1st & 10 | The Blue Bombers Pending Free Agent List

[Tecno]

Is it? I guess you need to find a replacement first but Eli has been around forever and can't crack Kolankowski who probably only starts on about half the lines in the league himself.

But that's more a dig on Ko-man than Eli.  Ko is expected to be better as the anointed starter.  Eli is expected to be a good jumbo & TE & backup snapper.

I could possibly argue Eli is better at his job than Ko-man...

The answer to having a monster C (NAT or IMP) isn't in the building at the moment, and hasn't been since Couture left.

[Jesse]

I guess that explains the delay in re-signing him, funny no one mentioned him getting any NFL workouts.  Ed Tait in hibernation?

Was he supposed to report on it before it happened?

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

But that's more a dig on Ko-man than Eli.  Ko is expected to be better as the anointed starter.  Eli is expected to be a good jumbo & TE & backup snapper.

I could possibly argue Eli is better at his job than Ko-man...

The answer to having a monster C (NAT or IMP) isn't in the building at the moment, and hasn't been since Couture left.

Couture might not have been as dominant as you remember, when he came back from a serious arm injury in 2022 he was not given his job back and remained backup to Kolankowski for the remainder of the season including the playoffs.  Despite being listed 100% recovered he only played in 7 games that season. 

One possibility could be they already knew Couture intended to return to BC in the off-season and decided better to stick with the transition with Zach's approval.

[Pigskin]

Holm, working out for the Steelers.

[Blue In BC]

Holm, working out for the Steelers.

I don't see him getting another NFL shot. OTOH, there is no guarantee we're able to re-sign him either.  He was at $135K last year and about the same as Nichols SMS. Maybe with releasing Parker we gain some SMS spend targeted to the secondary. IDK but hope he returns.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

I don't see him getting another NFL shot. OTOH, there is no guarantee we're able to re-sign him either.  He was at $135K last year and about the same as Nichols SMS. Maybe with releasing Parker we gain some SMS spend targeted to the secondary. IDK but hope he returns.

Don't know anything about the NFL but to my eye Dee Alford holds no significant advantage in talent or size over Holm, so anything could happen.

[Blue In BC]

Don't know anything about the NFL but to my eye Dee Alford holds no significant advantage in talent or size over Holm, so anything could happen.

Younger when he went to the NFL. They are the same age now and Alford has been in the NFL for 4 years.

[Tecno]

Don't know anything about the NFL but to my eye Dee Alford holds no significant advantage in talent or size over Holm, so anything could happen.

The only one MOS et al said "has the best hips I've ever seen" (paraphrase) is D.Alford.  Even Holm has never gotten that praise.  In fact, I don't recall anyone ever saying anything about Holm's hips.

Holm is great because of his speed, brains, and ability to never draw a DPI.  Yes, that means the couple he's gotten were bogus (ref fails).

[Blue In BC]

The only one MOS et al said "has the best hips I've ever seen" (paraphrase) is D.Alford.  Even Holm has never gotten that praise.  In fact, I don't recall anyone ever saying anything about Holm's hips.

Holm is great because of his speed, brains, and ability to never draw a DPI.  Yes, that means the couple he's gotten were bogus (ref fails).

I thought O'Shea did say that about Holm several times. Whether he said that earlier about Alford I'm not sure.

[theaardvark]

The only one MOS et al said "has the best hips I've ever seen" (paraphrase) is D.Alford.  Even Holm has never gotten that praise.  In fact, I don't recall anyone ever saying anything about Holm's hips.

Holm is great because of his speed, brains, and ability to never draw a DPI.  Yes, that means the couple he's gotten were bogus (ref fails).

MOS, does use the "can flip the hips" line often, but pretty sure his description of Alford was his highest praise on that subject.

And that's all it takes, a tiny advantage in movement is the difference between getting a look and sticking.

[Blue In BC]

Things have slowed down a bit regarding re-signings but that should pick up again next week. We have a lot of work to do.

[Tecno]

I thought O'Shea did say that about Holm several times. Whether he said that earlier about Alford I'm not sure.

"Hips" for Holm, maybe ... but not "best hips".  You should be able to find that about D.Alford in the forum history.  IIRC, he said in in TC.  That is why Alford got a starting spot basically in week 1, which is not the norm for us.

I remember doubting MOS/Hall and thinking who is this Alford guy and why is he starting ahead of <insert guy he displaced here>.  Ya, I learned not to doubt those type of statements ever again.  Same thing with Schoen.  They said in TC he was the next big thing, and they were right.

Now when Mafia gives TOP praise, I don't argue.

[Blue In BC]

I think our next re-signings will be our kickers. Those seem like easy choices.  On the other 12 players I had expected to be re-signed, I think there are some deep thoughts by the organization on whether they are brought back.

I don't mean this in a bad way, but we may be considering players like Bryant and Neufeld from the aspect of age, SMS and performance. The entire OL status is not exactly clear.

I'd add Jefferson to that thought as to whether it's time to move on or not. He's no long a slam dunk to re-sign.

I'm not suggesting massive roster changes but I think there are pros and cons for most on my particular list.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

I think our next re-signings will be our kickers. Those seem like easy choices.  On the other 12 players I had expected to be re-signed, I think there are some deep thoughts by the organization on whether they are brought back.

I don't mean this in a bad way, but we may be considering players like Bryant and Neufeld from the aspect of age, SMS and performance. The entire OL status is not exactly clear.

I'm not suggesting massive roster changes but I think there are pros and cons for most on my given list.

Give us your list!

Not that we won't attempt to rip it apart 6 ways to Sunday!

[Blue In BC]

Ok. Here is my list I think of players we will re-sign. This is about what I think we'll do rather than what I think we should do or can do. Not everything is within our control. At some point age and SMS draw new lines in the sand. The teams expectation versus the player expectation for SMS and playing time.

I have a 2nd list of players I don't think we'll re-sign. It's about half of the total list. It's easy to determine who are on that list.  Let the poop flinging begin. lol

Obviously these are just conversational opinions. If you're curious and want to discuss a specific opinion I can elaborate. That said I'm not wanting to start a war so perhaps some of this happens on PM's?  Opinions are only based on things like age, SMS, injury history, declining performance and possible replacements in free agency or signings of rookies.


BRYANT, Stanley
CADWALLADER, Tanner
CASTILLO, Sergio
HOLM, Evan
HOUSTON, Demerio
JEFFERSON, Willie
KOLANKOWSKI, Chris
NEUFELD, Patrick
SCHMEKEL, Tanner
SHEAHAN, Jamieson
STERNS, Jerreth
VAUGHTERS, James
WHEATFALL, Keric
WOODS, Jamal