Unprecedented number of free agents give Bombers a chance to upgrade — fast

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This article was published 01/12/2015 (3609 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The dishes are done and the garbage has been hauled to the curb. Hangovers have been nursed, electrolytes replaced and flowers of apology delivered.

So what now for the football fans of Winnipeg and their team, the Blue Bombers?

Well, there are still the profits to be counted from what was a pretty good Grey Cup party last week. And the early indications are the Bombers’ profits will be fat. While thousands of tickets to Sunday’s game between the Ottawa Redblacks and champion Edmonton Eskimos were discounted and even given away in the weeks leading up to the game, the game itself will still turn a significant profit.

But where the big dollars were made last week, I’m hearing, was on the Grey Cup Festival, which saw events genuinely sold out all week.

Consider: Saturday night’s Grey Cup Gala Dinner, the first major event to be held at the spectacular new wing of the convention centre, was a complete sellout of 2,200 people. Yes, hiring Randy Bachman to do your dinner music doesn’t come cheap. But when you’ve sold 2,200 tickets at $350 a plate — a table for 10 sold for a “discounted” $3,000 — you can hire an iconic rock star as your dinner minstrel, shoot off fireworks and give each table a wine steward and still turn a massive profit. It was a similar story all over town.

Beleaguered Bombers fans can expect the team’s embattled front office to put at least some of those Grey Cup profits to work this coming February with a major splurge in an unprecedentedly large free agent market.

While there’s no papering over the disappointment of a 5-13 team that was never a contender for a championship game they hosted, you could also make a case that there’s never been a better time in the history of the CFL to quickly turn around a lousy team.

With a new collective bargaining agreement that introduced one-year contracts without an option, an eye-bulging 202 players are free agent eligible as of Feb. 9.

While that number is unofficial — the CFL, stupidly, doesn’t publish its free agent eligible list — it’s close, one way or the other. The Hamilton Tiger-Cats have an astounding 34 potential free agents coming to market, including most of what was an outstanding defence. The Saskatchewan Roughriders have 32 potential free agents, while the runner-up Redblacks have 22 free agents and the Grey Cup champion Eskimos have 21 potential free agents, including about half their starting defence.

The Bombers have the fewest potential free agents this winter — just 12. Topping that list is backup quarterback Matt Nichols, who wants in the neighbourhood of $200,000 per season to hold a clipboard in Winnipeg next year. Negotiations between team and agent resumed this week.

That’s a ridiculous price, of course, for a backup CFL QB — it’s in the same neighbourhood as what 2011 Most Outstanding Player Travis Lulay is asking this winter as he also heads to free agency. But after a season in which seven of nine starting QBs in the CFL were injured, the market value for a proven CFL backup has never been higher, and Nichols might just get his price if he hits the open market.

Make no mistake, however — there’s nothing like flushing a season down the toilet because your starter got injured and Brian Brohm was your backup to teach the front office a lesson. The Bombers will have a proven CFL backup to Drew Willy in 2016, whether it’s Nichols or Lulay or even someone like Ricky Ray, who is free-agent eligible and might be expendable in Toronto if the Argos re-sign Trevor Harris, who’s also free-agent eligible.

The other notable potential free agent on the Bombers list this winter is slotback Nick Moore, but don’t expect him to be back unless he’s willing to take a significant pay cut from the $185,000 per season the Bombers have been paying him. Too often injured while he was in Winnipeg, Moore is coming to market at the same time as the likes of B.C.’s Manny Arcenaux, Edmonton’s Adarius Bowman and Calgary’s Eric Rogers. If Winnipeg is going to spend big again this winter on an import receiver, it’s going to be on one of those three and not Moore.

As for the non-existent Bombers running game, native Winnipegger Andrew Harris, who finished second in rushing yards in 2015, is almost certainly done in Vancouver and would be a perfect fit in Blue and Gold.

If not Harris, another non-import tailback in Jerome Messam is also potentially a free agent and a backfield solution for the Bombers.

Don’t expect many changes in the off-season to the Bombers offensive line — the club believes their O-line was much improved and will be better still with a new scheme and offensive co-ordinator in 2016.

And speaking of new offensive co-ordinators, former Bombers head coach — and OC — Paul LaPolice tops the wish list in the front office right now to replace the fired Marcel Bellefeuille.

The wrinkle is LaPolice could also get a look at the vacant head coach job in Saskatchewan, if the Roughriders are unable to woo Edmonton head coach Chris Jones with an offer that Jones take over as both the Saskatchewan head coach and GM.

But even if the Riders can convince Jones to take over in Regina, LaPolice could also have options in Ottawa.

The Redblacks offensive co-ordinator — former Eskimos quarterback Jason Maas — would almost certainly be the leading candidate to take over as head coach in Edmonton if Jones leaves. That, in turn, would create a vacant OC job in Ottawa LaPolice would also probably interview for.

If not LaPolice, former Bombers QB Khari Jones would probably get a long, hard look as the next OC in Winnipeg. Other potential candidates include George Cortez, Jarious Jackson, Doug Berry and Danny Barrett.

As for the Bombers defence, the club believes it needs to get bigger, stronger and meaner along the defensive line next season and there are all kinds of potential upgrades in free agency in that regard.

It’s not hyperbole to suggest the 2016 CFL season could be won or lost — in Winnipeg and around the league — in February.

The Bombers board has chosen to give GM Kyle Walters, head coach Mike O’Shea and CEO Wade Miller one more chance to get it right next season. If the threesome fails again, it won’t be for a lack of opportunity.

And if so, it’d be hard to see them getting another one in Winnipeg.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @PaulWiecek