Rasheed Bailey released?

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Rasheed Bailey signs with Ottawa.

https://3downnation.com/2024/08/29/ottawa-redblacks-sign-veteran-cfl-receiver-rasheed-bailey/

I think Bailey agreed to a PR position with the RedBlacks, so his salary demands can not be pointed to as an issue, he'll obviously take anything offered.  He may have been signed to back up Justin Hardy, who is a very similar hard-nosed receiver.

[bwiser]

It seems like O'Shea wants to give Clercius and Johnson a chance to show what they can do and doesn't want an older receiver with little upside. Perhaps one or both may develop into effective CFL players and that can only happen with them getting reps.

[Blue In BC]

It seems like O'Shea wants to give Clercius and Johnson a chance to show what they can do and doesn't want an older receiver with little upside. Perhaps one or both may develop into effective CFL players and that can only happen with them getting reps.

Clercius is a Canadian so it's a different situation. Johnson doesn't necessarily have to be on the AR although it's useful. However import receivers often spend their 1st year on the PR.

He still has to be productive. It's not clear he's providing more than Clercius and if Woli is back this game he could get bumped to the PR.

[bwiser]

I am definitely putting Woli in over Clercius but it was not a bad thing that Johnson and Clercius got some reps. You have to play to improve but at the same time as pointed out by a previous poster, you have to be productive.

[TecnoGenius]

It seems like O'Shea wants to give Clercius and Johnson a chance to show what they can do and doesn't want an older receiver with little upside. Perhaps one or both may develop into effective CFL players and that can only happen with them getting reps.

I dunno... Johnson smells like the next LDW to me.  I hope I'm wrong!  And if I'm right, I hope we don't waste 2 seasons on him...

(66! Not saying LDW was bad, just that he was a bad fit for the Lapo O at the time.)

[Blue In BC]

IDK. Johnson might turn out to be a very good receiver. Not every CFL rookie receiver shines in year 1. On TV it's difficult to see exactly what he's doing well or not well. Reports suggest he's a good blocker.

The issue at the moment is whether he's our best option that has lost Schoen for the season, Lawler for many games and Woli for many games.

Football is a series of roster management decisions. When someone gets injured, who is next on the depth chart.

Time will tell if he is still with the team in 2025 and has progressed. Too early to write him off but I do question whether he's the best option now that Woli is back.

This is not directly a question of receiver only. We may choose to retain an addition DL over him this week now that Woli returns?

If we drop Adams to keep him then the team has a reason to do that I guess.

[Sir Blue and Gold]

I don't think it's being so much in love with Josh Johnson as it is about being not so high on Rasheed Bailey.

The guy has played in 60 CFL games and has two games with more than 100 receiving yards and none since 2022 despite playing on a historically good offense for most of his career.

Johnson is younger and could develop and I think that's why he's playing. Why not take the chance and even if he doesnt make the jump he's not going to be that far off production wise.

[Jesse]

Our receiving core would be great if it wasn't for injury.

We were supposed to be starting one rookie receiver with Clercius being a back-up.

Instead we've have 4 rookies taking turns starting. A guy like Johnson should have spent this year on the PR, became a depth player next year, and then maybe push for starting time. Instead we're nitpicking him for a position he should never have been in.

However, I definitely would have got Bailey if we could have and put him right in Johnson's spot. Let him actually practice while Bailey filled the gap while we still had TWO other rookie starters in Wilson and Clercius. I think things would have been (and continue to be) much more successful.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Our receiving core would be great if it wasn't for injury.

We were supposed to be starting one rookie receiver with Clercius being a back-up.

Instead we've have 4 rookies taking turns starting. A guy like Johnson should have spent this year on the PR, became a depth player next year, and then maybe push for starting time. Instead we're nitpicking him for a position he should never have been in.

However, I definitely would have got Bailey if we could have and put him right in Johnson's spot. Let him actually practice while Bailey filled the gap while we still had TWO other rookie starters in Wilson and Clercius. I think things would have been (and continue to be) much more successful.

