Brady Oliveria

[Jesse]

I will differ in opinion on AH33 "homer for life". He was a BC territorial exemption, and came "home" when opportunities allowed.  He would still be here if not for injury/fitness concerns (married life can do that).  All things being different, he retires this year in Blue and Gold.  But I'm not sorry for the obviously better decision to feature BO20.  Have to wonder if the Ouilette.Harris dynamic on sharing would have been something Harris could have pulled off with Brady.  Or would he have demanded first team reps?

AH33 is fully welcome to follow his path, and I don't doubt his preference would have been to stay here.  But you have to take the money when Pinball offers that contract.  No brainer.

He was here for 5 years of what will be a 13 year career.

I loved him while he was here. Can?t wait for him to hopefully sign a one day contract with us and put his name up on the ring of honour, if the team elects to do it.

But a ?Homer for life? is not a thing in the slightest?

[Blueforlife]

Pretty sure that wasn't meant literally.

Yup and I assumed most would understand that....
BO will be paid well and get a nice raise and is a critical signing.  I would like management to ensure he is a career Bomber, all he needs to do is stay healthy.

It's never a "blank cheque".  It has to fit within the SMS without jeopardizing other key players on the team.  It has to fit in with current and future personnel planning for the team.

The Bombers will no doubt do their utmost to make it happen and I believe it will.  But "blank cheque" is definitely not one of the options.

We all understand that but there are some players that just get paid, generational talents like Collaros, Harris, Charlie, Milt, certain OL, star receivers, etc.  When you are that good you get what you want.  BO is on the verge of being a generational talent and you are forced to overpay a bit to keep him.  Worth every penny especially because he has the right passport.

If we win the cup he will be even in a better position to negotiate.

[J5V]

But you have to take the money when Pinball offers that contract. 

Yet another reason I don't like Pinball.

[TecnoGenius]

Yet another reason I don't like Pinball.

The surprising thing is TOR has the SMS$ to waste $140k on AH for 2 seasons when his on-field production is basically zero.  He's there as a mentor and morale booster, to add heart and soul and drive, and to teach Oullette all of his tricks.  And he's done a superb job.  But he could have done it as a coach or consultant.  Or was TOR's plan to have AH33 on the 6GIR for most of both seasons so there is no SMS$ hit...

[TecnoGenius]

Most CFL RB's arrive in the league after being discarded by the NFL, Brady hasn't taken his shot yet and may want to to try that someday.

I think Brady is waaay too small to be a power NFL RB.  Yet he's too big to be one of the shifty tiny NFL RBs.  He's basically in the perfect zone for CFL RB, just like AH33.

The CFL rarely has RBs that go south.  I think Sheets is the last one?  And it turned out pretty awful for him.  He should have stayed a star in SSK for another 3-6 years.

[NewBlue]

Comparing BO to AH is ofcourse going to happen, but its unfair.

Yes, Brady is doing better than Andrew at the same stage, but Harris was a freak later in age when most RBs slow down. Also don't forget he had legit chances to get 1000/1000
They both seemed to get better with more touches, and better in bigger games. I'll never forget what Harris did for us in the 2019 Grey Cup.

If Brady can keep this up for a few more years, I'll be more than happy.

[TecnoGenius]

It was great to see in the BC game that Brady was being used more on the sneak-outs, screens, designed short passes, and dump passes.  His one-hander didn't get big yards, but it was a beautiful catch.

That AH33-staple stuff was missing from Brady's arsenal.  We'll be a much better team if Brady can make those plays.  It's mostly about trying to become the forgotten guy.

This may have been Brady's best game in terms of receptions?

[ModAdmin]

Yup and I assumed most would understand that....
BO will be paid well and get a nice raise and is a critical signing.  I would like management to ensure he is a career Bomber, all he needs to do is stay healthy.
We all understand that but there are some players that just get paid, generational talents like Collaros, Harris, Charlie, Milt, certain OL, star receivers, etc.  When you are that good you get what you want.  BO is on the verge of being a generational talent and you are forced to overpay a bit to keep him.  Worth every penny especially because he has the right passport.

If we win the cup he will be even in a better position to negotiate.

When you are "that good", it is usually due to at least a couple of factors - (a) you have outstanding talent and you have a great corp of teammates behind you, all of whom seek appropriate compensation.  I'm not nit-picking but you say the organization is "forced to overpay a bit...". But that does not mean they give him a "blank cheque".

