2024-2025 CFL (non-Bomber) off-season discussion

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Doesn't matter is Sergio or Stanley (or even Jones) got raises, and any 2024 $SMS given to them in bonus is money we don't have to spend out of the 2025 $SMS.  They could all have gotten big raises, and we would still have more 2025 $SMS to spend than we did 2024 $SMS

No more signings with 2024 $SMS, though, that's done...

We didn't go over, but did we spend it all? 

No reason not to spend it all, the team is cash rich and Walters always attempts to spend every last penny and usually goes a bit over.  They used to sign a slew of new contracts at the end of each season like the Als have done, but that was before the bigger contracts were awarded to Collaros, Lawler and a few others, so they've lost the ability to save.

[Blue In BC]

Perhaps the Als had more space available?

They might have but not every bonus is part of an early signing situation. Not every player is going to get a big bump in pay either.

If a team has $100K left, that might go to 1 high profile player or 10 players getting $10K each as an example.

We don't see the granularity for all these players getting re-signed. Generally we expect teams have some SMS left and use that up. The key is to not exceed the SMS by any significant amount. Going over by $25K more or less in 2023 was a good result.

I'm not expecting to be out of that type of range for 2024 but that's just a guess.

As I have said we had a low cost against 1 game IR so that should suggest we had some SMS left. We probably gained ground against the 6 game IR as well.

If Schoen's SMS was $260K and $130K was early money, he was still being replaced by an ELC against that $130K balance. Obviously those are just guesstimate kinds of examples. However I think the explanation is reasonable on why I think we had SMS left.

[Ducky]

Coach Bourgoin gone to BC.

Bombers have lots of work to do.

[theaardvark]

Signing players to play in Winnipeg in January is not the easiest sell.  I'd bet most of the signings on other teams so far have been players who want to or presently do live in that area.  Like Hubert.

We have a good corps re-signed, and I bet the whiteboard in Walters office is already full of plan A, B and C for every position, and during the tampering period, I expect him to be very active, both in feilding matching offers, and throwing out offers to other players.

It will be interesting to see if we can make an OC hire that attracts players. 

[Blue In BC]

Signing players to play in Winnipeg in January is not the easiest sell.  I'd bet most of the signings on other teams so far have been players who want to or presently do live in that area.  Like Hubert.

We have a good corps re-signed, and I bet the whiteboard in Walters office is already full of plan A, B and C for every position, and during the tampering period, I expect him to be very active, both in feilding matching offers, and throwing out offers to other players.

It will be interesting to see if we can make an OC hire that attracts players. 

Have you even looked at our free agent list? We have 3 starting receivers, 3 starting OL, 3 starting DB's, 2 starting LB's and 5 or 6 starting DL as potential free agents. We have 3 players getting NFL tryouts that we may or may not lose. Two are rookies but Ford may not be back regardless of NFL opportunities.

We may get most of them back and we have have other plans in place.

It's an over statement to suggest we have a good corps in place as of today. There are 24 potential free agents.

I'm not overly concerned or overly worried yet, but we won't know the outcome for a few weeks and the 1st week of free agency.

I'd say there are about 12 I think we want and will get to re-sign. A few could go one way or the other

[theaardvark]

In the tampering window, we will see how desperate other teams are to take our FA's. 

Last year, the starters they got Hardrick (dodged that injury bullet) and Houston.  And Grant on teams.

We retained Bryant (again), Castillo (again), Oliviera, Schoen, Alexander, Jefferson, Kramdi, our Oline, Lawson, Nichols, Thomas, Wolitarski.  All but Castillo before FA started.

No doubt players now want to hear offers, but for the guys Walters wants, and guys with realistic asks, they will be signed before tampering, and guys who don't get Hardeick/Houson offers during tampering, we will sign them too.  Schoen/Oliveria signed early in the tampering window...

The rest we re-signed, extended or recruited.

I trust Walters implicitly to give good value offers to our pending free agents.  We will lose a couple again, and may have to wait on some with NFL opportunities, but this year, I can see us snagging a player or two.

