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#21

Blue Bomber & CFL Discussion Forum / Re: major announcement - big c...

Last post by Throw Long Bannatyne - May 03, 2026, 04:02:40 PM

I would say the CFL was in it's heyday period prior to 1980.
In the 50's and 60's, almost every football fan in Canada was a CFL fan.
That started shifting to the NFL, maybe in the late 70's?
Now there are more NFL fans than CFL fans in this country and the gap continues to grow.
That is the big problem that needs to be solved...not saying it is by converting NFL fans but by having football fans follow both leagues.

Agreed, in the 60's and 70's the CFL was a bigger part of Canadian culture and results were always front and center in the headlines, Grey Cup parties were huge and it was aptly nicknamed "The Great Canadian Drunk".  By the late 80's many teams were struggling with attendance, in 1987 the Riders held a telethon to keep the team afloat.

#22

Blue Bomber & CFL Discussion Forum / Re: 2026 Training Camp

Last post by Blue In BC - May 03, 2026, 03:58:48 PM

Wasn't Novak the one practicing long snapping so he had another tool in his toolbox?  If so, he will endear himself to O'Shea but that doesn't lift him above the two rookie LB's drafted ahead of him.  At best he may become Gauthier's replacement, but there seems to be a lot of players fighting for that role.  Cadwallader likely becomes the ST captain now.

It would be a useful addition to his toolbox if he develops as a LS. OTOH it's been said on this site that LS's are a dime a dozen. That and Leroux is a young player that could be that player for a number of years.

I'm not really trying to diss Novax but we have depth and new depth at LB. To some degree it depends on the talent of those drafted in 2026. We can't / won't keep everybody even on the PR.

So I'm just voicing an opinion of which players are probably at the bottom of our depth chart for Canadians. With the new draft choices and a few extras we're approaching 40 Canadians on the roster.

#23

Blue Bomber & CFL Discussion Forum / Re: 2026 Training Camp

Last post by Throw Long Bannatyne - May 03, 2026, 03:49:48 PM

Ya, I'm wondering what they want from him - beef up & be more of an extra OL, or slim a little and be that TE style?
I think they jumped to draft him because of the possibilities he could bring as a TE/SB. Couldn't we still declare a 6th OL guy AND have Daniels pushing the line?  Would sure help our short game which wasn't great last year.
For the record, Eli had been listed at 325 before last year, and I've seen Daniels all over, but most seem to say 275.
I wonder if they ask Eli to pack on the pounds again as they likely will not use him as a pass decoy.

No mystery, Walters said the team wants Daniels to drop weight and play TE.

#24

Blue Bomber & CFL Discussion Forum / Re: 2026 Training Camp

Last post by Throw Long Bannatyne - May 03, 2026, 03:48:12 PM

I'm not sure what his injury recovery status is at the moment. Because we drafted more LB's, he'd be the one most probable to have a fight on his hands. He only had 3 ST's in 5 games. His role may have been different that just an ST tackle machine but that's debatable.

He was the 3rd choice of the 3 drafted in 2025 at # 45.

We already have Cadwallader, Shay and Smith, so having a 4th Canadian LB is questionable to begin with on the AR.

I guess we'll see.

EDIT: We should see some last minute tweaking of the roster before the start of rookie camp early next week. It's now when we find out if there a few more no shows, retirements etc.

Wasn't Novak the one practicing long snapping so he had another tool in his toolbox?  If so, he will endear himself to O'Shea but that doesn't lift him above the two rookie LB's drafted ahead of him.  At best he may become Gauthier's replacement, but there seems to be a lot of players fighting for that role.  Cadwallader likely becomes the ST captain now.

#25

Blue Bomber & CFL Discussion Forum / Re: Global Draft

Last post by Blue In BC - May 03, 2026, 02:59:52 PM

There's always a certain amount of rotation between AR to IR to PR.

It's just an odd situation that a healthy player on the reserve would need to be bumped somewhere.

I also note that if even if they choose to increase the AR by 2 players, the same situation exists. Not every replacement need can be covered. The odds might improve a bit but who the next man up depends on who is nicked.

