Remaining Blue Bomber Free Agents as of January 9, 2023

[GOLDMEMBER]

I have no problem with Liegghio. It was his 1st year as a full time starter. Every TC we bring in competition but I don't expect a change. I imagine some posters will be complaining all TC and all season regardless of whether he improves or not.

After being a staunch supporter of his I am on the fence after last past season. I did not like his WSF and GC performances. It is between the ears with that guy.

[buckzumhoff]

Have the bombers signed McRae yet.  Like to see him back. He's a very good receiver and a running back

[theaardvark]

Have the bombers signed McRae yet.  Like to see him back. He's a very good receiver and a running back

Not a FA, still under contract

[TecnoGenius]

Sounds like Bailey is signing with the Stamps.

Watching the Lawler interview he shout-outs Bailey big time (~10:00) saying he wants him back with WPG big time.  Hopefully Bailey saw that before making his decision.

CGY signing Bailey would basically confirm Bailey is a good baller with plenty of life left.  They might even increase his role vs WPG.  I hope this one doesn't come back to bite us, especially since CGY probably got him "on sale".  We must have really lowballed him 

[TecnoGenius]

Keion Adams, Mercy Maston, Nic Taylor left on our board.

KW's interview already said Maston and Taylor are being let go.  That probably means no offers on the table.  If neither guy gets any offers anywhere, I would offer a "keep playing" lowball offer.  Worst case is they get injured again and you recoup the SMS on the 6-game all season.

[TecnoGenius]

We need a receiver. Could Adams make a return.

Could be.  Rewatching the 1st 2 2022 games vs OTT I was sitting there thinking about that.  If they put Darvin out to pasture and he still wants to play, you could do worse than having him around.  And he'll qualify as FAKENAT as an old vet.  He was making big plays in OTT before the whole team got disheartened.  He especially did well with Masoli.

[TecnoGenius]

Have the bombers signed McRae yet.  Like to see him back. He's a very good receiver and a running back

I would have thought McCrae would be a gimmee if we don't sign Bailey.  He knows the O and is dual-threat and may have potential.  And is cheap.

[Jesse]

We're weaker at the moment.

Adding Lawler is great but we lose Bailey and Ellingson.

Lost Couture but added Eli. Couture was the starter but Kolankowski was next up. Long term advantage, short term maybe?

No specific replacement for Sayles or Adams. So that's a TBD.

Losing Taylor and Maston was expected but depth hurt for the moment.

Aside from that the team is fairly intact overall.

Other than Bailey, I don't see any of those as loses. And I certainly think our receiving core is as good or better than any of our last 3 Grey Cup runs.

[Blue In BC]

Other than Bailey, I don't see any of those as loses. And I certainly think our receiving core is as good or better than any of our last 3 Grey Cup runs.

Nearly of those players were starters at the beginning of 2022. Experienced veterans. Go ahead and count the man games played as Bombers.

No doubt Lawler is better than Bailey but we don't really know what we have in Agudosi. Note that Lawler said he'd like to see Bailey return.

Sayles left for $200K? No immediate obvious replacement

[buckzumhoff]

Sayles 200 k way too much .no wonder they didn't sign him

[TecnoGenius]

We're weaker at the moment.

I think we're way stronger going into '23 than we were going into '22.  No one is really going into TC injured this year.  Our r. corps is vastly upgraded, no matter who takes the final IMP spot.

We're pretty set at DB, OL, WR, SB, QB, RB, DE, LB, ST... The only thing that remotely worries me is DT.   I don't want to be weaker than last season at run-D.  But I think the scouts will have another couple of surprises for us in TC.

The only pieces left are a SY QB, a DT (or 2), and that last WR/SB.  That's basically it.  Compared to previous years this is the "no worries" year.  And the pieces we need are usually the easiest to fill.

Last year we were worried about so many things: BA hurt from day 1, could BO20 fill the shoes, could Schoen not suck like most IMP rookies, would Ellingson still have his mojo, would not having Kenny kill us, could Sayles compare to Stove, could Gray be a legit starter, would Prukop suck, would the new DBs be as good as Alford, would Rutledge be as good as Darby...

So many questions last off-season compared to this off-season.  I'm not sure how you can compare the two.  I'm not worried in the slightest.

[Jesse]

Nearly of those players were starters at the beginning of 2022. Experienced veterans. Go ahead and count the man games played as Bombers.

No doubt Lawler is better than Bailey but we don't really know what we have in Agudosi. Note that Lawler said he'd like to see Bailey return.

Sayles left for $200K? No immediate obvious replacement

All of Couture, Adams, Maston, and Taylor only played parts of the season.

We have in-house replacement for Couture and in the secondary. Walker is the next man up on the DL (much like Sayles before him).

I don't think we've downgraded anywhere.

[Blue In BC]

All of Couture, Adams, Maston, and Taylor only played parts of the season.

We have in-house replacement for Couture and in the secondary. Walker is the next man up on the DL (much like Sayles before him).

I don't think we've downgraded anywhere.

Couture and Taylor were the starters when healthy. Obviously they missed a large part of the season. Couture today is still better than replacements.

Parker, Holm make be better than Taylor in the long run but a healthy Taylor was a top level DB.

Agudosi is a question mark that looked good 1 game. Hard to say he's an upgrade over Bailey or Ellingson.

Age, injury, up and coming players and SMS is why every team has to make business like decisions.  I don't understand why you don't see a potential downgrade on defence in particular.

Note the key word being potential downgrade. We may find the next Schoen, Sayles or Alford in TC.

[blue_gold_84]

An interior D-line addition would be nice, IMO.

[the paw]

Couture and Taylor were the starters when healthy. Obviously they missed a large part of the season. Couture today is still better than replacements.

Parker, Holm make be better than Taylor in the long run but a healthy Taylor was a top level DB.

Agudosi is a question mark that looked good 1 game. Hard to say he's an upgrade over Bailey or Ellingson.

Age, injury, up and coming players and SMS is why every team has to make business like decisions.  I don't understand why you don't see a potential downgrade on defence in particular.

Note the key word being potential downgrade. We may find the next Schoen, Sayles or Alford in TC.

I think it is an open question whether Ricky Walker can replace Sayles without a drop off.  So that is a potential downgrade.  I don't think Adams was a significant contributor last year, so you can only really call that a change rather than a weakening.  As far as Taylor and Maston, they weren't factors at all last year, so it doesn't make any sense to use them as a yardstick to measure whether we are stronger or weaker than last year.  I suppose you can make an argument that our secondary might have been stronger in 2021, or 2019, but our secondary is just as strong as last year.

I think on offence, that it is fair to say Lawler is a significant upgrade over Ellingson (even though he was good when he played).  I think Bailey'r replacement is the big question mark.  I share your concern over Agudosi's small sample size.   I think he is going to break our hearts.  (he kind of reminds me of Titus Ryan from 2009 in that way).  I don't think McCrae is a full-time starter in that spot, although he does have value as a Swiss Army knife.  So that is the big question mark on offence.  I think the drop off from Couture to Kolankowski was so small as to be insignificant.  As they say, I would sure hate to have to live on the difference. 

So I see only 2 question marks, with the added proviso that Leigghio is going to have to defend his placekicking job.