.

Addition by subtraction on both the DL and OL. Sorry, all i see is a bunch of scrubs walking away. 

I don’t get this logic at all. Like … it doesn’t even make a bit of sense.

Even if you don’t think Dobson is a world beater (and I don’t either, I think he’s fairly average) he was still Canadian and better than anything we currently have on our roster and better than anything currently out there available to bring in.

There’s no possible way to suggest our OL is currently better than it was two days ago. At all. You can think it will be better in time, you can think it will be better if we run an American out at guard instead and that’s all fair to suggest but it would’ve been just as fair if we had Dobson. And we don’t. That’s a loss as it stands today.