OLine solutions...

[LXTSN]

Ivey (not Ivy I guess) was miles behind Richmond in development... If I/we didn't think Richmond was ready, then Ivey must certainly not be either?  But I guess potential desperation can lead to unorthodox decisions?

I don't think there's any evidence to say that Ivy was miles behind Richmond. I'll give you a couple reasons why I think he could be just as good.
Ivy is 2 years younger than Richmond. Ivy is only 26, and has room to grow.
Richmond got here before Ivy and I think it's fair to say that the bombers can be in the habit of being loyal to a fault. That could be a reason to keep Richmond on the roster if they were at a comparable skill level.

Obviously it's really hard to compare OL with stats. It's really just the amount of times they get blown by from a DE. Without seeing them play it's really impossible without speculating.

[Jesse]

Losing Yoshi (Hardrick) is huge, but not insurmountable.  So do we finally move Gray (if retained) there, or slide Neufeld in, or risk it on Ivy?

Does Gray walk?  No chatter yet in the tamper period, so it's looking good for retaining him, I guess.  Does Yoshi walking let Gray ask for mega-$$ if he knows he's our only option at RT??

Eli is set, but Dobson is still a question.  We usually can retain the dev guys.  I think Spooner is the last good dev guy we lost in FA?  (Going by memory.)  I'm thinking we do keep Dobson?  I would make it a priority.  He's great as the 6th and clearly will be good enough to be a starting G in another season or so.  And isn't our NAT OL cupboard bare after those guys?

So have at it.  Let's hear the best guesses -- real good guesses -- as to what we're doing to fill those 2 gaping holes as well as 6th spot and new guys for the hopper.  What are the odds we go 4 NAT OL?  Is an early/mid-career FA IMP a possibility?  KW has done it 3 time before.  Can Ivy possibly get it done?  Or will the scouts come up with near-impossible magic (never been done in WFC?)?

After QB (where we're set), these questions are probably the most important ones that will define the success of the team in 2024.

I obviously don't have any inside knowledge, but I've read a couple of time that Gray is expected to move on? I imagine we want to keep him around and might be the best option at taking over at tackle. But perhaps he must also be looking for that pay raise - whether from us or elsewhere. Can't imaigine we'd willingly move on in a year Hardrick leaves.

Eli and Dobson are both under contract. I guess they're both in the fight for starting LG. Perhaps Eli still has a chance at becoming the C, but Kolo's re-signing makes that unlikely, imo.

But if Gray walks, there's at least a decent chance it's rookie imports competing for the spot.

[theaardvark]

6'2 286 is a little on the small side for a tackle, no?  I hope his feet and speed make up for it...

[CrazyCanuck89]

6'2 286 is a little on the small side for a tackle, no?  I hope his feet and speed make up for it...

Who is this size?

[theaardvark]

Who is this size?

Ivy

[Pigskin]

Who is this size?

Chris Ivy.

[TecnoGenius]

I obviously don't have any inside knowledge, but I've read a couple of time that Gray is expected to move on? I imagine we want to keep him around and might be the best option at taking over at tackle. But perhaps he must also be looking for that pay raise - whether from us or elsewhere. Can't imaigine we'd willingly move on in a year Hardrick leaves.

Well, if (big if) Gray is The Mafia's desired option for RT, then there's his pay raise!  As a NAT OT he can demand, and be paid, a lot more than he was as "just a" LG.  Since he would begin on a sort of trial basis, clearly we wouldn't give him crazy money right off the bat, but he'd probably be due a respectable bump.  If this is the case, and Gray is smart, he'll insist on a 1-year contract so he can prove his worth at RT and then ask for Bryant money in the next FA.

[TecnoGenius]

6'2 286 is a little on the small side for a tackle, no?  I hope his feet and speed make up for it...

The 6'2 is written in stone, but the 286 can be solved easily enough with the trick I learned from my inside line on L.Rice: get eating those 10 lb tubes of bologna 24/7.

286 is the same weight as some DTs, and you don't want them twisting/stunting and pushing you back like a leaf in the wind.

[TecnoGenius]

Still no replies to my questions about McGloster... how did we let him walk?  Was it a case of him getting good enough he wanted to start (and be paid) and we simply couldn't afford it since we were clearly set at OT?

Or was it we thought he stunk and just let him walk and he didn't even get a pay raise?

Or was this around when Lapo walked and he stole away McGloster?  Ahh Aha.... the cfl stats site shows he started 2021 with OTT (weird, no line for MTL, but it's the same guy).  So Lapo spotted his talent and offered him more than PR money.  That wily Lapo.  It finally starts to make sense.

So then the ultimate beneficiary was MTL stealing him from OTT (FA? trade?) when it all fell apart post-Lapo and the witches had to be burned (baby & bathwater & all that).

It just kind of irks me that we're sitting here ruing the loss of our star RT and trembling because we have zero idea how to replace him, when we had his perfect ready-made replacement in-house a few seasons ago, and could have probably kept him if we had bumped up his pay a little bit to match Lapo.  But apparently we liked Richmond instead.

GC-win-caliber OT to boot!!  He was a shut-down RT in that game.  Frustrating

[Pigskin]

McGloster: Signed with Winnipeg in May 2019. Made the AR out of TC. Went to the PR after game 3. Then was released. Probably asked to be released to join LA Chargers.

Aug 2019 signed with LA Chargers. Was released at the end of TC.

Jan 2020 signed with Ottawa. No season. 2021 played 5 games was released at the end of the season.

Feb 2022 signed with BC. Cut in May.

July 2022 signed by  Montreal. PR all season. 2023 played 9 games.

