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

[Booch]

1 hour 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. 

Cause he not a guard...a top 3 ncaa ranked center...doesn't forget how to play...and he hardly got owned...some mishaps when he got emergency dropped in...but figured it out...and playing beside Kolo when you are not a true guard...didn't help either

Eli moves bodies...gets to second level seeking to destroy...and is not undersized...kolo does none of that...and is undersized...and an undersized center who isn't athletic...is a severe handcuff

1 hour ago, wbbfan said:

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. 

Yes...this

[SpeedFlex27]

4 hours ago, wbbfan said:

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. 

For what the Riders paid McEwen we could have easily replaced Kolankowski but Osh wouldn't do that. Would have been an instant upgrade but nope. 

[wbbfan]

2 hours ago, bigg jay said:

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.

 

As a position coach, which tbh isn’t a good gig. It’s considerably worse than being a co down south or hc in usports. 
 

Hogan is an aberration, but he’s also a lapo/buck guy with out a lot of grooming else where. And he’s about as fresh blood as any oc in the league.  

[wbbfan]

57 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

For what the Riders paid McEwen we could have easily replaced Kolankowski but Osh wouldn't do that. Would have been an instant upgrade but nope. 

Yeah it’s sad we haven’t actively sought to improve c or the ol yet. I hope we do, honestly we could dig up an imp C that would be a big upgrade very easily. We could still get an ni upgrade possibly or give Eli a chance. Heck we could have Wallace work snaps in camp and pre season like Dobson did last year. 
 

Im hoping for the best preparing for the worst. 
 

1 hour ago, Booch said:

Cause he not a guard...a top 3 ncaa ranked center...doesn't forget how to play...and he hardly got owned...some mishaps when he got emergency dropped in...but figured it out...and playing beside Kolo when you are not a true guard...didn't help either

Eli moves bodies...gets to second level seeking to destroy...and is not undersized...kolo does none of that...and is undersized...and an undersized center who isn't athletic...is a severe handcuff

Yes...this

watching kola is really staggering. I don’t know who is worse between Jake or kola, I’d rather eat the loss of a bad dt than C though. Thomas can barely get to the line from off the line, kola turns over faster than a tackle vs a wide wide 5 speed rush. 
I think if people saw a clip compiling the highlights week after week it would open a lot of eyes. 

[SpeedFlex27]

9 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

Yeah it’s sad we haven’t actively sought to improve c or the ol yet. I hope we do, honestly we could dig up an imp C that would be a big upgrade very easily. We could still get an ni upgrade possibly or give Eli a chance. Heck we could have Wallace work snaps in camp and pre season like Dobson did last year. 
 

Im hoping for the best preparing for the worst. 
 

watching kola is really staggering. I don’t know who is worse between Jake or kola, I’d rather eat the loss of a bad dt than C though. Thomas can barely get to the line from off the line, kola turns over faster than a tackle vs a wide wide 5 speed rush. 
I think if people saw a clip compiling the highlights week after week it would open a lot of eyes. 

All they have to do is watch. I have & it's shocking. 

[bigg jay]

7 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

As a position coach, which tbh isn’t a good gig. It’s considerably worse than being a co down south or hc in usports. 
 

Hogan is an aberration, but he’s also a lapo/buck guy with out a lot of grooming else where. And he’s about as fresh blood as any oc in the league.  

Other than MOS, every current head coach in the league started out as a position coach before moving up to a coordinator position.  If this guy isn't willing to work his way up, that's his decision but it's not because there's a lack of opportunity.

The league could use more new blood but if those guys aren't willing to leave USports what can the league do? Nothing wrong with staying where you are if you've got a good thing going. Some guys like Dobie are USports lifers and some guys are willing to leave a successful program (Chapdelaine comes to mind) in order to chase a pro career.

 

[wbbfan]

17 minutes ago, bigg jay said:

Other than MOS, every current head coach in the league started out as a position coach before moving up to a coordinator position.  If this guy isn't willing to work his way up, that's his decision but it's not because there's a lack of opportunity.

The league could use more new blood but if those guys aren't willing to leave USports what can the league do? Nothing wrong with staying where you are if you've got a good thing going. Some guys like Dobie are USports lifers and some guys are willing to leave a successful program (Chapdelaine comes to mind) in order to chase a pro career.

 

 

Did you read the article? He’s clearly happy to be a pro usports coach for ever. 
And thats partly because of the broken nature of the system in the cfl. But he also talks about loving working with that age range the most.
 Which is the point of the article and discussion. The cfl indoctrinates position coaches and turns them into clones of their mentors. We don’t see innovation and haven’t in ages. 20 years ago we were ahead of the nfl in innovation, and ahead of most d1 schools. Now we are behind upper tier hs in the us. 
 

