Mike

Baloney why? The only thing we've done this offseason is add someone we subtracted a year ago and then lost a whole bunch of other players (none of which I'm too torn up about) but it's not as if there's been an overall improvement to this roster. We're not better than we were when we won our last Grey Cup, but we're a whole lot older. Bryant and Jeffcoat can barely practice, Bighill falls off a cliff in October ... we're going to have to get younger in a few spots for sure and I have no doubt that our front office can scout some difference makers, I just don't like the approach that we've taken of essentially just hoping and praying that our older guys keep it together for one more year. Somebody posted up above that they think we have a better DL than Toronto, which is laughable to me. Their entire defence as a whole is stronger than ours and it starts right up front. Willie and Jeffcoat are still impact players but if the answer to take some of the pressure off them is to trot out Jake Thomas and Ricky Walker up the middle, we're in trouble. Bighill/Darby/Kyrie doesn't strike me as a unit that can play 18 games or more. Do I think we're a contender? Absolutely. Top two team in the CFL and it's not particularly close at this point but I don't think we're #1. And people can talk about the difference in QB talent all they want, it's valid and certainly evident but let's not forget - Collaros has been pretty bad in November each of the last two seasons. He's the MOP that has brought us to the show but he certainly hasn't been a game changer when we get there. What's he at in the last two West Finals / Grey Cups? 4 TD / 7 INT? Something like that? It hasn't been great. Mark me down as optimistic yet slightly worried. Yes.

I mean, is this really much different than us? We’ve invested every ounce of cap space in aging talent and we can afford to sign exactly one free agent, it seems like. I’m not thrilled with our off-season at all, at this point. Seems like we’re banking on a lot of “please still be in your prime” from key guys. Look at Toronto - they beat us in the Grey Cup and are making massive additions. They’re a better team than us *today* on paper.

Yes, agreed. After all, teams in pro football always honour the contracts and don’t historically just use guys up like they are assets and nothing more.

Didn’t realize the price tag for receivers was so high all of a sudden I don’t like 300k but I wouldn’t have liked 140k for Bailey last year either

Lawler at 250k is about what I’d like to see, any more than that would be unnecessary to me. We still have Schoen to re-up next year.

DT seems thin as hell for free agents, he’ll genuinely don’t see a single one I would love

Would like to see us dip our toes in the FA pool. Pickett or Kam Kelly would be interesting for sure, but I imagine we think we’re set there with Darby. That is an old-ass group of LBs though. Don’t love that If Bailey doesn’t come back (sad) then I’d love to see Dunbar replace him.

Jeez lol the undercutting of a guy just because he’s a Rider lmao to that stupid contract but Lanier is a force out there. FWIW to all you “he’s not a FIFO guy, he’s a selfish player, he’s worthless” people in the building, the Bombers were one of the teams that inquired about him yesterday.

You don’t sign your aging franchise QB to a 600k deal and then put him in a situation to lose every single one of his top weapons in one offseason Demski will be back

Why sad? Couldn't care less about Mauldin. If I wanted a big ticket pass rusher in their 30s, I'm glad we're keeping the ones we have already in our system.

The one I was really hoping they'd move on from was Bighill.

Personally, I'm a bit worried we're not really moving on from anyone. That list of guys we haven't brought back yet does give me some hope though. I'm thinking we likely move on from Taylor (he's gotta be finished after the Achilles sadly), Ellingson, Couture (wouldn't love this but if Dobson is ready, I trust it), Maston and Darby. That would likely free up some cash to make a splash here and there, especially since I can't imagine any of these names we've brought back in aside from maybe Willie got a raise. Hoping (selfishly) we hear some good for us, bad for him news on Schoen soon and then we can look at shoring up an extension with him.

Bombers sign DB Deuce Wallace NFL.com says he’s 6’2”, Saints website says he’s 5’10”, everyone agrees he’s 210 pounds Kerry Joseph’s cousin

I wish we could decline the option on TBURGESS

MOP Rasheed Bailey MOC Nathan Rourke for showing up in the stands with Farhan and JC Abbott

And without Rourke, how do you think the Lions season goes? It works both ways.

It’s absolute trash. Most teams do better than Bombers for merch. Ours is such low quality junk. My wife and I ordered two matching Grey Cup Champs hoodies last year in two different sizes and they came in two different colours - hers was royal blue, mine was some kind of pale ugly blue that looked nothing like hers and the best answer I got from the Bomber Store was that the supplier uses two different colours so they got a mix and matched batch and if I didn’t want mine, I could get my money back (which I did) Love the Bombers but they are light years behind on merch.

Sorry, why? your last post was insanity. You’re talking about HIS life. Had he missed the awards to attend to something like a workout for an NFL team, who cares? The NFL is so cutthroat that you need to utilize every opportunity you’re given. this mentality some CFL fans have where they act as if the players owe them or the league anything is absolutely bananas. This kid played two years in the CFL, his dream is the NFL and you think he has some kind of obligation to show up for some award he probably couldn’t care less about because why?

I’d puke if we signed Fajardo Mentally the weakest player I’ve seen in the CFL in as long as I can remember

Just go get some receivers off the receiver shelf, sign all the other good players you want and voila! Dynasty!

Thoughts: Based on my complete lack of knowledge on the topic, I think Collaros is going to start next week and it’s not even a question. His limp disappeared almost immediately and he was on the post-game show … not usually going to let a guy go answer questions that soon after an injury if it was serious Darby is unbelievable. What a great add by Walters late in the year. Looked like Alexander got maybe nicked also. Sweet Christ is Derek Taylor a tough listen on the post game. First one I’ve listened to all year and it was a hot mess. For a guy who is such a stats hotshot, he sure doesn’t seem to have a hot clue about the actual flow of a football game and based on some of the interactions, he seems to have absolutely zero rapport with the players. Let’s go win a third Cup

Migs for OC on minimum wage !

This all-star list is embarrassing for the CFL, honestly. Bighill, Rutledge and Rose aren’t all stars. Not this year. We’ve spent the last month talking about how stupid it is that there are people who want Rourke to be MOP. This is no different.

Football teams rarely, if ever, have their players best interests in mind.

which prompts the question, "why change it then?"