Bubba Zanetti

Thats a tough one for sure. I like Evans but this is a guy who has now lost 2 Grey Cups(granted he hasnt played two full games but has looked rattled and crappy in 1.5 Grey Cups) and the Tiger Cats have never been quite all in on handing him the keys to the ship for whatever reason. Collaros is a known commodity and has proven himself to be a winner. I think i bite the bullet and give Zach the $550K.

I'd be ecstatic. But i will eat my shoe if we manage to get him back at under $500K. My guess is $525K and i'd be fine with that. For christs sake he's 16-1 in meaningful regular season games with us and has won us back2back Grey Cups! Hell there should be a Bomber fan beside his bed every day bright and early ready to give Zach a morning massage + happy ending. One two three not it!

I really dont think an extra $50K is going to prevent us from winning another cup. Were not talking the craziness of the Reilly/BLM contracts from a few years ago here.

If Glenn had sat cross-legged at center field picking dandy lions all game we would have won.

Yup. For all we know he's gets torpedoed by German u-boat #3 and fumbles! THATS A FACT! JACK!

BLM took a cut cause he's been injured and meh going on 2 seasons now. There is no way Zach comes in under $500K IMO. My guess is we sign him at $550K. And if we dont want to pay that someone else will. Do we really want to play chicken with our back2back Grey Cup winning QB over 50K? I dont. Oh i agree its asinine but sports salaries are very much negotiated on comparables.

I mean Fajardo is making what, 515K? Based on that market setting(thanks knobs to the left), getting Collaros at the 525K-550K is reasonable IMO. I'd be hesitant to go beyond that.

I have no problem making Zach the highest paid QB, he's earned it. But if his ask is beyond reason(like 600K+) and he wont budge, then by all means turn your attention to Evans.

Agreed. I think he would have been more than happy to stay here. Just a case of BC offering more term/money.

I view his contract as more of a desperation move by BC as opposed to a slight from Sayles. You cant blame him for following the term/money. I highly doubt Walters was offering a 3 year deal and even if he was guaranteed BC was offering more. Theyve been trying to buy wins for a few years now and over paying left and right.

Fair enough, but from the get-go we didnt have any issues with our pass defense last season. Alford + Nichols more than made up for the loss of Rose/Sayles. That wasnt the case with our run defense when Richardson was missing.

There is a difference between ok DT's and game changing DT's which is what Richardson is. And i seem to recall being 9-1 before Rose came back last season. One could argue our secondary was BETTER last season than 2019. Rose is awesome but IMO Richardson would be a bigger loss to our defense.

I'd honestly prefer to lose Rose over Richardson. Walters has proven he can find DB's and there are tons of them out there. We legit had 30+ in camp last season. Beastly DT's are much harder to come by.

No one said Sayles sucks. Like another poster mentioned, he's more of a hybrid DE who just doesnt have the body/strength of Richardson so by nature isnt the run stuffer Stove is. Use the eye test, stats, whatever you want, it cant be debated that Richardson in the lineup made a huge difference for our run defense. Not to be forgotten is the fact that he routinely ties up two blockers freeing up the two Jeff's to do their damage more easily. Losing him may have a trickle down effect on those guys too. We waltzed through the season pounding the league so our run game issues without Stove didnt hurt us. My point is Richardson is a huge asset on D and it will suffer if he leaves, especially so if our offense isnt as potent next season and teams can stick with us longer.

Losing Lawler would leave a huge hole. He and Collaros were magic together and Zach loves him. I like Bailey and our other receivers but none of them can replace what Lawler brings. I think Walters would need to look at FA's if Lawler leaves. I dont see an in house replacement. I wouldnt throw the bank at Burnham but maybe you can get him at a discount with the enticement of a championship. He's on the wrong side of 30 but i think Burnham still has a couple years of elite play left in him.

😟 Atlanta needs all the help they can get at receiver. The cupboard is bare. If Lawler ends up signing does Walters take a run at Burnham??

Our opponents ran for 100+ yards against us in 4 of the 7 games Richardson missed. The rest of the season it happened once. A lot of the time teams just couldnt establish the run against us because they were down by so much early. We were hovering around 6 yards per carry against which was last in the CFL for a good chunk of last season. If we lose Richardson and arnt as dominate offensively it could be a whole different season in 2022. Teams knew we could be run on but just didnt have the time to keep at it. My point being Richardson is more valuable than a lot of people think. I like Sayles and he was good but he looks more like a DE to me. Doesnt have the size to be a run stuffing difference maker in the middle like Richardson.

Our run defense was brutal when Stove was hurt. Pretty sure we were dead last in the league for rush yards against per game while he was on the shelf. I mean, we were still clown pounding the league but it was an issue.

I agree but man did our run defense suck when Richardson was out of the lineup. I think he's more valuable than we realize.

Im very worried about this too. He took a long time to sign last offseason and ive got a bad feeling he ends up somewhere else. I like Sayles but he doesnt have the run stuffing/brute strength of Richardson in the middle.

Yup, i'd buy something like that in a heartbeat! Im still surprised they didnt produce something like that after the 2019 Grey Cup. Hell, i still watch Bombers Blitz 1990 on VHS now and again!

Yup. They just made him the highest paid receiver in the league after one good season. Pretty small sample size..... Yeah theyve been overpaying for talent for years now with very little success.

He should have a good chance at sticking with them. Atlanta's D is putrid.

Yeah, i mean im sure our offer will be fair. At this stage in his career is he really going to uproot his family, take his kids away from school and friends, and leave a great locker room with a great chance at a 3rd straight Grey Cup, to go play in another city for an extra 20K or so? Not a chance.

Bighill isnt going anywhere. He lives here year round with his family and already has an offseason/after football career in place here. Its just a matter of time and numbers.