bluto

That wasn't intended as a slight against Varga. More of an indication that I don't know if we're going National or American there. Sopik played well there and then got dinged so Darkangelo came in and was noteworthy. But Sopik is a FA and Darkangelo got a look down south, so who knows?

Well my first and most obvious question would be to ask who it is in Toronto who is calling the shots right now? Word on the street is that Murphy was on the outs, so I actually don't know who is steering the Good Ship Argonaut right now. Allen was effective but expensive. We have lots of good O-Line guys including a few who just got here and can do a job (Doxtater, Moore) so with the number of guys who are top FAs, the deck was always going to get shuffled. Dejon is about 30 so he'll have a few nice productive years, he's a west coast guy and BC can tell their star at QB that they're doing what they can to get him an O-line. Likely has nothing to do with anything, but Allen did almost get Kelly killed in the playoffs against Ottawa. And, Isaiah Cage is a free agent too... Not sure if Varga is a starter or not, but most of our National linebackers got played as a starter at some point last season. As it stands we have Cassar, Sopik(FA), Adeleke (FA), & Varga. So maybe Varga is a hedge against possibly losing Sopik if someone pulls out their chequebook? Ceresna, Brinkman, Smith, McManis, Amos, Metchie, McFadden, Priester... some our FAs on D Grant, Haggerty... on Teams Arbuckle, Cage, Rice, Mackellar, Carey, Coxie... on O Freeing up salary and churning the roster happens. And the last few years we haven't done a lot of our signings until later on, so I'll try not to let it bug me as I watch good players get poached one by one.

Yeah that tracks. It looks like there are 5 or more teams who may be in the market for one. Makes me think that unless McManis really wants to come back to the Double Blue that he will be setting the market somewhere. Head says that he's gone, heart says that he'll stay... but this is likely better discussed in the non-Bomber offseason thread.

Why wouldn't we just presume that with O'Shea being in Toronto's sports scene from 96-13, he'd have had many opportunities to mingle with the likes of Wendel and Dougie?

Think the Bombers are on the hunt for one?

Incoming controversial take: Whenever we played the Als, RB's or Ticats (speaking of teams that just seem to have your number!), it always looked fairly apparent that each of them had a Toronto-Specific gameplan. I never got that feeling or saw evidence of that against the Bombers.

Take a bow @Atomic Too bad you couldn't monetize that prediction.

I see a lot of that talk about him in the forums, to a large extent I think it's unfair. Saying that he's a one-trick pony implies that it is the only thing that he can do. As though he never stacks up or does pursuit just isn't so. You won't see me say that he's an elite run defender (middle of the road on a good day, imo) but he is elite at pressure and a good DC will use him to great effect. Additionally, his contract is for what should be the most productive 2 years of his career (Age 30 & 31). I'm not saying that $260k is a great value for the Leos, but they paid him to keep him before free agency and that's also a premium.

Best in class D-Linemen last year were over $200k. We had two of them, Orimolade ($240k) and Ceresna ($222k). He is a best in class rush end. Add the fact that he's a national and a re-signee and you get $260ish.

3Downnation says it's $260k (plus up to $6k in bonus) next year and $270k (same bonus) the following. https://3downnation.com/2024/12/19/b-c-lions-re-sign-star-canadian-dl-mathieu-betts-through-2026/ I think that's about right for him.

$339k for a backup is a tough one. And the musical QBs song seems like it is winding down... he may be without a chair.

He wasn't brought back as a choice? Or he wanted to play in the USFL?

https://www.cfl.ca/2024/12/16/argos-sign-american-db-donald-rutledge-jr/ A Bomber connection to this Argo signing. Thoughts?

https://3downnation.com/2024/12/16/2025-grey-cup-odds/ Really-Really-Very Early 2025 Grey Cup Odds. Ridiculous. I got better Odds during Grey Cup week than these guys are offering me 11 months out.

The Don is a legend around here. And Coach Din (46) is going to pass him (49) and likely Cahill (54) this coming season. Then he only has Pinball (67) and Obie (89). And Dinwiddie has the highest win percentage of them and if he gets one more cup here he'll pass every one of our post WW2 coaches. Remarkable stuff. I'd do the same lookup for O'Shea (and Mass, who I have been very impressed with), but the Wiki for the Bombers coaches only says it goes to the end of the 2022 season. One of you guys should go edit it. EDIT: Pretty sure that O'Shea owns most of your HC records now?

Demean, denigrate and disparage all you like. But being among the greatest head coaches in the history of the most successful and storied Canadian football team after a mere 4 years at the helm is no mean feat. If we win 8 games next year, he'll be tied with Leo Cahill for 3rd most wins.

Ryan Dinwiddie is 1 or 2 seasons from being the undisputed greatest Head Coach in Toronto Argonauts history. You could even make the argument now, but adding another 20ish wins basically makes it a moot point. He's only been here 4 years.

I think that is a great deal for the Stamps. Adams at $465k is a very good spend.

O'Shea was part of the Argos D when Stubler put the FIFO sign up.

Player Personnel is such a strange sort of square-peg round-hole thing at times. There are times when you cut a player who looks hopeless to the point of not even being able to play football and you wonder why he was even brought in. So he gets cut, another team decides to plug him in and he is a runaway success who goes on to thrive (see: Cameron Judge, Toronto, Calgary)

Are all of Edmonton's coaches at the end of their contracts? The management cap allows you to fire 1 guy and not count their salary against the cap. Every other coach would have their guaranteed contract on the cap. Can they do a big reset?

I can't put MBT and Fajardo in the same tier as the others.

Why would he leave Ottawa? Nice director level paycheck, zero ownership expectation of fielding a competitive team... It isn't Saskatoon...