Bombers stick with extensions strategy

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This article was published 27/05/2009 (6030 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

IT’S the kind of news that hardly generates interest in May and is aimed specifically NOT to lead to headlines come next February.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers signed two more players to contract extensions on Tuesday, the latest being linebacker Siddeeq Shabazz and receiver Adarius Bowman, in an effort to have more roster stability and less panic next winter when the free-agent market opens Feb. 16.

The Shabazz-Bowman extensions come just days after running back Joe Smith and receiver Romby Bryant signed new deals and after a winter in which defensive tackle Doug Brown, offensive linemen Brendon LaBatte and Obby Khan, receivers Brock Ralph and Derick Armstrong, running back Daryl Stephenson and linebackers Barrin Simpson and Joe Lobendahn also reworked their contracts.

And don’t think all that paperwork is coincidence, especially in an off-season in which the club lost starters Alexandre Gauthier, Dominic Picard and Kyle Koch to free agency, along with a valuable multi-purpose Canadian like Graeme Bell.

“Obviously it was ‘disturbing’ — I guess that’s the word I would use — to lose so many offensive linemen to free agency this winter,” said Bomber head coach Mike Kelly. “We don’t want to find ourselves in a position where we have key starters all coming up for free agency at the same time.”

What the new Bomber regime is also aiming to do is eliminate some of the hefty off-season bonuses used in the past to help entice vets like Dan Goodspeed, Tom Canada and Kevin Glenn to re-sign rather than become free agents. It’s the Bombers’ belief that prorating those bonuses over a longer period won’t handcuff the organization as severely.

“We can’t anticipate there’s going to be any escalation in the salary cap (frozen this year at $4.2 million),” Kelly said. “If we keep giving escalators (raises) to players, it means we’re going to be going backward because we won’t have a pool of money to do anything with other players.

“We’re putting more ‘real’ money (not bonuses) into the players’ pockets, but at the same time we’ve got some safeguards built in for the club, so that if guys get injured or released during the season, we’ll actually experience some savings.”

Shabazz (6-0, 205, New Mexico State) was acquired in the February trade that sent Kai Ellis to the Edmonton Eskimos. The 28-year-old started all 18 games for the Esks last year, his second season, and was second in defensive tackles with 63. He had four tackles for losses, three sacks and an interception.

Bowman (6-4, 219, Oklahoma State) was part of the three-team trade that sent Goodspeed first to the Saskatchewan Roughriders and then to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Bowman, 23, started nine games for the Riders last year before being injured and finished with 23 receptions for 358 yards and three TDs.

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca