2025 Free Agency (Blue Bomber Signings/News)

[Blue In BC]

When Justin Dunk was talking about this, he said the CFL is so behind in sharing the audits from previous seasons with the CFLPA, that they've had to file a grievance to get these numbers. And that the financial year that this surplus same from was not from last year, but from 2 years ago (iirc).

So I think we're in uncharted waters because the league itself has broken their CBA responsibility by not filing this with the CFLPA as they were supposed to, and revealed this unexpectedly into FA, so there is negotiations happening. Which is why Walters is in wait and see mode with the new money ( along with other GMs).

It doesn't change the fact that the CFLPA must have had a plan for revenue sharing once it became available. The focus could have been a combination of many things I've mentioned earlier.

1. Raise ELC
2. Raise minimum PR payments
3. Add to pension money
4. Improve medical coverage post football.
5. Increase roster size by 1 or 2 players.

It's less of a concern which ideas they choose but what exactly did they negotiate.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

When Justin Dunk was talking about this, he said the CFL is so behind in sharing the audits from previous seasons with the CFLPA, that they've had to file a grievance to get these numbers. And that the financial year that this surplus same from was not from last year, but from 2 years ago (iirc).

So I think we're in uncharted waters because the league itself has broken their CBA responsibility by not filing this with the CFLPA as they were supposed to, and revealed this unexpectedly into FA, so there is negotiations happening. Which is why Walters is in wait and see mode with the new money ( along with other GMs).

Thanks for that, was this on 3DN?  Very interesting I'm sure working with the CFL owners is like trying to heard cats, delay was probably caused by a few rogue teams that don't like to share financial info.

[Jesse]

Thanks for that, was this on 3DN?  Very interesting I'm sure working with the CFL owners is like trying to heard cats, delay was probably caused by a few rogue teams that don't like to share financial info.

I heard him talk about it on the radio a couple times immediately after the news was dropped. Not sure if he ever wrote about it.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

LaPo provides a one game analysis of Shea Patterson.

[TecnoGenius]

Or is there a list of CFL free agency players still available somewhere?

https://www.cfl.ca/fa25

Every year just type "/fa" and your browser history should bring the url up and you just change the last digit to the current year.  Has worked for me for 3 years now!

The ones that stand out to me as maybe still being worth a sniff IMHO (though not necessarily by us):

OL Cage
OL Rice
OL Figueroa
OL Sceviour
OL Steward
OL Chungh

RB Calver (ex-BB?)

DL Usher
DL Howsare
DL Leonard
DL Banks

DB Lee
DB Dozier
DB Roberson
DB Thompson (ex-BB?)

LB Maruo (ex-BB)

WR Moore

QB Prukop (SY)

That's some big long-time CFL names and lots of NATs on the OL list!!  Many have probably aged out and that's why they are sitting.  However, maybe there's still some life on a OG who will take closer to $100k than $200k?

[TecnoGenius]

Wallace should be our LG out of camp, Randolph either beats out Lofton for RT or is a DI.  Eli is 6th man.  That is how I see the Oline going this year.  With Vanterpool and the other recruits and draft picks being wildcards.

I think Lofton has won that RT spot.  If Randolph gets it, it will be because of OT retirement or season-ending injury.  I see no reason to upset the continuity.

I think Lofton was at least as good as Yoshi at pass-pro.  But he is weaker at run-block.  But I think as a result we task the 6th or FB to handle that job instead.  Also leaned more on Dobson for that instead of bringing the RT around like we did so much with Yoshi.

From what I've seen, and from what KW said, I think Wallace will have to show big at LG in TC in order to stop the 3 IMP OL idea.

And no slight against Eli: I'm very glad we have a good vet 6th/7th who is superb at the jumbo/roadgrader/TE role, is a great C backup that we get to dress "for free", and yet is clearly not OG starter material and thus will never be poached in FA.  It's the best of all worlds.

The NAT hopper is very bare and I think that for '26 and '27's sake we draft the best OL this year, even if we have to trade a bunch of DPs (the reverse of '24!).

[TecnoGenius]

But opening day roster I will give 5-1 odds will be 3 NATS.

I'd take that bet!  DM me if interested!

I know that we're desperate to stick to the "normal CFL 3 NAT OL", as every team is.  However, our peculiar DT, LB, RB NAT situation allows us to go 3 IMP OL if Randolph is clearly better and our hopper crop failed to materialize.

I don't think anyone wants a repeat of the first several weeks of 2024!  Randolph has another advantage in that he started a ton of games for us already in '24 and he excelled under live fire as the starting OG.  I think his performance may have raised some eyebrows on the Mafia braintrust.

So instead of 5-1 odds, I'd say it's more lie 60/40 we open with 3 NAT OL.  Yes, it's more likely, but not anywhere close to a sure thing.  Thus I'd happily rob you at 5-1!

[TecnoGenius]

Per 3down, I'm a bit nervous we coughed up way too much in signing bonus for some of the FAs.

Mitchell gets $148 incl $63 bonus?  Vaughters $160 incl $45 bonus?

I thought we learned our lesson giving big bonuses to players (esp in injury-prone positions!) in '24 when nearly our entire REC corps got injured?

The bonus is lost SMS-wise if they get a season-ender early.  Regular salary can be recouped on the 6GIR.

If just Mitchell & Vaughters get injured in week 1 that's $100 lost on the SMS for the whole season.  That really irks me.  Surely there's a better way?  Or are these dudes in it only for the famed bonus?

[Blue In BC]

Per 3down, I'm a bit nervous we coughed up way too much in signing bonus for some of the FAs.

Mitchell gets $148 incl $63 bonus?  Vaughters $160 incl $45 bonus?

