2024 Edmonton Elks

[Looner]

It's only Calgary but if there is one thing they would like to do it is to win a game. I assume the Elks start Tre Ford so we'll see how that goes. They should give Dakota Prukop some reps as well as he is the best bet to be back next year as the short yardage guy.

As for free agency I can see some moving on due to uncertainty of who is going to be in charge and would count MBT among them. He suits the Calgary offense to a T and they may have an opening. He's a bright guy and could have a future as a coach down the line as well if he chooses to. I can see him hooking up with Dinwiddie on that if he does.

Betting Kyle Walters is available and ready to move on but not sure of his contract status. It would be interesting what to see what he would do on his own. That could lead to Buck Pierce.

I believe Walters is signed through to the end of next year. Unless the Bombers aren't happy with him and let him go but I can't see that.

https://www.cfl.ca/2023/11/28/two-mo...walters-staff/

[bombervu]

It's only Calgary but one thing they would like is to win a game. I assume the Elks start Tre Ford so we'll see how that goes. They should give Dakota Prukop some reps as well as he is a good bet to be back next year be it as the short yardage guy.

As for free agency I can see some moving on due to uncertainty of who will be in charge and would count MBT among them. He suits the Calgary offense to a T and they may have an opening. He's also a bright guy and could have a future as a coach down the line as well if he chooses to. I can see him hooking up with Dinwiddie on that if he does. I love how he called out the command center on the review and was right. It should have been up Mace to challenge and have a challenge to do so but they have taken that out of the game.

Betting Kyle Walters is ready to move on but not sure of his contract status and it would be interesting to see what he would do on his own. That could lead to Buck Pierce.

[cmbuk]

Agree with most sentiments here…

again MBT might not be capable to single handedly win games, but he is a game vet and best of what we had. Had the command of a huddle. This idea that Ford is such a better option is crazy.

He’s 300 yards off 4K

He’s played his part…

[cmbuk]

How do we find out who’s under contract for next season???

[Maas_12]

I'm pretty much with you here. If the defence was a little better early on or even if Bede hit on the kicks he should make, it's a whole different year and the MBT investment is probably championed. Unfortunately, it didn't play that way and he became a bit of an undeserved whipping boy in my eyes. He was bad in the pair against Ottawa, but I didn't think he was bad overall. Could another guy have been consistent enough to win early? Maybe. Was that Ford? Debatable. If coaching used both as part of game planning, that may have helped too.

Part of me likes the direction the team headed in this year as Winnipeg likely beats anybody these days and they were in a lot of games. It's hard to tear it down. A lot of us like how the roster is starting to look, but I'm not sure there's full confidence in Simon. The players seemed to give an effort for the staff, but there's enough personnel and play calling questions to think JJ may not be a permanent answer. So the question has to be "Who is it worth replacing them for?" I'd certainly go with someone like Campbell or Dickenson. I think O'Shea is likely a pipe dream and Maas would have to really want to come home. I'd see that more likely if a GM role was on the table for him and one of his former assistants as coach.

Outside Campbell and Dickenson, you're probably looking at a new GM. I guess it depends on your comfort with Simon. I don't really have a lot, so I'd look at a Goveia or Rigmaiden if I couldn't get a Campbell. Either probably brings a new coach.

Quarterbacking, I'd push for Adams, but if the price is too high I'd have no qualms about trying to grab Powell. That kid can play.

Agree with most sentiments here…

again MBT might not be capable to single handedly win games, but he is a game vet and best of what we had. Had the command of a huddle. This idea that Ford is such a better option is crazy.

[BeaverSports]

It’s all about winning obviously but with the job he’s done this year I don’t know how many of those losses you can fairly pin on squarely on him…

Not saying he’s the future of this franchise because he’s obviously not. What I’m saying is it’s hard to point to exactly one area as to why the team is where they are given there’s some solid pieces across the board.

Often times I feel cleaning house is knee jerk reaction and I’m thinking I’d be a little hesitant to hand the keys to the franchise to yet ANOTHER first time HC because that formula hasn’t been working out for us and I’m sick of watching the same script play out over and over.

If there was a way to pry a proven guy like O’Shea, Campbell, or Maas, I’d be all for it but that’s pie in the sky.

Long story short I have no idea what the answer is moving forward in terms of what gives us the best chance hit the ground running in 2025.

