JuranBoldenRules

Boy, you really don't like that guy.That same statement could be made for a number of NI players throughout their careers. Yep, applies to a lot of guys, and speaks to the desperation to find NI's. I'd love it if Neufeld became a fixture here, but IMO he'd be in tough whether he's healthy (relative because he's already had a leg snapped) or not. I haven't seen anything that warrants the "if he were only healthy he'd be a stud OL for us" talk.

Neufeld is following the easiest path to a nice pay cheque and being vastly overrated as a football player. Be a Canadian, play a few games without being an unmitigated disaster, get injured, profit financially and in how people view your abilities.

Sounds like a lame excuse to me. There's a jumbotron feed and internet access. Same as Varsity.

I don't know how you can praise Neufeld while ripping Swiston. Short of one season when Neufeld got a bunch of starts at tackle in Regina with a tight end or fullback glued to his butt in pass protection, there is no difference between them in their CFL careers. Can't stay healthy, both struggle when playing inside because they are natural tackles but not quite quick enough to be good ones in the CFL. I was never a fan of the move to acquire Neufeld. We basically gave away a guy with value and downgraded a draft pick for an overpaid and overrated player with a career-threatening injury. Helped out the Riders in a lot of ways.

Kohlert's first CFL game was as a Blue Bomber.

Glenn January? American. Morley might be it though.

Who's the last experienced NI the Bombers signed as a free agent who actually met or exceeded expectations? Mike Abou-Mechrek?

It was safe to assume that the day they picked him.

I'm guessing that you must have missed watching him last season, because he got more than a few reps there. Suffice to say that he impressed them so much that they immediately went out and hired Glenn. No thanks What I saw last year is why I'd be interested. Average CFL QB in his second season last year, some good (good enough arm, good mobility, good command of what's going on around him on the field), some bad (tendency to lock on first read and trouble moving through reads), but a solid base to build from with a guy who is relatively young and can already give you a chance to win if he's needed. At some point Chamblin decided he wasn't the guy and went with Joseph, gifting the Eskimos a playoff win, but hey he did the same thing with our MLB.

Problem is unlike Willy and Brohm, Marve isn't naturally a pocket QB so he has a bigger learning curve to overcome to fit in to Marcel's scheme. I'm not sure it is in the best interest of the Bombers or Marve to try to convert him to this role as I prefer the flexibility he offers with his motion when the need arises to use him. Watching the beat down cement foot Sunseri took from the Esks. last night (5 sacks) indicates how vulnerable a pocket passer can be against certain D schemes. Brett Smith who played prior to Sunseri was able to scramble to avoid the rush, looked good and was not sacked even once. Even with an improved O-line whoever the Bombers play has to be able to evacuate the pocket in order to succeed against a team pinning it's ears back to kill the QB. They will not survive the game otherwise. Hopefully Willy can adapt as the Bombers play the Esks. in week five and it could get ugly. Doesn't matter what kind of QB is behind center when a OL is playing as bad as the guys Saskatchewan had in during most of the 3rd and 4th quarters last night. Plus Edmonton started blitzing like crazy with many experienced CFL players still on their D against guys on Sask who won't be in the CFL long. On several of those sacks Sunseri was scrambling. Leaving the pocket early actually makes it a lot easier for a blitz to affect a QB, as counter intuitive as that might seem. It's not an either or situation though. There's a reason why basically all of the great QB's in recent CFL history can throw effectively from the pocket and move effectively within the structure of the offense and at times when they need to. It's what beats defenses consistently regardless of how they scheme. Marve has a long way to go with his brain and arm to even be a serviceable QB. Marve has been a highly serviceable and effective QB so far, regardless of his style of play. Brohm has a longer way to go, plus he's older. So you'd feel comfortable going into this season with Marve as your starting QB if you were running a team based on what you've seen from him to this point? Versus say having a guy like Kevin Glenn or Drew Tate, guys I would call serviceable. Haven't seen enough of him to say that I'd feel comfortable with him as the starter, but I'd feel much more comfortable with him than Brohm. Then he's not a serviceable QB. To me that term means that you know within a reasonable range what you are going to get when the guy steps on the field.

Problem is unlike Willy and Brohm, Marve isn't naturally a pocket QB so he has a bigger learning curve to overcome to fit in to Marcel's scheme. I'm not sure it is in the best interest of the Bombers or Marve to try to convert him to this role as I prefer the flexibility he offers with his motion when the need arises to use him. Watching the beat down cement foot Sunseri took from the Esks. last night (5 sacks) indicates how vulnerable a pocket passer can be against certain D schemes. Brett Smith who played prior to Sunseri was able to scramble to avoid the rush, looked good and was not sacked even once. Even with an improved O-line whoever the Bombers play has to be able to evacuate the pocket in order to succeed against a team pinning it's ears back to kill the QB. They will not survive the game otherwise. Hopefully Willy can adapt as the Bombers play the Esks. in week five and it could get ugly. Doesn't matter what kind of QB is behind center when a OL is playing as bad as the guys Saskatchewan had in during most of the 3rd and 4th quarters last night. Plus Edmonton started blitzing like crazy with many experienced CFL players still on their D against guys on Sask who won't be in the CFL long. On several of those sacks Sunseri was scrambling. Leaving the pocket early actually makes it a lot easier for a blitz to affect a QB, as counter intuitive as that might seem. It's not an either or situation though. There's a reason why basically all of the great QB's in recent CFL history can throw effectively from the pocket and move effectively within the structure of the offense and at times when they need to. It's what beats defenses consistently regardless of how they scheme. Marve has a long way to go with his brain and arm to even be a serviceable QB. Marve has been a highly serviceable and effective QB so far, regardless of his style of play. Brohm has a longer way to go, plus he's older. So you'd feel comfortable going into this season with Marve as your starting QB if you were running a team based on what you've seen from him to this point? Versus say having a guy like Kevin Glenn or Drew Tate, guys I would call serviceable.

