Blue Bombers Transactions - April 22, 2025
WINNIPEG, MB., April 22, 2025 – The Winnipeg Blue Bombers today announce the club has released National linebacker Max Charbonneau.
I kind of expected this. We're fairly deep at LB both imports and Canadians. Then there are the possibilities of a global LB remaining on our PR as depth.
After drafting 9 more Canadians next week, roster spots are going to be hard fought and something had to give somewhere. Just a guess but Makonzo fills that open spot on the AR. He creates depth at SAM while Charbonneau had been depth at WIL and we have a lot of players at that spot for depth. Griffin is moving to safety so we needed extra depth at SAM.
I think he might still end up somewhere as an ST player and I wish him well.
He's from Ottawa so maybe that's where we see him turn up.
Little surprised. Max only played in 12 games last season and had 7 STs, not to bad for a 1st. year player. He also has good size at 6'3", 225.
Quote from: Pigskin on April 22, 2025, 05:50:55 PMLittle surprised. Max only played in 12 games last season and had 7 STs, not to bad for a 1st. year player. He also has good size at 6'3", 225.
I agree he may become a good ST player. Football is a matter of being in the right spot at the right time. Roster size is limited and releasing him early gives him a chance to catch on before TC elsewhere.
He was the second last pick in the 2023 draft... he was a fringe player who managed to get on the roster for 12 games, which is pretty good.
Will he catch on elsewhere? He showed well enough on one of the leagues best teams to at least get a look with a team that needs NAT depth.
Hopefully get a job elsewhere
Quote from: Blueforlife on April 23, 2025, 12:14:05 AMHopefully get a job elsewhere
I mentioned Ottawa earlier since he's from that area and Ottawa might have an ST need. OTOH, there is a connection in Hamilton with 8 of our other ex players now going to their TC.
Those would be where I think he'd have the most interest and vice versa.
You gotta shine and stand out fast. He didn't. I didn't really notice him at all, and I pay more attention to ST than the average bear.
Contrast with Cadwallader, who stood out and wowed many times within his first few games.
Quote from: TecnoGenius on April 23, 2025, 03:16:58 AMYou gotta shine and stand out fast. He didn't. I didn't really notice him at all, and I pay more attention to ST than the average bear.
Contrast with Cadwallader, who stood out and wowed many times within his first few games.
I don't recall any ST play for the most part, but do want to point out that Cadwallader had zero ST tackles in the first half of his rookie season. 8 weeks of nothing.
Charbs had a couple.
Obviously that is only one puzzle piece, however.
Quote from: Jesse on April 23, 2025, 11:52:14 AMI don't recall any ST play for the most part, but do want to point out that Cadwallader had zero ST tackles in the first half of his rookie season. 8 weeks of nothing.
Charbs had a couple.
Obviously that is only one puzzle piece, however.
ST tackles are the only recorded ST stat, and only on cover teams, but not the only ST job.
Many ST tackles do not get made if the contain guys don't do their jobs, likewise, many are made because of good ST blocking up in the lanes.
So, evaluation of an ST player includes film study, to see if he is accomplishing his assignments appropriately.
Walters and O'Shea are ST guys at heart, and both would know whether a player will make a roster purely with their ST play. We obviously have a lot of competition for that player, and I don't think Max stood out enough to do that. It certainly isn't an $SMS thing, just numbers.
He should catch on elsewhere.
Quote from: theaardvark on April 23, 2025, 04:39:13 PMST tackles are the only recorded ST stat, and only on cover teams, but not the only ST job.
Many ST tackles do not get made if the contain guys don't do their jobs, likewise, many are made because of good ST blocking up in the lanes.
So, evaluation of an ST player includes film study, to see if he is accomplishing his assignments appropriately.
Walters and O'Shea are ST guys at heart, and both would know whether a player will make a roster purely with their ST play. We obviously have a lot of competition for that player, and I don't think Max stood out enough to do that. It certainly isn't an $SMS thing, just numbers.
He should catch on elsewhere.
Just responding to Techno saying Cadwallader "popped" in his first few games. Wondering how he was able to do that.
Quote from: Jesse on April 23, 2025, 05:23:29 PMJust responding to Techno saying Cadwallader "popped" in his first few games. Wondering how he was able to do that.
Players on ST can "pop" when you see them make big hits, or cut down players, or make a big tackle.
