Bombers 2026-2027 offseason

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Nield had many crap games but he did step up in the edf. Was he 3 or 4? 100% success. And a couple were tough high balls and taking big hits. He hung on. He did good. He almost was the hot hand for that game.

If mafia thinks his blocking is top notch, which I have no answer to, then I might explore giving him another year. Maybe at a slight salary reduction or incentive heavy contract.

Nield isn't a bad receiver, he's just the last in a long line of receivers that fell out of favour with Zach and got put on his ignore list and shunted out of the play book.  Even though Zach was probably a loud voice in bringing him to Wpg, as they trained together for a couple of summers in Ont, so he knew what he had to offer.

Usually Zach punishes young receivers for running the wrong route or not breaking off when he's in trouble, Pokey, Wheatfall and Clercius all suffered his wrath and have been yelled at for doing so.

I doubt that was the case with Nield, probably the couple of random drops that did it, which might have also been the fate of BOLO before him, even though Fajardo continues to target him and has made him into a useful asset. 

Point is every receiver drops easy passes, the worst thing to do is  ignore them for the rest of the game and the next and destroy their confidence and lock the sense of failure in their head. 

Adarius Bowman was the golden example, every game he was guaranteed to drop a few easy passes due to poor focus, the key was to keep throwing him the ball and get him involved early and by the end of the game and often the season he was likely to have more receptions than any other receiver.

[Tecno]

Not giving up on them each game sounds good, but in 3 down ball on a run-first-down team, nearly every drop is a drive killer. You can't keep doing that and win.

The teams that keep throwing to droppers... Were they throw on first down teams like mtl now or Mike Reilly anywhere or blm in Calgary? Or even just teams that always convert second and ten.

Makes a big difference.

[dd]

I'd still go cheaper at Nield's position, not re-sign him and go with the cheaper Clercius as our #5 or 6 reciever, injuries hit, we still have Cobb or Corcoran and not impact ratio

[gobombersgo]

Mike O'Shea concerned with Winnipeg Blue Bombers' lack of scoring

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have had different offensive coordinators for each of the last three years, yet the results have stayed largely the same — which is to say, not very good.

"You need to score points. Absolutely, [the lack of offensive scoring is] concerning," head coach Mike O'Shea told reporters on Tuesday. "Because it's three different coordinators, I think you've gotta look at it differently. I don't think I'd be looking at this year and comparing it to last year and comparing it to the year before. I'm not there yet."

Winnipeg's offence ranked seventh in points scored, net yardage, and yards per play in 2026, making them the club's weakest phase. According to the CFL's aggregate statistical rankings, the team's defence was tied for fifth league-wide, while the special teams ranked first.

Tommy Condell was hired to serve as the team's offensive coordinator last offseason. In a corresponding move, Jason Hogan, who took the role in 2025 after Buck Pierce left to become the head coach of the B.C. Lions, was demoted back to his former role of running backs coach.

The offence improved under Condell, but not by much.

The Blue Bombers scored 25.7 offensive points per game, up from 21.3 in 2025. The offence also generated 2.7 more yards per game and 0.3 more yards per play.

Winnipeg improved in the turnover department, too, giving the ball away 34 times after doing so 45 times in 2025. However, the team regressed in sacks allowed, giving up 42 — five more than last year.

It was a strong season for CFL offences overall, as scoring was up 8.7 percent league-wide. This means that despite some improvement year-over-year, Winnipeg's offence didn't necessarily improve relative to other teams.

O'Shea expects Condell to be back next year, indicating that he's under contract for 2027.

Zach Collaros, who previously played for Condell with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, spoke glowingly about the longtime assistant coach during his recent season-ending media availability.

https://3downnation.com/2026/11/11/mike-oshea-concerned-with-winnipeg-blue-bombers-lack-of-scoring/

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

I'd still go cheaper at Nield's position, not re-sign him and go with the cheaper Clercius as our #5 or 6 reciever, injuries hit, we still have Cobb or Corcoran and not impact ratio

Nield is signed for next year already so they'd have to cut him. In 2 playoff games I'm not sure Clercius touched the field as a receiver, I think he's likely toast.

Losing Nield, Cobb, Corcoran, Clercius and MCI with no Natl. replacements in sight could lead to ratio issues. Likely none of them feel valued, heading into the off season with bad vibes, I believe this file has been badly managed on the offensive side of the ball, it has the potential to flush away years of draft work.

[gobombersgo]

Big Blue Review - Part 3: Silver Linings
Ed Tait

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are finishing up exit interviews with coaches and managers this week and then jetting off to parts all over the globe for the offseason with all the coulda, woulda, shoulda rationalizations rolling through their collective craniums.

The Blue Bombers clearly have some work to do to get back to the Canadian Football League's elite, even after advancing to their seventh division final in the last eight years this past season.

The list of their pending free agents is long, yes, but so is the roster foundation already under contract, a list that includes Brady Oliveira, Jake Ceresna, Jarell Broxton, Nic Demski, Pokey Wilson, Evan Holm, Redha Kramdi and Cam Lawson.

There's more, and as we trot out the latest in our Big Blue Review series, we present the silver linings that emerged this season amid the ups and downs of a .500 campaign.

This quartet -- defensive back Major Williams, receiver Dorian Singer, defensive linemen Michael Fletcher and second-year linebacker Jaylen Smith -- all established themselves as rising CFL stars over the past few months.

And there's a very real belief they're just getting started.

Story continues...
https://bluebombers.com/article/big-blue-review-part-3-silver-linings

[Pete]

I'd still go cheaper at Nield's position, not re-sign him and go with the cheaper Clercius as our #5 or 6 reciever, injuries hit, we still have Cobb or Corcoran and not impact ratio

as mentioned Nield is signed for next season and its very rare for this team to cut a vet who has a contract, we tend to wait til contract expires. Have we done that in the past?

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

as mentioned Nield is signed for next season and its very rare for this team to cut a vet who has a contract, we tend to wait til contract expires. Have we done that in the past?

Not often, I think Moxie is in the same boat as Nield.

[theaardvark]

Big Stan needs to take a knee.  For his own sake.

Neuf, it looks like he can still play, but it will take a solid offseason of training to keep it that way.  And I think it comes down to what his post CFL options are.  With three youngsters, if he can't make what he makes playing, he plays another year.  And, he gets to play with them in the offseason.