Two more undrafted, fifth-year Canucks signed Taman Style

CFL Talk
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So you're a college football player who's been ignored in the CFL draft?

No problem -- just play one more season and call the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

The Bombers yesterday continued a trend of signing undrafted, fifth-year players by announcing the additions of Canadians Jeff Keegan, a receiver, and linebacker Brad Newman.

Keegan is a 6-foot-3, 210-pounder out of the University of Guelph who first caught Winnipeg's eye at the college evaluation camp a year ago.

After passing through the '06 draft, Keegan went back to Guelph, where he caught 48 passes for 757 yards and was named a second-team all-star in the Ontario conference.

"He's got nice size," Bomber GM Brendan Taman said. "He's one of those long-striding kind of guys. Nice hands. Very productive."

Keegan was actually raised in Portage la Prairie, but moved out east when he was young.

GOOD MOBILITY

Newman, a 6-foot-1, 210-pounder said to have good mobility, led the UBC Thunderbirds with 51 tackles last season, after going undrafted last spring.

"Anybody can sneak through the cracks," the 25-year-old Newman told the Sun. "I'm ecstatic. My goal is to earn a roster spot."

Several undrafted Canadians have cracked the Bombers roster in recent years, including receiver Jamie Stoddard, safety Ian Logan and special teamer Graeme Bell.

"We've got that knock of trading draft picks," Taman said. "So we try to get creative in signing guys."

Link: http://www.winnipegsun.com/Sports/Footb ... 5-sun.html

Wow that Taman is a genius! Why oh why has no other GM thought of this?

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too many 'y’s my son…especially the one in thought… :lol:

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Thanks Dad!

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What, now your against drafting Canadian kids who might have missed their shot because they had a bad day at evaluation camp. Your hatred will consume you my friend.

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Ah piggy you have it wrong nothing to do with these kids. It is good they get another opportunity but I am making fun of Taman. This is Taman's recruitment style. Let the players come to me style. However, I did hear that he is going to have a camp this year suprise suprise. Thats see these two kids come to the door, followed by one big fat huge kid from Regina that lost his job for slacking off. No not a Canadian kid but the Buffet King if you get my drift. :lol:

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Hey Redwhite, did you miss the part where your team is going to make several cuts based on the SMS system and not Talent?(the Stamps)
They seem to be over the cap and Looks like your Receiving corp is going to be the first lil bit on the chopping blocking cutting away your 'Talent'

But what is wrong with what Taman is doing?
It seems that CFL teams draft players in their 4th year so these 5th year kids all had a year to improve did they not?
These kids aren't on the Bombers Week 1 roster yet are they? NOPE looks like Taman is bringing in Talent so they can Compete.
and what's really funny Why should the bombers keep their first round picks?

we can trade our first round picks to the Stamps for a Canadian Starter Then get the player the Stamps drafted just a few weeks later.
Why Bother keeping the pick when the Stamps will give it back in June anyways?
The bombers signed 6 NI's in a week 5 of which are 5th year CIS grads, but ohwell bombers decided why not bring canadians into camp to compete, maybe we can make our team better with some young Talented kids.

See how these guys do up against CFL vets like Charlie Roberts. if the LB's can stop him in Camp I don't beleive they will have a problem with any back in the league.
If the WR's can get pasted M & M no DB will stop em.
Simple as that.

And if your Comment is to the signing of Nate and Greene there well let's see sure their older but they came at great Discounts, again their only coming to camp no garantee they get a spot.
If the blue can sign a 7 year starter for under league average to compete for a spot in camp... WHY NOT?

Would it be bad if a team signed Bonner or Ivory for 70K a year? no.

The reason some of these older guys getting cut is a teams want to get "younger" but more just want to get Cheaper and the guys getting cut are mostly if not all six figure guys(100K+) so other teams will look at them for sure for under 85K(atleast 15K difference)
Greene and Davis are coming to the blue for a combined 100K less... Taman made a bad call there? Don't think so.

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Very interesting theory and obviously you have not read my post on the cap. Ted Hellard was on the radio today and said three to four teams will play over the cap this year and by the way the STamps will not be one of those teams. He also mentioned they have signed two more receivers, a defensive lineman and two QB’s to be announced in April. Of course we can not keep them all but he did say we had cap room with the existing roster. So I guess that shoots your theory down a bit. He mentioned the reason why three to four teams will play over the cap this year is because it will take these teams one to two more years to get below the cap. The fines will be levied but it appears the owners are in fact be honest about their rosters. Now on the draft aspect of your theory. You get a Canadian Lineman from us but it was very apparent that he had problems dealing with the back side. Demtrious Maxie stated the toughest player to work against was Garrick Jones so thus we aquired him. To make up for the loss of Gauthier they got Thelwell. The trade got us 2 first round draft choices.
Which they will be used to bolster the canadian content on the team. So I guess your concerns for the STamps is really unfounded. Now to your bombers, It is great Taman is allowing these young guys to get another chance. However, up until this year the Bombers recruiting amounts to bring in players that were dropped from other teams. Well guess what it is happening again. Nate Davis? But it seems he is going to have an evaluation camp for the first time in how many years. Do you not think it is about time?

