2025 Free Agency (Blue Bomber Signings/News)

[blue_gold_84]

Yawn! Kyle doesn't want to win the cup. Zero big name signings. We are gonna get smoked. Us and the Stamps in the battle of the basement.

Zach didn't sound too enthusiastic about coming back, and we have no real backup. And Kyle and. Oshea are in the final year of their contract. Oh what a bad day. The big news of the day is the former alouette and bison grad leaving Montreal to come to Winnioeg.

Is this good enuff?

This is what irrational, baseless panic looks like.

[blue_or_die]

Ya, not much to talk about or get excited about these days. Looking at what other teams have done and the talent they have acquired, some of it from us, closes the gap between the haves and the have nots, both east and west. Hamilton signed a bunch of talent, Ottawa picked up a couple of good peices to their puzzle, Montreal has a rookie starting Qb, which could go good or bad, Fajardo is BACKUP in Edmonton after winning a Grey Cup a year ago, Edmonton took Ford from us, Calgary signed VAJ, we went for decent but not all star signings, we'll see how this plays out but for once I don't see a clear cut favourite to run the table.

We had and still have a very good roster. The bad teams spent big money in free agency while we maintained our core, moved forward with previously new pieces who proved themselves to be worthy, and just need to fill in some losses with new faces. Why fix what ain't broken? Of course it's not surprising that loser teams are shoring up to trying and get better by making big splashes. For many years Hamilton was hailed the winner of free agency and they haven't won a Grey Cup since the OJ trial.

[TBURGESS]

This is what irrational, baseless panic looks like.

Yawning isn't what panic looks like. 

[blue_gold_84]

Yawning isn't what panic looks like.

You should probably read the post I quoted in its entirety before you pull out of one your contrarian cards.

[theaardvark]

Yawn! Kyle doesn't want to win the cup. Zero big name signings. We are gonna get smoked. Us and the Stamps in the battle of the basement.

Zach didn't sound too enthusiastic about coming back, and we have no real backup. And Kyle and. Oshea are in the final year of their contract. Oh what a bad day. The big news of the day is the former alouette and bison grad leaving Montreal to come to Winnioeg.

Is this good enuff?

So, you are suggesting that coackes/GMs in the final year of contracts phone it in?  How absurd.  If they are angling for an extention, they do everything they can.  If they are angling for a move, they... do everything they can.

Big signings?  Really?  Its who you sign, from other teams AND your own that yields a roster.  Ask Pinball about keeping his team intact.  Or Rigmaiden.  Look around the league and tell me who kept more of their team together.

https://www.cfl.ca/fa25/

Look over this list, and see which team the word "Extended" is used most on.

5 cup appearances in a row, and we "lost" 3 starting calibre players, while upgrading at many spots.

Your points unsurorisingly make no sense and have no foundation in reality.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

We had and still have a very good roster. The bad teams spent big money in free agency while we maintained our core, moved forward with previously new pieces who proved themselves to be worthy, and just need to fill in some losses with new faces. Why fix what ain't broken? Of course it's not surprising that loser teams are shoring up to trying and get better by making big splashes. For many years Hamilton was hailed the winner of free agency and they haven't won a Grey Cup since the OJ trial.

Existing core is eroding somewhat wouldn't you say?  Bighill gone, BA probably gone, Woli, Bailey,Yoshi all key players, question marks along both the O and D-lines, can you define the current core group?

Also be careful labelling opponents as if they're perennial losers, it doesn't take much to upset the apple cart and flip the tables as the Als and Argos have done over the last two seasons. Many impressive upgrades have been made among Western teams and I wouldn't want to bet money on which 2 teams are going to fall short of making the playoffs.

With an expiring QB and no obvious replacement in sight, it might appear to those "losers" that the Bombers are approaching the end of their reign and are a vulnerable team clinging to the coattails of past magic.  It's difficult to get to the top of the mountain, but it's more difficult to remain there.

[blue_gold_84]

It's difficult to get to the top of the mountain, but it's more difficult to remain there.

