Bomber Free Agents

[Pete]

The grinch has arrived!

[Pete]

This might be the year we should lean toward performance based contracts. In the past OShea/Walters have shied away from significant bonus-based salaries as the focus has always been on team performance. However, the question marks we have on our roster are significant in terms of paying them even close to ly.

Lawler hasn't had 1000 yds past 3 seasons He's still one of the best receivers in terms of ability  but hasn't played more than 12 games for the past 4 years.  If he's going to be paid as one of the top three receivers he needs to produce results.

Schoen -  Can he recover to the level prior to his injury? Can we risk 200k plus that he can.

Bighill - Is no longer a 165k linebacker. Age and injury tell us that he's on a downward spiral

Jefferson -I'm less inclined not to match his ly salary as evidenced by his grey cup performance and he was very much impacted by Youngers defensive strategy of only rushing 3. He is getting longer in the tooth though.

As Walters said no player wants to take a pay cut but what I would suggest is build in significant incentives as part of their salary and if they achieve them even if it puts us over the cap It would be worth it.

[Blueforlife]

Kind of a bunch of sheep posting in the forum.
Mind you all reasonable prognostications.  Too many based on the past.
Some one come to your senses.

The d line and the d coordinator are not winners. That is it. A three man line, ***** coverage by DBs and no clue line backers coupled with deer in the headlites d coordinator.    Collaros has also sucked the last three grey cups. Plus zero back experience.  Does not look good for the future.

Schoen better be healed and come back in shape, not the extra 30 pounds he had after failing on the NFL. Collaros better get in shape. Can he even throw a corner pattern anymore?  Did we see any this past season?

The same person that claimed we should fire Hall, MOS and our management sucked pre mini dynasty.  Your take wasn't right pre dynasty and isn't now imo.  You are welcome to post as you please but there is nothing in your post that I agree with.

Our DC is good and will be great.  Your post about him is highly disrespectful and please consider taking that out.

Zach was up and down this year but over his time here; he has been brilliant.  Yes he can throw a corner route.

Schoen is great, yes needs to come back strong and healthy.

The dline was good this year with new faces stepping up and our vets played well.  We have had a top defense many years running.
Our linebackers were good.  Jones is a gamer and Kramdi continues to develop.  Our DBs were exceptional after a slow start.
3 man front is a trend across the league and worked well, we laid an egg at the GC all phases and coaching.

Not a lot of depth at QB this year but we had Brown previously who was developing well.  Hopefully we can do that again (tall order).


My take from earlier posts:

Jefferson worth every penny imo.  Dobson, a keeper.  I would throw a big offer at Ford.  He is a generational talent (aided by his passport).  Will cost too much.  Good ones always do.

Quote from: Blue In BC on November 21, 2024, 04:24:38 PM
My notes on right
1. Augustine, I would keep him
2. Benson, no opinion
3. Bighill, too $
4. Feltmate, no opinion
5. Gauthier, likely time but good depth guy still and good on ST
6. Nick Hallett, no opinion
7. Noah Hallett, no opinion
8. Neufeld, keep
9. Streveler, pass
10. Thomas, reduced roll?
11. K. Wilson, pass but love him
12. Wolitarski, keep
13. Dolegala, no opinion
14. Whitehead, pass
15. Parker, keep if lose others

[Blue In BC]

The same person that claimed we should fire Hall, MOS and our management sucked pre mini dynasty.  Your take wasn't right pre dynasty and isn't now imo.  You are welcome to post as you please but there is nothing in your post that I agree with.

Our DC is good and will be great.  Your post about him is highly disrespectful and please consider taking that out.

Zach was up and down this year but over his time here; he has been brilliant.  Yes he can throw a corner route.

Schoen is great, yes needs to come back strong and healthy.

The dline was good this year with new faces stepping up and our vets played well.  We have had a top defense many years running.
Our linebackers were good.  Jones is a gamer and Kramdi continues to develop.  Our DBs were exceptional after a slow start.
3 man front is a trend across the league and worked well, we laid an egg at the GC all phases and coaching.

Not a lot of depth at QB this year but we had Brown previously who was developing well.  Hopefully we can do that again (tall order).


