Rasheed Bailey released?

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

The team probably also thinks about next season in deciding what to do.

Ie, new Young guys showing promise might be kept for their potential, not what they can do right now.

Four straight grey cup appearances, thirty  thousand at the last game , they do not have any serious pressure to win right now.

This is good for longer term team success. Seems smart to me.

I agree with your viewpoint, Walters is compromising the current lineup a little in order to ensure next season's roster is better prepared, younger and cheaper, something he perhaps neglected to do enough of in the past. 

I'm all for shopping Lawler before the trade deadline to correct the receiver budget in order to retain other critical veterans that might walk away in F.A.  First two that come to mind are Ford and Holm, they're both going to be looking for Demerio Houston sized numbers and Walters can't afford to chintz out and lose them.

[theaardvark]

I agree with your viewpoint, Walter is compromising the current lineup a little in order to ensure next season's roster is better prepared, younger and cheaper, something he perhaps neglected to do enough of in the past. 

I'm all for shopping Lawler before the trade deadline to correct the receiver budget in order to retain other critical veterans that might walk away in F.A.  First two that come to mind are Ford and Holm, they're both going to be looking for Demerio Houston sized numbers and Walters can't afford to chintz out and lose them.

Lawler is in year 2 of a 2 year deal, so no need to move him to free up money for next year, and he will be useful for the playoff run.

I think the $$$ will balance back to the D next year...

[TecnoGenius]

Who the hell is solo?

He's the guy who shot Greedo first.

[DM83]

Well, if what Dinwiddie says is true, why wouldn't they find a way to sign him?  I am a huge fan of Bailey.  I have no idea if he ******* when he's in the lockerroom.  I would think being the fifth receiver would equate to shutting up, and doing his job, excelling as a blocking receiver, and the fourth option.

He's definitely way better as a fourth receiver, and in theory being covered by the worst DB cover guy or a LB.  He beats them all hands down! I am dreading reading the forum to find out somebody else has picked him up. If he and Lawlor would be in the lineup we would have the best receiving core in the league.

[Sir Blue and Gold]

I think the reality is that, aside from whether he's an easy personality to fit into the locker room or not, he's really a fourth or fifth option. If we are going to spend SMS dollars to upgrade a spot, is that really where we want to allocate them?

[Jesse]

I think the reality is that, aside from whether he's an easy personality to fit into the locker room or not, he's really a fourth or fifth option. If we are going to spend SMS dollars to upgrade a spot, is that really where we want to allocate them?

Aside from Bailey specifically, you gotta take upgrades where/when they become available.

You don't really get to choose which positions other teams cut.

[Sir Blue and Gold]

Aside from Bailey specifically, you gotta take upgrades where/when they become available.

You don't really get to choose which positions other teams cut.

But you DO choose whether or not the upgrade is worth it (which is what we've done with Bailey). We're not going to win more games with a slightly better 4th or 5th receiving option.

[Jesse]

But you DO choose whether or not the upgrade is worth it (which is what we've done with Bailey). We're not going to win more games with a slightly better 4th or 5th receiving option.

At this point, with Lucky maybe on the roster and Lawler coming back, I'm fine with not bringing him back.

But it was absolutely worth it, imo. I would have had Johnson off the roster and Clercius in a rotational role in an instant. There was zero downside. And we've mentioned how Zachs been struggling just getting all the receivers lined up because there are just too many new bodies.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Well, if what Dinwiddie says is true, why wouldn't they find a way to sign him?  I am a huge fan of Bailey.  I have no idea if he ******* when he's in the lockerroom.  I would think being the fifth receiver would equate to shutting up, and doing his job, excelling as a blocking receiver, and the fourth option.

He's definitely way better as a fourth receiver, and in theory being covered by the worst DB cover guy or a LB.  He beats them all hands down! I am dreading reading the forum to find out somebody else has picked him up. If he and Lawlor would be in the lineup we would have the best receiving core in the league.

I don't think it's completely fair to categorize Bailey as a 4th or 5th best receiver  when he fills a specific role that no other receiver on the team or in the entire league can do better than he does, maybe in time Clercius can fill his shoes but he's nowhere close right now. 

He's a physically tough receiver that plays with the ferociousness of a LB, Lawler, Schoen, Lucky or Gino Lewis wouldn't do well in his role.  He's also the best player they've ever used running those jet sweeps which have been sorely lacking this season.

[theaardvark]

I think the reality is that, aside from whether he's an easy personality to fit into the locker room or not, he's really a fourth or fifth option. If we are going to spend SMS dollars to upgrade a spot, is that really where we want to allocate them?

We did not have the $SMS before the season started, which is a primary reason we did not sign Bailey.

