Bombers extend quarterback Zach Collaros through 2026

[blueandgoldguy]

Yeah I hate making it to Grey Cup.  I had struggling and then being the best teams in the West.  I hate consistently getting home field advantage and the buy.  I get my nice roasting pan out for later in the season when we cooking lol.

He earned every penny and will again.  It's the going rate for a top tier QB.  You can continue to over state the negative on him and I'll be here pumping his tires.  My compressor is plugged in. 

  What a terrible argument.  Zach was mostly a passenger with those stats.  If we didn't have Oliveira dominating, not to mention a good team defense, the Bomber are certainly a sub .500 team on the outside looking in.

Put the same Zach Collaros on Hamilton and they likely finish with 5 or fewer wins.  Put an Alexander or a Kelly or a Mitchell on last year's Bombers and they likely finish with 12 - 14 wins and win the Grey Cup.

Tell me how Zach performed in last year's Grey Cup?  And which Qb beat Zach?

[Blueforlife]

What a terrible argument.  Zach was mostly a passenger with those stats.  If we didn't have Oliveira dominating, not to mention a good team defense, the Bomber are certainly a sub .500 team on the outside looking in.

Put the same Zach Collaros on Hamilton and they likely finish with 5 or fewer wins.  Put an Alexander or a Kelly or a Mitchell on last year's Bombers and they likely finish with 12 - 14 wins and win the Grey Cup.

Tell me how Zach performed in last year's Grey Cup?  And which Qb beat Zach?

You compared Zach to BLM which hold no merrit imo.

You claim Zach hasn't earned his salary which I disagree on.

I believe Zach has performed exceptionally well for us over the long term, the entire team has a terrible start and then pulled it together.

Zach is one of the primary reason we have had our success backed by great scouting, good drafting, exceptional management, coaches and good team depth (including some great Canadians).  We have had great success running the ball for a decade on the back of two generational talent at RB and a very good OL.  That run game was opened up by Zach consistenly throughing dimes and a lot of bombs.  Yes our defense, Younger and Hall all contributed to our success.  We have been successful due to our incredible team culture.  Your comments about being a 500 club hold zero weight imo.  That didn't happen, we started terrible and then became the class of the West.  We haven't been 500 for a very long time.  Zach has won so many games for us (backed by a great team, play calling, etc.)

You comment about Zach on Hamilton hold no weight, is likely wrong, irrelevant and very confused why you would even mention that.

I believe that BLM in Winnipeg wouldn't have had the success Zach did last year.  The other two QBs I don't think it's even worth discussing.   I take Zach over both all day.  That said I really like Alexander.  To suggest that any of the three would have had the record you suggest isn't true imo and holds no weight in the discussion here.

The entire club laid an egg at the cup last year, Joe Montana couldn't have won that game.  All three phases and coaching were terrible.  The three QBs you mention wouldn't have made a difference imo based on how we played. 

I define a teams and players success over a long period, you are over focusing on a season and one game.  I take the long view, I believe you are not seeing the forest through the trees.

Let's drop it, we both made our points.  I am 100% behind Zach, ok with his salary and you are not.  We can serve crow come fall as by then we will know what we are and the final dishes won't be served till playoff time.

[TecnoGenius]

What a terrible argument.  Zach was mostly a passenger with those stats.  If we didn't have Oliveira dominating, not to mention a good team defense, the Bomber are certainly a sub .500 team on the outside looking in.

Using Brady as a crutch isn't the best choice: Brady was pretty bad for the first third of the season, and didn't see the EZ until the midway point.  Which is unheard of for a league-best RB.

And Kenny was out half the season, and near useless when he returned (except post-season), and Schoen gone all year, Woli most of the year.  Hard to say the rest of the O, which was mostly rookies, carried Zach!  If anything it's the other way around.  (And, yes, the D being exceptional.)

[TecnoGenius]

Bo Levi Mitchell took a significant paycut in 2024...something like $350,000 for the season.  He put up 5400 passing yards and 32 TDs leading the CFL in both categories playing on a bad Ticat team.

Garbage time is a heck of a drug for passing yardage.  HAM was in GT more often than not.

[TecnoGenius]

Why would you pay a clearly declining QB more money?!  That's nonsensical.  It makes it that much harder to replace other areas of weakness on the club with quality free agents in the off-season.

Because we have every single year since he signed.  I would bet the farm (and more) Zach got the same as '25, and likely a bit more.

If you're asking what us fans would like, ya sure, I'd rather he make $500k, or $400k + 200k MMM, or whatever.  But in the end we've structured the entire SMS around QB1 making that much, so it is what it is, and I don't see it changing.

[TecnoGenius]

...literally zero of those guys were signed in free agency.

FA or late-season trades or just-pre-FA trades, whatever.  The point is we haven't developed a single one of these guys ourselves, which you seemed to hint is what we need to be doing.  (Dru doesn't count as we never made him #1 and let him walk due to timing.)

As I said, not only do you have to have the luck of landing a future top-3 guy, you have to luck out on the timing of it so Zach is clearly done right before or during FA.