Having our OC in place, though, would be helpful.  That's not as much a Walters thing as it is an MOS thing, with Walters and Miller assisting.

https://www.cfl.ca/fa24/#BOMBERS

[Blue In BC]

I think that players that aren't re-signed before the free agency tampering period tend to move elsewhere. This is not only a Bomber issue. Every team makes an offer they feel is fair and continue to re-sign and spend SMS on somewhat of a 1st come 1st serve basis.

While we might offer Ford $180K today, by the start of free agency we make have decided to spend elsewhere.

[theaardvark]

We signed Alexander, Schoen and Olivera during the tampering period...

So yeah, the rest either retired or moved on, and we really didn't lose anyone irreplaceable. 

Grant is a unique case and can't really be con sidered in this conversation.  He's just weird.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

We signed Alexander, Schoen and Olivera during the tampering period...

So yeah, the rest either retired or moved on, and we really didn't lose anyone irreplaceable. 

Grant is a unique case and can't really be con sidered in this conversation.  He's just weird.

I beg to differ, both Jeffcoat and Grant proved to be irreplaceable players, their skill level was not fully matched by a single individual.

[theaardvark]

I beg to differ, both Jeffcoat and Grant proved to be irreplaceable players, their skill level was not fully matched by a single individual.

We didn't lose Jeffcoat to signing with another team, and Grant, well... is Grant.

We fully expected that one of the DL would step up, but ran into injury issues.  So, same as Jeffcoat, but probably cheaper, and we should see some improvement on that this year as they heal up.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

We didn't lose Jeffcoat to signing with another team, and Grant, well... is Grant.

We fully expected that one of the DL would step up, but ran into injury issues. So, same as Jeffcoat, but probably cheaper, and we should see some improvement on that this year as they heal up.

Disagree again, injuries did not impair any of the replacements performances, not one of them was able to make the consistent impact Jeffcoat could because they are nowhere near as skilled as he was.  He was a dominant pass rusher probably better than Willy game to game, his replacement has not yet been found, so they've had to compromise.

[dd]

ya, we never even came close to replacing Jeffcoat as  DE and this should be our #1 priority, as I m not sure we can get a secondary as good as the one we just had--some will pursue NFL opportunities, some other teams etc., so we'll need a bonafide pass rush this year for sure.

[Blue In BC]

Here is the list of the 18 players that have had NFL looks so far. On Monday those players can be made offers if their respective team releases them. 3 Bombers are on that list.

https://3downnation.com/2025/01/05/every-cfl-player-to-work-out-with-an-nfl-team-this-offseason/

[Stats Junkie]

The BC Lions announced this morning the team has acquired American offensive lineman Dejon Allen in a trade with the Toronto Argonauts.

In return, the Lions send National linebacker Ryder Varga and our round two selection in the 2026 CFL Draft to Toronto.

https://www.bclions.com/2025/01/06/lions-acquire-2023-most-outstanding-offensive-lineman-dejon-allen/
https://www.argonauts.ca/2025/01/06/argonauts-agree-to-trade-with-b-c-lions/

The Ottawa REDBLACKS have filled their Defensive Coordinator vacancy; tapping former Toronto Argonauts Co-Defensive Coordinator and Secondary Coach, and three-time Grey Cup champion William Fields to lead their defence.

https://www.ottawaredblacks.com/2025/01/06/redblacks-name-william-fields-defensive-coordinator/

Jason Gregor @JasonGregor
Hearing Mark Kilam's coaching staff with the #Elks has been finalized:
Jordan Maksymic
JC. Sherritt
Stephen Sorrells
Demetrious Maxie
Jason Tucker
Aaron Grymes
Des Catellier
Trysten Dice
#CFL

[Waffler]

This is an odd one. At least to me, I never heard of this before.

Mike O'Shea invited on 'mentors trip' with Toronto Maple Leafs

https://3downnation.com/2025/01/06/winnipeg-blue-bombers-head-coach-mike-oshea-invited-on-mentors-trip-with-toronto-maple-leafs/