Bomber starting WIL

[CrazyCanuck89]

If Gauthier isn't re-signed it would be a good idea to get Shay or Smith some reps. I'd like to see that happen before it becomes a necessity if game situations allow.

You don't even need to resign Gautier to even get all three Shay, Smith, Novak some reps.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

If in-game, and K.Wilson still here, then K.Wilson.  If Gauthier still here, Gauthier, maybe.  In a dire situation: Shay or Cadwall.

Nothing says we won't sign a decent MLB before week 1... We did in FA25 with J.Jones.

I think the Jon Jones experiment proved they don't need to go to market to stock up on LB talent, the shelves are full. MLB has almost become interchangeable with WIL, most of these LB's weigh in around 225 lbs and a little over 6'-0", the exceptions being Tony Jones and Woodbey who are pushing 235 lbs, at that weight they're pretty much restricted to playing in the box. From this I deduce Woodbey is Jones official backup, with Shay getting some action on obvious passing downs.

As for Ayers, he played a fair bit of WIL in 2024 while Kyrie was injured, and played well enough to make more tenured Brian Cole expendable.