How many good starters has the CFL churned out in the last 5 seasons?  Dru, Kelly, Alexander, Rourke.  Jury is still out on Dru & Rourke.  In 9 teams, 2 dev QBs, 5 years, 4 hits.  With my math that's 4.4% chance we have the "next guy" here in '25.

So ya, my answer is still "FA" or, if you prefer, a trade for a backup guy.  But just saying "FA" is way easier than all of the above.

[Jesse]

FA or late-season trades or just-pre-FA trades, whatever.  The point is we haven't developed a single one of these guys ourselves, which you seemed to hint is what we need to be doing.  (Dru doesn't count as we never made him #1 and let him walk due to timing.)

As I said, not only do you have to have the luck of landing a future top-3 guy, you have to luck out on the timing of it so Zach is clearly done right before or during FA.

How many good starters has the CFL churned out in the last 5 seasons?  Dru, Kelly, Alexander, Rourke.  Jury is still out on Dru & Rourke.  In 9 teams, 2 dev QBs, 5 years, 4 hits.  With my math that's 4.4% chance we have the "next guy" here in '25.

So ya, my answer is still "FA" or, if you prefer, a trade for a backup guy.  But just saying "FA" is way easier than all of the above.

Yes, they all come via FA, but that doesn't mean a good option will be available to you in the year you need it. More than likely you grab a different aging vet or journeyman and cycle through crap options for multiple seasons (or 29 years as the case may be).

I will never understand anything against Zach. Not right now.

People are stuck in the year 2005 and think QBs should still cost 350k. That's simply not the wage scale anymore. The only guys making less than 400 are the totally unproven guys. Grey Cup winners on winning teams? There's only two. And the make 600k+

[Pete]

Yes, they all come via FA, but that doesn't mean a good option will be available to you in the year you need it. More than likely you grab a different aging vet or journeyman and cycle through crap options for multiple seasons (or 29 years as the case may be).

I will never understand anything against Zach. Not right now.

People are stuck in the year 2005 and think QBs should still cost 350k. That's simply not the wage scale anymore. The only guys making less than 400 are the totally unproven guys. Grey Cup winners on winning teams? There's only two. And the make 600k+

Yeah but there has been an adjustment., Ford, Alexander, Brown ,BLM are all under 400k, Harris and Adams are both mid 400s
Rourke and Kelly are 5-10 yrs younger and closer to prime
Paying Zac 550 or more is simply an admission we have little hope of a viable alternative for '26
The other impact is that it prevents us from signing a potential FA stsrter due to cap. (As mtrl did with MBT Sask with Maier, who all signed at about,200)
Hopefully we've used marketing money to help with this)

[Jesse]

Yeah but there has been an adjustment., Ford, Alexander, Brown ,BLM are all under 400k, Harris and Adams are both mid 400s
Rourke and Kelly are 5-10 yrs younger and closer to prime
Paying Zac 550 or more is simply an admission we have little hope of a viable alternative for '26
The other impact is that it prevents us from signing a potential FA stsrter due to cap. (As mtrl did with MBT Sask with Maier, who all signed at about,200)
Hopefully we've used marketing money to help with this)

As soon as any of the guys you mentioned lead their teams to winning records, their salaries jump up to the top of the wage scale.

[Pete]

Maybe but players over 35 except for bombers seem to take significant pay cuts

[peg_city]

550 is fine considering how much the cap went up this past year.

His salary went from 11% of the salary cap in his first year of the deal, to next year being 9%ish.

[Blueforlife]

Maybe but players over 35 except for bombers seem to take significant pay cuts

Over generalizing, over stated imo.

Star QBs get paid.  Always have been always will be.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Yeah but there has been an adjustment., Ford, Alexander, Brown ,BLM are all under 400k, Harris and Adams are both mid 400s
Rourke and Kelly are 5-10 yrs younger and closer to prime
Paying Zac 550 or more is simply an admission we have little hope of a viable alternative for '26

I listed the qualified vet replacements that might be available next season earlier in this thread, they are Fajardo, MBT, Arbuckle, and Maier.  None of the starters for other teams are likely to come available at the end of this season and that includes some of the younger backups such as Powell, unless they flame out. The CFL is a closed loop, we know all of the potential candidates that might be available, don't think any of them would be worth dumping Zach for as long as he's in good shape and excited to play another season.

[Jesse]

550 is fine considering how much the cap went up this past year.

His salary went from 11% of the salary cap in his first year of the deal, to next year being 9%ish.

He is making 600 this year under the old cap number and I'll be shocked if he's making less next year.

[theaardvark]

I think that the "marketing money" was meant for star players who you can actually "market", and should bring top salaries down a bit.

We have upwards of $7million extra dollars this year to use in marketing money.  Yeah, I know we can't use all the profit for that, but still.  Having a nice bankroll, we should utilize it.

20% of Zach's new deal should be marketing money.  I'm guessing marketing money is guaranteed, like guaranteed contracts, but without any $SMS repercussions if the player gets cut.