Blue Bombers roster - 2021-2022

[gobombersgo]

BLUE BOMBERS TRANSACTIONS: APRIL 25, 2022

WINNIPEG, MB., April 25, 2022 - The Winnipeg Blue Bombers today announce the club has signed two American players with offensive lineman Leon Johnson and defensive tackle Kenneth Randall.

Johnson (6-5, 332, Temple University, June 4, 1995 in New Brunswick, NJ) joins the Blue Bombers after a four-year college career with the Owls. He made 10 starts at left tackle during his senior season including the season-opener against Notre Dame in which he served as one of the team captains. Johnson started 14 games at right tackle during his junior year.

Prior to signing with the Blue Bombers, Johnson signed with the National Football League's Denver Broncos as an undrafted free agent in 2018 and attended the team's training camp. Johnson signed with the Salt Lake Stallions of the Alliance of American Football for the 2019 season. He would later go on to sign with the Calgary Stampeders in 2020 and saw action for one start in 2021.

Randall (6-2, 302, University of Charleston, December 7, 1995 in Atlantic City, NJ) comes to the Blue Bombers after a solid college career with the Golden Eagles. The defensive tackle was named First Team All-MEC Honors in 2019 and finished his collegiate career with 64 tackles, 7 sacks, and 2 forced fumbles.

Randall signed with the National Football League's Jacksonville Jaguars in 2021 as an undrafted free agent and attended the team's training camp.

https://www.bluebombers.com/2022/04/25/blue-bombers-transactions-april-25-2022/

[gobombersgo]

Transactions:

2022-04-18   WPG   RANDALL, Kenneth   DL   A   Charleston   Add To   Active Roster
2022-04-18   WPG   SAUNDERS, Jalen   WR   A   Oklahoma   Add To   Active Roster
2022-04-18   WPG   JOHNSON, Leon   OL   A   Temple   Add To   Active Roster

[gobombersgo]

Transactions:

2022-04-27   WPG   SIMPSON, Shane   RB   A   Virginia   Add To   Active Roster
2022-04-27   WPG   ALLEN, Pat   OL   A   Southeastern Louisiana   Add To   Active Roster
2022-04-27   WPG   MACHINO, Tomoya   OL   N      Add To   Active Roster

Machino is listed as National but he's actually a Global player from Japan who spent all of last season on the Bomber's practice roster.

[Blue In BC]

Transactions:

2022-04-27   WPG   SIMPSON, Shane   RB   A   Virginia   Add To   Active Roster
2022-04-27   WPG   ALLEN, Pat   OL   A   Southeastern Louisiana   Add To   Active Roster
2022-04-27   WPG   MACHINO, Tomoya   OL   N      Add To   Active Roster

Machino is listed as National but he's actually a Global player from Japan who spent all of last season on the Bomber's practice roster.

Bringing back the global OL for another look and another import OL. Should be close to the number of OL we need for TC. I wonder if the global is good enough to beat out imports for a spot on the PR. Will he accept a 2nd year on the PR?

[NewBlue]

I know they liked Machino for his athleticism, and the Pat Allen sounds much the same. MAchino is our youngest OL guy, and maybe more likely to accept an PR spot. Don't know how many we can keep active/PR but I'd like to see 2 NI & 2 Imp....for both 1 ready to step in and 1 to develop. Machino might be that develop guy.

Quick search on Simpson, doesn't look like he's had much of a college career.  Not sure if there's even a spot for an american RB anyways.

[Blue In BC]

I know they liked Machino for his athleticism, and the Pat Allen sounds much the same. MAchino is our youngest OL guy, and maybe more likely to accept an PR spot. Don't know how many we can keep active/PR but I'd like to see 2 NI & 2 Imp....for both 1 ready to step in and 1 to develop. Machino might be that develop guy.

Quick search on Simpson, doesn't look like he's had much of a college career.  Not sure if there's even a spot for an american RB anyways.

I'm guessing that the PR spots get reduced to the pre covid number of 12, eliminating the extra 5 added in 2021. Even on the PR that adds to the SMS spend( $750 per week X 5 x18 = $68K ) more or less.  Globals salaries were exempt from SMS and I suspect that continues even on the PR.

Import RB might be a candidate as a returner back up but that usually goes to either a DB or receiver for depth.  There have been some RB's that were a teams returner dressed as a DI. Since the Bombers start a Canadian RB, it would seem a preference would be for a returner that could play if necessary if a starter went down.

