Moderator: Team Captains
Yikes !!!!Shi Zi Mi wrote:News1130 Sports @News1130Sports 3h
#BCLions gm Wally Buono has contacted agents for Manny Arceneaux, Solomon Elimimian & Adam Bighill - wants 2 extend contracts for all 3.
Arceneaux, Elimimian & Bighill heading into the final years of their contracts.
Hearing Bighill is thinking NFL before before re-doing deal with Lions.
As good a LB as Bighill has been for the Lions, he's too small, in my opinion, at 5-10, 230 lbs., to make it as a LB in the NFL. Your prototypical NFL LB is in the 250 lbs. plus or minus range. Still, I guess, he might find a place on STs for some NFL team and make a lot more money than he would staying in Canada.Shi Zi Mi wrote:Yikes !!!!Shi Zi Mi wrote:News1130 Sports @News1130Sports 3h
#BCLions gm Wally Buono has contacted agents for Manny Arceneaux, Solomon Elimimian & Adam Bighill - wants 2 extend contracts for all 3.
Arceneaux, Elimimian & Bighill heading into the final years of their contracts.
Hearing Bighill is thinking NFL before before re-doing deal with Lions.
He's made some huge gifts to the Hamilton area. Certainly we've had our fair share of great families on the west coast and donors like Jim Pattison and the Jack Diamond (dec.) family and sons with none better than Kingswood Capital's Joe Segal and wife Rosalie whose legacy of gifts and things they've donated or he's got others to donate to for Simon Fraser are incredible.Shi Zi Mi wrote:He's also a big time philanthropist in the Hamilton area......one article I read spoke of ~$70M he's given to the university/hospitals in the area in a short period of time.
Shi Zi Mi wrote:News1130 Sports @News1130Sports 3h
#BCLions gm Wally Buono has contacted agents for Manny Arceneaux, Solomon Elimimian & Adam Bighill - wants 2 extend contracts for all 3.
Arceneaux, Elimimian & Bighill heading into the final years of their contracts.
Hearing Bighill is thinking NFL before before re-doing deal with Lions.
Hoping Buono can get a deal done to keep all 3 in the Orange and Black
SP, I believe we see this differently. "Size of the fight in the dog" vs "size of the dog in the fight."South Pender wrote: As good a LB as Bighill has been for the Lions, he's too small, in my opinion, at 5-10, 230 lbs., to make it as a LB in the NFL. Your prototypical NFL LB is in the 250 lbs. plus or minus range. Still, I guess, he might find a place on STs and make a lot more money than he would staying in Canada.
I do believe there has been a tendency for NFL teams to go "bigger is better." Running backs. Receivers. Linebackers. O Line. D Line.Draft Trends: Lighter linebackers continue to set the pace
By Doug FarrarFebruary 13, 2013 7:13
One thing that has always been true about the NFL is that for every offensive innovation, a defensive genius will come up with a counter. Bill Walsh makes the West Coast offense his own personal brand? Fine. Dick LeBeau will come back with the zone blitz, and Monte Kiffin will purrfect the Tampa-2. You want to run out of passing formations, Mr. Smarty-Pants offensive coordinator? That's just dandy -- defenses will sub in "Big Nickel" packages and interchangeable safeties to mess up your little plans.
And with the NFL's increasing reliance on spread formations -- not just spread concepts, but actually widening a defense by lining up outside the numbers on both sides -- defenses are changing their games by using linebackers that, 10 years ago, may have been seen as safety prospects. In the 2012 NFL Draft, only one drafted inside linebacker (Dont'a Hightower of the New England Patriots) weighed in at over 250 pounds, and the rookies who set the pace at that position were not at all like the "thumper" templates of years past.
Now, defenses look for half-field defenders to supplement their ever-increasing nickel and dime packages, and linebacker prospects must be seen to cover more ground than ever. You can't hit a run fit like Dick Butkus or Mike Singletary or Ray Lewis? That's fine -- it's not what the NFL generally requires of you anymore, anyway. The three players who led the NFL in tackles among rookies -- Carolina's Luke Kuechly, Seattle's Bobby Wagner, and Tampa Bay's Lavonte David -- averaged 239 pounds in their scouting combine weights.