#26

Blue Bomber & CFL Discussion Forum / Re: 2026 Training Camp

Last post by Blue In BC - May 03, 2026, 02:51:02 PM

I wouldn't be so quick to have Novak as the 3rd wheel from the 25 drafted trio.  Pretty sure he was the most noticeable of the 3 before he got hurt.
Obviously with those 3 from 2025 and 2 more LBers from this recent draft, some have to be cut, but I don't think anyone is safe.

I'm not sure what his injury recovery status is at the moment. Because we drafted more LB's, he'd be the one most probable to have a fight on his hands. He only had 3 ST's in 5 games. His role may have been different that just an ST tackle machine but that's debatable.

He was the 3rd choice of the 3 drafted in 2025 at # 45.

We already have Cadwallader, Shay and Smith, so having a 4th Canadian LB is questionable to begin with on the AR.

I guess we'll see.

EDIT: We should see some last minute tweaking of the roster before the start of rookie camp early next week. It's now when we find out if there a few more no shows, retirements etc.

#27

Blue Bomber & CFL Discussion Forum / Re: 2026 Training Camp

Last post by BomberFan73 - May 03, 2026, 02:04:03 PM

For a lot of 2025 we didn't dress a 7th.  I was always fretting about in-game injuries but we mostly lucked out in that regard.

So perhaps you could modify your supposition to be: we may not need a 6th!!  Ya, probably not happening... but if Daniels beefs up and ends up looking more like an OL than a REC then hey, you never know!  Remember... he's only 20 lbs from being Tui.

Ya, I'm wondering what they want from him - beef up & be more of an extra OL, or slim a little and be that TE style?
I think they jumped to draft him because of the possibilities he could bring as a TE/SB. Couldn't we still declare a 6th OL guy AND have Daniels pushing the line?  Would sure help our short game which wasn't great last year.
For the record, Eli had been listed at 325 before last year, and I've seen Daniels all over, but most seem to say 275.
I wonder if they ask Eli to pack on the pounds again as they likely will not use him as a pass decoy.

#28

Blue Bomber & CFL Discussion Forum / Re: 2026 Training Camp

Last post by Jesse - May 03, 2026, 01:45:23 PM

I wouldn't be so quick to have Novak as the 3rd wheel from the 25 drafted trio.  Pretty sure he was the most noticeable of the 3 before he got hurt.
Obviously with those 3 from 2025 and 2 more LBers from this recent draft, some have to be cut, but I don't think anyone is safe.

Agreed. Assuming health. I'd pencil him in.

#29

Blue Bomber & CFL Discussion Forum / Re: 2026 Training Camp

Last post by BomberFan73 - May 03, 2026, 01:44:23 PM

Agreed. I think Ball, Kornelson, Kelly, Novak, Cobb, Corcoran and Chris-Ike are players I'm not sure about going into the season. The 2 man reserve might create that additional space week to week as players get rotated in or off the roster.

I lost track but we've drafted and signed some Canadian receivers that weren't drafted. I have no idea whether any one of them might push a player from 2025.

IMO we have a glut of players that are mostly ST players. Maybe there is a small trade to be made for a low draft pick next year or neg list player.  Those that I mentioned are not bad players but we can't keep everybody.

By my rough count we had 90 players before adding new draft choices and a few late import additions.. In theory we'll have to delete 15 - 20 of those by May 12, some of which right after rookie camp. That's just on the horizon. Actually we have to reduce that to 85 before rookie camp. So early next week there will be a few changes.

We're at the point for every new signing of ( counters ) will require another to be released.

I wouldn't be so quick to have Novak as the 3rd wheel from the 25 drafted trio.  Pretty sure he was the most noticeable of the 3 before he got hurt.
Obviously with those 3 from 2025 and 2 more LBers from this recent draft, some have to be cut, but I don't think anyone is safe.

#30

Blue Bomber & CFL Discussion Forum / Re: Global Draft

Last post by Jesse - May 03, 2026, 01:43:41 PM

I think it's safe to say some players are nicked every week after the 1st game. Whether they can play is always a TBD. We saw that last year.

So yes I think the reserve list travels with the team. It does add some additional cost but doesn't the team charter a plane? Players probably double up in hotels I'd guess.

The other question I posed was do the 2 reserve players get changed game to game to adjust for those that might need to a GTD? If so where do those moved from the reserve go?

There's always a certain amount of rotation between AR to IR to PR.