2025 Free Agency (Blue Bomber Signings/News)

[theaardvark]

We need quality beef, not just bulk. Eli saw the field last season during injuries, don't recall Wallace other than as #6 OL in our heavy package.....So we lost Dobson to FA, and Big Stan is another year older, as is Neufeld, both had injuries last year, as did KO, and likely will again this year. Zack was under pressure all season and never looked comfortable back there, we need to address that. I'd like to see us sign 1 proven vet OL, call him Suk Chungh, and replace what we lost in Dobson and then some.

You know that BC has decided Chungh is not worth signing, right?  With the highest paid QB in the league to protect.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

You know that BC has decided Chungh is not worth signing, right?  With the highest paid QB in the league to protect.

Doesn't mean he's no longer good, could be they went with a younger and cheaper option, IDK.

[dd]

You know that BC has decided Chungh is not worth signing, right?  With the highest paid QB in the league to protect.

I don't think he s not worth signing I don't think they can afford to sign him with the big name commitments they made in Rourke and betts come to mind. Ya he's older but would you kick Stanley Bryant to the curb because of his birth certificate?? Don't think so. Of the 5 O linemen, you need 3 to anchor it the others can be rookies or average. Right now we have 2 proven vets and the rest young or below average talent.that ain't gonna cut it

[ModAdmin]

This bugs me, and obviously, others.  No left guard. "Promote from within" sure if they have guys who have earned it.

Or they go American. Possibly a Canadian at safety, to make the import ratio?  But they need to replace a Canadian where Ford played, a traditionally Import at corner. So how does that affect the ratio?

One post earlier said. The strength of the Bombers is their defense. A cliche also said, to be good you need strength up the middle.  Hmmmm, Lb candidates the Jones boys played OK, safety? no one we know of at safety.  At nose guard, Fatboi?.  I don't think that is strength up the middle.

Why did Claybrooks,or I mean... Younger (those of the-crooked head variety, or it hat Jethro  Bodine look, not bring a linebacker or two, and pressure the formerly skittish Arbuckle?

Man, if that is our defence, we are going to get smoked.

You're way too early with this post.  We will still be signing players - off season signings, mini camps, draft, for example.  Wait for training camp and pre-season before the major downer syndrome.  Lots to do yet.

[TecnoGenius]

Ford, 300. Lawler, 280ish. Dobson, 200+

Just not sustainable. Let the other teams over pay.

Ford 300 is completely insane.  That's making more than some 1b QBs.  DB is like the cheapest position in the CFL, with copious players arriving from the south every season.  Let EDM lose with both Fords there.

Dobson 200 is normal $ for what's perceived as a top NAT OG.  I would argue since Desjar walked for 225, it's a little high (Dobson is no Desjar), but it has CFL precedence.

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

Kenny at 280: I would have matched that with the bonus $400k kitty.  We could have easily offered Kenny 250-260 and he would have stayed for that.  Maybe the parties felt the bridge was burnt... or maybe the milk was soured and there was a "face" issue.  Meh, I would have sucked it up an begged him to come back for $255.

At least Kenny went to HAM where he won't give us any grief.  No way HAM beats out both MTL and TOR to win the E.  I bet HAM stays in the basement.  Kenny comes back in 2 years with tailed tucked (again)?

[TecnoGenius]

Anybody think we make the grey cup?

I do!  And I'll put money on it, too.

[TecnoGenius]

A guy like Landon Rice, (37) at the right $$ might be a nice insurance policy us.

I have the inside scoop Rice still wants to play.

And he's the new "GC Luck Charm"... he won the cup 2 years ago with MTL then last year with TOR.  If you're superstitious, you sign Rice so we win this year!

Rice can play, and be pretty good, at OG and OT.  Very handy in a backup.  He's also experienced as the 6th/jumbo.

However, I wouldn't start him at LG right off the bat, and that's what we most need right now.  And our existing 6th/jumbos are pretty good.  So if we need a flexible backup, Rice is good (he's basically Neufeld Lite).  But we still should make a splash FA for a top OG, or just dress an IMP.

[TecnoGenius]

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.

Funny you should say that.  I was just watching the "TSN 2023 Season Preview" on the PVR (trying to clear out old, unneeded shows), and they were wondering the exact same thing (a whole segment devoted to it)!  In May 2023.  Since that show we've made 2 more GCs.