Alec Ogletree will be on every team's radar, because he fits the new linebacker prototype. (Getty Images)
Kuechly was the only one of the three to be classified as an inside linebacker, but all three of those players lined up in a lot of situations in which they could better be designated as left or right 'backers on a down-to-down basis. All three players were better prepared to do that than to come downhill and blow up a fullback, and that was okay -- most of the time, the fullback wasn't on the field, anyway.
Greg Cosell of NFL Films and ESPN's NFL Matchup, a man who has been following NFL trends since the late 1970s, says that the evolution of the linebacker position is a matter of specific need regarding how offenses have expanded.
"You're dealing with the change in the NFL game to a lot more spread formations, regardless of down and distance, and a lot fewer two-back sets with the iso-lead style run game," Cosell recently told Shutdown Corner. "Teams still do that, but it's no longer viewed as how teams win or lose in the NFL anymore. Nobody goes into a draft room and says, 'In order to be a contender for a championship, we have to defend the iso lead.' Whereas people do go into draft rooms saying, 'We need to defend against spread passing games.'
"So, it's natural that linebackers would end up having to be quicker, faster, and rangier, and able to move sideline to sideline. Nobody goes into a draft thinking that they need that 250-pound base personnel linebacker anymore. You must defend spread, and if teams go with 3-by-1 receiver sets, and number 3 is a wide receiver, that puts a linebacker on him. The Lavonte Davids and Bobby Wagners have a far better chance of ... not locking them up man to man, but at least running with them, and staying with them longer, and playing to their help, than a 250-pound thumper."
[Also: Matt Barkley, Geno Smith and Ryan Nassib will throw at combine]
And all three of those players showed those specific attributes on their college tape. Boston College's Kuechly may have been the best seam coverage linebacker to come out since Brian Urlacher, who frequently played a hybrid safety position when he played for New Mexico. Nebraska's David was a box player at times, but proved to be superlative in coverage when asked, and Utah State's Wagner excelled when he was the only player set up at linebacker depth.
This draft class is similar in that Notre Dame's Manti Te'o is the only "draftable" inside linebacker listed in NFL Draft Scout's rankings that weighs over 250 pounds, and he may very well choose to shave a few pounds before the scouting combine. Perhaps the best example this year of the linebacker who can cover ground as the new NFL requires is Georgia's Alec Ogletree, who is listed in NFLDS' profile at 6-foot-3 and 234 pounds. He's also listed as an outside linebacker, but as we have seen, those specific designations are losing traction. Watch Ogletree's game tape, and you'll see him taking off like a scalded dog in a lot of two-inside 'backer sets.
And as Cosell said, that fits what the league wants these days.
"If you look at what [Atlanta Falcons head coach Mike Smith] does, he's always had two stack linebackers -- not necessarily a Mike [middle linebacker] or a Will [weakside linebacker]. A lot of teams are moving in that direction, because you need guys who can run. These guys are becoming more valuable in base defenses, because if you're playing the Patriots ... no linebacker is as big as Rob Gronkowski, we know that, but you still need a guy who can match up athletically."
And that's why Ogletree, LSU's Kevin Minter (more of a traditional thumper who can also move in space), Arthur Brown of Kansas State, Rutgers' Khaseem Greene, Sean Porter of Texas A&M, and UConn's Sio Moore will be attractive candidates for early-round picks, despite the fact that Minter and Moore are the only ones in that group weighing in at 240 pounds or more. Inside 'backers Kiko Alonso of Oregon and Florida's Jon Bostic should also gain advantage as the pre-draft process goes along, and more NFL teams realize that the curve is now weighed heavily in favor of the lighter guys.
For selfish reasons I hope Bighill stays paying taxes here in BC too. One area Bighill certainly seems to be lacking in size is in the EGO department, IMO. I talked to him after the Lions touched down after their trip to Winnipeg. He almost seemed emberassed at how I was raving what a great game he'd had. I chatted with him briefly at the locker-room sale too. Really hope he retires a Lion but if he needs to get the NFL out of his system I'll certainly wish him the best....WestCoastJoe wrote:....Not sure Adam Bighill could achieve a starting LB position in the NFL. He might. He can really fly to the ball. He can find the runner. He can cover better than most CFL linebackers. Technically sound. Great tackler. Intangibles off the charts. I applaud him for not discounting the top league for himself. Will he get the chance? For selfish reasons, I hope he stays right here.
