Blue Bombers agree to terms with receiver Rasheed Bailey

[theaardvark]

There have been some pretty amazing receiving corps put together in "the modern era" of the CFL, with some awesome QB's throwing to them making them even better. 

This one, if they stay healthy through the year, with a very solid Oline and RB corps, is going to stack up with the best of those. 

It is going to be an exciting year.

[the paw]

1986: Boyd, Tuttle, Murphy, Joe Pop, all played together.

I kind of forgot about Tuttle.  He was awesome.  That 1986 lineup was fearsome, although I don't think they had enough touches to give poor Boyd his share that year......

[theaardvark]

I think the biggest issue with this group is distribution.

When a QB throws for 5K yards in a year, its not going to be 5 different receivers getting 1k each...

Unless Collaros goes off the chain and puts up a league record number of yards in a season, we may only have one or two 1000 yard guys..

[GOLDMEMBER]

I think the biggest issue with this group is distribution.

When a QB throws for 5K yards in a year, its not going to be 5 different receivers getting 1k each...

Unless Collaros goes off the chain and puts up a league record number of yards in a season, we may only have one or two 1000 yard guys..

lol I do not think parties involved are at all worried about this.

[the paw]

I think the biggest issue with this group is distribution.

When a QB throws for 5K yards in a year, its not going to be 5 different receivers getting 1k each...

Unless Collaros goes off the chain and puts up a league record number of yards in a season, we may only have one or two 1000 yard guys..

Barring injuries, I expect the run to pass ratio to be similar, so 4000-4500 yards is to be expected.

I see Lawler and Schoen both in the 1200 range, and Demski at 700.  I think this means Bailey will be lucky to get over 600 yards and Wolitarsky could be under 500. 

[Pete]

Likely the yardage each will get will be who can stay healthy. Ly Schoen  hit 1400 yds partly due to Ellingson being injured. If everyone stays healthy I could see Lawler at 1400 Schoen at 1100 and Bailey and Demski  at 700 plus

[pjrocksmb]

The more evenly we distribute, the more deadly our offense will be

Give them all the rock

Can't stop everyone

Our offense will be great

[blue_gold_84]

I think the biggest issue with this group is distribution.

When a QB throws for 5K yards in a year, its not going to be 5 different receivers getting 1k each...

Unless Collaros goes off the chain and puts up a league record number of yards in a season, we may only have one or two 1000 yard guys..

Sounds like a pretty good problem to have, especially if Collaros has a career year (by a significant margin) and puts up 5K yards through the air.

Lawler and Schoen would both be 1200-1400 yard receivers in my estimation, leaving another 2600-2200 yards for three or four other receivers. You could probably add Oliveira to the mix for a few hundred yards as well.

It'll depend on many factors, so it's hard to predict how the production will shake out at this point. Having Lawler and Schoen alone on the field at the same time will open up a ton of space for others in this offense, though.

It's going to be fun to watch.

[Lincoln Locomotive]

sky's the limit....

https://www.cfl.ca/2023/02/21/tait-lawler-sees-no-limits-for-2023-blue-bombers/

[Sir Blue and Gold]

We may actually run the ball more this year than last year. Teams won't really be able to afford to load the box against this passing attack and Oliveria (at 25 with a year as a starter) will be at the peak of his physical powers as a running back. Defenses are going to be coming into games focusing on stopping Collaros and the passing game and Buck will have every opportunity to run it right at those looks.

[theaardvark]

So, RPO is the name of the game this year?

Watch how the D sets up, if they set for run, pass.  If they set for pass, run.

Collaros is no slouch at that.  He's more comfortable rolling out than a hippie with a new bag of weed...

[LXTSN]

So, RPO is the name of the game this year?

Watch how the D sets up, if they set for run, pass.  If they set for pass, run.

Collaros is no slouch at that.  He's more comfortable rolling out than a hippie with a new bag of weed...

Having Lawler should open up Olivera even more now too!

We were pretty deadly with Ellingson in the lineup. Now replace him with Lawler!

[Sir Blue and Gold]

So, RPO is the name of the game this year?

Watch how the D sets up, if they set for run, pass.  If they set for pass, run.

Collaros is no slouch at that.  He's more comfortable rolling out than a hippie with a new bag of weed...

That's not exactly how RPO works and we won't start doing it a ton this year regardless. The RPO "run" play is designed to be effective with a certain number of defenders in the box (or near the LOS, depending on the system) which varies, depending on the call. The QB then determines whether to execute the pass or run based on the pre-snap count of defenders in relation to that specific run play. If it is equal or less, it's the run. If it's more, it's the pass. You don't see it as much in the CFL because the shorter play clock and the fact that regardless of what the QB counts, the offensive line still has to run block and the receivers still have to run their routes. That is not always a great set-up for three down football, you don't want to be passing a lot with offensive line run blocking. You more often see Collaros (and other CFL QBs) running a read option, which tries to neutralize aggressive defensive ends. The QB puts the ball into the running back's belly and you get that mesh point (which a lot of people call the ride n' decide because the QB is running with the RB for a step or two). If the DE bites down, the ball is pulled, Collaros "scrambles" (often to the empty space the DE has vacated) and the rest of the play is executed. If the DE stays wide, Collaros pulls his arm out and the running back takes advantage of the space that usually exists when the DE takes that wide angle. It is a good option if you are concerned about getting backside pressure for that can be problematic for plays where you're moving the pocket or attacking the edge somehow. It can also allow you to not count a DE in the blocking scheme which is good for a lot of reasons at times.

[TecnoGenius]

I think the biggest issue with this group is distribution.

The more evenly we distribute, the more deadly our offense will be

Yes, we need to distribute the ball more than we did in 2022.  '18-'21 we did much better at distribution and I think our passing game was more effective as a result.  I remember swathes of weeks where everyone would get the rock a ton, even the #4 / #5 guys.  We used to throw to Woli so much more often, etc.

2022 was a regressive year in that Zach (or maybe Buck) focussed on the hot hand and would let that 1 (or 2) guy(s) have the bulk of the throws.  I think that hurt us come GC time.  Just cover Demski and Schoen and we had nothing, really.

I see Lawler and Schoen both in the 1200 range, and Demski at 700.  I think this means Bailey will be lucky to get over 600 yards and Wolitarsky could be under 500. 

Expect Demski to be over 1000.  And I bet he's our #2 yards / TDs receiver in 2023.  He said in his presser he's focussing on being more productive (yards) and healthy (injury-less, talk to WIllie!) this year.

[Pete]

Collaris has always had a go to guy...at the beginning of last year it was ellingson then in the latter half it was Schoen. Having said that it was something to see how we would implement new players and Collaris/Buck would utilize them effectively I'm thinking about Mcrae and Agodosi (interestingly it was both against Calgary). I would expect Lawler to be the leading reciever, if healthy, by a good margin.
I think what hurt us in the playoffs is that we relied too much on Collaris scrambling and wiaiting for recievers to break free vs timing throws that we can get off quickly.(especially against a team that keeps Collaris contained and has a strong defensive line.)