GCn20

I am sure we will take the BPA approach to the draft again. No glaring needs that fit the draft rankings, at least in the first round.

Eric Lofton to the Riders.

Agreed.

Totally agree. Evans needs to come in with a mindset that last year was an aberration and is behind him and that he is a bonafide starter. Gotta be able to quickly regain confidence as a professional athlete. We have all seen he has the tools to be a good QB. He's going to have to very quickly learn to trust in his abilities.

The topic was Warwick, and her songwriter was Bacharach. He didn't choose the parameters or pick a black artist with a white song writer out of a hat and there was absolutely no mention of race in his comment? The comment was solely about Bacharach being Warwick's songwriter. Race only enters into that if you are trying very hard to make it about that as the person reading the post.

The difference between Evans and Fajardo are that Evans lost confidence but has ability and plays nicely with others, and Fajardo has over confidence with little ability and throws team mates under the bus. Is there any doubt as to which is more likely to have everyone around you give the time and patience to help you rebound? I think you are referring to the 2021 Grey Cup. The difference between the in-game hissy fits by Fajardo and Evans is that after cooler heads prevailed one put the bullseye and the blame on himself, and the other threw his team mates under the bus in the media.

It's not racist imo. No different than saying Muddy Waters, Etta James, and Little Walter would be nothing without Willie Dixon. It's arguable for sure...is it the song or is it the performance or the magic of both together? You will find all kinds of varied opinion on it. However, if you are of the view that the song makes the musician than it is not racist to say Bacharach made Warwick. That's a huge leap to suggest that logic is racist. There are thousands of white musicians who made there bones singing songs written for them by black song writers. Elvis immediately comes to mind. To suggest that they were the driving force between there music would not be racist. It may not be correct...or it may be...but it is not racist. It is simply the age old debate of songwriter vs performer and that has nothing to do with race.

For sure. Lost in everything is that he really is a young QB. He's done a lot at his age already so it is tough to view him as such, but I think he would have been the Riders best bet at potentially securing a franchise guy. Harris is old, and will be lucky if he survives the season behind their OL. He isn't...and no QB in this league would have a hope of playing really well in Sask. this year.

Count me as tickled pink that the Riders went with Harris instead of Evans. Evans still has some upside and is young. Evans/Fajardo/Harris are all the same guy right now. 6 of one, half a dozen of another, in so far as effectiveness. Only thing is one of them is young and can improve. I don't see the Riders being any better, or the Als being any worse with their switch of QBs. IMO, the Riders best and only option should have been Dane Evans possibly finding his game again. Harris is a loser who can't score points, Fajardo is a loser who can't score points, but at least Evans has demonstrated he can win (2 consecutive GC appearances) and can score so long as he has a decent lineup around him. Everyone was ragging on Evans play last year, but it really wasn't so bad. The first few games he had a TERRIBLE OL, and then when the TiCats fixed that up their defence went to crap. Over the last 2/3 of the season the Ticats were scoring points though and finishing drives. Some bad interceptions last year by Evans for sure, but a lot of those were chucked in garbage time too when he was trying to force the ball downfield because the time clock said he had to do so. At the very least Evans, and Harris are about the same calibre of QB with similar styles. Evans has upside, Harris is who he is.

It's a strategy that has worked well so far.

Just wanted to point out how perilous the situation is in CowTown right now. Most of their top players are hitting FA, and are rumored to be doing so with the intention of leaving. Take Orimolade, Lemon, Thurman, Jorden, etc out of that lineup and that is a crap load of talent walking out the door. Also, just noticed Mack Henry is a pending FA. I'd take him if the price was right and pending a physical and work out.

Yea,,,,we've seen a ton of guys show lots of promise only to blow out knees etc. over the past several years. That's why the search is always on. Those guys are put through the meat grinder. Me neither. I can't think of many teams that has a DT for more than a couple years because of the meat grinder, particularly at NT, that the position is. I am sure we will find someone fairly easily through recruitment. How long he lasts is a different matter.

I disagree. DT is hard to find guys who stay healthy and have long productive careers but to find good ones isn't terrible difficult. All the guys you have listed are dominant because they were able to last longer than a couple years before their bodies gave out on them.

One of the very few positions that are pretty easy to recruit imo. Need almost no time to get up to speed, and have long NFL careers as a general rule so the NFL isn't hoarding them on their PRs. I wonder how Stam Peters is feeling about this. If the Stamps were too cheap to re-sign a stud like Thurman what makes you think they will pony up for Sankey? The Stamps got away with being cheap for a lot of years through the great recruitment/talent assessment of Murphy/Hufnagel but that ship has sailed. Players aren't playing their on the cheap anymore, and it appears their recruitment isn't what it used to be. Time for Dickenson to wake up and smell the roses before they wither and die on him.

I'm not suggesting they could ever compete for our established receivers, but certainly the presence of two other leagues would dip into the prospect pool somewhat. Therefore, the less available top prospects the more the existing stock becomes worth. Not to mention the fact that the NFL expanded PRs and eligibility is really laying a smack down on availability of players particularly at skill positions.

Yea no kidding. Maybe the XFL/USFL is having an impact at this position.

Yep. Lofton was a purely short term depth move when we lost Richmond, and our younger OTs were determined to be too green. He was signed literally because he had some game experience. He never was a replacement for Stan, or Yoshi, just a kind of emergency back up until our good young OTs were a bit more ready.

Not to mention we have an OL as well, (for the RIderfans thinking that Weineke, Harris, and Lewis would fix things).

The RIders are paying very dearly for that privilege if reported salary rumors are true.

You are thinking they won't throw 300k+ at Lewis too? I am not so confident in O'Day's competence.

Reddit saying 220k per. I will wait for a media confirmation though.

We couldn't afford him at 300k that's for sure. I think we need to stick to that mentality this year too. You are right, I misread one post. TBH, I wouldn't want to pay more than 250k per for ANY receiver but if that's what it takes for Lawler on a long term deal, then so be it.

It seems pretty apparent to me that Lawler loves his money just as much as he loves playing for the Bombers. He wasn't afraid to go to the tire fire that was Edmonton last year for the $.

This last half hour, we have all been pretty excited about this news. However, just last year we were thankful that Walters never paid that kind of cash for a receiver. What has changed?

We have the luxury of sober thought in our organization. Other GMs are in straight up survival mode and don't care what the crippling contracts they sign today might do next year, or the year after because they are just trying to survive this one. Unfortunately, these are the guys that set the market as a general rule. Do you think Jeremy O'Day cares that his plan may fail? He doesn't have a plan. He is going to throw wads of money at band-aids to buy time. One of those band-aids is going to be Eugene Lewis, and I would bet a million dollars that it will be well over 300k per. Unfortunately, for us Lawler is Lewis's equal and it will be very tough to convince him to take far less that Lewis will get.