Blue Bombers Transactions - September 24, 2023

[Pigskin]

You said watching them at practice in your 1st sentence. So obviously it wasn't clear. If you had just said watching them workout that would have been clearer. Practice is both a noun ( location ) and a verb ( activity ).

Regardless, thanks for the update.

I sorry your where confused.

[Blue In BC]

I sorry your where confused.

No problem. It would help if the Bombers would provide more useful information about injuries and status. Every week we see " questionable " rather than " out " is not helpful at all. Other teams seem to be more specific when you see their daily IR reports.

[TecnoGenius]

Glad he's back. Too bad Maruo had to be moved to PR since he played well on ST's.

Maruo has been very good in all facets.  He's good depth and a keeper.  As they keep upping the GLOB dressing requirement he'll get back in.  Or if there's another injury.

[Blue In BC]

Maruo has been very good in all facets.  He's good depth and a keeper.  As they keep upping the GLOB dressing requirement he'll get back in.  Or if there's another injury.

I'm not sure they will keep upping the Global dressing requirement. It's already cost roster spots for 2 Canadians. Another global on the AR will eliminate someone. Will that be another Canadian or do we lose a DI spot. I don't see the roster size being increased but that would be the easiest way to avoid a more painful change.

We used to have a 46th player that was on the AR but not dressed. While that never made sense, eliminating a paid roster spot was a way to create a bit more SMS to be spend on the 45 players on the AR.

Going back to 46 players on the AR, dressed or otherwise would be a backward step.

Most global players have a very long development curve. The pool of talent is very small as shown in the draft of 2 rounds and a high number of kickers chosen.

While Maruo has been a decent player, he's replaceable with a Clement or Cole with higher upside IMO.

[Pete]

The global experiment hasnt really mad  the impact Ambrosie hoped. By far the roster spots have been utilized by kickers. The hansens are few and far between. They have taken the spots normally filled by Canadians. An alternative may be to allow at least one kicker to be a nondesignated ie part of the roster but not counting as global import or canadian,  that would allow 2 globals to be used in actual developemental positions. If they are better than a cdn or import they would play. In our case hansen and marou (who might replace Briggs). The other question I have is could Hansen not replace Jackson ( remember Jackson had no experience at fb and hansen is more athletic and just as versatile, other than long snapping..)

[Blue In BC]

The global experiment hasnt really mad  the impact Ambrosie hoped. By far the roster spots have been utilized by kickers. The hansens are few and far between. They have taken the spots normally filled by Canadians. An alternative may be to allow at least one kicker to be a nondesignated ie part of the roster but not counting as global import or canadian,  that would allow 2 globals to be used in actual developemental positions. If they are better than a cdn or import they would play. In our case hansen and marou (who might replace Briggs). The other question I have is could Hansen not replace Jackson ( remember Jackson had no experience at fb and hansen is more athletic and just as versatile, other than long snapping..)

The suggestion of Maruo replacing Briggs is still eliminating one more Canadian position. In theory that's the opposite of what pro ratio posters want ( more or status quo with Canadians ). As far as Maruo being more valuable than Briggs at this point of their careers, I'd agree.

The non designated idea is another work around the roster / ratio and just makes things more complicated. You're splitting hairs making that a global position instead of either an import or a global. Noting that the Bombers and several teams have import kickers. I'm not sure any other team has one of each?

Kickers / punters don't exactly qualify as starters in the normal sense.  Some import kickers are veteran players with many years in the CFL and / or on the same team for 3+ years. The Nationalized American rule is already confusing but should they qualify under that premise? Isn't the thought to extend the careers of some import players? Why would they rule out import kickers?

Hansen replacing Jackson at FB. From a ratio point of view I think that is allowed. An extra global means one of them becomes a DI to replace Jackson as a DI. Global players are in effect DI's anyway and can only replace an import. It's not like  they can directly replace a Canadian.

Hansen and Jackson are nearly identical in size and age. I agree Hansen is more athletic of the two. However the question is who is better an any specific role and do we want any player playing both sides of the ball or for how many additional snaps.

