GCn20

I wouldn't go that far but he's not in the top half for sure.

He did have a couple highlight reel plays on film. I didn't mean to suggest he could stick in the NFL, just offering my 2 cents on why they would look at him over say a guy like Clercius. Age being a big factor and he demonstrated some big play ability.

With Eli I think the 2 seasons away from the game really hurt his development in a big way and now kind of has hurt his confidence. His commitment to football has always been questionable, and we should know this year if he applied himself in the offseason and is coming in hungry or not. From what I saw of his play last year I have concerns whether he was 100% all in last year. I could be way out to lunch on that, and have nothing to back that up for full disclosure, just seemed off last year. We have seen him play at a much higher level than what he displayed last year for sure.

I think with Eli it has more to do with between his ears than his physical toolbox. His problem has never been athleticism or ability. He sometimes doesn't show the drive or commitment necessary to grab the job away. If he comes to camp this year in the proper mind set he could give the coaches something to think about for sure.

He's 23 years old and is considered very raw. He's an NFL project with a great deal of youth to roll the dice on. If he's 26 he doesn't get a sniff. He's tall, lanky, has flashed good hands and most importantly, and I can't stress this enough, he is only 23 with an excellent development curve so far.

I think DE is something we will definitely be looking at. I'm not sure about C, not because we couldn't improve but I'm just not sure what will be left on the market come FA. I would like to see an upgrade at C for sure. Not sure what will be there come opening day of FA tho. Last year, and it should be expected, our OL was brutal to start the year then rounded out to decent as the year went on. Games against premiere DLs we really got exposed though. Some of that was hubris on Buck's part tho. Even in the Grey Cup his game plan was not designed to counter act what was very clearly Toronto's strength on D. We played right into their strength and that was dumb.

I'm saying that at this point and time he does top out as our 6th OL because he simply is not good enough at OG to displace anyone. I do not know if he is better than Kola, and would like to see what he can do there. I can't say definitively if he is better than Kola, but he is a natural Centre. It could be he is no better there than at OG, and if so then 6th or even 7th OL is his top out.

Yea...I proposed 160 as a very top end if he gives us term for it.

200k? No way,..let him walk if someone offers him that. That would be a gross overpay for his position. 160 would be fair value imo.

I think Tui tops out at 6th OL unfortunately. Love to see him get a shot at C but at guard he struggled last year in the reps he got.

At the end of the day, I don't blame the O struggles on usage. In the past 3 GCs their DL dominated our OL. That's not usage, that's just the sad reality that we no longer have the 2019 OL anymore and that teams like TO and MTL have juggernaut DLs. We needed a different type of O usage all 3 of those years and we were playing boom or bust down the field in the entirety of our passing game instead of working the flats. We had to take their DLs out of the game and we didn't.

I agree with you on BOLO, but Ambles wasn't just a matter of chemistry there was a high probability that given his short amount of time that he hadn't caught onto the play book. Our offensive playbook is not an easy uptake, as was demonstrated early this season with our rookies.

No denying that. Thanks for the clarification. Although, I would say our coordinators were the ones outclassed.

Funny that those same guys who fought Harris are long gone out of the league, and Harris is now their coach. The O'Day/Dickie years were a gong show.

In some spots I agree. Out classed? That;s ridiculous. Out coached...for sure...at times. That being said all signs point to the Bombers recognizing the need for some roster makeover, so let's see what happens.

Retaining Stan Bryant, Adam Bighill in his prime, Andrew Harris in his prime, BO in his prime, Schoen and Lawler last year, etc. etc. etc. were part of our failure? I get that you don't like how long we hang onto some guys. but my point is that we have attracted a lot of stud players, and retained almost all the studs we developed. To suggest we are some also-ran in the FA game is a gross exaggeration. We are a team that is able to attract FA's if we decide to go that route. This year, we should go that route. No doubt about it. Walters has said we will be active, I expect we will be. Is Walters crying poor right now? Yep...as is every other GM because they are all trying to get the best deals on retaining their own pending FAs. I think Walters makes some big splashes in the pool this year. We haven't done it in a few years, but over his tenure he has made some big moves when we needed it. Not sure if McManis is a guy they are targeting, but if he is, I think we will definitely be in the mix.

It's January 20th, relax. For all we know he's got his guy already and it just isn't announced yet. As for the CFLPA gradings, I think we did pretty good. No red flags there. Where we scored high on them are in the areas of importance, and where we scored lower was on the nit-picky issues. You got your poop tied in a knot about OC, but it could very well be that our new guy has asked for time first before the announcement. CFL staffs do not regularly report for work until the end of February. I understand the trepidation about not knowing who will command our offence as a fan, but realistically we don't need to rush this process.

Andrew Harris the football player was too good for the Riders, Andrew Harris the human being shaping young players minds for the Riders....perfect fit.

Over the past several years we have had absolutely no problem attracting high profile players here and have done an outstanding job of retaining our own. I have no reason to believe that any players do not view us a desirable destination. The ONLY one...nope....but certainly agents and players listen when we call and that is irrefutable.

No doubt. It`s literally taught right from Pop Warner.

Nah.,...he was one of the bus drivers of that stigma in recent times. He has to wear it because he was impactful in it's creation. No player wears the modern time locker room problem that the RIders are an undisciplined bunch of prima donnas more than Darian Durant. He was a chief architect of their locker room spiral that they still can't figure out how to correct. However, I do agree that being a Rider, at any time, is problematic. He was outright begging for a job with them this offseason, but Bomber legend Harris got it instead....OUCH! That's gotta hurt hey Darian? Coincidentally, Harris has also gone to the one place they will polish the knob unconditionally. Ego-maniacs and narcissists just love the Rider fan base. Not suggesting that DD or AH are either of those, but I'm not saying they aren't either.

Walters cannot possibly commit to blowing the wad while he tries to get value for every dollar up to the verge of FA. He will spend once that door opens until then he would be foolish to say that he has dollars to spend. Nah....I feel sorry for him. He has to live his life as Darian Durant.

There was a lot of discussion, before his injury, about him being very much in the conversation for MOP. He was having a good season. We don't need to throw dirt on Nichols around here and I'm not sure why people are hell bent on re-writing history about him. He played great in 2019. Would he have gotten us a Grey Cup in '19 if he stays healthy? We will never know but it can't be ruled out. Matt left everything out on the field for us and we owe him at least the dignity of not fabricating history about him. He got hurt and it ended his time here when Collaros came to town. Who knows what may have been if he stays healthy.

Yes...and I wouldn't expect any HC to publicly say anything else.

No surprise there. Gotta shoot the wad on a home Grey Cup