No one said it's only about the game evaluation. The TC evaluation is ongoing. Every snap. Every nuance. Every day. I don't want a team of guys who are 'close to sticking around for the second week of TC'. I want to focus our time and effort on guys who have a real chance to make the team and especially those who have a real chance to be difference makers. You have a very distorted view of what a training camp is. The guys who they are discussing at this cutdown who will be on the field tomorrow have a chance to make the team.

Problem is unlike Willy and Brohm, Marve isn't naturally a pocket QB so he has a bigger learning curve to overcome to fit in to Marcel's scheme. I'm not sure it is in the best interest of the Bombers or Marve to try to convert him to this role as I prefer the flexibility he offers with his motion when the need arises to use him. Watching the beat down cement foot Sunseri took from the Esks. last night (5 sacks) indicates how vulnerable a pocket passer can be against certain D schemes. Brett Smith who played prior to Sunseri was able to scramble to avoid the rush, looked good and was not sacked even once. Even with an improved O-line whoever the Bombers play has to be able to evacuate the pocket in order to succeed against a team pinning it's ears back to kill the QB. They will not survive the game otherwise. Hopefully Willy can adapt as the Bombers play the Esks. in week five and it could get ugly. Doesn't matter what kind of QB is behind center when a OL is playing as bad as the guys Saskatchewan had in during most of the 3rd and 4th quarters last night. Plus Edmonton started blitzing like crazy with many experienced CFL players still on their D against guys on Sask who won't be in the CFL long. On several of those sacks Sunseri was scrambling. Leaving the pocket early actually makes it a lot easier for a blitz to affect a QB, as counter intuitive as that might seem. It's not an either or situation though. There's a reason why basically all of the great QB's in recent CFL history can throw effectively from the pocket and move effectively within the structure of the offense and at times when they need to. It's what beats defenses consistently regardless of how they scheme. Marve has a long way to go with his brain and arm to even be a serviceable QB.

They aren't just evaluating the game. Why wouldn't you take an extra few practices to have a look at guys who are very close competing to stick around for a couple more weeks and a shot at the main roster if you have the chance?

Hard to evaluate Sunseri based on the reps he got last night. Couldn't even get his eyes downfield before the Eskimos were on top of him. If the Riders cut him, I'd be interested in having him over whichever one of Marve or Portis is ranked lower by our coaches.

Saskatchewan is one OL injury away from a disaster of a season. No depth.

Why does it include non-counters? They don't count towards the roster limit.

That was an interesting point. One of the biggest things I'm looking for with the new rule is how they handle the "physical" receivers and some of the picks set downfield to open up space. Rule should go both ways if they are going to be strict. I don't necessarily agree with Milt because in the couple of pre-season games I've watched there hasn't been any huge difference IMO and big targets are always good, even against zone. In fact having guys with more "catch radius" could save a lot of INT's vs zone defense.

They've basically decided that Hurl is MLB, so having 3 NI's on the field on D at all times with a MLB, CB and WIL/DL/DB seems like it could happen. If it does I assume they'll have 4 import receivers on the roster, might only "start" 3 if they want to start more than 7 NI's.

Two stints, 3 full seasons.

There's also a relatively long standing tradition of early season games having difficulty selling league-wide and interest really picking up at Labour Day, kind of when people settle back into their working lives and spend less time at the cottage. That may have shifted in recent years a bit. To me, this issue is really low on the issues facing the league, and the potential to be damaging to the brand is more than the potential of it really making any difference at all.

It's understandable. I'm leery of someone who says they don't want extra attention just wants to play football, yet signs up for a reality tv show and agrees to hold a press conference announcing his signing in Montreal. I think if he really didn't want extra attention he might have asked what happens when every other American player who washed out of the NFL before even playing a meaningful game signs in the CFL and said let's do that. I respect that he's being open and there's a risk in that, but it's pretty clear that the media attention is something he's playing into at this point, not trying to avoid.Reality show aside, we had a press conference when we signed Westerman. High profile NFL players get attention. Westerman is a non import who actually played in the NFL, and a virtual lock to make the roster, one of our highest paid players. Apples to oranges.

Who said anything about getting rid of fall football? Its the winter football that sucks. From a business perspective it makes a lot of sense. What's attendance like in Late October? There is infinitely more opportunity to sell out a couple of June ganes then give away free tickets in late October or early November. Winter starts December 21. June is usually a combo of oppressive heat and storms when the cold fronts finally appear. I don't think it's necessarily an easier sell than October for regular season. Meaningful games in October and November will sell in most CFL cities, and where they don't sell changing the schedule would make little difference.

It's understandable. I'm leery of someone who says they don't want extra attention just wants to play football, yet signs up for a reality tv show and agrees to hold a press conference announcing his signing in Montreal. I think if he really didn't want extra attention he might have asked what happens when every other American player who washed out of the NFL before even playing a meaningful game signs in the CFL and said let's do that. I respect that he's being open and there's a risk in that, but it's pretty clear that the media attention is something he's playing into at this point, not trying to avoid.

No. Marsh's injury doesn't change much, he's third string. If they weren't comfortable with Crompton and LeFevour the time to look for another QB was months ago.