I was all for bringing Bailey back until Lucky showed up and played well, couple weeks difference in timing and Bailey might have happened.  Now I accept the Bombers have moved on and are investing time in a bunch of new receivers which will pay dividends in the future. With Woli coming back Clercius probably gets shuffled out of the lineup to maintain the ratio balance. Don't know if Johnson will stick long-term, but eventually I'd like to see them make use of one bigger target receiver in the mold of Justin MacInnis or Nik Lewis.

[Jesse]

I was all for bringing Bailey back until Lucky showed up and played well, couple weeks difference in timing and Bailey might have happened.  Now I accept the Bombers have moved on and are investing time in a bunch of new receivers which will pay dividends in the future. With Woli coming back Clercius probably gets shuffled out of the lineup to maintain the ratio balance. Don't know if Johnson will stick long-term, but eventually I'd like to see them make use of one bigger target receiver in the mold of Justin MacInnis or Nik Lewis.

It's fine, but even Lucky is taking a backseat to Johnson and it took and injury to get him in.

I would still have Johnson on the PR. I honestly think it's more fair to him and puts us in a better place to win games.

We are hearing over and over from player, coaches, and media that the issue with our offence (specifically the red zone) is due to missed assignments. Wrong routes, reads, depths. There have been simple solutions all year long but we've made it harder on ourselves than it needs to be and it has shown in our record.

[J5V]

There have been simple solutions all year long but we've made it harder on ourselves than it needs to be and it has shown in our record.

Short term pain for long term gain?

[markf]

We are hearing over and over from player, coaches, and media that the issue with our offence (specifically the red zone) is due to missed assignments. Wrong routes, reads, depths. There have been simple solutions all year long but we've made it harder on ourselves than it needs to be and it has shown in our record.

And when Lucky got a chance to play he produced.  As far as I could tell he seemed to fit in well, got open, caught the ball, and scored one of our rare this season touchdown passes.

[Jesse]

And when Lucky got a chance to play he produced.  As far as I could tell he seemed to fit in well, got open, caught the ball, and scored one of our rare this season touchdown passes.

And Zach immediately pointed out that the TD was a result of Lucky responding to the defensive coverage outside of the play call. IE. A veteran savvy move that we've been missing.

[TecnoGenius]

The guy has played in 60 CFL games and has two games with more than 100 receiving yards and none since 2022 despite playing on a historically good offense for most of his career.

Ya, so now do Woli... The #4 and #5 reads aren't supposed to produce 100Y games regularly.  That's not the stat by which we measure their value.

Besides, even the top stars we had weren't having many 100Y games in '22 and '23 (compared to other teams) because we tended to spread the ball around and focus on the run.

[TecnoGenius]

We are hearing over and over from player, coaches, and media that the issue with our offence (specifically the red zone) is due to missed assignments. Wrong routes, reads, depths. There have been simple solutions all year long but we've made it harder on ourselves than it needs to be and it has shown in our record.

Watching our O live and on TV the problem with redzone production seems to be that every team is in our playbook.  The Ds are blanketing our Rs and running their routes.  They are usually in a better position than we are, and the target is double or triple covered.

And besides the odd token Brady run on 1st, we basically never try to run it in.  No misdirection runs, no sweeps, no "passing down" runs, no draws.  Nope, it's always corner fade or crossing jump ball.  It's actually sad and pathetic and I'm getting worked up just sitting here thinking about it.

Think back to when AH33 was here, and when Lapo was here.  We'd be running on at least 25% of downs in the redzone.  Teams had no idea what we were going to do and we scored effortlessly.  Heck, even Matt Nichols was getting us bigly redzone production.

Come to think of it, it's a small miracle Kenny got that TD for us last game, and that might be only because it was worst-in-league HAM.

Sad.  I'm gonna go alternate between crying and punching walls...