2025 Free Agency (other CFL teams Signings/News)

[markf]

Alford....

I followed the Falcons a bit, mostly for the laughs, but their secondary was quite bad last season.

[dd]

Woli suffered a couple of serious injuries this season and I am certain that is what lead to his release. Also, Clercius has shown very well, and is bigger, stronger, healthier and cheaper. It's a tough call, but the right call

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Clercius was 32 of 40, with 11 yd average and 1 td.  Woli was 33 of 47 with a 12.2 avg and 1 td.

Clercius had 10 games where he did not drop a ball that was thrown at him.

As a rookie.

Decent hands?  I'd hate to see what someone would have to do to be considered as having good or great hands.

Yes, he needs time to learn the scramble rules and have them become as second nature as the Woli/Zac duo had after 5 years.  The Mafia obviously thinks he can do that.

Anxious to see what he can do after a full year under his belt.  With a FT role on the O, will he still play teams?

Stats. are stats, but if Woli would have been healthy for the GC 100% he would have started in front of Clercius, still I agree Clercius is the future and Woli was the past. 

Woli had luck on his side as it's questionable whether he would have had a CFL career if it wasn't for his random tie to Canadian citizenship.  As a rookie Import receiver competing against the best, if even invited to tryout, he's likely cut as TCF and never heard from again. 

[TecnoGenius]

Clercius was 32 of 40, with 11 yd average and 1 td.  Woli was 33 of 47 with a 12.2 avg and 1 td.

Raw stats mean nothing when Woli was injured most of the season.  What was the per game stats?

Decent hands?  I'd hate to see what someone would have to do to be considered as having good or great hands.

By hands I meant the Burnham/Kenny ability to catch anything within an 5 yard radius of where their body is located when the ball arrives.  We haven't seen Clercius make a single diving or gumby catch.

Yes, he seems to make the catches thrown to the right spot.  Yes, he seems to hang on, and seems to be able to take punishment.  That is all good.

But no one would say he has "great hands" like we always said about Burnham.

At least, not yet.

We can be optimistic that he maintains his current level and adds some circus to it.  My point was even Woli had a few circus catches over his career: some @IGF to great applause!

[Pete]

Stats. are stats, but if Woli would have been healthy for the GC 100% he would have started in front of Clercius, still I agree Clercius is the future and Woli was the past. 

Woli had luck on his side as it's questionable whether he would have had a CFL career if it wasn't for his random tie to Canadian citizenship.  As a rookie Import receiver competing against the best, if even invited to tryout, he's likely cut as TCF and never heard from again. 

Personally i think its for the best had we kept Woli O'SHea's MO is to play the veteran, and CLercius would have had limited reps.  Clercius can be real good if given the reps.

[dd]

There's no doubt Woli was a favourite amongst fans and teammates, but injuries and age have caught up to him, just like they did with BA and AB. Its tough to move on and make the transition, but its an unfortunate fact of life in pro sports.

[Blue In BC]

There's no doubt Woli was a favourite amongst fans and teammates, but injuries and age have caught up to him, just like they did with BA and AB. Its tough to move on and make the transition, but its an unfortunate fact of life in pro sports.

Yeah, all of that is true. For every decision like this taken it's a risk analysis. The real question becomes whether we add a player that gives us a younger, more SMS friendly depth player.

There are always lots of moving parts. Free agent acquisitions, ratio considerations and trade possibilities. Time will tell whether the right decision was made. Hindsight is always 100%.

I wouldn't have been upset in retaining Woli but understand the other factors. It's too bad in the sense of fan favourite player no longer with the team. However, rosters tend to have about a 30% turnover each off season. That includes starters, depth and favourites.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Yeah, all of that is true. For every decision like this taken it's a risk analysis. The real question becomes whether we add a player that gives us a younger, more SMS friendly depth player.

There are always lots of moving parts. Free agent acquisitions, ratio considerations and trade possibilities. Time will tell whether the right decision was made. Hindsight is always 100%.

I wouldn't have been upset in retaining Woli but understand the other factors. It's too bad in the sense of fan favourite player no longer with the team. However, rosters tend to have about a 30% turnover each off season. That includes starters, depth and favourites.

Football is not a game that allows players to finish their careers off with storybook endings very often, Walters has been lethal at cutting short playing career of many great players. He slammed the door shut on Dressler, Matt Nichols, Darvin Adams, Harris, Medlock, Jeffcoat, Bailey, Bighill, BA, and now Woli.  For Willy, Jake and Stanley the chopping block awaits if they hang around too long. Of course some carried on with other teams for brief interludes but none ever returned to the form they established as Bombers, except maybe Marc Liegghio! .

[DM83]

Life is short. Make the most of it.

