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

[M.O.A.B.]

Sources: B.C. Lions release Most Outstanding Rookie nominee Ayinde Eley - 3DownNation

Could be a good pickup but we have a crowded LB room already with Jones & Jones, Wilson and Ayers. Plus the Canadians - Gauthier, Cadwallader and Charbonneau

[wbbfan]

29 minutes ago, M.O.A.B. said:

Sources: B.C. Lions release Most Outstanding Rookie nominee Ayinde Eley - 3DownNation

Could be a good pickup but we have a crowded LB room already with Jones & Jones, Wilson and Ayers. Plus the Canadians - Gauthier, Cadwallader and Charbonneau

I’d take him over t jones. Such a strange move. Imagine giving up on your mor candidate lber on a rookie deal for awe. 

[Stickem]

34 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

I’d take him over t jones. Such a strange move. Imagine giving up on your mor candidate lber on a rookie deal for awe. 

They're overloaded at the position....wouldn't hurt to kick his tires though

[HardCoreBlue]

1 hour ago, M.O.A.B. said:

Sources: B.C. Lions release Most Outstanding Rookie nominee Ayinde Eley - 3DownNation

Could be a good pickup but we have a crowded LB room already with Jones & Jones, Wilson and Ayers. Plus the Canadians - Gauthier, Cadwallader and Charbonneau

Considering BC sucks have no budget left,  makes sense.

[Booch]

1 hour ago, M.O.A.B. said:

Sources: B.C. Lions release Most Outstanding Rookie nominee Ayinde Eley - 3DownNation

Could be a good pickup but we have a crowded LB room already with Jones & Jones, Wilson and Ayers. Plus the Canadians - Gauthier, Cadwallader and Charbonneau

If you can grab a guy...who is better than what you have...or projects better...why you don't pull trigger is baffling...more troubling really...that's how you get a decayed old roster with no fluid transition...kinda like us...clinging to past glory

 

29 minutes ago, Stickem said:

They're overloaded at the position....wouldn't hurt to kick his tires though

Having bodies doesn't make you over loaded if they are not elite

[M.O.A.B.]

1 hour ago, wbbfan said:

I’d take him over t jones. Such a strange move. Imagine giving up on your mor candidate lber on a rookie deal for awe. 

I'd drop Wilson instead. Eley at MLB, J.Jones at WIL. with T.Jones and/or .Ayers backing up. That's how I roll it.

Edited 23 hours ago by M.O.A.B.

[SpeedFlex27]

34 minutes ago, Booch said:

If you can grab a guy...who is better than what you have...or projects better...why you don't pull trigger is baffling...more troubling really...that's how you get a decayed old roster with no fluid transition...kinda like us...clinging to past glory

 

Having bodies doesn't make you over loaded if they are not elite

The back end of our linebacking corps is both old & on the decline.

[JuranBoldenRules]

1 hour ago, wbbfan said:

I’d take him over t jones. Such a strange move. Imagine giving up on your mor candidate lber on a rookie deal for awe. 

BC had an all-time bad D last year.

I don't think much of Awe but it's not surprising they are making changes at LB and secondary, as well as where they play Canadians.

[WinnipegGordo]

 

 

[Goalie]

57 minutes ago, WinnipegGordo said:

 

 

While perhaps true. I don’t like guys with awful grammar being sources. My grammar on here isn’t the best, that’s on purpose but if I was an insider or media member, I’d probably triple check b4 hitting send. 

[Noeller]

Just for the lulz....

 

 

[Goalie]

7 minutes ago, Noeller said:

Just for the lulz....

 

 

I’m all for it if it gets him off the tv. But really, if cfl were smart, I’m not sure they are, but if they were they wouldn’t be looking at a guy who looks like he could drop dead any minute. By that I mean they need to be younger. CFL needs a younger commissioner. Suitor probably day 1 would be like we are renaming the league the Canadian Football League Featuring the Saskatchewan Roughriders. We’d all have to type CFLFSR. Would just be awful. Cuz suitor the type who would rename irrelevant things and think he’s done good. That’s crazy talk tho. Nobody renames pointless things for stupid reasons. 

Edited 21 hours ago by Goalie

[wbbfan]

2 hours ago, M.O.A.B. said:

I'd drop Wilson instead. Eley at MLB, J.Jones at WIL. with T.Jones and/or .Ayers backing up. That's how I roll it.

Wilson is a boat anchor too. I meant on a game day roster but for camp yeah Wilson first. 

2 hours ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

BC had an all-time bad D last year.

I don't think much of Awe but it's not surprising they are making changes at LB and secondary, as well as where they play Canadians.

yeah they were bad. But he wasn’t the reason why or a big problem piece. Tjones was bad on pass cover in all of his starts. 

[SpeedFlex27]

5 hours ago, wbbfan said:

I’d take him over t jones. Such a strange move. Imagine giving up on your mor candidate lber on a rookie deal for awe. 

