Bomber Safety, SAM & MLB

[theaardvark]

How light do you want the LB corps to be?

Playing 2 guys that are SAM as SAM and WIL, and Jones at MLB would be one of, if not the, lightest LB group.

Does that make them worse?  Not necessarily, but it does mean they have to be sure tackles on run plays.  Or we rotate in a 5th Dline for Wil on run plays.

I love Kramdi at SAM, if he had some more speed beside him, he'd probably be best at FS, calling the DB's alignments.

We've always carried extra LB's as they are ST demons, but having Kramdi, Smith, Allen and Griffin, only 3 can be on the field, and one has to play FS:

Wil - Smith (hey, that's kinda cool, new nickname "Fresh Prince")
Sam - Kramdi
FS  - Allen

Rotating, and in on pass plays as 4th LB, Griffin.

If all are healthy.

[Blue In BC]

How light do you want the LB corps to be?

Playing 2 guys that are SAM as SAM and WIL, and Jones at MLB would be one of, if not the, lightest LB group.

Does that make them worse?  Not necessarily, but it does mean they have to be sure tackles on run plays.  Or we rotate in a 5th Dline for Wil on run plays.

I love Kramdi at SAM, if he had some more speed beside him, he'd probably be best at FS, calling the DB's alignments.

We've always carried extra LB's as they are ST demons, but having Kramdi, Smith, Allen and Griffin, only 3 can be on the field, and one has to play FS:

Wil - Smith (hey, that's kinda cool, new nickname "Fresh Prince")
Sam - Kramdi
FS  - Allen

Rotating, and in on pass plays as 4th LB, Griffin.

If all are healthy.

I'll be stunned if Allen is our starting safety.  He's only played 10 games, all of which were in 2025.  Since we never heard what his injury was or what the status is going forward, we don't even know if he can attend TC.

Jones, Smith and Griffin are all 228 + lbs. I don't see that as "light ". Kramdi is nearly 200 lbs and I'd call that close to a normal size for a SAM.

[CrazyCanuck89]

The modern day Sam is mislabelled as a LB (SLB). It is a DB position, sometimes called a cover linebacker (CLB) or dime back . When Michael Griffin was on the Huddle earlier this season he was definitive that he was a DB and NOT a LB.

The base defence that CFL teams run today is a 4-2 not a 4-3. When the Blue Bombers (and other teams) go to three down linemen they are playing a 3-2 defence. According to Derek Taylor, the Blue Bombers sometimes play a 3-1 alignment. The 3-4 that Blue Bombers ran for most of the 80s & 90s doesn't exist anymore.

In a 4-2 or 3-2, there really isn't much difference between the WLB & MLB.

Not really mislabeled, it's just changed to include more man coverage on slotbacks.  That was due to five reciever sets.  The SAM still plays down in the box, but is just lighter.

The evolution of football is amazing at one point we had 5 dline, 4 linebackers and 3 defensive backs.

Smith at SLB is a huge plus being 230lbs.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Not really mislabeled, it's just changed to include more man coverage on slotbacks.  That was due to five reciever sets.  The SAM still plays down in the box, but is just lighter.

The evolution of football is amazing at one point we had 5 dline, 4 linebackers and 3 defensive backs.

Smith at SLB is a huge plus being 230lbs.

The more weight the better in that second level, in the games they were run on badly Holm and Nichols were too often the players making the hard tackles on the RB.

Younger's system is too complicated if it requires an extra level of instruction from Kramdi to operate properly this late in the season.  Even with Kramdi it still doesn't work the way it was intended, as demonstrated so clearly against the Elks last weekend.

[Tecno]

The more weight the better in that second level, in the games they were run on badly Holm and Nichols were too often the players making the hard tackles on the RB.

And that's the big problem.  Younger's scheme makes it so you cannot get DL or LB hands on the RB when they edge run.  That leaves only the tiny DBs (well, ex-Major).

Ant just edge runs, but also A & B gaps where they successfully wash and seal the DL and any LB gap-fillers -- amounts to the same thing because the RB immediately bounces outside anyhow.  Everyone is left in chase with crap angles, and the 1 DB who might be head-on will whiff.

The story of our season.

[Tecno]

How light do you want the LB corps to be?

Playing 2 guys that are SAM as SAM and WIL, and Jones at MLB would be one of, if not the, lightest LB group.
[...]
Wil - Smith (hey, that's kinda cool, new nickname "Fresh Prince")
Sam - Kramdi
FS  - Allen

Ya, having a Sankey-sized MLB would certainly help with the ground game.  I was just listing who I thought would go where absent a huge $300k LB FA signing.

One problem with too much beef though is that might make it even less likely they can spot & sprint to the side the RB jukes to, meaning even less-effective tackles.

What do you prefer?  A guy who can get hands on the RB but is too light/wimpy to stop him, or a beefcake who could stop him but can't get to the right spot to get hands on!  The rare MLB can do both...

IMHO, Jones might be just good enough to be that guy.  But we're now so married to the idea of him being the final/optional pass-rusher that I'm not sure we can move him back there!