[TecnoGenius]

Football is not a game that allows players to finish their careers off with storybook endings very often, Walters has been lethal at cutting short playing career of many great players.

This is so true.  I always thought Can Mafia as more of a "nice guy" group -- KW comes off in pressers as such a quiet guy -- but they are pretty ruthless with the cuts.  Way more than I could ever be!!

I get it, but man that must be hard.  And it leaves a lot of sour tastes in player mouths, especially coupled with the "no / low contact" approach we hear about so often.

That said, I've never heard of it being any "better" in other clubs, so I guess it's what players expect league-wide.  It's a horrible industry if you stand back and look at it through just this lens!

[blue_gold_84]

He slammed the door shut on Dressler, Matt Nichols, Darvin Adams, Harris, Medlock, Jeffcoat, Bailey, Bighill, BA, and now Woli.

By that logic, every other GM who chooses not to offer their free agents a new contract is slamming the door shut on those players...? I disagree with that interpretation. The reality is this is just the nature of the business in pro sports. The Canadian Mafia is no exception from what I can tell, but this organization does seem by and large to treat its players as well any in the CFL.

Walters' job - like eight other GMs in this league - is to put together an optimal roster in terms of talent and depth. Those are complicated decisions, which means it's sometimes prudent to move on from certain players. And that includes long-time veterans, fan favourites, and even "face of the franchise" types who are simply past their before before date.

Of all those players you listed, I think Jeffcoat was the most puzzling decision. I don't know what took place in private between the two parties but I think he should've been retained. The rest seemed like sensible moves at the time.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

This is so true.  I always thought Can Mafia as more of a "nice guy" group -- KW comes off in pressers as such a quiet guy -- but they are pretty ruthless with the cuts.  Way more than I could ever be!!

I get it, but man that must be hard.  And it leaves a lot of sour tastes in player mouths, especially coupled with the "no / low contact" approach we hear about so often.

That said, I've never heard of it being any "better" in other clubs, so I guess it's what players expect league-wide.  It's a horrible industry if you stand back and look at it through just this lens!

It's always been the case that O'Shea plays the role of "good cop" and Walters plays the "bad cop" in the organization, he doesn't get close to the players and that's why none of them ever speak of him. He's said a few times cutting players is the hardest part of the job and perhaps that's why the communication at the end suffers, nobody wants to do it.

I read an article a long time ago that tied pro sports to slavery in theory, in that they treated players as property that could be bartered or sold and the college system was the plantation that prepared the athlete, it was an interesting proposition that used valid reasoning.  Don't think I could find it now as the magazine I read it in was so old it was printed on paper!

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

By that logic, every other GM who chooses not to offer their free agents a new contract is slamming the door shut on those players...? I disagree with that interpretation. The reality is this is just the nature of the business in pro sports. The Canadian Mafia is no exception from what I can tell, but this organization does seem by and large to treat its players as well any in the CFL.

Walters' job - like eight other GMs in this league - is to put together an optimal roster in terms of talent and depth. Those are complicated decisions, which means it's sometimes prudent to move on from certain players. And that includes long-time veterans, fan favourites, and even "face of the franchise" types who are simply past their before before date.

Of all those players you listed, I think Jeffcoat was the most puzzling decision. I don't know what took place in private between the two parties but I think he should've been retained. The rest seemed like sensible moves at the time.

In hindsight I think both Jeffcoat and Grant got lost in the wash when they were trying to re-sign Lawler, Brady and Schoen.  That process took a long time and left a few players hanging while they sorted it out, by the time Walters got back on track most of the money he earmarked for others was already gone. That was the "bad news" fallout from the "good news" of signing all 3 stars.

I didn't like how they abandoned Dressler, he was still a very productive receiver and I thought he deserved a much better ending.  Turns out he was the first of many that received the same treatment.

I guess the GM job is no different than any other boss job in a smaller organization were they can't afford to pay an underling to handle the dirty work.

[blue_gold_84]

I didn't like how they abandoned Dressler, he was still a very productive receiver and I thought he deserved a much better ending.  Turns out he was the first of many that received the same treatment.

How did they abandon him?

Not even the Riders offered him a contract after that.

[dd]

Signing old veterans who have been injured is all about risk management, do you think they can perform at their pre-injury level, yes, then sign them, no, then don't sign them. Walters reminds me of Brad Pitt in Moneyball....he wants players who can perform/get on base and will make up a lineup of guys who will get on base for him vs pay the big bucks for someone who more times than not, underperforms. He figures Woli, Bighill and Alexander aren't going to get on base this year due to injuries and I can't argue with him, why take the risk, go with younger and cheaper talent that's going to be healthy. Nobody wins anything from the tub.