ST is orchestrated chaos across the field, and when a returner gets out of his lane, any player can end up making the tackle. But if every player covers his assignment, the returner is presented to the primary tacklers.
Fatboi used to impress me on ST by his hustle. Watching him get downfield on a FG or punt was quite fun. He didn't make a lot of tackles, but he was in the picture alot.
Quote from: Jesse on April 23, 2025, 11:52:14 AMI don't recall any ST play for the most part, but do want to point out that Cadwallader had zero ST tackles in the first half of his rookie season. 8 weeks of nothing.
Cadwall only dressed for 7 games in '21 (out of 10?). And had 8 ST.
I can't recall the exact moment I noticed him, but it didn't take long. He was popping off the page in '22, that's for sure. At least to me. Between '21 and '22 he dressed for 18 games (a full season), and had already stood out. In the early '23 season I was already singing his praises on the forum (just search "Cadwall").
And Aards is right, it's not just ST tackles that you can notice. Closing speed, closing off holes and routes, cutting off angles, manhandling their assigned blocker, etc. And I'm clearly in sync with MOS because while other (semi-)youngsters fall off the roster (Hallett The Injured, Exume, Charboneau, etc) The Mafia kept Cadwall.
My guess is he'll be a Bomber for many years to come.
The point is, you can often quickly see which players have the "it" factor, no matter the position.
Quote from: TecnoGenius on April 23, 2025, 09:30:20 PMCadwall only dressed for 7 games in '21 (out of 10?). And had 8 ST.
I can't recall the exact moment I noticed him, but it didn't take long. He was popping off the page in '22, that's for sure. At least to me. Between '21 and '22 he dressed for 18 games (a full season), and had already stood out. In the early '23 season I was already singing his praises on the forum (just search "Cadwall").
And Aards is right, it's not just ST tackles that you can notice. Closing speed, closing off holes and routes, cutting off angles, manhandling their assigned blocker, etc. And I'm clearly in sync with MOS because while other (semi-)youngsters fall off the roster (Hallett The Injured, Exume, Charboneau, etc) The Mafia kept Cadwall.
My guess is he'll be a Bomber for many years to come.
The point is, you can often quickly see which players have the "it" factor, no matter the position.
He showed an early spark agreed
Quote from: TecnoGenius on April 23, 2025, 09:30:20 PMCadwall only dressed for 7 games in '21 (out of 10?). And had 8 ST.
I can't recall the exact moment I noticed him, but it didn't take long. He was popping off the page in '22, that's for sure. At least to me. Between '21 and '22 he dressed for 18 games (a full season), and had already stood out. In the early '23 season I was already singing his praises on the forum (just search "Cadwall").
And Aards is right, it's not just ST tackles that you can notice. Closing speed, closing off holes and routes, cutting off angles, manhandling their assigned blocker, etc. And I'm clearly in sync with MOS because while other (semi-)youngsters fall off the roster (Hallett The Injured, Exume, Charboneau, etc) The Mafia kept Cadwall.
My guess is he'll be a Bomber for many years to come.
The point is, you can often quickly see which players have the "it" factor, no matter the position.
Cadwallader is a very decent ST player for sure. Flies around the field and crushes guys. Definitely see why we kept him on the roster
We also have Gowanlock that has worked as an ST player for the Als. So we're going to see some new faces on our coverage teams in 2025.
Leroux probably won't win the spot as the LS in 2025 but might be the future. OTOH, he may make the AR to work on cover teams. Benson is quite active downfield after snaps, so no reason to think Leroux won't be worked into that kind of role. That position is usually filled by a LB type and he has the size to do so.
All of these are reasons why Charbonneau was not needed in Winnipeg.
Quote from: Blue In BC on April 24, 2025, 01:53:35 PMWe also have Gowanlock that has worked as an ST player for the Als. So we're going to see some new faces on our coverage teams in 2025.
I gotta believe Mafia keeps a notebook of random players on other teams who pop off the page during film study. They certainly aren't signing Gowanlock because we're short of possible NAT STers... always so many already around, and so many more every draft class.
As such it always piques my interest when we sign guys that no one knows, whether on ST or D or whatever. It'll be fun to see what they saw in the kid.
Quote from: TecnoGenius on April 25, 2025, 06:41:08 AMI gotta believe Mafia keeps a notebook of random players on other teams who pop off the page during film study. They certainly aren't signing Gowanlock because we're short of possible NAT STers... always so many already around, and so many more every draft class.
