Bomber Free Agents

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Free agency is rapidly approaching. Only a few might test free agency. Others are just coming off of ELC's so what is the delay in re-signing Fox, Haba and Garbutt for example? Are one or more of that group not part of the plans in 2025?

I was expecting at least a couple more of our potential free agents to be re-signed this week. All I hear is crickets!!!

Walters may be trying to hold the line on offering large salary bumps to some of these 3rd year players, pushing them to test FA to see if they can get offers more to their liking.  Bit of a risky strategy for Bombers as they could lose a few players they've invested a lot of time in to offers of marginal difference. When a player goes elsewhere a full explanation of their reasoning is never provided, they're just gone.

[Blue In BC]

Walters may be trying to hold the line on offering large salary bumps to some of these 3rd year players, pushing them to test FA to see if they can get offers more to their liking.  Bit of a risky strategy for Bombers as they could lose a few players they've invested a lot of time in to offers of marginal difference. When a player goes elsewhere a full explanation of their reasoning is never provided, they're just gone.

Could be. Even 3rd year players may have exaggerated views of their value. OTOH, Dobson, Lawler, Schoen, Fox, Garbutt, Haba and a couple of others important pieces of the team. We've already lost O. Wilson and we don't want to lose a large number of players at one time.

That said we've remained somewhat status quo bringing back K. WIlson, Gauthier, Parker and Thomas. That may not have been a bad thing but there are players in the succession plan for some older vets.

A few others like Augustine, Cole, Feltmate, Lofton and Alexander can play a role but are in TBD territory.

Those I don't expect back: Streveler, Benson, Whitehead, Bighill, Taylor and Noah Hallett

[theaardvark]

Any player we lose to another team means a player they had becomes available... so, sure, letting them hit FA is a risk, and I am sure in the tampering period we will lose some, but I will not be surprised if we get some back there.

Last year, we lost Hardrick, which gave us Lofton.  Change happens

[dd]

MOS seems like a guy who does not like to backtrack once he's given a player a commitment, he usually moves forward with Plan B. I think Pokey, Ayers and Ford have to be careful coming back from the NFL too late, O'Shea may give their jobs away to other players and they might have a hard time getting them back.

I think you're right on this. MOS is loyal to a fault with his players, and he will be reluctant to pull a player off the field once he's played 10 or so games and is committed to the BB in favour of someone coming back from a failed NFL attempt. As good as Ford is, if we have a DB doing a decent job at his spot, I'll be surprised if MOS even cares if Ford comes back.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Ahhh, I thought Michael Ayers signed with an NFL team before Christmas, but it looks like he only received a workout offer. So likely he'll be back on time for TC.