 

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Still no replies to my questions about McGloster... how did we let him walk?  Was it a case of him getting good enough he wanted to start (and be paid) and we simply couldn't afford it since we were clearly set at OT?

Or was it we thought he stunk and just let him walk and he didn't even get a pay raise?

Or was this around when Lapo walked and he stole away McGloster?  Ahh Aha.... the cfl stats site shows he started 2021 with OTT (weird, no line for MTL, but it's the same guy).  So Lapo spotted his talent and offered him more than PR money.  That wily Lapo.  It finally starts to make sense.

So then the ultimate beneficiary was MTL stealing him from OTT (FA? trade?) when it all fell apart post-Lapo and the witches had to be burned (baby & bathwater & all that).

It just kind of irks me that we're sitting here ruing the loss of our star RT and trembling because we have zero idea how to replace him, when we had his perfect ready-made replacement in-house a few seasons ago, and could have probably kept him if we had bumped up his pay a little bit to match Lapo.  But apparently we liked Richmond instead.

GC-win-caliber OT to boot!!  He was a shut-down RT in that game.  Frustrating

Can't hold onto guys that want to play for 4 years, they come, they go, doesn't mean much of anything.  McGloster may be adequate, but he's not a stud.

[TecnoGenius]

McGloster: Signed with Winnipeg in May 2019. Made the AR out of TC. Went to the PR after game 3. Then was released. Probably asked to be released to join LA Chargers.

Aug 2019 signed with LA Chargers. Was released at the end of TC.
[...]
July 2022 signed by  Montreal. PR all season. 2023 played 9 games.

Wow!  Quite a journey for him.  Makes a little more sense now.

But as for MTL... The instant they benched Rice and put McGloster as RT starter was when they started their big 8+ game winning streak, culminating in their GC win.  I know this because I track Rice's career pretty closely.

I don't think it's so much that Rice stunk as McGloster has become pretty darn good.  Again, check out his GC performance against Willie & co.  Yoshi got beat more than McGloster did...

I would still consider Rice as a "no other option" RT option, especially if Gray walks.  He's still sitting with no calls in FA == cheap(ish).  If we did end up starting 4 NAT OL it opens up all sorts of extra roster / scheme options on D, which could really help with our soon-to-be underpowered D.

Other FA OL still out there:
N Steward
N Richards
A Tate
A Riley
N Saxelid
N Van Zeyl
N Johnson
A Kelly
A Lofton
N Campbell
N Sceviour
A Thornton
N St John
N Thomassin
A Norman

Wow!  There's actually a whackton of OL still in FA!  Cross off everyone above who can't play OT.  Who's left?

Anyone know how good Tate is?  No other names stand out to me.

[CrazyCanuck89]

Wow!  Quite a journey for him.  Makes a little more sense now.

But as for MTL... The instant they benched Rice and put McGloster as RT starter was when they started their big 8+ game winning streak, culminating in their GC win.  I know this because I track Rice's career pretty closely.

I don't think it's so much that Rice stunk as McGloster has become pretty darn good.  Again, check out his GC performance against Willie & co.  Yoshi got beat more than McGloster did...

I would still consider Rice as a "no other option" RT option, especially if Gray walks.  He's still sitting with no calls in FA == cheap(ish).  If we did end up starting 4 NAT OL it opens up all sorts of extra roster / scheme options on D, which could really help with our soon-to-be underpowered D.

Other FA OL still out there:
N Steward
N Richards
A Tate
A Riley
N Saxelid
N Van Zeyl
N Johnson
A Kelly
A Lofton
N Campbell
N Sceviour
A Thornton
N St John
N Thomassin
A Norman

Wow!  There's actually a whackton of OL still in FA!  Cross off everyone above who can't play OT.  Who's left?

Anyone know how good Tate is?  No other names stand out to me.

Lot's of tackles on that list.

[theaardvark]

There are lots of FA options.  Unfortunately there are no $SMS left unless we land one cheap, and the last thing you want is a cheap tackle.  I'd rather have a rookie tackle with upside than a used tackle that no one wants.

We will address the issue in mini-camps, training camps and into the season.  I have faith in both the scouts and the coaches that this will not be an issue.

If we start the year with Bryant, Dobson, Kolankowski, Eli and Neufeld as our Oline, we will still have one of the best in the league.

Ranking the "musts" this off season, Oliviera and Schoen were much higher than Hardrick, Jeffcoat or the other FA's we lost.  We were never going to be able to keep them all, the fact that we got the top 2 pending FA's in the league to sign here is amazing. 

[TecnoGenius]

If we start the year with Bryant, Dobson, Kolankowski, Eli and Neufeld as our Oline, we will still have one of the best in the league.

Not week 1 we won't.  That line-up would be extremely shaky, and it leaves no one proven capable as our 6th OL for jumbo (which we use all the time now).

I would say at the bare minimum we must have Gray, and either Gray/Neuf are RT... or we magically pull a serviceable IMP RT out of thin air (Ivy or otherwise).

If we are starting both Eli/Dobson in the 5, then we have big problems.  Eli is better as 6th; and the backup, dressed C.

Ranking the "musts" this off season, Oliviera and Schoen were much higher than Hardrick, Jeffcoat or the other FA's we lost.  We were never going to be able to keep them all, the fact that we got the top 2 pending FA's in the league to sign here is amazing.

I don't know.  All the best receivers in the world aren't going to help you when your OL lets all the pass rush through.  Look at BC with M.Reilly and when Claybrooks was there, and EDM last season.  Amazing receiving corps, maybe the best on paper, couldn't complete a pass to save their lives.  That could be us in 2024 if KW doesn't have some magic fairy dust lined up.