GCn20

I'd be shocked if White Jr were to beat out Mitchell, especially with Mitchell's ability to return. Lot of people pooping on Dillon Mitchell right now because he is a little slow catching onto the playbook, but he is a very good receiver just a slow learner of our system. I feel he will get there in time for the season.

What does it do for morale when vets are churned out like day old bread? You won't get buy in without loyalty being a two way street. Of course, I agree that it can't go over the top to either degree. I mean it's not like we haven't moved on from vets in our organization. I think it is ridiculous that people say the team never moves on when just this year we will not be seeing Bighill or Alexander for instance. But that doesn't match the narrative being driven on this forum so let's forget about all the vets we've moved on from in just the past couple years and focus solely on one player named Jake Thomas. SMH. What guys are we not keeping for our second contract that we would have loved to keep? Name one. I honestly can't believe how much the narrative around here is driven by Jake Thomas? Makes no sense whatsoever. Yea, he probably should be put out to pasture but it is complete nonsense to suggest that we are a team that never moves on from players. Adam Bighill and Brandon Alexander would disagree vehemently with that take. Also this narrative that our roster is too veteran heavy is also nonsense. Our starting 24 last year had the 3rd most amount of rookie/sophmore players in the entire league.

Just a hunch. Jake can be effective in limited situational reps. I get what you are saying, but he is effective early in his rep cycle with diminishing returns as he gasses out.

Forgot to add that I'm actually glad you are going a little later in camp as well. The first few days are really kind of unfair to the rookies. They kind of all look like dog crap while they adjust to our game. By week 2 they settle in and you can get a much more accurate read on which ones actually have the skill level because they have gotten over the adjustment period a bit,

I don't agree that Jake has no use to us as a player, but I do agree that the amount of reps he got last year were way too many. He shouldn't be taking more than 10 snaps a game to give someone else a quick breather. That is how he could be an effective player and leader on our team. Of course, last year's usage was dramatically impacted by Lawson's injury, but I totally agree that his reps need to drastically reduced. In a perfect world we wouldn't have a coaching cap and he could come in as an assistant position coach instead...but c'est la vie.

It is nice to get a variety of camp reports from actual fans. Always have to take them with a grain of salt, as everyone has their biases and one day at camp is just a snap shot in time, but for the most part way more informing than anything out in the media. I like to hear about new recruits especially that are standing out, having a rough day, or even looking lazy and lost. As a reader I just have to remember it's one day in camp and not get too high or low on a player. Back when I used to attend camps regularly, I never really posted much about it because I was the type of guy that would sometimes get tunnel vision on one or two players that caught my attention and lock in on them instead of observing camp as a whole. Some camp reports I read were how I observed camp that day, and some were way out in left field making me wonder if that guy even attended or was just making it up. At any rate, I look forward to hearing your camp takes Booch. I love hearing a fan's perspective, especially when the fan knows something about the game. Also, I agree that the media attending spend more time hunting down coffee and donuts, and standing around in a circle yapping with each other than actually paying attention to anything actually going on at field level. Some guys watch the first 10-15 minutes and draw their daily conclusions from that, then it's mostly hang around and visit. Very few stay the whole session either.

Talking mainly about the hype machine. Around here we tend to hear a lot about some guys and bupkus about others because someone went to camp one day....lol

We didn't hear a whole bunch about Ontaria Wilson last year either. Most ppl here were kind of who is that after he made the cut last year. I don't remember hearing a lot about Dalton Schoen until the last half of camp in his rookie year either.

Thing about hammies is that they tend to dramatically effect performance as well. No real way of hiding a hammy.

That's an impressive receiving corps for sure.

Yikes, something in the water over there when it comes to TC injuries every year.

Ok....what about weight of all these guys, YAC ability, speed testing, ability to contribute on teams etc. He is of below average height, far below average weight, and has mediocre testing numbers and not much for YAC or ST ability. If it was solely a height thing I guess he's average in his competition....but there are also many other factors working against him.

I would think there is a high probability he returns late in the season. His size works against him in the NFL imo. He doesn't flash any kind of outstanding testing numbers and is small. He will get a look based on his resume here, but in the NFL guys his size and speed rarely get any kind of a real look. There is a very real chance he doesn't even make it to camp. If he does, he will need luck on his side to make it past first cuts. Sorry...but 6 foot 175 lbs is very small for the NFL.

True....he is also one of the worst for overlooking everything but what he sees on the field as well. Double whammy. He is too willing to overlook character to get the talent he thinks will fit. He is kind of the anti-O'Shea.

I agree. The level of athletes that roam the CFL now make it very difficult for guys to jump in and just have immediate success. Of course, there will be a few rookies a year in the league that catch on quick., but at the skill positions it takes time. Last year we had to throw rookies into the mix at receiver due to injuries and it hurt our offence for the first few games. Wilson eventually emerged as a bonafide CFL star, but only after a few rough outings. Some teams may have guys like this, but will groom them if they have that luxury. We would have if Schoen and Lawler weren't out early last year.