I'm pretty much with you here. If the defence was a little better early on or even if Bede hit on the kicks he should make, it's a whole different year and the MBT investment is probably championed. Unfortunately, it didn't play that way and he became a bit of an undeserved whipping boy in my eyes. He was bad in the pair against Ottawa, but I didn't think he was bad overall. Could another guy have been consistent enough to win early? Maybe. Was that Ford? Debatable. If coaching used both as part of game planning, that may have helped too.

Part of me likes the direction the team headed in this year as Winnipeg likely beats anybody these days and they were in a lot of games. It's hard to tear it down. A lot of us like how the roster is starting to look, but I'm not sure there's full confidence in Simon. The players seemed to give an effort for the staff, but there's enough personnel and play calling questions to think JJ may not be a permanent answer. So the question has to be "Who is it worth replacing them for?" I'd certainly go with someone like Campbell or Dickenson. I think O'Shea is likely a pipe dream and Maas would have to really want to come home. I'd see that more likely if a GM role was on the table for him and one of his former assistants as coach.

Outside Campbell and Dickenson, you're probably looking at a new GM. I guess it depends on your comfort with Simon. I don't really have a lot, so I'd look at a Goveia or Rigmaiden if I couldn't get a Campbell. Either probably brings a new coach.

Quarterbacking, I'd push for Adams, but if the price is too high I'd have no qualms about trying to grab Powell. That kid can play.

[BeaverSports]

I think it was Dunk. He was on Gregor's show a few months back.

I had heard at least one other team was offering a first. Maybe Winnipeg.

[Sectionq]

It’s all about winning obviously but with the job he’s done this year I don’t know how many of those losses you can fairly pin on squarely on him…

Not saying he’s the future of this franchise because he’s obviously not. What I’m saying is it’s hard to point to exactly one area as to why the team is where they are given there’s some solid pieces across the board.

Often times I feel cleaning house is knee jerk reaction and I’m thinking I’d be a little hesitant to hand the keys to the franchise to yet ANOTHER first time HC because that formula hasn’t been working out for us and I’m sick of watching the same script play out over and over.

If there was a way to pry a proven guy like O’Shea, Campbell, or Maas, I’d be all for it but that’s pie in the sky.

Long story short I have no idea what the answer is moving forward in terms of what gives us the best chance hit the ground running in 2025.

I agree with you that what the answer is, is hard to know. All I can give is my opinion and I don't see how resigning a QB who will be 37 at the start of next season is the right call. On top of the fact he hasn't lead his team to very many wins. I agree, the losses aren't necessarily his fault but he had a hand in most of them.

[ben_the_eskimo]

For sure, who knows for sure. It could also just be reinforcement that teams win games more than QBs do, but by the same token I seem to recall him getting into range to potentially win the game multiple times this year only to fall short at some point in the last couple minutes.

Granted there were other mistakes in most of those games as well that made up the margin, but he still got himself into postiion to win despite those other errors and didn't make the kill shot and only won the games that had significant margins of victory where the other team ran out of runway by the three minute warning.

Just interesting that likely his best season efficiency wise wasn't even close to .500 for winning and his stats this year are almost identical to that 4-9 season.

Looking at these I wonder how many times he's had the opportunity to win a game that was within 10 points inside the 3 minutes warning where he delivered the kill shot when the pressure was at it highest.

I agree. And that could just be an example of what separated a guy like Mike Reilly, who was a closer when the game was on the line, and a Trevor Harris or MBT who manage the game well enough to win, but can’t put the team on their back in those key moments the way Reilly did.

[bone]

Fair enough. One could maybe argue that the first two seasons may have been hindered by being new to the league and then the second two years show the growth that resulted. But that’s just spitballing.

For sure, who knows for sure. It could also just be reinforcement that teams win games more than QBs do, but by the same token I seem to recall him getting into range to potentially win the game multiple times this year only to fall short at some point in the last couple minutes.

Granted there were other mistakes in most of those games as well that made up the margin, but he still got himself into postiion to win despite those other errors and didn't make the kill shot and only won the games that had significant margins of victory where the other team ran out of runway by the three minute warning.

Just interesting that likely his best season efficiency wise wasn't even close to .500 for winning and his stats this year are almost identical to that 4-9 season.

Looking at these I wonder how many times he's had the opportunity to win a game that was within 10 points inside the 3 minutes warning where he delivered the kill shot when the pressure was at it highest.

[ben_the_eskimo]

How much value do you place on winning games for a QB vs stats, leadership, good guy in the room?

