Blue Bombers sign All-CFL halfback Evan Holm to two-year contract extension

[Pete]

By signing key players early it gives Walters more certainty in terms of his budget. Also we dont know what portions of salaries counted against 25 cap.
Not signing the players we have would greatly increase the odds of this team taking a major step back.
 We have to do a better job of scouting and developing new talent so that they are ready to step in and replace aging high priced vets on their 2nd year. I would have thought replacing Kramdi with Smith this year had the potential of doing just that, and to be fair maybe thats the plan with Ayers or Woodbey replacing Wilson and/or Griffin

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

By signing key players early it gives Walters more certainty in terms of his budget. Also we dont know what portions of salaries counted against 25 cap.
Not signing the players we have would greatly increase the odds of this team taking a major step back.
 We have to do a better job of scouting and developing new talent so that they are ready to step in and replace aging high priced vets on their 2nd year. I would have thought replacing Kramdi with Smith this year had the potential of doing just that, and to be fair maybe thats the plan with Ayers or Woodbey replacing Wilson and/or Griffin

Well we do know anyone signed after Dec. 31st is paid with 2026 SMS dollars.

[dd]

• Splash???  What splash? FA could turn out similar to last year if the kopeks in the bank get too low, the big prizes are going to get paid in full.
  
  Have to say I prefer Walters earlier approach of keeping the secondary on a low budget with steady turnover and great recruitment, I believe that remains the winningest strategy mainly because DB's have always been a dime a dozen and every good mother in Alabama gives birth to at least 3 more. 
  
  Hope he hasn't created a problem for himself by falling in love with his preferred children, causing them to come up short in other departments, a narrative that ties right back into the loyalty issues of last season.  All could be forgiven if he'd just put a gun to Zach's head and knock him down to $400k, a discount Trevor Harris and BLM willingly accepted when their careers looked near the end.
  

  It does make you sour when you see TH and Bo take hair cuts, and both Qb's were far, far better and more productive than our $600k guy, and then you tag on we have a $300k RB getting every dime he can get and then some---he have $900k tied up in 2 guys who turned the rock over waaaaay too much for what they're getting paid. THAT better change in 2026 but I doubt it.

[Tecno]

$900k tied up in 2 guys who turned the rock over waaaaay too much for what they're getting paid. THAT better change in 2026 but I doubt it.

Too true.  Zach was an INT and FF machine in '25.  Crap OL didn't help though.

And Brady... Brady... fumble in the ESF when we were just about to put the dagger in.

AH would fumble early in games sometimes and get mad and go into beast mode.  Brady fumbles and then just deflates and does nothing.  And the whole team along with him.

I miss that about AH.  I used to look forward to his (infrequent) early game fumbles.

Maybe we need Lapo to run a seminar here.  Repeat after me: The Ball IS The Cup.

[Tecno]

Well we do know anyone signed after Dec. 31st is paid with 2026 SMS dollars.

No we don't.  We'd like to think that.  But Pete is right, perhaps some of these deals were done before the 31st and we're just only hearing about them now.  Or perhaps we paid them out a bonus on the 31st with an understanding they'd finalize & sign in '26.

In fact, I'm kind of counting on the above, because if not then it would seem we didn't have much leftover from '25 to spend on EOY signings!!  We should have had our full $400k to play with!  1GIR usage notwithstanding.

[Tecno]

I would have thought replacing Kramdi with Smith this year had the potential of doing just that, and to be fair maybe thats the plan with Ayers or Woodbey replacing Wilson and/or Griffin

Your general concept is sound, but you picked a bad example.  Basically everyone now (incl MOS and now Holm in his presser) are calling Kramdi the "QB of the D" by name.  He's the brains behind the entire operation.  Basically the new Biggie, but with a good passport.

And he's fairly athletic and competent and hard-hitting.

I don't think Kramdi is going ANYWHERE until we, far down the road, obtain another brainiac MLB.  Kramdi might easily be BFL.

As for the other guys you mention, it's the same old "ancient guy on each unit stays as the Obi Wan".  That's why Wilson was here in '25.  Until someone else becomes the next Obi Wan, they tend to stay on a Mafia team.  Other than all that, I agree with you!

[Tecno]

Holm and Nichols were among the highest paid DBs the last couple of seasons and they stay in the same range. I doubt they top the list once FA is over.

Have to say I prefer Walters earlier approach of keeping the secondary on a low budget with steady turnover and great recruitment, I believe that remains the winningest strategy mainly because DB's have always been a dime a dozen and every good mother in Alabama gives birth to at least 3 more. 

I was just going to say precisely what TLB said to Jesse.  Nichols & Holm contracts creeping up into nosebleed territory is a VAST departure from the previous Mafia paradigm that served us superbly in '19-'23.

Remember how our best DB (or 2) would bail EVERY SINGLE FA for a huge payday?  We let every single one walk because our mantra was "cheap at DB".  We always found the next guy.  Ya, well we haven't found the "next guy" since Holm... and that was 2022!!  Wow!

And teams that "snipe" their top DBs don't usually do well.  The only recent success story I can think of is SSK buying Sayles.  That paid off.  Usually the GC-winning teams are using self-scouted top DBs (see: MTL).

Losing our best scouts (3 now?) in the last 4 seasons (starting with Rigmaiden?) has devastated our ability to replenish the corps with cheapie ELCs.

Secondly, is the crazy complexity and unorthodox-ness of our coverage system to blame?  Is it literally too hard to get new guys up to speed on our novel system in anything less than 4-5 months of actual reg season?  (Hints Bonds will likely be re-signed.)