[Blueforlife]

When you are "that good", it is usually due to at least a couple of factors - (a) you have outstanding talent and you have a great corp of teammates behind you, all of whom seek appropriate compensation.  I'm not nit-picking but you say the organization is "forced to overpay a bit...". But that does not mean they give him a "blank cheque".

Yeah your nit picking a bit imo, which is ok I do it often, we are here to debate and discuss.  My opinion is simple, pay the man what he wants / what he is worth.  When I said blank cheque I didn't mean it literally (as another poster properly pointed out). I throw that term around when there is talent that I want us to sign who's play is so great money isn't the key issue imo.  The point was how the critical in nature signing them is.  Yes BO is the product of his talent, conditioning, mentoring from Harris, teammates and coaches but in the end I see a generational type player in the making.  Huge props the OL as well and Bucks play calling.

I think we can end the discussion between the two of us on the topic here.  While I appreciate the insight and comments, I don't see value in proceeding further on this topic with you with these back and forths.

[Jesse]

Comparing BO to AH is ofcourse going to happen, but its unfair.

Yes, Brady is doing better than Andrew at the same stage, but Harris was a freak later in age when most RBs slow down. Also don't forget he had legit chances to get 1000/1000
They both seemed to get better with more touches, and better in bigger games. I'll never forget what Harris did for us in the 2019 Grey Cup.

If Brady can keep this up for a few more years, I'll be more than happy.

I think Brady's already passed Andrew's total yardage from that season.

[Blueforlife]

It was great to see in the BC game that Brady was being used more on the sneak-outs, screens, designed short passes, and dump passes.  His one-hander didn't get big yards, but it was a beautiful catch.

That AH33-staple stuff was missing from Brady's arsenal.  We'll be a much better team if Brady can make those plays.  It's mostly about trying to become the forgotten guy.

This may have been Brady's best game in terms of receptions?

This development of his passing game will open up the playbook, run game and deep ball.  Great for cold weather ball.  Not sure on his long term receving yards or how many he had that game.  Agree everything you said.

I think Brady's already passed Andrew's total yardage from that season.

Yes I believe you are correct, they had a graffic up on TSN recently but I can't remember the figures.

[J5V]

The surprising thing is TOR has the SMS$ to waste $140k on AH for 2 seasons when his on-field production is basically zero.  He's there as a mentor and morale booster, to add heart and soul and drive, and to teach Oullette all of his tricks.  And he's done a superb job.  But he could have done it as a coach or consultant.  Or was TOR's plan to have AH33 on the 6GIR for most of both seasons so there is no SMS$ hit...

Wow you make a good point there. The whole AH33 to Toronto thing was sleazy from the git-go by both parties. Remember the Ricky Ray to Toronto trade for the 100th GC season? Plenty of sleaze in that organization and Pinball in the middle of it all. Another guy I can't stand from that organization is Barker. Good on Milt for giving him a hard time on the panel. I sense even Sanchez is starting to not like him. Barker refuses to say anything good about the Bombers and always has a negative angle. The only thing I've ever heard him say positive about us is that we play "physical football" and even that was done in a backhand fashion. Sorry but I see Toronto as the Evil Empire and unfortunately that now includes AH33. I'd like nothing more than to see them choke and fall flat on their faces.

[theaardvark]

Every team has a player or two that they are overpaying for little or no benefit.  Be it an AH33 or a BLM, the whole idea f $SMS is to limit those bad decisions, but not eliminate them.

MTL had enough $SMS to sign Sankey and Lemon.  We had enough to bring in Prikop, and bring back Lawler.  There is $SMS money always available, and the more bad decisions you make on contracts for players with known issues, the less you have left over to make good decisions later in the season.

Tor is lucky they have Kelly on an ELC during AH33's stay.  Next year, AH33's cash goes to Kelly.

[TecnoGenius]

Tor is lucky they have Kelly on an ELC during AH33's stay.  Next year, AH33's cash goes to Kelly.

If Kelly goes to ~$600k like Zach, then it'll take a lot more than just AH's ~$140k to take Kelly from ELC to $600... I foresee an exodus of GC-appearing stars out of TOR in FA.  Even more than we'll have, even after we win.

[blue_gold_84]

Hilarious thread.