K-Shack

Remember we can start a nationalized American as the 8th. Could be Stanley Bryant, Eric Lofton, Kyrie Wilson, Willie Jefferson, Dalton Schoen, Deatrick Nichols, Jamal Parker, or Evan Holm. Lots of options. We only need 7 "true" Canadian starters.

I wonder if they see Vanterpool and Randolph as our two tackles of the future. Bryant is obviously LT this season but possibly it is his last. The easiest way to keep both Randolph and Vanterpool is by starting Vanterpool at LG this season and Randolph at RT. I also think this would be our best configuration. We have enough Canadians starting elsewhere to go 3 import OL.
Start Kola and Neuf. Keep all 3 of Eli, Wallace, and Vibert, using the IR/PR where necessary.
Having a strong OL in front of Collaros is a must.

Yeah. Second to injuries, (and rider wins) the thing I hate most in sports is wasted talent. Hope he manages to get him self sorted and back to where he needs to play. 
 
it’s been a lot of adjustments and trials of different combos. 
 I don’t think Lofton has practiced much at all. Randolph has looked better than Lofton last year though imo. Hes settled into rt nicely. 

 Vanterpool has taken a nice step forward in general. 

 Wallace has been good. Saw him get beat off the line couple times but recover really well. Think that’s why he got a run at rt. He’s lost 15-20 from his pro day time and he hasn’t lost strength. Run block wise, he’s our best bet at guard imo. Pass pro, he’s worth growing with at this point. 

 Eli is pretty much the usual. Much better at C than G, though playing beside the other Cs he was better than with kola. 

 They really like vibert, and I could see him getting groomed on the pr for a year. Hes a nasty inside guy who can snap a bit and be groomed into a back up C pretty easily. Realistically could be a 6th ol in the league this year from what I’ve seen. Gets off the ball well, strong with a good base, nasty type we always like. 

 Neuf looks significantly more mobile than he did all of last year. More explosive than he’s been in a while. If he stays healthy he should be as good as you’d hope. 
 
Among the other rookie imps, Atkinson is a throw back body style. He’s thick and strong and significantly heavier than his listed weight. He’s aggressive and got some good attribute's, but he looks like a straight up guard in need of polish. Which doesn’t happen up here. 
 elsbury has the measurables and it shows on the field, but he’s raw. Reminds me of Randolph last year.  
 I like Hemphills upside, he’s more polished and probably the best of the zone run blockers among the imports. 
 
I could see us easily keeping 1-2 imp ol on the pr and 1 ni, and probably another guy on the ir. 
 Best ol imo: Bryant Neuf Eli vanterpool Randolph.   
 realistically, we are gonna start kola if healthy and I don’t think we have the ratio at this point to go 3 imps with our hurting the d and teams. 
Bryant Neuf kola Wallace Randolph with Eli as the 6th is likely.  
 
I wouldn’t be surprised to see more Wallace at RT. I could see a world where we go 4ni ol with vibert on the ar and Wallace at RT easier than I can see us going 4 imp ol.  If that happened, it’d be best to slide Neuf to his side to give him more help. 
 
Over all I like our ol crop, could still use more Canadian talent as always,  we likely have to face more struggles with change though. Guys needs to gel, and take some lumps as starters at their positions. But that is coming for us no matter what. It’s a good time to move forward with young guys and build in near future replacements for Neuf and Bryant. 

medlocks punting was never his strength though. Sheehan is a punter. He should be better than a guy who did everything else.

Some interesting numbers...
Medlock
2016 raw average 42.7 long 65 2 singles 1 punt return TD against 35.8 net
2017 raw average 43.7 long 85 2 singles 1 punt return TD against 35.9 net
2018 raw average 44.5 long 62 1 single 1 punt return TD against 37 net
2019 raw average 44.5 long 71 1 single 1 punt return TD against 37.5 net
 
Sheehan
2023 raw average 46.2 long 73 0 singles 0 punt return TD against 36.2 net
2024 raw average 44.4 long 70 0 singles 0 punt return TD against 36.2 net

Case wasn’t in the first game, maybe he had to return home? Other wise we could’ve stuck some one on the ir who we know is gonna make it and doesn’t need the reps. 
Nah Lawson was taking equal reps with Thomas and more down the stretch before his injury. They paid him top tier money, he’s likely gonna play more snaps than Jake. 

YOU would think that if he good to go week 2 then one of Thomas/Schmeck is not rostered....3 national DT's is overkill especially with all the athletic guys we have to use instead..Novack..Leroux...a reciever...anyone
 
 

Alexander to safety was big but they also added some pieces to the backend as well... Taylor and Jones at db ( i think his name was jones), maston at sam i think... really settled down the pass defense and of course the DL was deadly back then and bighill was still bighill... that D was something else once they put the pieces in late in the year.

