Our Free Agent's Signings Are in Limbo Until Brady & Dalton Make Their Moves

[dd]

Our D didn't win us a championship last year and strangely we didn't upgrade it at all, in fact it got weaker with the retirement of Jeffcoat. Think the same thing will happen this Year?? I do.

[TecnoGenius]

Our D didn't win us a championship last year and strangely we didn't upgrade it at all, in fact it got weaker with the retirement of Jeffcoat. Think the same thing will happen this Year?? I do.

If 66% of your SMS is in your O, then you put the game on your O.  You play your O to win, not conservative "prevent O" nonsense.  Our D has been getting steadily weaker every year since '21.  Looks to continue.  We're shifting our signing focus.  The Mafia used to be so D focused and our O was all relative nobodies (5-6 years ago) except for AH.

We lost 2 GCs due to prevent O, putting the game on our D, which clearly can't get it done.  That said, The Mafia isn't stupid: I doubt they make that mistake 3 times in a row.  Surely not...

(That said, our D did get us to the GC with a thorough disintegration of the BC O.  I put that clobbering 100% on Hall's genius.  But Calvillo was too smart and judo'd Hall for the cup.  And Thorpe stopping us just enough to give them the chance.)

[TecnoGenius]

I compiled a list for the Bombers based on this. It is not going to be exact, but gives a rough sense of what Walters is working against:

1. Zach 600,000
2. Streveler 120,000+ (he has performance bonuses, but if he gets them, it likely means Zach is injured/on 6 game)
3. Rookie 3rd QB 70,000
...

Thanks for this!  This is awesome work, great stuff to see on this forum.  I still haven't had time to pore through it, but having this list handy allows us fans to speak more intelligently regarding budgets and limits and options.

I'm keeping this list around in a file, to update as needed.  Would be worth a repost from time to time.

[Lincoln Locomotive]

Can't replace a Jeffcoat easily and Adam Bighills ship has already sailed and left port.....losing Houston was also a blow and Rose is declining as well as Nicols.....Alexander never was what he was before his serious injury.   We also lost Walker who was decent....so unless we do some incredible scouting for replacements.....not an easy task.   Our O will have to be lights out and really we didn't dominate that much on O last season other than snowing the Riders at the Banjos Bowl,ll

[Lincoln Locomotive]

Losing O'leary-Orange hurts our Canadian depth.....we will lose more...,so this is the flip side of signing both BO and DS to 230K contracts.....the cupboard is bare.....who's next

[Waffler]

O'leary-Orange is not that big a loss to me. We already have Murphy here and 10 draft picks to fill out our pipeline of Canadians. WAY more worried about the D. BC seems to be stronger on Offense to me and that's the team we have to shut down if we want first. We BARELY did it last year in the regular season.

[Pigskin]

O'leary-Orange is not that big a loss to me. We already have Murphy here and 10 draft picks to fill out our pipeline of Canadians. WAY more worried about the D. BC seems to be stronger on Offense to me and that's the team we have to shut down if we want first. We BARELY did it last year in the regular season.

I don't think we are finishing first this season. Our OL? Our D needs some key pieces. A guy like Bennett is going have to play a lot better then last season. I am hoping Ford, can come in and win a starting spot out of TC, and be lights out good. Bombers scouting will have to find some gems.

[Jesse]

I don't we are finishing first this season. Our OL? Our D needs some key pieces. A guy like Bennett is going have to play a lot better then last season. I am hoping Ford, can come in and win a starting spot out of TC, and be lights out good. Bombers scouting will have to find some gems.

lol. Who is suddenly going to finish ahead of us?

Our team is 95% set. We didn't even lose as much as BC/TO/MTL.

Ya'll are taking some crazy pills.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

I don't think we are finishing first this season. Our OL? Our D needs some key pieces. A guy like Bennett is going have to play a lot better then last season. I am hoping Ford, can come in and win a starting spot out of TC, and be lights out good. Bombers scouting will have to find some gems.

Like his brother Ford doesn't have a lot of playing experience, so I can't see how he is going to be that much better than DB's already on the team with a whole lot more playing experience. Being athletically gifted doesn't make up for lack of game knowledge and experience.

[GOLDMEMBER]

I am with Jesse some of you are super short sighted fans! Has our scouting department suddenly gone dormant? Is the bulk of our roster already set? lol

Take a step away from the cliff yall.

Danny Mac and Teddy will find great replace cheaper talent. They have proven that year in year out for many years now.

Also as Jesse as stated our clubs have been more scalped than us.

D will be perhaps better than last year.

We have really great coaching as well.

[TecnoGenius]

Ya, I'm not worried.  "First" is also a mindset.  If we expect to be there, we'll probably be there.