[gobombersgo]

BLUE BOMBERS ADD LINEMAN AND RUNNING BACK/RETURNER TO ROSTER

WINNIPEG, MB., April 29, 2022 - The Winnipeg Blue Bombers today announce the club has signed American offensive lineman Dennis Bardwell and American running back/returner Shane Simpson.

Bardwell (6-6, 305, Houston, March 5, 1999 in Huffman, TX) played four seasons at Houston, appearing in his first game in 2017 as a true freshman. He finished his collegiate career starting six games in 2020 at right tackle, and in total played 23 collegiate games, primarily as a tackle.

Simpson (5-11, 200, Virginia, June 13, 1997 in Easton, PA) played his senior season at Virginia after spending his first four collegiate years at Towson. At Towson, Simpson recorded 1,925 career rushing yards and 13 touchdowns in 35 games. He registered 5,088 career all-purpose yards there, including 2,080 on kickoff returns, adding two more touchdowns. In his senior season at Virginia, Simpson had 600 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns.

https://www.bluebombers.com/2022/04/29/blue-bombers-add-lineman-and-running-back-returner-to-roster/

[gobombersgo]

Transactions:

2022-04-28   WPG   BARDWELL, Dennis   OL   A   Houston   Add To   Active Roster

[Zach Schnitzer]

Not sure if this deserves its own thread, but has anyone tried their hand at depth chart for week 1? I know it?s super early but I always love seeing them.

[Blue In BC]

Not sure if this deserves its own thread, but has anyone tried their hand at depth chart for week 1? I know it?s super early but I always love seeing them.

Take a look at the depth charts from the end of 2021 on Bombers site. From there you can see where changes will come. Obviously we will have changes on offence but we know who will fill those already. Oliveria, Gray, Ellingson, Augustine, Prokop to name a few.  J. Saunders comes into the mix as a possible starter at receiver.

Where do the new receivers line up most of the time is a question at the moment.

On defence Glass will be the new CB after losing Alford. Sayles replaces Richardson?

What we're really not sure about is how exactly do we replace Hansen and Kongbo in the DL mix. Who are the new DI's.

We might see some rookie receiver, DB or DL bump the current depth chart of players returning from 2021.

Example: Does Sayles really take over from Richardson or is it a new rookie that bumps Sayles down a notch to DI replacing Walker?

Example: Does a rookie receiver win an actual starting role bumping Saunders to a DI spot that rotates on offence?

Barring injury issues, we know who won't be losing their spots and role with the team. Lots of strong veteran depth whose spots are written in stone.

Most other changes will be depth, ST and PR roles.

[Zach Schnitzer]

awesome info! I see our starting secondary as Rose in? was about to say boundary lol? Rose and Glass at CB, Nichols & Taylor at HB, and, until Alexander?s back, Nick Hallett battling for S?

[Blue In BC]

awesome info! I see our starting secondary as Rose in? was about to say boundary lol? Rose and Glass at CB, Nichols & Taylor at HB, and, until Alexander?s back, Nick Hallett battling for S?

The only thing that's in doubt at the moment is who starts at safety until Alexander can play. Nick Hallett seems the most logical choice if we need to go Canadian at S. OTOH if we find another Canadian DL to play / rotate replacing Kongbo, then we could to import safety.

Even when Alexander is healthy, not having that Canadian on the DL could be a ratio issue. Will be watching the draft next week to see if we resolve that to some degree. Losing Hansen hurt the DL rotation as well at DE. So there are a few questions but I'm semi convinced we add a DE as a DI.

At the moment the rotation players on the DL are the question. Competition in TC will be an area to watch as far as import candidates.

[DM83]

Did you mean Kongbo?

[Blue In BC]

Did you mean Kongbo?

Yes, that's what I said. At the moment we don't have a direct answer with a 2nd Canadian to use on defence when Thomas comes out. In theory we could put Briggs in at WIL but do we really want to take Wilson off the field?

In any case that combination doesn't resolve having bodies to rotate on the DL while sustaining the ratio.

Use a Canadian at safety at times allows Thomas to come off and a 2nd DT to play on the DL.

This is somewhat contingent on how well Hallett plays at safety. He did get some work there in 2021 and seems to have upside.

We may start Hallett and Thomas on defence. That could gives us the ability to have a DI at DT and DE to solve ratio and rotation issues.

Kongbo could be back in the CFL by mid season. Will we be able to afford him and does he choose to return to Winnipeg?

[DM83]

DT is a need. Yup