 

[bigg jay]

2 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

 

Did you read the article? He’s clearly happy to be a pro usports coach for ever. 
And thats partly because of the broken nature of the system in the cfl. But he also talks about loving working with that age range the most.
 Which is the point of the article and discussion. The cfl indoctrinates position coaches and turns them into clones of their mentors. We don’t see innovation and haven’t in ages. 20 years ago we were ahead of the nfl in innovation, and ahead of most d1 schools. Now we are behind upper tier hs in the us. 
 

 

Yeah I read it and i get why he wants to stay where he is.  What I don't get is why an article about the lack of new blood is only talking to one single coach who has no interest in being part of that new blood. 

If they want to create a discussion about the lack of new coaches coming in, why not talk to someone who would love the chance to get into the CFL (even at a positional coach level) and they can talk about difficulties they've faced.  Or talk to a guy like Hogan who can provide some insight as recent injection of new blood and what worked for him.

 

[SpeedFlex27]

3 hours 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.  

U Sport Head Coaches like Faulds, Dobie (recently retired), Wayne Harris Jr in Calgary (now also retired) & Blake Nill at UBC all have./had lecturing positions & are probably tenured. They're being paid to teach & coach. And they have benefits to go with it. As a CFL assistant, they never used to have any benefits health or retirement so to give all  that up to be a lowly position coach in the CFL isn't much of an incentive.

To make it  more attractive, assistant coaches in the CFL need to make a lot more money as well as receive health & retirement benefits. Coaches in U Sports are under a lot less pressure than they would be as members of a CFL coaching staff. Nik Lewis is a great example. He broke into coaching with the Riders & then was let go when the coaching cap came in. On social media, he was practically begging to get a job in the CFL somewhere. He finally got hired by the Stamps, his old team. Coached one or two seasons, I believe. Then left saying he had a business opportunity in Texas so he quit.

Juwan Simpson was coaching linebackers with the Stamps & he suddenly quit to be a position with an obscure Junior College team in the eastern US somewhere. Until we actually pay these guys decent money, we won't attract or reatain quality coaches.

It's just a life of low pay, long hours & obscurity until coaches become a coordinators. Then comes better money but more pressure. Even longer hours... My son had a chance for that life to coach college in the US & really wanted to do it when he was single. Then he met his wife. They bought a house in Seattle & he decided that family came first so he abandoned his plans to coach.  He didn't want this future hinging upon a winning season or if his HC was fired or nor.

[wbbfan]

50 minutes ago, bigg jay said:

Yeah I read it and i get why he wants to stay where he is.  What I don't get is why an article about the lack of new blood is only talking to one single coach who has no interest in being part of that new blood. 

If they want to create a discussion about the lack of new coaches coming in, why not talk to someone who would love the chance to get into the CFL (even at a positional coach level) and they can talk about difficulties they've faced.  Or talk to a guy like Hogan who can provide some insight as recent injection of new blood and what worked for him.

 

Honestly, I don’t know who that guy would be. The brain drain is soo intense with multiple levels now. 
 Beau Baldwin is the big exception but he is hard stuck in Calgary. 

[wbbfan]

45 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

U Sport Head Coaches like Faulds, Dobie (recently retired), Wayne Harris Jr in Calgary (now also retired) & Blake Nill at UBC all have./had lecturing positions & are probably tenured. They're being paid to teach & coach. And they have benefits to go with it. As a CFL assistant, they never used to have any benefits health or retirement so to give all  that up to be a lowly position coach in the CFL isn't much of an incentive.

To make it  more attractive, assistant coaches in the CFL need to make a lot more money as well as receive health & retirement benefits. Coaches in U Sports are under a lot less pressure than they would be as members of a CFL coaching staff. Nik Lewis is a great example. He broke into coaching with the Riders & then was let go when the coaching cap came in. On social media, he was practically begging to get a job in the CFL somewhere. He finally got hired by the Stamps, his old team. Coached one or two seasons, I believe. Then left saying he had a business opportunity in Texas so he quit.

Juwan Simpson was coaching linebackers with the Stamps & he suddenly quit to be a position with an obscure Junior College team in the eastern US somewhere. Until we actually pay these guys decent money, we won't attract or reatain quality coaches.

It's just a life of low pay, long hours & obscurity until coaches become a coordinators. Then comes better money but more pressure. Even longer hours... My son had a chance for that life to coach college in the US & really wanted to do it when he was single. Then he met his wife. They bought a house in Seattle & he decided that family came first so he abandoned his plans to coach.  He didn't want this future hinging upon a winning season or if his HC was fired or nor.

Yeah benefits should be a given. I think the front office cap is hurting the league more than it’s helping. Both in terms of coaching and league scouting.