Rasheed Bailey released?

[TecnoGenius]

But you DO choose whether or not the upgrade is worth it (which is what we've done with Bailey). We're not going to win more games with a slightly better 4th or 5th receiving option.

Yes we will.  When you're on the bubble like we are, any little extra can push you over the edge to success.  If Bailey gets 1 or 2 tough 2nd down conversions for us where Johnson/Clercius fail, that could mean the W instead of the L.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Answers:

1) Math.  When league-top-paid Rs go on 6G and all of their replacements are basically ELC math says you have decent $wiggle$ room.  BinBC often runs the numbers.

2) KW explicitly said that any unsigned FA vet would be welcomed back if they'd take ELC.  You can go watch the video.  He was hinting at Jeffcoat, Bailey, etc.  I bet 100% we would have signed Bailey in FA if he came to them saying ELC as A-OK.

Yes, true, we also thought he was the most expendable out of the 5 starters.  But that doesn't mean we didn't want him.  It just meant we had financial incentive to kick the tires, and they clearly liked Wheatfall and Pokey.

Many players at the time spoke up saying they'd like to see Bailey back.  While it wasn't a big deal to start the season, now it maybe is, and now we have that little extra $SMS$ his pro-rated 1/2 year signing would require.

I searched for Bailey's podcast to see if there was an update of his status, but he hasn't done one since he did the farewell to Bomber fans before the season began.

[dd]

Cue Bob Seger and the clarinet intro!!!

On a long and lonesome highway, east of Omaha....

[theaardvark]

Most of this is conjecture.

Who says we now have a lot of SMS room? You? Who says we didn't sign him because we couldn't afford him? You again?

We have more players on the 6-game than we expected which may or may not mean we have significant savings. All of those players have been replaced by someone else getting a cheque. How much bonus money is 'dead' at this point is anyone's guess.

We do know that teams that have more injuries very often run higher on their SMS at the end of the season. We even used injuries as our rationale for exceeding the cap slightly before.

"We acknowledge that we exceeded the CFL's Salary Management System cap," Miller said. "We had an unprecedented number of injuries in 2022 and did not want to sacrifice putting a competitive football team on the field."

https://globalnews.ca/news/9658843/bombers-fined-cfl-salary-cap-violation/

Sure. we don't actual salary figures on nay player, so any assessment of $SMS is conjecture.

We have $SMS becasue we have high paid players completing 6 game IR stints, with the roster spots taken by ELC contracts.

When teams have a lot of 1 game IR players, $SMS is an issue.  Because even if that player is an ELC, and his spot is taken by an ELC player, that roster spot is 2xELC.  1 game cheques count against $SMS

We have had almost no 1 game injuries.  So there are very few time we have paid $SMS for a player to not play.

Last year, we went over because we had very few 6 game IR injuries compared to 1 game.  This year is the opposite.

So sure, conjecture.

Last piece of conjecture is that we haven't tried to sign him.  We know that Demski has said that he is dealing with some decisions, and we don't know what his situation is.  Why is he hesitating?  We have no idea.  It was widely reported that he wanted to come back, and that we had no budget to pay him what he was worth, and Pinball did. And to Baileys credit, he embraced his new team wholeheartedly.  Until they cut him loose.

Who knows where his mind is at.

[J5V]

Bailey was a firm #4.  But you are correct, he was more than that because he was a legit threat.  Thinking back to '19 and '21 we really spread the ball around.  Everyone was used every game.

Now we mostly focus on the stars, or whoever has the hot hand that night (like Pokey's 200Y night).  We make it much easier for Ds.  That said, we saw a bit of "spreading it around" last game, and I think it helped us win.

I really don't see why this isn't the case every game. Not sure who's responsible for locking in on certain receivers, Zach or Buck, but I don't like it for the reason you just stated -- makes it easy on the D.

[BlueFire]

I really don't see why this isn't the case every game. Not sure who's responsible for locking in on certain receivers, Zach or Buck, but I don't like it for the reason you just stated -- makes it easy on the D.

When your top receivers are out the QB looks where he's comfortable.Those options are limited right now.

[Sir Blue and Gold]

Rasheed Bailey signs with Ottawa.

https://3downnation.com/2024/08/29/ottawa-redblacks-sign-veteran-cfl-receiver-rasheed-bailey/

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Rasheed Bailey signs with Ottawa.

https://3downnation.com/2024/08/29/ottawa-redblacks-sign-veteran-cfl-receiver-rasheed-bailey/

I think Bailey agreed to a PR position with the RedBlacks, so his salary demands can not be pointed to as an issue, he'll obviously take anything offered.  He may have been signed to back up Justin Hardy, who is a very similar hard-nosed receiver.

[bwiser]

It seems like O'Shea wants to give Clercius and Johnson a chance to show what they can do and doesn't want an older receiver with little upside. Perhaps one or both may develop into effective CFL players and that can only happen with them getting reps.

[Blue In BC]

It seems like O'Shea wants to give Clercius and Johnson a chance to show what they can do and doesn't want an older receiver with little upside. Perhaps one or both may develop into effective CFL players and that can only happen with them getting reps.

Clercius is a Canadian so it's a different situation. Johnson doesn't necessarily have to be on the AR although it's useful. However import receivers often spend their 1st year on the PR.

He still has to be productive. It's not clear he's providing more than Clercius and if Woli is back this game he could get bumped to the PR.

[bwiser]

I am definitely putting Woli in over Clercius but it was not a bad thing that Johnson and Clercius got some reps. You have to play to improve but at the same time as pointed out by a previous poster, you have to be productive.

[TecnoGenius]

It seems like O'Shea wants to give Clercius and Johnson a chance to show what they can do and doesn't want an older receiver with little upside. Perhaps one or both may develop into effective CFL players and that can only happen with them getting reps.

I dunno... Johnson smells like the next LDW to me.  I hope I'm wrong!  And if I'm right, I hope we don't waste 2 seasons on him...

(66! Not saying LDW was bad, just that he was a bad fit for the Lapo O at the time.)

[Blue In BC]

IDK. Johnson might turn out to be a very good receiver. Not every CFL rookie receiver shines in year 1. On TV it's difficult to see exactly what he's doing well or not well. Reports suggest he's a good blocker.

The issue at the moment is whether he's our best option that has lost Schoen for the season, Lawler for many games and Woli for many games.

Football is a series of roster management decisions. When someone gets injured, who is next on the depth chart.

Time will tell if he is still with the team in 2025 and has progressed. Too early to write him off but I do question whether he's the best option now that Woli is back.

This is not directly a question of receiver only. We may choose to retain an addition DL over him this week now that Woli returns?

If we drop Adams to keep him then the team has a reason to do that I guess.

[Sir Blue and Gold]

I don't think it's being so much in love with Josh Johnson as it is about being not so high on Rasheed Bailey.

The guy has played in 60 CFL games and has two games with more than 100 receiving yards and none since 2022 despite playing on a historically good offense for most of his career.

Johnson is younger and could develop and I think that's why he's playing. Why not take the chance and even if he doesnt make the jump he's not going to be that far off production wise.

[Jesse]

Our receiving core would be great if it wasn't for injury.

We were supposed to be starting one rookie receiver with Clercius being a back-up.

Instead we've have 4 rookies taking turns starting. A guy like Johnson should have spent this year on the PR, became a depth player next year, and then maybe push for starting time. Instead we're nitpicking him for a position he should never have been in.

However, I definitely would have got Bailey if we could have and put him right in Johnson's spot. Let him actually practice while Bailey filled the gap while we still had TWO other rookie starters in Wilson and Clercius. I think things would have been (and continue to be) much more successful.