MBT has started 13 games this year, he's 3-10 this year. He went 0-7 his first 7 starts got pulled in his last one.

Ford started the other 3, won 1, lost 1 but didn't play the full game, he has an incomplete. His incomplete was the BC game in week 10 where he started but got hurt. He got pulled in the first Bombers game. I gave Ford the loss as he played more than half the game.

MBT played half the BC game in week 10 but didn't start and the Elks won it. I don't know who gets the credit for the win. He played part of the game against the Bombers but they lost that game. I have Ford the loss because he played more of the game.

3-10 as a starter is pretty bad. Statistically he's done decent but they don't win games.

It’s all about winning obviously but with the job he’s done this year I don’t know how many of those losses you can fairly pin on squarely on him…

Not saying he’s the future of this franchise because he’s obviously not. What I’m saying is it’s hard to point to exactly one area as to why the team is where they are given there’s some solid pieces across the board.

Often times I feel cleaning house is knee jerk reaction and I’m thinking I’d be a little hesitant to hand the keys to the franchise to yet ANOTHER first time HC because that formula hasn’t been working out for us and I’m sick of watching the same script play out over and over.

If there was a way to pry a proven guy like O’Shea, Campbell, or Maas, I’d be all for it but that’s pie in the sky.

Long story short I have no idea what the answer is moving forward in terms of what gives us the best chance hit the ground running in 2025.

[ben_the_eskimo]

It's really been up and down. He first two years in Toronto with significant starts was 6-15 despite some good personal statistics 2019 in particular was very similar to this year where he wen 4-9 despite a 105.4 QB rating.

Then the two years post-covid were very good going 18-8 with a Grey Cup win (though the whole team was very good).

He's back to 3-10 with an average to poor team this year while having good personal stats. Maybe he's just had bad luck in some of those years, but there's enough data to at least question things.

Fair enough. One could maybe argue that the first two seasons may have been hindered by being new to the league and then the second two years show the growth that resulted. But that’s just spitballing.

[Sectionq]

Probably. MBTs winning percentage has been awful this year but it hasn’t been historically. And he’s proven he can still play at a high level while providing good veteran leadership.

Ford is a dynamic up and comer with a skillset unlike any other QB in the league and has won a lot of games for a really raw player who came out of the CIS.

Doege has shown some potential last year but is still an unknown at this point.

That’s a better QB room than we’ve had since the Reilly era IMO.

How much value do you place on winning games for a QB vs stats, leadership, good guy in the room?

MBT has started 13 games this year, he's 3-10 this year. He went 0-7 his first 7 starts got pulled in his last one.

Ford started the other 3, won 1, lost 1 but didn't play the full game, he has an incomplete. His incomplete was the BC game in week 10 where he started but got hurt. He got pulled in the first Bombers game. I gave Ford the loss as he played more than half the game.

MBT played half the BC game in week 10 but didn't start and the Elks won it. I don't know who gets the credit for the win. He played part of the game against the Bombers but they lost that game. I have Ford the loss because he played more of the game.

3-10 as a starter is pretty bad. Statistically he's done decent but they don't win games.

[bone]

Ah, thought it was a little better than that tbh. Even still tho, I don’t hate the idea of potentially keeping him around strictly as a vet back up.

Sounds like he’s a good pro, a good mentor, and a smart football mind so having that in the room is never a bad thing.

That being said I wouldn’t be upset if we move on from him either.

It's really been up and down. He first two years in Toronto with significant starts was 6-15 despite some good personal statistics 2019 in particular was very similar to this year where he wen 4-9 despite a 105.4 QB rating.

Then the two years post-covid were very good going 18-8 with a Grey Cup win (though the whole team was very good).

He's back to 3-10 with an average to poor team this year while having good personal stats. Maybe he's just had bad luck in some of those years, but there's enough data to at least question things.

[ben_the_eskimo]

Historically MBT's winning percentage hasn't been all that great other than the two years post-covid for Toronto where it turned out that the team got even better once he moved on. A career 27-33 CFL career doesn't exactly scream perpetual winner. Hasn't he only started something like 3 career playoff games as well. Not all his fault, but it kind of supports the notion that he's a great QB at keeping you in the game but not necessarily to win you the game.

Ah, thought it was a little better than that tbh. Even still tho, I don’t hate the idea of potentially keeping him around strictly as a vet back up.

Sounds like he’s a good pro, a good mentor, and a smart football mind so having that in the room is never a bad thing.

That being said I wouldn’t be upset if we move on from him either.