...
No question. I see it this way too--can he make plays? But the measurables have some bearing on this. OLBs in the NFL often have to cover pass-catching tight ends (something we rarely see in the CFL, but routine on NFL teams) and sometimes slot receivers. When you're trying to take care of TEs like a Jimmy Graham, Luke Willson (Canadian with the Seahawks), Coby Fleener, Greg Olsen, or Vernon Davis, we're talking about guys that are typically 6-3 and up and 250 lbs. and up, and all capable of a 40 in the mid 4.5s. Vernon Davis is 6-3, 255 lbs, and runs a 4.38 40--faster than all but a handful of WRs. When the Seahawks played the Saints, Jimmy Graham was taken out of the game by big OLBs like Bruce Irvin (6-3, 255 lbs., 4.43 40 speed) and K. J. Wright (6-4, 246, 4.7 40 speed, but extremely strong, with long arms). Adam Bighill certainly brings the "fight in the dog" you speak of (and it's very important), but would just be mismatched against the big TEs he'd face in the NFL. Just my opinion, mind you. At 5-10, 229, he's not long enough to engage TEs, and his 4.59 40 speed is fairly pedestrian by NFL LB standards, although OK, but not enough to compensate for his physical shortcomings (by NFL standards). As just one example, if you take three of the Seahawks' LBs, we have Bruce Irvin at 6-3, 255 lbs. and 4.43 speed; Malcolm Smith at 6-0, 226 (so the midget in the corps!) but with 4.44 speed; and Bobby Wagner at 6-1, 241, and 4.46 speed. And these guys also have the requisite "fight in the dog."WestCoastJoe wrote:SP, I believe we see this differently. "Size of the fight in the dog" vs "size of the dog in the fight."South Pender wrote: As good a LB as Bighill has been for the Lions, he's too small, in my opinion, at 5-10, 230 lbs., to make it as a LB in the NFL. Your prototypical NFL LB is in the 250 lbs. plus or minus range. Still, I guess, he might find a place on STs and make a lot more money than he would staying in Canada.
Some LB examples:
London Fletcher 5'10" 245
Elvis Dumervil 5'11" 260
Zach Thomas 5'11" 228
..........
Dwight Freeney DE, 6'1" 268
........
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutd ... --nfl.html
I do believe there has been a tendency for NFL teams to go "bigger is better." Running backs. Receivers. Linebackers. O Line. D Line.Draft Trends: Lighter linebackers continue to set the pace
By Doug FarrarFebruary 13, 2013 7:13
One thing that has always been true about the NFL is that for every offensive innovation, a defensive genius will come up with a counter. Bill Walsh makes the West Coast offense his own personal brand? Fine. Dick LeBeau will come back with the zone blitz, and Monte Kiffin will purrfect the Tampa-2. You want to run out of passing formations, Mr. Smarty-Pants offensive coordinator? That's just dandy -- defenses will sub in "Big Nickel" packages and interchangeable safeties to mess up your little plans.
And with the NFL's increasing reliance on spread formations -- not just spread concepts, but actually widening a defense by lining up outside the numbers on both sides -- defenses are changing their games by using linebackers that, 10 years ago, may have been seen as safety prospects. In the 2012 NFL Draft, only one drafted inside linebacker (Dont'a Hightower of the New England Patriots) weighed in at over 250 pounds, and the rookies who set the pace at that position were not at all like the "thumper" templates of years past.
Now, defenses look for half-field defenders to supplement their ever-increasing nickel and dime packages, and linebacker prospects must be seen to cover more ground than ever. You can't hit a run fit like Dick Butkus or Mike Singletary or Ray Lewis? That's fine -- it's not what the NFL generally requires of you anymore, anyway. The three players who led the NFL in tackles among rookies -- Carolina's Luke Kuechly, Seattle's Bobby Wagner, and Tampa Bay's Lavonte David -- averaged 239 pounds in their scouting combine weights.