And yet, they've done that for four straight seasons, the last of which where they started 0-4. Remember how many had written off the Bombers going into the 2024 campaign? They all got to enjoy hefty servings of crew as a result.

Until the other teams in the division actually do anything on the field, it's the Bombers' crown to lose. Moves on paper in mid-February don't mean much. Look no further than the Ti-Cats who have made big moves in free agency in recent years with basically nothing to show for it. And let's be honest here: most teams are significant QB1 injury from being in tough.

I do agree this team's corps is aging out, which makes management's job trickier to maintain the level of success this team has had the last five years or so. We've seen new faces fill in those key spots quite well, though.

[Jesse]

Existing core is eroding somewhat wouldn't you say?  Bighill gone, BA probably gone, Woli, Bailey,Yoshi all key players, question marks along both the O and D-lines, can you define the current core group?

Also be careful labelling opponents as if they're perennial losers, it doesn't take much to upset the apple cart and flip the tables as the Als and Argos have done over the last two seasons. Many impressive upgrades have been made among Western teams and I wouldn't want to bet money on which 2 teams are going to fall short of making the playoffs.

With an expiring QB and no obvious replacement in sight, it might appear to those "losers" that the Bombers are approaching the end of their reign and are a vulnerable team clinging to the coattails of past magic.  It's difficult to get to the top of the mountain, but it's more difficult to remain there.

You say question marks, but I'd say we're much more settled than going into last season at those position groups.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

And yet, they've done that for four straight seasons, the last of which where they started 0-4. Remember how many had written off the Bombers going into the 2024 campaign? They all got to enjoy hefty servings of crew as a result.

Until the other teams in the division actually do anything on the field, it's the Bombers' crown to lose. Moves on paper in mid-February don't mean much. Look no further than the Ti-Cats who have made big moves in free agency in recent years with basically nothing to show for it. And let's be honest here: most teams are significant QB1 injury from being in tough.

I do agree this team's corps is aging out, which makes management's job trickier to maintain the level of success this team has had the last five years or so. We've seen new faces fill in those key spots quite well, though.

The last paragraph nails it, so it's not unreasonable to expect they would be more aggressive in FA for this very reason.  It's baffling what they intend to do with bonus money they have at their disposal, plus losing Lawler, Bighill and Dobson they appear to be spending less on player salaries than they did last season. 

[blue_gold_84]

The last paragraph nails it, so it's not unreasonable to expect they would be more aggressive in FA for this very reason.

Aggressive how? Who would you have liked to see targeted yesterday?

[theaardvark]

Just an observation, 1/3 of all GM's in the league were on the staff of the 2019 GC winning Blue Bombers under Kyle Walters...

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

You say question marks, but I'd say we're much more settled than going into last season at those position groups.

Question mark at Safety, question marks on the O-line, as in not set who plays where.

The D-line has the most, Willie, Vaughters and Lawson probably locked in, but can't say either Woods or Adams are starting on the D-line when they decided not to even dress them for the GC, behind Fox, Garbutt and Haba who they let walk away.

[theaardvark]

FS, 6 different options to win the spot.  Nat and American.

Oline, we have, on the roster from last year, a full oline ready to go.  The best 5 will win out.

Dline, with Vaughters, we have substantially upgraded on the end, and I don't think we've downgraded in the middle, with Lawson back. 

Plus, there are bodies in camp that can be "the next one".  We seem to find them every year.   And there are 3 new sets of eyes seeking them out this year.

Not worried at all.

[markf]

Oline, we have, on the roster from last year, a full oline ready to go.  The best 5 will win out.

The O line was the fifth ranked in the CFL last season. Some games I feared for Zach. It did not look very good in the Grey Cup.

They have a few American players that did not play. Maybe someone else is coming.

Going with what we had last season doesn't seem like a good idea to me.

[dd]

The game is won and lost in the trenches.

We need a LG and C for our O line, and we need to upgrade our interior D line to generate pressure on opposing Qb's, our arguably weakest link last year, this is where I'd be spending our newly found SMS money