My take from earlier posts:

Jefferson worth every penny imo.  Dobson, a keeper.  I would throw a big offer at Ford.  He is a generational talent (aided by his passport).  Will cost too much.  Good ones always do.

Quote from: Blue In BC on November 21, 2024, 04:24:38 PM
My notes on right
1. Augustine, I would keep him
2. Benson, no opinion
3. Bighill, too $
4. Feltmate, no opinion
5. Gauthier, likely time but good depth guy still and good on ST
6. Nick Hallett, no opinion
7. Noah Hallett, no opinion
8. Neufeld, keep
9. Streveler, pass
10. Thomas, reduced roll?
11. K. Wilson, pass but love him
12. Wolitarski, keep
13. Dolegala, no opinion
14. Whitehead, pass
15. Parker, keep if lose others

It's not going to be easy making these decisions. SMS and how we save whatever is necessary to sign the others. Retaining Canadians falls at the top of the list. We have some 2024 draft picks returning for TC and then the new 2025 draft picks to consider.  So the team has to figure out who in that group replaces current roster choices.  A few draft choices return to school and a few will sit on the PR. However, some will make the AR and there will be some departures from the 2024 roster.

Free agency will tell us something as will the draft this season.


1. Augustine. Last I recall is he was making about $110K. Good ST player but never going to be full time RB. Chris-Ike is the wildcard for a larger role?
4. Feltmate was a good ST player and might be necessary if we choose to part with Gauthier. Chris-Ike is the wildcard for a larger role?
5. Gauthier. Another good depth guy whose role has diminished. SMS and role are the questions.
8. Neufeld. A tough call and might be decided on what happens with free agency acquisitions. If we lose Dobson that changes the equation.
10. Thomas. We'll have Lawson returning and can't keep everybody.
12. Woli. Never heard exactly what his injury was but that's a huge concern. Keep if healthy and SMS works.
15. Parker may be needed if we lose Holm and / or Ford.

[Pigskin]

Nice to hear Bryant  is on board for another season.

[Blue In BC]

Round 2 to previous comment above. Six of those Canadians played on our ST's and most seemed to play reasonably well.

I don't have any idea of how much any were earning other than previous reports of what Augustine was earning. Now whether he's expecting more or would accept a lower offer is somewhat the question.

He's fairly fast compared to a bunch of the others so I'm not opposed to him returning at the right price. The same goes for Gauthier to a similar degree.

Neither can be expected to be the primary back up any longer IMO as the age clock keeps on ticking.

Neufeld and Woli are different situations since both were starters and have been with the team for a longtime as starters.

It comes down to injury ( for Woli ) and age possibly for Neufeld. Both could be back and play well.There may be other potential free agents available in February that are younger, might be less expensive and have higher upside.

All this just makes free agency interesting in seeing how things shake out.

[theaardvark]

The tampering period allows a player to get his best offer, and allow us to match.

If someone is going to "spend too much" on Ford, why not us?

Let him let other GM's set the price, and we can either matchg or come close enough...

As to any concept of a DB making more than a QB, its not going to be that the DB gets QB money... if he does get a shot in the NFL, he will make more than Tre, but in the CFL, not likely...

[Blue In BC]

The tampering period allows a player to get his best offer, and allow us to match.

If someone is going to "spend too much" on Ford, why not us?

Let him let other GM's set the price, and we can either matchg or come close enough...

As to any concept of a DB making more than a QB, its not going to be that the DB gets QB money... if he does get a shot in the NFL, he will make more than Tre, but in the CFL, not likely...

The same as every off season. Another team might have a greater need and an ability to fit an outrageous salary into their SMS.

Bombers have chosen to let top players like Desjarlais or C. Sayles leave for high salaries.

IDK how much other teams might offer Tyrell Ford to move. IDK if he has more NFL opportunities. We certainly want to re-sign him but there will be a line we won't move past.

Tryell suggesting he wants to earn more than Tre is an interesting comment but it isn't reality.

[Pete]

The other issue is the closer it gets to free agency the more you seem to play.
Mtrl is a good example of a team thats got ahead of it signing Beverette, most of their recievers and dline/ linebackers

[Blue In BC]

The other issue is the closer it gets to free agency the more you seem to play.
Mtrl is a good example of a team thats got ahead of it signing Beverette, most of their recievers and dline/ linebackers

It's a factor to some degree but difficult to assess how much of a factor. For players that have been here for an extended time, they will probably prefer to stay than move. Players like Ford, Holm and Dobson are not long long term Bombers.