Most comments are that we're only seeing a FB 6 - 10 times a game. My question is why is Burtenshaw not a candidate as a FB? If he's not a candidate to play FB what is his role on the team? This is his 2nd season with the Bombers and he's only been on the roster for 7 games in total.

Jackson has not been valuable on ST's and with Hansen now on the roster, I'm not sure Jackson sees further reps on ST's. He's certainly not going to see any reps on defence until the game is well decided. So Jackson's role is further reduced.

It's the same question, different week trying to understand why we are using an import FB. Put another way, there must have been many actual import FB's that we could have signed for TC that are great blockers and actually an offensive threat.  Actually many import RB's have been excellent blockers as well as offensive weapons. RB / FB are just name tags. So couldn't we kill 2 birds with one stone and roster a good RB that can block well?

Jackson is not going to be an offensive weapon except in a trick play if that.

[Pete]

Actually i was suggesting that with Hansen doing Jacksons role, that would free up a import spot for players such as mcrae or haba.My main point is that in terms of adding globals is that even after is it three years, we don't  have any that would replace an import, and we don't want to replace a cdn. I can't
see the cfl expanding the roster.
For whatever reason they have lost faith in Burtenshaw and haven't found another cdn to replace him

[Pigskin]

Actually i was suggesting that with Hansen doing Jacksons role, that would free up a import spot for players such as mcrae or haba.My main point is that in terms of adding globals is that even after is it three years, we don't  have any that would replace an import, and we don't want to replace a cdn. I can't
see the cfl expanding the roster.
For whatever reason they have lost faith in Burtenshaw and haven't found another cdn to replace him

I think your right. Nothing against Jackson. We just have better players available to us now.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

I think your right. Nothing against Jackson. We just have better players available to us now.

Can't see how Jackson remains in the lineup going down the stretch, with players returning from injury each roster spot becomes more valuable.  The novelty show will be ending shortly.

[Blue In BC]

Actually i was suggesting that with Hansen doing Jacksons role, that would free up a import spot for players such as mcrae or haba.My main point is that in terms of adding globals is that even after is it three years, we don't  have any that would replace an import, and we don't want to replace a cdn. I can't
see the cfl expanding the roster.
For whatever reason they have lost faith in Burtenshaw and haven't found another cdn to replace him

If Hansen was available in TC perhaps he might have been given some reps as a FB. IDK if they would have considered that or not. I wouldn't be opposed to knowing whether he can block or could develop in that role.  The team wasn't prepared to lose Miller for that role. I'd call that horrible planning for a player that was 34 going into TC and had a 2022 season where he couldn't practice much. Where was the succession plan?

The problem with Jackson is he's an import. He's not a horrible player or anything like that.  If he was a Canadian it wouldn't be an issue. Several of the players on the PR are nearly identical size / weight as Jackson.

Haba has the most game experience in that category. If he could learn to play FB, he'd be a better choice because he can actually also play well on the DL. Jackson has a very limited skill set and as a FB he's not excelling.

[TecnoGenius]

Going back to 46 players on the AR, dressed or otherwise would be a backward step.

Most global players have a very long development curve. The pool of talent is very small as shown in the draft of 2 rounds and a high number of kickers chosen.

While Maruo has been a decent player, he's replaceable with a Clement or Cole with higher upside IMO.

I think if they keep mandating even more GLOBs that they should definitely increase the AR size.  And this could make sense if you consider that 99% of GLOBs are on the "GLOB ELC" contract, which is basically "free" from a money standpoint.

Aren't our AR's already like 10 guys smaller than the NFL?  If they desperately want more GLOBs then every time you add one just +1 to the AR.  Why not?  I love that idea.  WPG always finds great GLOBs.  And I always feel like our AR is too small to achieve what we need to do (look at how we're always strained to get another DI on the DL).

As for Maruo, I'm talking within the GLOBs.  It's kind of like NATs on D: if you can find one that stands in well and doesn't cost you the game every snap, then you're doing well.  Maruo does that, and as a GLOB he's basically dressing for free (well, if we didn't have a GLOB P and a healthy Hansen).