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Demtrious Maxie stated the toughest player to work against was Garrick Jones so thus we aquired him. To make up for the loss of Gauthier they got Thelwell. The trade got us 2 first round draft choices.
As I have suggested before, if Maxie says he is tough, how would that differentiate one o-lineman from another? The last few years, ALL o-lineman must have seemed tough for Maxie.......but generally, trading a solid Canadian o-lineman for an average import would be considered a lousy deal....

Thelwell is a good deal as your Canadian receiver content is not as good as you think by half, so kudos there…in fact after Nik Lewis, do the Stamps actually have any decent receivers…Copeland is a much better dancer than receiver…need I say more…
The Stamps seem to be solidly in “status quo” mode, and that usually means a regression in the standings…

Anyway, tough to fault Taman on the particular signing of a free agent, all-star CIS player as we are discussing…

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So Arius you do not think Rambo is any good or Bo is not good. I See. The Stamps have sign a few more players but will not announce these signings until April. Maxie has been an outstanding Defensive lineman for years I am sure he knows what he is talking about versus your opinion. Again both teams got what they wanted out of the deal plus it gave Calgary a chance to have two 1st round choices. According to Ted the first 10 guys are good players after that well they will need work. Gauthier well last year his play was not what was expected like I said Calgary needed a good olineman to play that position. With Thelwell this openned the door for an American on the oline. Thats see Rambo, Boerigter, Copeland, Nick Lewis, Thewell are not very good receivers in your opinion. I left out Thurmon because well he does not match up with those guys in talent. So Arius give me your line up for your Riders and see how they match with Calgary’s.

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But, you have now lost a starting NI for an Import, which means you are going to have to start two more NI, which means 2 starting Imports will have to come out. You will only be able to have two of Coepland, Lewis, Rambo or Boe on the field at any given time. Ratio wise, it was not a good move for the stamps unless they have 2 NI ready to start on defence, which by looking at your roster I dont see.

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...i don't think the stamps are thinking ratio...pigseye....seems they think the sms meant field an all import team...and we'll look at the cost year end :lol: .......lol lol....seriously ...they're gonna have some big cuts come trim-down day....good luck my son...heh heh..

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So Arius you do not think Rambo is any good or Bo is not good. I See.
Actually, I don't think Rambo is much more than adequate, and we shall see if Bo can still play. He suffered an ACL a year or two ago, and more recently a serious concussion. And he isn't getting any younger. And I like Thurman better than Rambo... But as has been pointed out, you can't get all those guys on the field at the same time, so somebody isn't going to play.... But I'll rephrase my earlier comment, just to be clear. The only receiver you have which I would covet as a free agent is Nik Lewis. If all your receivers were free agents, he would be the only one I would actively pursue.... It isn't a bad group, but he is the only standout.

Back to Maxie, he was showing his age back in his Rider days and it has surprised me he has hung on as long as he has.
He was very good in TO, pretty good in green, but has definately been merely okay in red & white…

Regarding new player signings, remember, the reason Calgary is safe on the cap this year is they took full advantage of the “signing bonus” loophole.
When training camp cutdowns roll along, it will be awfully tough to cut a guy that you just gave a $100,000 signing bonus to.

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Well if a team did not take advantage of the loophole which most teams did then they were just plain stupid. The Stamps have cap room according to Ted Hellard. Well I can tell you if I was Austin and Rambo was on your team he would be the star receiver. Bo he will shine and you can have 50 per cent Thurman back he is like Nate SLOOOOOOW. Your Riders however I believe are still a bit over the cap but getting close to meeting it. Remember they were what second highest payroll.
On Maxie I think I would take his word over yours any day on rating O Lineman.

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No reply on the ratio issue 05.......

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I see your speech less! :lol:

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Like I said, the big question on Bo is age + injury.
It is entirely in the realm of possibility that he is washed up. We'll see.
Rambo has done nothing in his career to make me think he will ever be a star. He is the same age as Thurman, so there is no excuse there.
He simply does not have the numbers or performance to make me think he is even as good as Elijah. And I don't think Elijah is all that good--just better than Rambo...
Let alone be the "go to guy" for the Riders where we will have 7 guys in camp this year who are as young or younger, and all have put up better numbers than Ken-yon. He wouldn't be a star under Austin, he would be a training camp casualty...