We have a lot of $SMS saving from our rec corps being on the 6 game.

Today is different than preseason.

Our needs are different, our budget is different.

Demski said that he's talked to Bailey, and he has some things to figure out. 

Whether that includes signing with a team that did no want to resign him in 2023 but eventually did when he dropped his price, and then passed on him in 2024 choosing to give Schoen a contract he deserved while still paying Lawler a big contract along with a premium price for Demski, or just a question of is the CFL still for him, of does the UFL become a possibility (signing with the Bombers takes the UFL out of the picture for next year). 

I haven't heard a single Bomber say they don't want him as a team mate, and you'll never hear O'Shea say ANYTHING other than "I like the guys we have", so that's not anything you can read into anything.

I hope he comes back, and tears it up, and as another poster commented, score the winning points against the Argos in the GC (after Lucky scores the winning points against BC in the WDF). 

[Sir Blue and Gold]

We did not have the $SMS before the season started, which is a primary reason we did not sign Bailey.

We have a lot of $SMS saving from our rec corps being on the 6 game.

Today is different than preseason.

Our needs are different, our budget is different.

Demski said that he's talked to Bailey, and he has some things to figure out. 

Whether that includes signing with a team that did no want to resign him in 2023 but eventually did when he dropped his price, and then passed on him in 2024 choosing to give Schoen a contract he deserved while still paying Lawler a big contract along with a premium price for Demski, or just a question of is the CFL still for him, of does the UFL become a possibility (signing with the Bombers takes the UFL out of the picture for next year). 

I haven't heard a single Bomber say they don't want him as a team mate, and you'll never hear O'Shea say ANYTHING other than "I like the guys we have", so that's not anything you can read into anything.

I hope he comes back, and tears it up, and as another poster commented, score the winning points against the Argos in the GC (after Lucky scores the winning points against BC in the WDF). 

Most of this is conjecture.

Who says we now have a lot of SMS room? You? Who says we didn't sign him because we couldn't afford him? You again?

We have more players on the 6-game than we expected which may or may not mean we have significant savings. All of those players have been replaced by someone else getting a cheque. How much bonus money is 'dead' at this point is anyone's guess.

We do know that teams that have more injuries very often run higher on their SMS at the end of the season. We even used injuries as our rationale for exceeding the cap slightly before.

"We acknowledge that we exceeded the CFL's Salary Management System cap," Miller said. "We had an unprecedented number of injuries in 2022 and did not want to sacrifice putting a competitive football team on the field."

https://globalnews.ca/news/9658843/bombers-fined-cfl-salary-cap-violation/

[J5V]

Yet again, if we wanted him when he became available I am sure we would have reached out to him. If he wanted to be here I'm sure he would have reached out to us. Since he's not here we can safely assume it's because neither of those scenarios worked out. Anything is possible down the line. Let's turn the page.

[dd]

Cue Bob Seger and the clarinet intro!!!

[TecnoGenius]

Most of this is conjecture.

Who says we now have a lot of SMS room? You? Who says we didn't sign him because we couldn't afford him? You again?

Answers:

1) Math.  When league-top-paid Rs go on 6G and all of their replacements are basically ELC math says you have decent $wiggle$ room.  BinBC often runs the numbers.

2) KW explicitly said that any unsigned FA vet would be welcomed back if they'd take ELC.  You can go watch the video.  He was hinting at Jeffcoat, Bailey, etc.  I bet 100% we would have signed Bailey in FA if he came to them saying ELC as A-OK.

Yes, true, we also thought he was the most expendable out of the 5 starters.  But that doesn't mean we didn't want him.  It just meant we had financial incentive to kick the tires, and they clearly liked Wheatfall and Pokey.

Many players at the time spoke up saying they'd like to see Bailey back.  While it wasn't a big deal to start the season, now it maybe is, and now we have that little extra $SMS$ his pro-rated 1/2 year signing would require.

[TecnoGenius]

I don't think it's completely fair to categorize Bailey as a 4th or 5th best receiver  when he fills a specific role that no other receiver on the team or in the entire league can do better than he does, maybe in time Clercius can fill his shoes but he's nowhere close right now. 

He's a physically tough receiver that plays with the ferociousness of a LB, Lawler, Schoen, Lucky or Gino Lewis wouldn't do well in his role.  He's also the best player they've ever used running those jet sweeps which have been sorely lacking this season.

Bailey was a firm #4.  But you are correct, he was more than that because he was a legit threat.  Thinking back to '19 and '21 we really spread the ball around.  Everyone was used every game.

Now we mostly focus on the stars, or whoever has the hot hand that night (like Pokey's 200Y night).  We make it much easier for Ds.  That said, we saw a bit of "spreading it around" last game, and I think it helped us win.