That may result in them going to the highest bidder. I know Walters said not much was going to happen until coaches were settled. I don't really think that's the complete picture.

Re-signing Bryant is an example of that. IMO we'll see some long time Bombers we want back re-signed in the next couple of weeks.

I just can't honestly say who we might choose to move on from quite yet.

[theaardvark]

Now that Walters knows exactly how much 2024 cap was spent, he knw how much signing bonus money he has available without costing a draft pick.  And we need to spend every penny of it on re-signing sure thing players.

Like Bryant.

Every penny of the cap + the $100k contingency that just costs a fine.

[TecnoGenius]

Schoen better be healed and come back in shape, not the extra 30 pounds he had after failing on the NFL. Collaros better get in shape. Can he even throw a corner pattern anymore?  Did we see any this past season?

He threw tons of corners for the first 2/3 of the season, the problem was they mostly all failed because teams know Buck/Zach love that corner in the redzone, so they all protected against it pretty well.

We did much better when we started throwing that mid/flat Zach-on-rollout TD.  Only TOR found a way to defend against it (in the GC, grrrrrr).

[TecnoGenius]

I'm not worried about a few shekels here and there as I think they'll go over the SMS in the year of their GC, not excessively enough to lose a draft pick, but I see no problem exceeding the budget.

KW said in his most recent status-of-team presser that he was not going to change squat for the home GC year.  I believe him.

However, I think WM & Mafia need to evaluate things long and hard when it is revealed BC went $300k over in 2024.  (Wade can push KW to be more aggressive.)  They also need to evaluate the use of the 100% SMS-free "marketing" money scam.

I think whatever BC did in 2024 we should match (or get within 50% of) in 2025.  Push the limits of all the loopholes and tricks.  Losing a 2RDP and/or 1RDP isn't the end of the world since ours will be near the end of the round anyhow (gonna make the cup again!).  If we draft some great OL in the '25 draft, '26 may not be as critical.

If BC is getting away with Rourke getting $200k "marketing" then Zach should be getting $200k "marketing".  Regardless of what Ambrosie said, it's all going to be loosey-goosey.  Just "justify" it to some degree and it's A-OK.

There could be lots of teams having overages & "marketing" this FA once the truth is told on what BC did.  This will be an arms race and we don't want to fall behind.  We're the "richest" team, so out of everyone it should impact us the least.

[TecnoGenius]

eugene Lewis, Coxiee. Tevon Jones, Hardy (who is exactly the type o reciever i think we could use,) Julian-Grant,Kiondre Smith, Mayala,Mcinnis

Hardy would be absolutely perfect!  Great catch.

We have a plethora of speed/skinny.  What we need is the Bailey/Schoen bruiser who can make the catch while getting hit and hang on.  See: the pathetic '24 GC dropsies.

Just think of how much better the GC would have gone if Woli/Schoen(/Bailey) were in there to actually hang onto those tough catches?  Clercius isn't there yet, and Wheatie is basically a Pokey/Kenny-lite.

Hardy is a tough you know what who would make those catches.  If we don't re-sign Schoen, it'll be even more important to obtain some tough guys.

If we can't get Hardy, who else is in FA in the same mold?  McInnis is too tall for me and there's no reason or money to pay for the NAT status.  IMP will always be cheaper at the same talent level.  And McInnis was pretty useless once teams figured him out mid-season (around the time we destroyed BC).

[TecnoGenius]

Randolph proved himself in game so they'll likely keep him, don't think they need another import OL unless they're willing to sit on the PR waiting for their turn.

Randolph clearly is not ready for OT though.  We'll need a dev/backup IMP OT for TC/PR, especially if Neufeld (the best backup OT) isn't here.

We also need to be finding the next Big Stan (and RT too), hopefully dev'ing them ourselves, otherwise it'll be a panic FA $$ splash when Stan finally retires.

As for starters, my money is on Lofton at RT again.  He ended the season "good enough", especially for the budget price!