I thought we learned our lesson giving big bonuses to players (esp in injury-prone positions!) in '24 when nearly our entire REC corps got injured?

The bonus is lost SMS-wise if they get a season-ender early.  Regular salary can be recouped on the 6GIR.

If just Mitchell & Vaughters get injured in week 1 that's $100 lost on the SMS for the whole season.  That really irks me.  Surely there's a better way?  Or are these dudes in it only for the famed bonus?

The solution is for the league to pro rate signing bonus's. There is no reason to not do that. The imports get that tax advantage with early money. The team gets an advantage with a lower contract amount.

Maybe a new commish changes that issue.

[theaardvark]

The whole idea of bonuses not being prorated is that they have a risk with the reward.

I have no issue with a few hundred K in bonuses, especially if it lands us players and has a lower $SMS total.  Its probably $40-50k more expensive to sign them and have all their salary $SMS.  So we save, but have a risk.  And what $SMS we lose if they are injured, we may save on performance bonuses that injured players wont earn.  Mitchell has a 2000yd bonus, which we would LOVE him to earn, but we for sure save that if he gets injured.

There are pluses and minuses to signing bonuses, and Walters has been around long enough to know what they are, and weigh them out prudently.

Jut saying, the Vaughters and Mitchell deals are below market value, AND they signed here.  I can see why Walters is taking the risk.

[Blue In BC]

The whole idea of bonuses not being prorated is that they have a risk with the reward.

I have no issue with a few hundred K in bonuses, especially if it lands us players and has a lower $SMS total.  Its probably $40-50k more expensive to sign them and have all their salary $SMS.  So we save, but have a risk.  And what $SMS we lose if they are injured, we may save on performance bonuses that injured players wont earn.  Mitchell has a 2000yd bonus, which we would LOVE him to earn, but we for sure save that if he gets injured.

There are pluses and minuses to signing bonuses, and Walters has been around long enough to know what they are, and weigh them out prudently.

Jut saying, the Vaughters and Mitchell deals are below market value, AND they signed here.  I can see why Walters is taking the risk.

Again, what's the point of creating a risk / reward system? Not only that, for the most part it's for the benefit of imports due to the tax break.

Isn't this the Canadian football league? That's my argument.

[Jesse]

The solution is for the league to pro rate signing bonus's. There is no reason to not do that. The imports get that tax advantage with early money. The team gets an advantage with a lower contract amount.

Maybe a new commish changes that issue.

I agree with aards on this one. Signing bonuses are a part of the negotiation process and GMs who use them to sign players shouldn't get breaks from the risk of doing so.

[Blue In BC]

I agree with aards on this one. Signing bonuses are a part of the negotiation process and GMs who use them to sign players shouldn't get breaks from the risk of doing so.

That's not really true. It's the result of an American tax break for import players. It's only a risk because of the current rule or whatever it's called. If the US eliminated that tax break, it would disappear. There is nothing stopping the league from changing this rule.

It potentially can result in an uneven playing field if a high paid player with a bonus is injured for an extended time.

Example: A QB gets a contract worth $600K which includes $200K signing bonus and is lost for the season in TC. Now they are restricted from both a talent and a financial issue trying to replace that talent ( via trade ) etc.

We know teams accept the current risk, but that doesn't mean we need to continue creating a risk situation.

The player benefits from the early money. The team benefits from lower overall salaries. There is no benefit to the league to create the risk aspect. That's a very simple argument.

[TecnoGenius]

To be clear, the risk that matters is not that we have to pay money to players in the tub.  "Real money" is irrelevant.  The risk is the hit to the SMS when the expensive players get season-ending injuries.  That's the thing that hamstrings your team.  Just as BinBC said.

We saw that firsthand last season.

[Sir Blue and Gold]

Again, what's the point of creating a risk / reward system? Not only that, for the most part it's for the benefit of imports due to the tax break.

Isn't this the Canadian football league? That's my argument.

It's not really as big a deal as you're making it out to be and it's bad business - that's primary why they don't do it. Allow me to explain. There isn't a substantially larger risk/reward with a bonus versus salary. Both need to be accounted for in the exact same way going into week 1.

Yes, you get SMS exemption on game cheques when a player is hurt when it's salary, but the idea behind that is it allows teams the ability to backfill injuries (game cheques) while staying onside with the SMS. There isn't a long line of highly paid backups in the CFL. When a starter goes down, it's almost certainly an ELC (or close to it) back-up replacing him.

In practice, consider there is no second Dalton Schoen on the roster or available as a Free Agent once the season starts. If Schoen makes $250,000 and he gets $100,000 up front, the full $250,000 still needs to be considered week 1 because he might play every game (all of that is money that can't be spent anymore). If he gets hurt for the season in week 5, the team has spent ~$41,665 dollars in game cheques (plus bonus) so the ~$108,500 difference exceeds the cost of his ELC replacement (but not by SO much 13 games at $70,000 is ~$50,500). There isn't another $250,000 free agent receiver to sign in August anyway so if you shelter the signing bonus also all you're doing is adding cost for all the teams who will tack those injury dollars onto extensions in December, thereby significantly increasing the actual player expenditures, which the league doesn't want to do.

To summarize, what they mostly want is for spent dollars to be spent and to count towards the cap as much as possible because the whole point of the SMS is to control player expenses under the limit set. Expensive injured starters get replaced by cheaper back-ups and the game day cheques can be somewhat similar when you factor out the bonus. The system has some flexibility for contacts for guys who get hurt (it makes sense to pay out smaller bonuses to guys often hurt players) but by in large, what I described above is how they want it to work.