All this points to NO BLOWUP of the coverage paradigm or DL.  Better get ready for another 3 man rush year and max-coverage.  We'll have to pin our hopes on them actually perfecting the monster they have created, having learned from the weaknesses of '25.  Read: no big FA for the DL...

[Jesse]

I was just going to say precisely what TLB said to Jesse.  Nichols & Holm contracts creeping up into nosebleed territory is a VAST departure from the previous Mafia paradigm that served us superbly in '19-'23.

Remember how our best DB (or 2) would bail EVERY SINGLE FA for a huge payday?  We let every single one walk because our mantra was "cheap at DB".  We always found the next guy.  Ya, well we haven't found the "next guy" since Holm... and that was 2022!!  Wow!

And teams that "snipe" their top DBs don't usually do well.  The only recent success story I can think of is SSK buying Sayles.  That paid off.  Usually the GC-winning teams are using self-scouted top DBs (see: MTL).

Losing our best scouts (3 now?) in the last 4 seasons (starting with Rigmaiden?) has devastated our ability to replenish the corps with cheapie ELCs.

Secondly, is the crazy complexity and unorthodox-ness of our coverage system to blame?  Is it literally too hard to get new guys up to speed on our novel system in anything less than 4-5 months of actual reg season?  (Hints Bonds will likely be re-signed.)

All this points to NO BLOWUP of the coverage paradigm or DL.  Better get ready for another 3 man rush year and max-coverage.  We'll have to pin our hopes on them actually perfecting the monster they have created, having learned from the weaknesses of '25.  Read: no big FA for the DL...

The first thing the regime change did was snipe Chris Randle from Calgary. We didn't really get too many salary leaks at the time, but during those years he and Moe Leggett were absolutely among the top paid American DBs. And then we paid low end salaries to guys like Unumba and Sears to make it all work.

At one point, we were paying  Heath, Leggett, and Randle while having a young Brandon Alexander and Kevin Fogg on rookie deals.

Then we had to move on from Heath, but brought up Marcus Sayles (Now paying top end to Alexander, Randle, Leggett + Loffler but ignoring Canadians for this discussion).

You're right that we had a cool window where we found Sayles, Alford, Nichols, Holm in quick succession. SO there was probably a 2 year period where Alexander was the only high paid American in the secondary. And that happens sometimes, but we've always had a couple highly paid guys and a couple of recent finds to make it work.

Similar to the way we've let DTs walk to keep Jefferson and Jeffcoat fed.

[Pigskin]

It will be interesting to see what our top American DBs will be expecting now. With Holm at $185, and Nichols and Peters at $175.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

No we don't.  We'd like to think that.  But Pete is right, perhaps some of these deals were done before the 31st and we're just only hearing about them now.  Or perhaps we paid them out a bonus on the 31st with an understanding they'd finalize & sign in '26.

In fact, I'm kind of counting on the above, because if not then it would seem we didn't have much leftover from '25 to spend on EOY signings!!  We should have had our full $400k to play with!  1GIR usage notwithstanding.

I think you're making the situation more complicated than it needs to be, Walters is a pretty straightforward manager who seems to prefer simplicity.  The names below likely ate up everything that was leftover of the 2025 SMS.

Signed prior to Dec 31.

Demski
Eli
Kramdi
Lawson
Nichols
Oliveira

[theaardvark]

No we don't.  We'd like to think that.  But Pete is right, perhaps some of these deals were done before the 31st and we're just only hearing about them now.  Or perhaps we paid them out a bonus on the 31st with an understanding they'd finalize & sign in '26.

In fact, I'm kind of counting on the above, because if not then it would seem we didn't have much leftover from '25 to spend on EOY signings!!  We should have had our full $400k to play with!  1GIR usage notwithstanding.

$400k, marketing money and the $100k over dollar for dollar match... lots of money to dole out.

Surprised Willie wasn't one of those they spent that on.  Sunk money, won't lose anything on the 1 game

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Your general concept is sound, but you picked a bad example.  Basically everyone now (incl MOS and now Holm in his presser) are calling Kramdi the "QB of the D" by name.  He's the brains behind the entire operation.  Basically the new Biggie, but with a good passport.

And he's fairly athletic and competent and hard-hitting.

I don't think Kramdi is going ANYWHERE until we, far down the road, obtain another brainiac MLB.  Kramdi might easily be BFL.

As for the other guys you mention, it's the same old "ancient guy on each unit stays as the Obi Wan".  That's why Wilson was here in '25.  Until someone else becomes the next Obi Wan, they tend to stay on a Mafia team.  Other than all that, I agree with you!

Just looking over the LB crew, Kramdi re-signed, T. Jones, Ayers, Woodbey, Smith, Shay, Novak all under contract leaving Wilson, Griffin, Gauthier, and Makonzo unprotected. I won't be surprised if it remains this way. Griffin being the biggest question mark, but they've seen enough of him to decide if someone else has surpassed him in value, much like they did with Malik Clements after 2023.

[Pigskin]

Like to Griffin back at the right money. Griffin had a very good season. 13 Games, 47 DTs, 8 STs, 1 sack.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Like to Griffin back at the right money. Griffin had a very good season. 13 Games, 47 DTs, 8 STs, 1 sack.

I agree but where does he fit in around Kramdi? 

[Blue In BC]

I agree but where does he fit in around Kramdi? 

Same place as last year. He was used as rotation player and different defensive sets. In some cases we went to a 2 safety kind of set. At times he may have been part of the front 7. We changed personnel so much it was hard to keep up. He did have 47 DT's and also worked on ST's.

His role changed either due to injury or the addition of Allen around LD.

Regardless he's a very good player but I understand he may not be re-signed. Time will tell.  It may boil down to if Ayers replaces K. Wilson as WIL we may have a roster spot available for a DI.