Ya, so I'm no longer worried about the being the "aged out" "vulnerable" team.  They've cried wolf for so many years, I no longer listen.

[blue_gold_84]

Kenny comes back in 2 years with tailed tucked (again)?

I hope not. He chose to burn that bridge twice now. Not FIFO material.

[Jesse]

Walters is supposed to do a press conference today. Intrigued to hear his take on things

[theaardvark]

Ford 300 is completely insane.  That's making more than some 1b QBs.  DB is like the cheapest position in the CFL, with copious players arriving from the south every season.  Let EDM lose with both Fords there.

Dobson 200 is normal $ for what's perceived as a top NAT OG.  I would argue since Desjar walked for 225, it's a little high (Dobson is no Desjar), but it has CFL precedence.

Kenny at 280: I would have matched that with the bonus $400k kitty.  We could have easily offered Kenny 250-260 and he would have stayed for that.  Maybe the parties felt the bridge was burnt... or maybe the milk was soured and there was a "face" issue.  Meh, I would have sucked it up an begged him to come back for $255.

At least Kenny went to HAM where he won't give us any grief.  No way HAM beats out both MTL and TOR to win the E.  I bet HAM stays in the basement.  Kenny comes back in 2 years with tailed tucked (again)?

Sounds like he thinks that he was the reason WFC won in 2019, and he thinks he's the savior that is going to break Hamilton's 25 year drought.  Can't dispute, he has an ego...  he gets to go play with "walking HOF" Bo Levi... but yeah, its not about the money.

[blue_gold_84]

Sounds like he thinks that he was the reason WFC won in 2019...

Lawler said that...?

[Blue In BC]

Only about 70 potential free agents left. Anybody worth signing that would help our roster?

[theaardvark]

Lawler said that...?

'It's a better move': Kenny Lawler says he left Bombers to win this time
Paul Friesen

Kenny Lawler says he went to Hamilton to win.

The talented and fiery former Winnipeg Blue Bombers receiver met with reporters in the Steel City on Wednesday and described his move as different from the way he bolted Winnipeg for a lucrative contract in Edmonton three years ago.

It's believed Lawler will earn close to $300,000 per season in his two-year deal, a healthy amount more than the Bombers offered him to stay.
While he's previously acknowledged chasing the money in Edmonton was a mistake, he downplayed that aspect this time.

"It's a better move," Lawler said. "When I was going to Edmonton, we all knew why I was going. It was just what I had to do, financially. But now, my biggest thing is to win. And I think we can win here. Everything that we have, it's going to be a turn around.

"We're going to be going to the playoffs, we're going to bring the Grey Cup back."

While the Bombers have reached five straight Grey Cup games, winning the first two, the Tiger-Cats have gone longer without a championship than any CFL team – since 1999.

Trying to end a city's Grey Cup drought is something Lawler is familiar with: he was part of the Winnipeg team that ended a 28-year famine in 2019.

"We were dealing with something similar in Winnipeg," he said. "And to be a part of that, it's a great feeling. So I know once we do it here, what it's going to be."

Lawler says the move wasn't a hard sell, not with a "walking Hall of Famer" like quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell at the controls of an offence run by head coach Scott Milanovich.

The 30-year-old says he's already been working on building the bond with teammates that's necessary to win.

"When you have a bond like this with the guys in that locker-room, it's unbreakable," he said. "The opposition's not going to be able to break you... that's what we had in Winnipeg."

Lawler is one of the most gifted receivers in the game. Despite missing eight games with a broken arm last season, he caught 41 passes for 662 yards and four touchdowns.

The year before that he pulled in 50 receptions for 901 yards in a dozen games, missing six because of an immigration issue stemming from an impaired driving conviction.

An injury limited him to 12 games, 59 catches and 894 yards in Edmonton in 2022. He had 1,104 yards on 64 grabs in 13 games with Winnipeg in '21, collecting a second Grey Cup ring.

Lawler vowed to keep winning in Hamilton.

"I manifest things. I speak them into existence. I did that going into Edmonton. It was maybe not really realistic. But here I really do believe it is."

[blue_gold_84]

Lawler's clearly lost his mind. Good riddance.