In the West I'd be more worried about the "bad" teams making improvements than BC being the same or better.  SSK is a wildcard: could suddenly be good.  EDM, who knows.  CGY could get their mojo back.

I won't worry about the E until we win the W division.  Then we'll worry about whether MTL is still killer with all their superstar ELCs.

I, for one, fully expect to be #1 in the W again.

[Pete]

My concern is the imbalance of our defense to the offence, we are spending well over a million $ more on offence than defense, by far the biggest discrepancy in the league.
We are going to have to win games by controlling the play.
 May be even tougher in the playoffs

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

I am with Jesse some of you are super short sighted fans! Has our scouting department suddenly gone dormant? Is the bulk of our roster already set? lol

Take a step away from the cliff yall.

Danny Mac and Teddy will find great replace cheaper talent. They have proven that year in year out for many years now.

Also as Jesse as stated our clubs have been more scalped than us.

D will be perhaps better than last year.

We have really great coaching as well.

I'm pretty worried, last season I believe they had 2-1/2 new starters, Kramdi, Holm and part-time Jackson, the first two were in their second year and Jackson was an anomaly, so I'm counting him as a 1/2.  We've already seen 6-7 starters leave with the potential for 2 more if Grant and Castillo can't be re-signed, that's a huge gap to fill and CFL newcomers are going to inevitably fall short of matching their contributions.  With no money left to spend, they could be stuck with major downgrades in a few positions all season long. 

Hardrick
Gray
Jeffcoat
Walker
Bailey
Houston/Rose

In addition they've lost 9 backup/role players of which 2 retired, not all were essential but there are at least 3 on this list that could have been retained at a very modest price, Clements, Exume and Hansen.

Clements
Briggs
McCrae
Miller
BOLO
Prukop
Brown
Exume
Hansen

[Waffler]

SSK is a wildcard: could suddenly be good.  EDM, who knows.  CGY could get their mojo back.

SSK I fully expect to come out hot as often happens with a new regime and then fall back to middle of the pack as the season goes. EDM... it's a clown show and will continue to be fifth.  CGY could be third, depends if they get good enough quarterbacking but they are not finding the new talent like they used to in the dominant years.

BC I expect to not miss a beat on Offense and is the only team that can match us there, possibly exceed. They are coached well and can almost match us in stability. They were one dumb play, one almost miracle play from being in first last year. Rhymes not going down in time for Sean Whyte to seal it.
https://youtu.be/JHNw1ZxzNnU?t=636

Rhymes is gone but they have signed former Eagle Travis Fulgham (38 catches, 538 yards, 4 TDs in 2020). He might be better than Rhymes. The big reason I fear them is they have the motivation, Winnipeg has stood between them and the Grey Cup two years straight and I am thinking Campbell has one goal in mind, with every move he makes... build a team that can beat Winnipeg.

[Jesse]

I'm pretty worried, last season I believe they had 2-1/2 new starters, Kramdi, Holm and part-time Jackson, the first two were in their second year and Jackson was an anomaly, so I'm counting him as a 1/2.  We've already seen 6-7 starters leave with the potential for 2 more if Grant and Castillo can't be re-signed, that's a huge gap to fill and CFL newcomers are going to inevitably fall short of matching their contributions.  With no money left to spend, they could be stuck with major downgrades in a few positions all season long. 

Hardrick
Gray
Jeffcoat
Walker
Bailey
Houston/Rose

In addition they've lost 9 backup/role players of which 2 retired, not all were essential but there are at least 3 on this list that could have been retained at a very modest price, Clements, Exume and Hansen.

Clements
Briggs
McCrae
Miller
BOLO
Prukop
Brown
Exume
Hansen

I look at position groups. Our secondary is set. Houston/Rose are leaving, but Parker, Holm, Alexander, Nichols are still here. We have Ford and McGhee to battle for the last starting spot and there will be a crop of rookies to compete for depth spots. This is something we've done successfully in every single year lately.

LBers are exactly the same. Clements left because we prioritized Cole, who will be first off the bench. Kramdi will be the presumed starter so actually gets a full TC.

DL we again followed our same philosophy of letting out DT go to FA. Replacing Jeffcoat is a new challenge, but I'm also excited to see some legitimate competition in camp as opposed to knowing who the starters are from the outset. We have Haba in the building and should bring more bodies in this year (Last year, I don't even remember a new DE in camp).

I am super excited to see Dobson and Eli have their shot to start. Replacing Hardick will be the challenge, but at a certain point in Hardricks career, replacing him is going to yield better results. New guy will have Neufeld beside him and OL is another position group that we've had to reload almost every year as players get big pay  days elsewhere, we've always been able to keep it going.

WRs, RB, and QB are all the best groups in the CFL. And we've added Streveler.

I just do not see where some people think other team's leap frogged us.