Buck's agent has said Bomber GM Mack sunk the Pierce deal negotiated by the GM's assistant and satisfactory to Pierce.
Bombers have 17 free agents - most in the CFL.
What is going on there? Buck has been the guy that built their fan base and excited the province about the Bombers again. That alone says he should get a deal done that is fair for a starter! Their sell outs came from how fans saw his play not due to their great D. That didn't sell the place out every game.
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports ... 12613.html
Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Bombers have accomplished almost nothing this off-season, but no signs of concern from Mack
By: Paul Wiecek
Posted: 01/21/201
Consider: The sum total of Winnipeg's activity since they lost the Grey Cup to B.C. at the end of November has been re-signing their long snapper Chris Cvetkovic, re-signing all-star safety Ian Logan, locking down some practice roster guys and, this week, picking up a kick returner who didn't even play in 2011.
The inactivity is striking on several fronts. For starters, the Bombers lead the CFL this winter with 17 players who could become free agents on Feb. 16, so you'd think that if anyone would have been busy the past six weeks it would have been Bombers GM Joe Mack.
What's more, among that long list of free agents are some critical players -- starting quarterback Buck Pierce and both his backups, Alex Brink and Joey Elliott; and four of the five starters on the offensive line, including CFL all-star Brendan LaBatte.
On top of all that, the Bombers inactivity has come at precisely the same time as two of their East Division rivals -- the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Toronto Argonauts -- have made sweeping changes the Bombers brain trust has already publicly conceded will make the East Division a much tougher place to play in 2012.
So what's Mack saying now? The Bombers GM did not respond to repeated requests for an interview through the club's media relations office this week.
But others are starting to talk. Defensive back Jovon Johnson has gone public with his frustrations with Bombers management and their refusal to even discuss a contract extension with the league's most valuable defensive player in 2011.
And on Friday, agent Darren Gill said that "there hasn't been much progress" in contract talks involving the Bombers and three of his clients -- OL Steve Morley, DL Don Oramasionwu and WR Aaron Hargreaves. Gill said that "at this point," Morley and Oramasionwu intend to test the free agent waters.
Now, on top of all that, there are also all the three coaching vacancies that remain for the Bombers after the firing of offensive coordinator Jamie Barresi and the defections of linebackers coach Casey Creehan to Hamilton and receivers coach Chris Wiesehan to the University of Hawaii.
Almost two months after firing Barresi, the Bombers have yet to replace him. And it's now possible the Argos -- who hired Jonathan Himebauch away from Montreal as their new offensive coordinator last month only to have him abruptly leave this week for a college job -- could hire two offensive coordinators this winter before the Bombers hire one.