Bomber Free Agents

[theaardvark]

I don't think I want anyone who has agreed to a deal elsewhere to be bought back with extra $SMS.

They decided to leave for money, if they come back for money, they are mercenaries, not teammates.  Not the message to send in the locker room.

If you exceed your offer for one player, what are you saying to every other player?  This is  a lunch bucket locker room. Every player has an identified fair value, and is paid that, and those contracts are generally honoured. 

Before someone mentions it, I have no idea why they let Woli go, especially in light of this additional $SMS money.  $12k in bonus and a chance at making the team in camp would have been an easy spend.  If he lost his spot to Clercius in camp and got cut, I'm sure he signs elsewhere.  So I can't see this decision.  Unless Goviea told Walters that he'd take care of Woli, knowing the writing was on the wall for Clercius starting.  Would be a genius move by Goveia...

[Jesse]

They decided to leave for money, if they come back for money, they are mercenaries, not teammates.  Not the message to send in the locker room.

They are employees. The only reason they are here is money.

Only fans think this way.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Except that because of how this was rolled out it's not a percentage increase shared evenly among the roster like you'd assume it would be. If every team has found 400,000, the only ones to really spend it on are free agents and those you can circle back on. Guys locked in are locked in.

You're right though, is it worth it? But if it's not, what else are we going to do with the money?

Don't know what Walters intends to do with it, but it probably won't change his perspective on what an individual FA is worth paying, especially since the cream of the crop has already been siphoned.  Could hang on to it for mid-late season adds and late NFL cuts, which the Bombers normally don't have any money left to pursue.  Conversely split it up evenly and give every player who makes the team after TC a little bump.  Excluding Zach of course.

[Waffler]

MOS loves Lawler. Colloras loves Lawler. I think there is a CHANCE, I would not be willing to guess the odds, but a chance that we match.

"I'd hope so," Collaros said. "That'd be a no-brainer to me."

[blue_gold_84]

MOS loves Lawler. Colloras loves Lawler. I think there is a CHANCE, I would not be willing to guess the odds, but a chance that we match.

"I'd hope so," Collaros said. "That'd be a no-brainer to me."

And Lawler loves money. More than his former HC and QB, apparently.

[Jesse]

And Lawler loves money. More than his former HC and QB, apparently.

That said, who are we spending the money on?

[Pete]

That said, who are we spending the money on?

My choice would be OL Mcewen or Couture (sask just signed Gagnon who may have been a good fit, and Ottawa signed Godber which gives them 7 nat oline men while we are down to 4 not including LS)
Cox would be a good choice on dl or Adeleke or Amos in dbs
BTW I agree Lawler talks a good game, but he's all about the money . He's always gone to whoever pays him in the top two receivers in the league. And based on the conversations reported we've heard its done as far as leaving

[Blue In BC]

If it was up to me ( and it's not ). I would increase the ELC minimum by $2K. Most teams might add 12 or so rookies between imports and draft choices. It could be argued that even $5K increase is reasonable.

More money at the bottom won't bring better players to the CFL or retain them with a given team. It will be a step to take due to inflation. Obviously that impacts the higher paid players too but it's more significant at the bottom of the roster.

The 2nd thing I would do would be to add 1 more Canadian to roster, going back to when we had 46 on the AR. I'd probably argue adding 2 Canadians makes more sense for development. Adding 1 Canadian and 1 more import would be better IMO, but I'll stand with the pro ratio argument by agreeing to adding only Canadians.

If these kinds of steps aren't taken than when free agency hits again, we'll see more and more money going to top players due to more cash available. Teams will just try to outbid each other. That isn't really a win win situation.

Even though revenues are higher, some teams are probably still losing money. Regardless, in order to be competitive teams will spend their full SMS to the best of their ability.

[Pete]

MOS loves Lawler. Colloras loves Lawler. I think there is a CHANCE, I would not be willing to guess the odds, but a chance that we match.

"I'd hope so," Collaros said. "That'd be a no-brainer to me."

Maybe if Zac renegotiated his contract as 3/4 of the rest of the leagues qbs have done.

[Blue In BC]

That said, who are we spending the money on?

Good question. Whatever they decide they better do it soon. Free agents down to less than 120 and some new ones dropped off the list this morning.

I'd take a run at a Canadian OL. Regardless of what they think of Wallace, a veteran known talent is not a bad plan.

[dd]

I would use the increase in cap money to upgrade the interior of our DL,as well as get us a competent #2 Qb, as well, Couture would look good again in Blue and Gold and be an instant upgrade to our OL

[theaardvark]

MOS loves Lawler. Colloras loves Lawler. I think there is a CHANCE, I would not be willing to guess the odds, but a chance that we match.

"I'd hope so," Collaros said. "That'd be a no-brainer to me."

There isn't a team that wouldn't want Lawler, which is why so many were in the mix.

But once we signed White, I'm thinking the Lawler window closed, even if we have the scratch to match.  And while we have 2 days to convince players who committed elsewhere, does that mean they can't get a new offer from the team they committed to?  Or do we have the last "take it or leave it" option?

Even if we have the option to make Lawler a last offer, after signed White, is there room?

[Jesse]

There isn't a team that wouldn't want Lawler, which is why so many were in the mix.

But once we signed White, I'm thinking the Lawler window closed, even if we have the scratch to match.  And while we have 2 days to convince players who committed elsewhere, does that mean they can't get a new offer from the team they committed to?  Or do we have the last "take it or leave it" option?

Even if we have the option to make Lawler a last offer, after signed White, is there room?

As someone who is pretty indifferent to signing Lawler or not, even I will say that White absolutely zero impact one way or the other. He's a dart throw.

If it was up to me ( and it's not ). I would increase the ELC minimum by $2K. Most teams might add 12 or so rookies between imports and draft choices. It could be argued that even $5K increase is reasonable.

More money at the bottom won't bring better players to the CFL or retain them with a given team. It will be a step to take due to inflation. Obviously that impacts the higher paid players too but it's more significant at the bottom of the roster.

The 2nd thing I would do would be to add 1 more Canadian to roster, going back to when we had 46 on the AR. I'd probably argue adding 2 Canadians makes more sense for development. Adding 1 Canadian and 1 more import would be better IMO, but I'll stand with the pro ratio argument by agreeing to adding only Canadians.

If these kinds of steps aren't taken than when free agency hits again, we'll see more and more money going to top players due to more cash available. Teams will just try to outbid each other. That isn't really a win win situation.

Even though revenues are higher, some teams are probably still losing money. Regardless, in order to be competitive teams will spend their full SMS to the best of their ability.

These are all CBA issues, I believe. Nothing can change there until it's up for negotiation again.

[Blue In BC]

As someone who is pretty indifferent to signing Lawler or not, even I will say that White absolutely zero impact one way or the other. He's a dart throw.

These are all CBA issues, I believe. Nothing can change there until it's up for negotiation again.

I know these are CBA issues but I can't imagine them having difficulty in increasing ELC level salaries. The intent of the annual increases and those from increased revenue was to be " for " the players.

There is nothing they would be asked to give back, so this is a 10 minute conversation and ammendment.

[Pigskin]

I think with the Sterns signing, Bomber may circle back on Dobson. However Chungh is still an FA, that would be a instant upgrade to our OL.