Imagine giving up on one of our promising young Canadian Offensive Guard's in Liam Dobson. A guy who played every down for us last season & was an All Star. We know Neuf will get significant time off along with others at training camp. Osh is already fixing up & polishing his smoker. 

2 hours ago, Goalie said:

I’m all for it if it gets him off the tv. But really, if cfl were smart, I’m not sure they are, but if they were they wouldn’t be looking at a guy who looks like he could drop dead any minute. By that I mean they need to be younger. CFL needs a younger commissioner. Suitor probably day 1 would be like we are renaming the league the Canadian Football League Featuring the Saskatchewan Roughriders. We’d all have to type CFLFSR. Would just be awful. Cuz suitor the type who would rename irrelevant things and think he’s done good. That’s crazy talk tho. Nobody renames pointless things for stupid reasons. 

Edited 19 hours ago by SpeedFlex27

[SpeedFlex27]

Suitor reminds me of Duane Forde who reportedly wanted to be a CFL GM but wasn't willing to put in the work to actually be one. He actually thought because he is a TSN analyst that teams actually cared about his opinion. Or that he knew the names of U Sport players he was more than qualified to draft those same players. He wasn't. He never got hired. 

Same with Suitor. He doesn't have the qualifications to be Commissioner. They need someone who is less of a football guy & more someone who understands marketng, streaming & is willing to try to grow revenues for the CFL. The CFL should actually split the Commissioner's job into 2 separate entities. One on the football side for a guy with deep CFL connections who understands how teams work, understands the league, the rules, roster management, coaching etc. The other for a person to grow the league revenues. 

It doesn't mean Suitor doesn't have some good ideas. Like abolishing CFL 2.0 Opening up the roster to more Canadians & Americans. As wellas doing things with kids to try & grow the league with the younger generations. The CFl should be talking to different people to get more idea. 

Edited 18 hours ago by SpeedFlex27

[wbbfan]

1 hour ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Imagine giving up on one of our promising young Canadian Offensive Guard's in Liam Dobson. A guy who played every down for us last season & was an All Star. We know Neuf will get significant time off along with others at training camp. Osh is already fixing up & polishing his smoker. 

I was the biggest Dobson booster around. I have a great deal of belief still in his talent and upside. 
No way in hell would I pay him elite money. He isn’t that guy. He struggled as every one did early, and solidified him self really well. 
 He wasn’t consistent enough in pass protection, occasionally getting put on skates. He didn’t step up to compensate for the deficiencies around him or make the guys beside him better. And he didn’t do a good job of getting off/switching and getting to the second level. 
 
To pay a guard elite money they have to atleast flash one or more of those 3. Other wise, it’s honestly too easy to replace a Canadian guard who just gets in the way of the D. 
 

Wallace flashed the ability to get to the second level really well, as well as being able to help guys by chipping their man and hand checking guys to funnel them to the rt. 
 He didn’t even play that much and as a rookie flashed more than Dobson has in all his time here. 
 

if Dobson didn’t want elite money, ideally you put Neuf on the bench as the 6th guy and run Dobson eli Wallace. 
 

Id rather us flip a G to imp than pay top dollar to Dobson. Desjarlais was worth the giant pay day, but that’s still a hard guy to work around cap wise. 
 

[SpeedFlex27]

3 hours ago, wbbfan said:

I was the biggest Dobson booster around. I have a great deal of belief still in his talent and upside. 
No way in hell would I pay him elite money. He isn’t that guy. He struggled as every one did early, and solidified him self really well. 
 He wasn’t consistent enough in pass protection, occasionally getting put on skates. He didn’t step up to compensate for the deficiencies around him or make the guys beside him better. And he didn’t do a good job of getting off/switching and getting to the second level. 
 
To pay a guard elite money they have to atleast flash one or more of those 3. Other wise, it’s honestly too easy to replace a Canadian guard who just gets in the way of the D. 
 

Wallace flashed the ability to get to the second level really well, as well as being able to help guys by chipping their man and hand checking guys to funnel them to the rt. 
 He didn’t even play that much and as a rookie flashed more than Dobson has in all his time here. 
 

if Dobson didn’t want elite money, ideally you put Neuf on the bench as the 6th guy and run Dobson eli Wallace. 
 

Id rather us flip a G to imp than pay top dollar to Dobson. Desjarlais was worth the giant pay day, but that’s still a hard guy to work around cap wise. 
 

If we keep letting our young Canadian OL get away then our will line get old fast. And having to replace them takes years as we found out in the middle of the last decade. We had to go to 3 American OL in order to keep  our qbs healthy & upright. As well as being competitive again.

Dobson is still young & improving. His ceiling is still in front of him.  His footwork will improve as will his blocking skills. He hasn't hit his roof yet. If we just keep on saying we won't pay this guy or that guy  our young players will leave. Thn where will we be?.