Well the 2019 team was 3-5 with Streveler starting and 4-0 with Collaros starting.  So he had some impact.  D wasn't getting it done by themselves, they got smacked around pretty bad in majority of games after Nichols went down.
Probably don't get to any of the post-19 Grey Cups if you don't host the West Final.  Matt Nichols never hosted a West Final.  Buck Pierce, Kevin Glenn and Khari Jones hosted 1 East Final each.  Collaros has hosted 4.
Good to have some perspective.  The only comparison that will matter in the end is Dru Brown from 2024 on vs Collaros from 2024 on.

Funny thing about the complaining about kick returns as some kind of franchise curse is we have the most total return TD's and fewest return TD's scored on us among CFL teams in the past 10 CFL seasons.

QBs looked a lot better than PS last year. Satisfied with their performance in general. Be nice to see some TDs on Friday. 
 
On post game show DT askes Mos whats next for this week. Mos is like, we will get the pads on them and do 2 a days couple times make them pop each other. Doug brown gets all excited and Mos says he's joking lol. Can get away with that any more. 

I'd be pretty surprised if Wheatfall made the opening roster, barring injuries.  D Mitchell is kind of the speed element at all levels and screen game, kind of your Lawler replacement.  Wheatfall hasn't really looked good on anything but a couple verticals, and really hasn't finished a ton of plays.  Could be a 2nd year breakout candidate I guess but just don't see a spot for him to get on Game 1.  He'd be a PR guy again if he doesn't get beat out by someone who looks like a better fit.  
To me White Jr and Stearns are in a battle for the 3rd slot position.  Maybe can get both on if Stearns can return.  If White is in good health I could see him and Schoen (if he's healthy too) being devastating targets down the middle.

Yessir, 2 hours. I can't wait to set Doug up to rant about Collaros's suspension. He's going to light it on fire again!

Who gives a 37 year old qb coming off his worse season in years a future contract extension, before the start of the current season? 
 Woof this is ugly and going to get worse. Even if zach is mop quality this year, it screams of “he plays till he gets carted off for good.” 
This would need to be the most team friendly deal ever to make any sense. 
100% he’s the best blocker of the new WRs. TBH, Dmitch is the least engaged in blocking. Sterns is significantly better, but he’s one of those little blood n guts guys like dressler was. If sterns gets in games, every one is gonna fall in love with that kid. 

 
 
Yep should be very low guaranteed higher incentives. 

Thinking more about it... I wonder if the final year of his last deal is being torn up and he's taking a cut in exchange for term. Be curious to see the numbers...

57-18 record as a Bomber, 2 grey cup wins, 5 grey cup appearances. The greatest era in my entire lifetime. I’m going to reserve judgment until I see the numbers but if Zach wants to keep playing, and he’s willing to give up some money by us extending him now I would say this is perfectly fine, curious to see how our new OC uses him, with a healthy Schoen and a deeper (maybe not as top end talented) receiving core I’m hoping we can get a little bit of a bounce back year from Zach. 

Premature. Should have waited but understand Zach wanting to get it done. 

This is.... Interesting. Would like to know the numbers on this. Better be a pay cut... Or we definitely need to see a return to form this year. I still believe in ZC8, but we need to see a better year this year...

I know I'm an unabashed fanboi, but I feel like Ed's actually been doing even more than usual this year. He's not only doing daily reports but also has weekly wrap ups with "Who Stood Out" and he's even been doing a podcast on YouTube with his take on things so far. 
So while I can't speak for the other outlets, Our Man Tait has been putting in a concerted effort to really cover it as well as he can. 

I think some of us have forgotten there’s been a shift in the kind of talent that comes up here. Plug and play is the exception, not the rule. Some of these guys need time to develop.
I don’t love Case or Mitchell either but their presence last year isn’t a mark against them

Tait says Schoen a full participant today for the first time. Huzzah.

It's training camp, even the veterans need to knock off the rust.  But if you're still doing this in week 2 or 3...

Didn't think Patterson was gonna stick around and last....was a pointless signing when you think about it. Pretty sure they wanted to get eyes on Strev in camp to just confirm he good to go, so we didnt have to go in to the start of season with 2 basically rookies behind ZC
Wilson showed more than enough last yr to be developed and groomed behind ZC and Strev with big upside...Swapping him for Patterson would have been 2 steps backwards..as his upside has been met....and it's not pro starter ability

Speaking of recycled jokes - how does Manase Foketi look so far?  Has Friesen commented on him yet?