As such it always piques my interest when we sign guys that no one knows, whether on ST or D or whatever. It'll be fun to see what they saw in the kid.
His role is unclear but potentially he may see some rotation work at DE, FB and on ST's. I can't say we didn't sign him to have options to fill Canadian roster ST spots. We did lose a few one way or another this off season.
By my count we have 25 Canadians on the roster at the moment. Hard to say how many 2025 draft choices will make the AR, PR or return to school. The positional choices of this years crop of draft choices may not fill ST roles. So we'll see what choices we make.
In the meantime, signing the free agent Canadians we did gives us some options.
Quote from: Blue In BC on April 25, 2025, 01:16:35 PMHis role is unclear but potentially he may see some rotation work at DE, FB and on ST's. I can't say we didn't sign him to have options to fill Canadian roster ST spots. We did lose a few one way or another this off season.
Ya, but correct me if I'm wrong, but Gownalock / Charboneau / Hallett-The-Injured / et al are all pretty much going for ELC. Or maybe ELC + a tiny bump for multi-year seniority.
So why sign an other-team one instead of just re-signing the guy you already have? You gotta believe the other-team guy will be (expected to be) better.
Quote from: TecnoGenius on April 26, 2025, 03:37:55 AMYa, but correct me if I'm wrong, but Gownalock / Charboneau / Hallett-The-Injured / et al are all pretty much going for ELC. Or maybe ELC + a tiny bump for multi-year seniority.
So why sign an other-team one instead of just re-signing the guy you already have? You gotta believe the other-team guy will be (expected to be) better.
We also lost Feltmate ( retired ) and Augustine. Both had roles on ST. Noah Hallett might have been closer to $95K and was always injured.
Charbonneau would have been on an ELC but word is suggesting he was retiring / leaving football all together.
Gowanlock won't be much above an ELC and he's was an available player that could fill several roles. I mentioned defence, FB and ST's. Whether he even wins a roster spot is not guaranteed. However, he has an opportunity to be useful as a role player.
He'll have to be better than some 2025 draft choices coming out of TC. Depending on what type of players we draft, they may not see duty on ST's or they may return to school for 1 more year.
So in the meantime, I pencil him to be on the AR to start the season in some capacity.
Quote from: TecnoGenius on April 26, 2025, 03:37:55 AMYa, but correct me if I'm wrong, but Gownalock / Charboneau / Hallett-The-Injured / et al are all pretty much going for ELC. Or maybe ELC + a tiny bump for multi-year seniority.
So why sign an other-team one instead of just re-signing the guy you already have? You gotta believe the other-team guy will be (expected to be) better.
The timing of this announcement suggests it was Charbonneau's decision not to attend TC at the last possible moment before accepting flight arrangements, maybe moving on with a more lucrative career. Why else would the Bombers choose to protect him at the end of last season and leave Hubert unprotected?
Quote from: Blue In BC on April 26, 2025, 01:16:02 PMWe also lost Feltmate ( retired ) and Augustine. Both had roles on ST. Noah Hallett might have been closer to $95K and was always injured.
No way. Hallett-The-Injured had to have been ELC his entire time here. Had to. He was injured from day 1 and injured in every single season. It's actually shocking we gave him so many seasons to try to get healthy.
No one else was ever going to sign him, so KW was "ELC or nothing", I'd bet the farm on it.
Sad and sucks for him, as it would have been cool to have him STing next to his brother. But "cool" doesn't win ball games.
Hallett-The-Healthy is the one probably earning $95k. Dude has real talent and speed and a take-no-prisoners attitude.
Quote from: TecnoGenius on April 27, 2025, 01:43:37 AMNo way. Hallett-The-Injured had to have been ELC his entire time here. Had to. He was injured from day 1 and injured in every single season. It's actually shocking we gave him so many seasons to try to get healthy.
No one else was ever going to sign him, so KW was "ELC or nothing", I'd bet the farm on it.
Sad and sucks for him, as it would have been cool to have him STing next to his brother. But "cool" doesn't win ball games.
I was just guessing at his SMS. He was a decent ST player and I think there is some sort of increase after initial ELC.
It's a moot point but I doubt he was at the lowest possible contract. The point was that we lost 4 players that were mostly ST guys.