As for Maxie, I think you are mising my point. I am not saying that he doesn't know who the good o-lineman are, I am saying that before you throw any more rocks at Nate, you should consider that old slow and injured, Nate still found a team to at least look at him this year...unlike Maxie who apparently is done...

All teams used the "loophole" including the Riders. But what I was pointing out, is that Calgary did it as much or more than any team in the league, which will make it difficult to make changes.
you simply can't cut Rambo in favour of Bo, if Rambo got the big signing bonus, say $100,000 so his base is $40,000 against the cap this year, if Bo will have a base of $120,000.
By skewing the cap with signing bonuses, teams have also locked themselves into place.
And that is just an example--I could have just said, receiver A, and receiver B, so don't panic....

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I will chalk that one up on Tamans side of the ledger as well, what is that now Taman 3 Stamps 0.

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Well it is obvious that you do not watch the Stamps play much. E Thurman is the worst receiver on the Stamps roster slow and catches the ball once in a while. But Rambo by far is the bettr pass catcher of the two. And yes we have our difference of opinion. As far as Maxie is concerned he retired so what is your point. He was not looking at having another season so your argument about Nate and Maxie is funny. Just maybe fat lil Nate should take the hint and do the same. I tell you that I would rather have our receivers then the rider receivers any day. It is to bad the Stamps brought one of them here. Bo the jury will be out no doubt but I guess we will have to see how that works out. I would take Bo again over any of the Rider receivers. You see we can go on with this for weeks Arius. Your opinion vs mine. I am glad you have confidence in your receiving corps. That is great. But IMO the Stamps out shine in that area. The Cap is it not funny your team is still having a hard time to be close to the cap and had what 9 players to be signed at years end. Yet our President of the football club claims we will meet the cap and still have cap room. Hmmm yes thats right that blame that on your friend Roy because he left your team in a shabbles for Tillman to clean it up. Again My opinion.
Enough Said do you not think!

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You are correct.
I said;you said regarding the receivers.
Of course the fact that Elijah actually caught more passes for more yards than Rambo did in 06, and 300 yards more than he did in 05, and was named a West division all-star, while Rambo was not, gives me a statistical advantage and the added bonus that at least a few pundits agree with me (although that and a dollar will get me a cup of coffee).

Maxie retired, sure…because he was not offered a new contract, not because he didn’t want to play:

It's a dramatic career change for the [b]33-year-old who was hoping to earn a contract extension from the Stamps this past season. When it never came,[/b] he knew his days were numbered and team management was a career path he eventually wanted to pursue.
Regarding the cap, we don't have the deep pockets your team has and so we can't afford to pay all our guys upfront for two or three years service thanks. And if you think that had anything to do with Roy, ask Tillman, and he will tell you exactly the same thing. At least that is what he says on every talk show he is on... The Stamps scarcely spent less money last year than the Riders did, so I guess if we were a mess, so were the Stamps. As for this year, I don't think we are having all that much trouble getting under the cap, but thanks for the concern. Just like your guy swears the Stamps will be under, so do our guys. And when you look at the moves we have made, I think we are nicely under already. We just did not use the bonus loophole to the same extent as teams like the Stamps did. But with a new GM in place, that was a predictable outcome.

All I was saying is, and I find it hard to believe you would disagree with this point, is that teams, having used the “bonus” loophole, will be hard pressed to cut a guy who received a huge signing bonus.
Not only is that money gone, but it would play havoc with the cap room that it was designed to free up.
And as Calgary used the bonus extensively, they will face that dilemna more often than the Riders.

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I agree Arius but did Roy not dthe same thing the previous year and thus this is reason you could not do this loophole. Ted Hellard by the way is one of the guys who has brought the SMS in an advantage for sure. But if he says Calgary is under the cap this year or will be I guess I would have to believe him. He did say they made it so that they would have cap room for the following year for free agent signings. Roys problem was he signed to many veteran to large contracts the year before the SMS coming into place. Thus the the problem Tillman faces. Will the rider be one of the four under could be. Ted did mention there are 3 to 4 team would have difficulty reaching this goal this season. He said in one case it may take two years. So I wonder who that would be right. Calgary has cut lose a few veterans as well so you are right about Calgary. But I believe they have reached their goal. The cutting of a few players on your team may have done the same or got them closer to that goal. The pay role in Regina was second largest so who knows right. All we can hope for is that it happens with little impact to the teams performance. One thing your are correct on is the money of the two teams.