Holden Caulfield
Eternal Skeptic
Holden: You seem like a relatively knowledgeable Bomber folk. How do you see our opening day starting roster shaping up?
Ok I finally have time to answer this properly.
I post extensively on Bombers, I follow every transaction, I watch every game. But let's be clear here, I am from a hockey background, I watch football for fun as a fan, not analyzing like a coach like I would for hockey. So take what I saw with regards to systems/player evaluations/etc as is, I am just a fan. I often refer to my cousin for CFL schemes, etc since he head coaches a high school in the city (who actually had an alum in Bombers camp). I take alot of what I hear from Darrin Bauming, since I know Bauming a bit, hung out with him a few times and man does he EVER know his football.
Here's what I see working out right now.
Note: F indicates Field Side (wide side), B indicates boundary side (short side). Ie FWR is Field Wide Receiver, wide side, BWR is Boundary Wide Receiver (short side). ^=Global player, *=International (American) player
Starting Roster:
QB: Matt Nichols*
RB: Andrew Harris
FWR: Drew Wolitarsky
SB: Darvin Adams*
SB: Nic Demski
SB: Kenny Lawler*
BWR: Chris Matthews*
LT: Stanley Bryant*
LG: Patrick Neufeld
C: Michael Couture
RG: Cody Speller
RT: Jamarcus Hardwick*
DE: Willie Jefferson*
DT: Jake Thomas
DT: Drake Nevis*
DE: Jackson Jeffcoat*
SAM: Anthony Gaitor*
MLB: Adam Bighill*
WLB: Kyrie Wilson*
FCB: Chandler Fenner*
BCB: Winston Rose*
FHB: Brandon Alexander*
BHB: Marcus Sayles*
S: Jeff Hecht
Backups
QB: Chris Streveler*, Sean McGuire*
RB: Brady Olveira
FB: Mike Miller, John Rush
WR: Lucky Whitehead*, Rashad Bailey*, Daniel Petermann
LG: Geoff Gray
RG/C: Drew Desjarlais
RT/LT: Jamar McGloster*
DE: Craig Roh*
DT: Steven Richardson*
WLB/SAM: Jesse Briggs
MLB: Thomas Miles, Shayne Gauthier, DJ Lalama, Thiadric Hansen^
CB/HB/S: Derek Jones
S: Dexter Janke, Nick Hallett
K/P: Justin Medlock*
LS: Chad Rempel
1 Game IR: WR Charles Nelson*
6 Game IR: DE Jonathan Kongbo, DB Kerfalla Exume, LB Nick Temple*, DB Nick Hallet
PR:
RB Johnny Augustine
DE Patrick Choudja*
C/LG/RG Eli Asotui
DT Connor Griffiths
LB Manuel Hernandez-Reyes^
DB Chris Humes*
DB Mike Jones*
DB Marcus Rios*
DB Sergio Schiaffino Perez^
WR/SB Kenny Walker*
LB Dale Warren*
Lastly cut players I'd keep an eye out if there's an injury to re-appear:
QB Bryan Bennett*, DB Tyneil Cooper*, REC Dylan Schrot, DE Alex McAlister*, DL Tariq Lachance, DB Malik Boynton*, RB John Santiego*, DB Jacob Firlotte
Guys I expect to keep around somewhere else in league sometime this year or next:
DL Maxx Forde, DT Brandin Byrant,
I expect this to change even before game 1. Bombers are reportedly in on Anthony Coombs, which is will help with National depth at WR. Which they are desperate for. Right now the depth chart looks rather uneven with too many international WR, too many OL on roster, not enough depth at national WR and zero backups at DB and barely anything at DL. So I expect some changes to come yet.
One thing that can't be argued is that is this is a helluva deep team. Other than uncertainty due to inexperience at OL there's not a questionable position beyond QB. And in the CFL that's everything. The early season rides on whether Nichols is 2017 Nichols or 2018 Nichols. The late season rides on whether it's 2017 Nichols or Streveler is a true starting QB. QB is really the true question mark, let's see how this goes. I haven't felt this optimistic about a BB season to start the year since at least 2007 (2011 was a late season miracle).
EDIT: I'm also still not sure about new CBA roster rules. The published ones I've found have said it's a 46 man roster, with 21 nationals, 20 internationals, 3 quarterbacks, 1 global player. But that only adds to 45. So right now I'm just assuming that last spot can be an international. No mention of a "reserve/scratch" list like in the old CBA where you dressed 44 with a 46 man roster. Sounds like it's a 46 man active roster now, no scratches.