[Blue In BC]

I think if they keep mandating even more GLOBs that they should definitely increase the AR size.  And this could make sense if you consider that 99% of GLOBs are on the "GLOB ELC" contract, which is basically "free" from a money standpoint.

Aren't our AR's already like 10 guys smaller than the NFL?  If they desperately want more GLOBs then every time you add one just +1 to the AR.  Why not?  I love that idea.  WPG always finds great GLOBs.  And I always feel like our AR is too small to achieve what we need to do (look at how we're always strained to get another DI on the DL).

As for Maruo, I'm talking within the GLOBs.  It's kind of like NATs on D: if you can find one that stands in well and doesn't cost you the game every snap, then you're doing well.  Maruo does that, and as a GLOB he's basically dressing for free (well, if we didn't have a GLOB P and a healthy Hansen).

Because the SMS would be divided by 46 players instead of 45. That's about $74K even on an ELC and is enough to give 7 players a $10K raise instead using the same money. It also effectively gives more playing time to globals instead of a Canadian back up.

I'd rather add another import DI than another global.

[theaardvark]

Adding AR spots at the expense of PR spots would make sense,  especailly if the AR expansion is NAT/GLB.

We don't need more DI spots, we need to develop more NAT/GLB players, who take more time to get up to speed that DI's.  Having a few PR DI's should be enough to backup our starting  Americans, DI's come pretty ready to go.  ELC Nats and Globals on the AR isn't going to break the bank, and could give better depth in the harder to find and harder to develop half of the roster.

[Blue In BC]

Adding AR spots at the expense of PR spots would make sense,  especailly if the AR expansion is NAT/GLB.

We don't need more DI spots, we need to develop more NAT/GLB players, who take more time to get up to speed that DI's.  Having a few PR DI's should be enough to backup our starting  Americans, DI's come pretty ready to go.  ELC Nats and Globals on the AR isn't going to break the bank, and could give better depth in the harder to find and harder to develop half of the roster.

No it wouldn't make any sense at all. A PR player might get $1K per game while an ELC player gets about $4K. A global player is just another way of having another DI ( non Canadian ). We shouldn't be in the business of putting globals on the roster just for the sake of doing it.

You even mentioned an import is more game ready and would be the same ELC cost. Why would we add a global instead of a DI?

Money and roster size aside, another global or import take away reps from a Canadian. If the roster size is not increased it actually eliminates a Canadian.

If the import is superior to the global he'd get more reps and be more effective.

So who in their right mind would support another global over an import? For that matter I'd choose another Canadian on the AR over a global.

[theaardvark]

No it wouldn't make any sense at all. A PR player might get $1K per game while an ELC player gets about $4K. A global player is just another way of having another DI ( non Canadian ). We shouldn't be in the business of putting globals on the roster just for the sake of doing it.

You even mentioned an import is more game ready and would be the same ELC cost. Why would we add a global instead of a DI?

Money and roster size aside, another global or import take away reps from a Canadian. If the roster size is not increased it actually eliminates a Canadian.

If the import is superior to the global he'd get more reps and be more effective.

So who in their right mind would support another global over an import? For that matter I'd choose another Canadian on the AR over a global.

Roster should go up by one GLB AND one NAT... as we find and develop more GLB players, having the decision of which to roster - Sheahan, Mauro or Hansen gets tougher...

The point about Americans is they are easy to find, and quick to bring to game ready, so you don't need a lot of backups on the AR, you should have a few on the PR, and lots going through the PR and put on speed dial.   The GLB/NAT added to the AR gets a chance to work on teams and backup at their position, get some reps in garbage time, and actually develop in a way that they can't just on the PR. 

There is nothing stopping the league from adding two roster spots and increasing the SMS$ by 2 ELC's.  There is no doubt the league is better with more players on the AR, and just adding DI's would be a tough sell to the PA.  They could even add a DI too, getting the roster up to 48 and adding 3 ELC's to the $SMS.  I don't think the PA would object to 18 or 27 new jobs...