Alec Ogletree will be on every team's radar, because he fits the new linebacker prototype. (Getty Images)
Kuechly was the only one of the three to be classified as an inside linebacker, but all three of those players lined up in a lot of situations in which they could better be designated as left or right 'backers on a down-to-down basis. All three players were better prepared to do that than to come downhill and blow up a fullback, and that was okay -- most of the time, the fullback wasn't on the field, anyway.
Greg Cosell of NFL Films and ESPN's NFL Matchup, a man who has been following NFL trends since the late 1970s, says that the evolution of the linebacker position is a matter of specific need regarding how offenses have expanded.
"You're dealing with the change in the NFL game to a lot more spread formations, regardless of down and distance, and a lot fewer two-back sets with the iso-lead style run game," Cosell recently told Shutdown Corner. "Teams still do that, but it's no longer viewed as how teams win or lose in the NFL anymore. Nobody goes into a draft room and says, 'In order to be a contender for a championship, we have to defend the iso lead.' Whereas people do go into draft rooms saying, 'We need to defend against spread passing games.'
"So, it's natural that linebackers would end up having to be quicker, faster, and rangier, and able to move sideline to sideline. Nobody goes into a draft thinking that they need that 250-pound base personnel linebacker anymore. You must defend spread, and if teams go with 3-by-1 receiver sets, and number 3 is a wide receiver, that puts a linebacker on him. The Lavonte Davids and Bobby Wagners have a far better chance of ... not locking them up man to man, but at least running with them, and staying with them longer, and playing to their help, than a 250-pound thumper."
[Also: Matt Barkley, Geno Smith and Ryan Nassib will throw at combine]
And all three of those players showed those specific attributes on their college tape. Boston College's Kuechly may have been the best seam coverage linebacker to come out since Brian Urlacher, who frequently played a hybrid safety position when he played for New Mexico. Nebraska's David was a box player at times, but proved to be superlative in coverage when asked, and Utah State's Wagner excelled when he was the only player set up at linebacker depth.
This draft class is similar in that Notre Dame's Manti Te'o is the only "draftable" inside linebacker listed in NFL Draft Scout's rankings that weighs over 250 pounds, and he may very well choose to shave a few pounds before the scouting combine. Perhaps the best example this year of the linebacker who can cover ground as the new NFL requires is Georgia's Alec Ogletree, who is listed in NFLDS' profile at 6-foot-3 and 234 pounds. He's also listed as an outside linebacker, but as we have seen, those specific designations are losing traction. Watch Ogletree's game tape, and you'll see him taking off like a scalded dog in a lot of two-inside 'backer sets.
And as Cosell said, that fits what the league wants these days.
"If you look at what [Atlanta Falcons head coach Mike Smith] does, he's always had two stack linebackers -- not necessarily a Mike [middle linebacker] or a Will [weakside linebacker]. A lot of teams are moving in that direction, because you need guys who can run. These guys are becoming more valuable in base defenses, because if you're playing the Patriots ... no linebacker is as big as Rob Gronkowski, we know that, but you still need a guy who can match up athletically."
And that's why Ogletree, LSU's Kevin Minter (more of a traditional thumper who can also move in space), Arthur Brown of Kansas State, Rutgers' Khaseem Greene, Sean Porter of Texas A&M, and UConn's Sio Moore will be attractive candidates for early-round picks, despite the fact that Minter and Moore are the only ones in that group weighing in at 240 pounds or more. Inside 'backers Kiko Alonso of Oregon and Florida's Jon Bostic should also gain advantage as the pre-draft process goes along, and more NFL teams realize that the curve is now weighed heavily in favor of the lighter guys.
And yet, we see scatbacks. Smallish linebackers. Small receivers. Small DBs. Even some "small" QBs.
Not sure Adam Bighill could achieve a starting LB position in the NFL. He might. He can really fly to the ball. He can find the runner. He can cover better than most CFL linebackers. Technically sound. Great tackler. Intangibles off the charts. I applaud him for not discounting the top league for himself. Will he get the chance? For selfish reasons, I hope he stays right here.
IMO he could certainly catch on with STs down there. Brendan Ayanbadejo carved out a nice career that way.
Size? To me it is not the issue. Can the guy play? Can he make plays?
IMO ...
