Bomber Free Agents

[Blue In BC]

If we are talking DBs, yes because Griffin is more of a LB. However he did have a very good season. 47 DTs, 8 STs, 1 QS.  Not bad for a guy that doesn't start.

IIRC he did play some DHB in Calgary. He could be a choice as the back up at SAM if Woodbey starts at WIL.

[Blue In BC]

Only 3 guys I'll keep from that list: Oliveira, Demski and Castillo.

Bryant, Neufeld, Thomas and Gauthier should all retire.
Move on from the rest of the people from that list.

That list includes most of the starters ( it included the OL although not listing them ). It did include the entire defence.

So. YIKES.

[blue_gold_84]

Who, specifically, are you referring to as the "old guard"?

Aging veterans like Bryant, Collaros, Neufeld, Jefferson, etc; I wonder how much more they have left in the tank. Also, I'm curious if any of them would take a paycut to stick around while opening up some SMS space to add talent/increase depth.

[Blue In BC]

I think people need to wrap their heads around the fact that the salary cap is increasing too. High priced non-QBs are going to hit 300k soon.

Giving the same players more money doesn't mean it's wisely spent doing that.

[TBURGESS]

I'll be shocked if anyone takes a paycut to stay around. I'm expecting the same old team next year with a few tweaks. 

[Waffler]

I'll be shocked if anyone takes a paycut to stay around. I'm expecting the same old team next year with a few tweaks.

MOS said pretty much this on the final coaches show.

[theaardvark]

Paycheck is not the most important factor in re-signing players.

Ability to contribute is #1.

Guys coming off injury, will they rehab to 100%?  If yes, re-sign.  If maybe, re-sign with incentives.  If unlikely, thank you for your service.

Young guys moving up, take care of them.

Veterans on their way down, please, no emeritus contracts.  Tough decisions, but they've done it before.  Jeffcoat, Harris, Wolitarski, Alexander... if we have a player that is ready to step up, we can make those hard decisions.

There should be a lot of movement in the coaching ranks, and maybe there are some players ready to move up.  I'd love to see Jake stay in Blue and Gold, on the field if he's still got it in him, or on the sidelines if its enough money to keep him in town.

Hogan has to go, not sure I want Jarious as OC though.  MOS will have had a year working with him, so he will be able to decide... not sure what the penalty for blowing the front office $SMS is, but we should do that and hire the best.  Is Lapo ready to return?

[Blue In BC]

I wondered about Lapo returning to coaching but it may not pay enough to give up his TSN deal.

Vaughters and Jefferson earn about $360K combined. Two rookies on ELC's would save about $200K to be used elsewhere.

IDK if Jenkins and / or Jaworksi will replace either of those two players but that's an area to consider.

We wasted a lot of money on free agent signings that didn't pay off. Need to do better this year.

With such a large list of potential free agents, how many are going to want / get more and what does that cost us elsewhere?

Yes the SMS is going up but we can't stay status quo on the personnel overall.

[theaardvark]

Any vet who wants to return on a non guaranteed contract with no bonus, who wants to EARN his spot, I welcome with open arms.

Yes, we had some players look good in limited reps.  And some spent a lot of time on the PR.

I truly hope that we have a competitive camp this year, where rookies get a chance to unseat vets. 

And I hope we get some recruits that got stuck behind players on other teams, Tony Jones has been a great pick up.  More like him, please.

The reports coming out about the Hogan/Mitchell feud are disturbing.  The team has a "one win in a row" wipe the slate clean each week commitment, it needs a similar attitude to treating the players.  Every practice, every player gets a shot.

Maybe a drumline type "challenge" concept.  Give players the ability to challenge the man in front of them for the spot.  And you better be ready, both as the challenger and the challenged.   

[Blue In BC]

We need honest competition in TC and better recruitment to have better choices. It seemed obvious that some players were handed their spot on the AR regardless of how things turned out in TC.

[markf]

Anybody have an opinion of which free agent O linemen from the other teams that we can try to get?

Next college draft is there anyone we want?

Which position are we weakest at? All of them?

Can't replace them all, so who goes, who stays?

I dont want to watch another season of the quarterback getting beat up play after play.

I dont think the offensive system helped much. Maybe the theory being applied just didn't fit the capabilities of the players on the field very well. And I thought I saw Zach bail a few times before there was anyone near him. Jumpy due to past poundings.

Never just one thing is it?

[markf]

MOS said pretty much this on the final coaches show.

That would be less than optimal.

[bunker]

Anybody have an opinion of which free agent O linemen from the other teams that we can try to get?

Next college draft is there anyone we want?

Which position are we weakest at? All of them?

Can't replace them all, so who goes, who stays?

I dont want to watch another season of the quarterback getting beat up play after play.

I dont think the offensive system helped much. Maybe the theory being applied just didn't fit the capabilities of the players on the field very well. And I thought I saw Zach bail a few times before there was anyone near him. Jumpy due to past poundings.

Never just one thing is it?

Zach Williams on the stamps was just named a western all star, and he's from Winnipeg, played for Bisons. Unfortunately, Calgary locked him up for next season. He's be a good replacement for Neufeld if we could pry him away in a year.

[Blue In BC]

Anybody have an opinion of which free agent O linemen from the other teams that we can try to get?

Next college draft is there anyone we want?

Which position are we weakest at? All of them?

Can't replace them all, so who goes, who stays?

I dont want to watch another season of the quarterback getting beat up play after play.

I dont think the offensive system helped much. Maybe the theory being applied just didn't fit the capabilities of the players on the field very well. And I thought I saw Zach bail a few times before there was anyone near him. Jumpy due to past poundings.

Never just one thing is it?

We need depth or new starters on the OL, DL and receiver. Currently we finished the season with 6 Canadians on the IR. We'll draft another 9 in the next draft.

It's normal to see 4 or 5 make the AR so we can expect to trim a few at the bottom of the depth chart before free agency and TC.

There is always a timing issue involved. Let's use any of our Canadian OL. Do we let them reach free agency in the hope of landing a younger, less expensive player with more upside?

I don't think that is a risk to take unless we decide to move forward / away from a given player.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Zach Williams on the stamps was just named a western all star, and he's from Winnipeg, played for Bisons. Unfortunately, Calgary locked him up for next season. He's be a good replacement for Neufeld if we could pry him away in a year.

I think they need to upgrade the Center before they discard Neufeld, Kolo caused a lot of problems in the middle of the line that had to be covered off by the 2 guards.  Neuf is the leader of that group, comes at a reasonable cost and likely has a few more good years in him once the O-line stabilizes.