It's easy to evaluate talent, any fan can do it because there is an eyeball test. What makes good professional coaches head and shoulders above fans is their ability to see the intangibles and knowing how to build a consistent winning culture. If talent were everything then guys like Chris Jones and Rick Campbell wouldn't be unemployed. My long winded way of saying I agree.

You have to have a returner that occasionally flips the field for you. PRing for an average 7.3 ypr is all nice and fine but I'll take 6 returns of 0 with a 7th of 50 yards over 7 of 7.3.

Roster usage is a valid criticism of MOS. However, you are stretching things by implying that Danny was suggesting that MOS handcuffs the recruitment process, and that is nonsense.

I guess if you want to take Danny Mac's comments out of context then you may have a point. Every recruiter on every team has the challenge of finding players that fit the coaching scheme. You are making a benign comment by a scout into something much more than what it was to try and further your agenda. Of course, our recruiters are going to try find players that fit our culture, it is by far the single biggest reason for our success over recent years. If not for that we are the Riders.

I am the one currently living in Thompson and driving to practice would be pretty far. However, I had a house in Winnipeg up until 2 years ago, and I used to attend TC a few times. I never gave any reports because most of the TC reports I ever read did not really match what my eyeballs were seeing, and I'm not saying that's a good or bad thing, just that we all tend to pick horses and it skews TC reports imo.

True,...you can field a roster of all star calibre players but if they aren't accountable to each other, or they are toxic, you won't win many games when it counts. Coaches like Campbell and Chris Jones just see talent level and nothing else, where other coaches who develop culture, work ethic, and accountability and actually use it as part of an assessment of their roster tend to have much greater success.

Well, I think you have to put some of that on scouting as well. Can't sign vets at every position to push guys so these young recruits have to do it. I don't care what camp you go to, in any sport, the challenger has to clearly beat the incumbent to earn that spot. So if we have some guys that seem to be on the roster just because, I have to wonder where was the guy who should have been pushing him out the door. I got no love for the fact guys like JT etc were getting far more snaps than they probably should have, but who was behind them on the depth chart to push them out? It becomes trickier when you add in ratio. I mean you have a list of several guys you say shouldn't have even been on the roster last year, honestly, name the player on our DC that was head and shoulders better? Could we have played musical chairs with our ratio...maybe...but at the end of the day we also have to consider STs as well. It's not as simple as putting out your best 53 players. You have to build a team, not just assemble talent. There are factors at play beyond player X is better or as good as player Y or let's rob Peter to pay Paul. If fans ran this team just based on what we know guys like Evan Holm or Kramdi who are absolute stud players now would have gotten the apple and a road map. Why? Because at the end of the day we think we know the whole picture, but we have access to only a very small % of the knowledge of what each player brings to the table in a team setting and what value a player may provide to the team that we will never lay eyes on, or hear about. So while a guy may seem like dead weight to us fans, he may provide a massive amount of value to our team in ways that we just don't see. Older guys that bring value to the room, are excellent in the film room and willing to bring the younger guys up to snuff and teach them the right way to prepare, and then the young guys who may seem shaky at first but the coaches see the potential not just on game day but in every rep at every practice, and in every meeting. These are all things that add value to a TEAM. I would rather we build a TEAM, than assemble talent that doesn't work well together. Then we would be the Riders.

Shea was worth a look. Some young QBs have that light bulb moment where the game slows down for them and they just get it. Look at Fajardo for instance, who went from PR level talent his first few years to being a starter....albeit not a good one...but still definitely at the very least a high end backup. Roll the dice on Shea and see if that light bulb has turned on, if not, apple and a road map. At the very least Shea pushes Strev and Wilson to make sure they have a top notch offseason of preparation. Nothing pointless about putting guys on the roster that are just there to push who you know will be on your roster in the end. Gotta keep everyone honest.

If any of the Bombers happened to be in most parts of Northern Manitoba say on an ice fishing excursion they'd be screwed because a lot areas are dead zones. I imagine that there are dead zones down south as well, you gotta get someone to monitor your phone on the 1% chance you get a call for testing? Really stupid rule. If any of the Bombers happened to be in most parts of Northern Manitoba say on an ice fishing excursion they'd be screwed because a lot areas are dead zones. I imagine that there are dead zones down south as well, you gotta get someone to monitor your phone on the 1% chance you get a call for testing? Really stupid rule. If any of the Bombers happened to be in most parts of Northern Manitoba say on an ice fishing excursion they'd be screwed because a lot areas are dead zones. I imagine that there are dead zones down south as well, you gotta get someone to monitor your phone on the 1% chance you get a call for testing? Really stupid rule, at least extend it out to 48 hours or let the teams track them down if they don't answer.

He can spread the D just fine with regular intermediate routes, short passes to the flats, with just the occasional deep shot. Especially if we start using more motion in the backfield with in game progressions off the different motion sets.