It's hard to see Bighill handling Jimmy Graham, as just one example, who is 6-7, 265lbs., and has 4.53 speed.South Pender wrote:........But I sure like Bighill and hope he stays with the Lions. Looking at things from a financial perspective, however, he would, I think, make a good NFL STs guy (and might even make it as a backup LB; what do I know?) and could do this while dragging down close to $.5M a year to start with. So no one could blame him for thinking about this and maybe trying to make it down South.
"We like that name too because it reminds us of our city's past and fits so well into the branding of our football team."
Hunt said he connected with Bedore's family about using the name.
Bedore wrote several books aimed at youngsters that illustrated the tall-tale lumberjacking exploits of Big Joe Mufferaw.
Not to suggest that Braley is anything but a CFL savior, as I believe he is. However, I doubt he has lost very much in the CFL, as just about every time he has 'invested' in a team, part of that condition has been to host the GC very soon thereafter, recovering his investment rather quickly. The GC now pretty much gives an owner the financial base to offset loses for a few seasons and back in the 90's, it was a $3M windfall.Toppy Vann wrote:He's made some huge gifts to the Hamilton area. Certainly we've had our fair share of great families on the west coast and donors like Jim Pattison and the Jack Diamond (dec.) family and sons with none better than Kingswood Capital's Joe Segal and wife Rosalie whose legacy of gifts and things they've donated or he's got others to donate to for Simon Fraser are incredible.Shi Zi Mi wrote:He's also a big time philanthropist in the Hamilton area......one article I read spoke of ~$70M he's given to the university/hospitals in the area in a short period of time.
I would not characterize Braley as a philanthropist with the CFL - just a guy who has invested more with his heart than his desire to get the best risk return on the assets he's employed here. He did not invest to lose money but ensured he had good people in place to a) manage the money/finances and b) to run the football side. He strikes me that even loans to other teams he says he has made were relatively safe.
Even to suggest he made decisions based on his love for the CFL could be a bit off as I am sure he believed at the start if things were done right, he'd be fine financially vs wanting to find a hole down which to flush his hard earned money - something he doesn't strike me he'd ever do. Not that I've met the man nor do I know much about him - as I don't.
His firms are not publicy traded so finding his net worth is different than with folks like Warren Buffett who are far easier to tally up.
Well....NOW I feel better........Shi Zi Mi wrote:Yikes !!!!Shi Zi Mi wrote:News1130 Sports @News1130Sports 3h
#BCLions gm Wally Buono has contacted agents for Manny Arceneaux, Solomon Elimimian & Adam Bighill - wants 2 extend contracts for all 3.
Arceneaux, Elimimian & Bighill heading into the final years of their contracts.
Hearing Bighill is thinking NFL before before re-doing deal with Lions.
That's a smart move by Westerman and could work out well for both sides. Coming off a disappointing season in which he failed to claim a starting position, he's not in a strong bargaining position. He needs a strong season to showcase his abilities and strengthen his position before signinng a new contract, either in B.C. or elsewhere. I don't think he's in the team's plans as a starter for this year, so the Lions have nothing to lose by leaving him unsigned.Shi Zi Mi wrote:News1130 Sports @News1130Sports 40m
#BCLions defensive lineman Jabar Westerman has told gm Wally Buono that he's not willing to sign a contract extension.
Westerman could play out his option and give the NFL a try or just keep his options open.
There was sure a lot of hype on Westernan in last years TC, boy to man sort of stuff. I am sure that Westerman was mentioned as a DL projected starter for 2014 in this off season. Not signing gives more of an indication to me that it is about returning to the East closer to home, as I don't think that his play has given any indication that he would compete for an NFL job.B.C.FAN wrote:That's a smart move by Westerman and could work out well for both sides. Coming off a disappointing season in which he failed to claim a starting position, he's not in a strong bargaining position. He needs a strong season to showcase his abilities and strengthen his position before signinng a new contract, either in B.C. or elsewhere. I don't think he's in the team's plans as a starter for this year, so the Lions have nothing to lose by leaving him unsigned.Shi Zi Mi wrote:News1130 Sports @News1130Sports 40m
#BCLions defensive lineman Jabar Westerman has told gm Wally Buono that he's not willing to sign a contract extension.
Westerman could play out his option and give the NFL a try or just keep his options open.