Edited 14 hours ago by SpeedFlex27

[wbbfan]

Just now, SpeedFlex27 said:

If we keep letting our young Canadian OL get away then our will line get old fast. And having to replace them takes years as we found out in the middle of the last decade. We had to go to 3 American OL in order to keep  our qbs healthy & upright. As well as being competitive again.

Dobson is still young & improving. His ceiling is still in front of him.  His footwork will improve as will his blocking skills. He hasn't hit his roof yet. If we just keep on saying we won't pay this guy or that guy & young players keep leaving we'll not be anywhere near the top of the league anymore.

It’s true. We need to do a better job of retaining young Canadian talent and ol talent. 
 But we also can’t chase the wrong guys because we let the right guys go. 
 

I think Dobson hit a hard plateau last year. He might bust it this year, if he doesn’t I don’t know that he will. 
 I don’t think Wallace needs to progress much from last year to be better than Dobson, with significantly more upside. I think Wallace has potential to be a rt in the cfl actually with a bit more weight loss. 

[SpeedFlex27]

3 hours ago, wbbfan said:

It’s true. We need to do a better job of retaining young Canadian talent and ol talent. 
 But we also can’t chase the wrong guys because we let the right guys go. 
 

I think Dobson hit a hard plateau last year. He might bust it this year, if he doesn’t I don’t know that he will. 
 I don’t think Wallace needs to progress much from last year to be better than Dobson, with significantly more upside. I think Wallace has potential to be a rt in the cfl actually with a bit more weight loss. 

Time will tell. We let Kolankowski start at the expense of developing other players like Eli so go figure. 

[wbbfan]

6 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Time will tell. We let Kolankowski start at the expense of developing other players like Eli so go figure. 

Keeping kola and letting couture walk was a big mistake. Should’ve rolled with couture and Eli. We also had the young depth to go with Eli and pivot if things don’t work. 
 We love to settle for ni mediocrity. 

[MOBomberFan]

Couture was walking no matter what, he had the opportunity to head home and get a bag while playing for his fave coach Kelly Bates who became the OL coach in BC after coaching Couture in college. It was a perfect fit and a slamdunk no-brainer move on his part except for that whole never even getting a sniff of the cup since thing

[Goalie]

I’m seeing all the Eli love but dude got owned as much as kolo if not more when he’s played and that’s guard mostly. Good run guy it seems but owned on many of the passing downs. Kolo isn’t great but I’m not really convinced Eli has shown any better. 

[wbbfan]

4 minutes ago, Goalie said:

I’m seeing all the Eli love but dude got owned as much as kolo if not more when he’s played and that’s guard mostly. Good run guy it seems but owned on many of the passing downs. Kolo isn’t great but I’m not really convinced Eli has shown any better. 

Except when he stepped in at C in the first place before kola. 
 Eli hasn’t gotten owned like kola either. The vast majority of snaps end with kola facing the wrong damn end zone. If he played guard with a dt on him most every snap he probably gives up double digit sacks, in a single game. 
 Hes the worst 1on1 blocker I’ve ever seen above the high school level. 

[wbbfan]

https://3downnation.com/2025/02/23/theres-a-lack-of-new-blood-in-the-cfl-wilfrid-lauriers-michael-faulds-not-interested-in-pro-job/
 

Wl’s coach speaks out about the cfls habit of recycling over giving new people and ideas a chance. 
 It sounds like he isn’t interested in going from usports hc to positional coach which is understandable. The league isn’t doing a good job or even any kind of job developing coaching pipelines any more. Canadian or American. It’s pretty much all former CFL players interning under the old guard of coaching lineages then moving up and repeating the same old stuff. 
 

I feel like the opportunity for the first team to break the mold and same old rhythm is huge.  And likely leads to a resurgence of innovation and creativity in the league.  I also don’t think the league can grow much more doing the same old safe stuff.  

[bigg jay]

1 minute ago, wbbfan said:

https://3downnation.com/2025/02/23/theres-a-lack-of-new-blood-in-the-cfl-wilfrid-lauriers-michael-faulds-not-interested-in-pro-job/
 

Wl’s coach speaks out about the cfls habit of recycling over giving new people and ideas a chance. 
 It sounds like he isn’t interested in going from usports hc to positional coach which is understandable. The league isn’t doing a good job or even any kind of job developing coaching pipelines any more. Canadian or American. It’s pretty much all former CFL players interning under the old guard of coaching lineages then moving up and repeating the same old stuff. 
 

I feel like the opportunity for the first team to break the mold and same old rhythm is huge.  And likely leads to a resurgence of innovation and creativity in the league.  I also don’t think the league can grow much more doing the same old safe stuff.  

He's been offered chances to join the CFL coaching ranks, says no and then complains that there's no opportunities?

Not sure what the point of the articles is when you can definitely work your way up just like Jason Hogan has in a fairly short time.