Smith Traded, Winnipeg's Roberts traded....

[B.C.FAN]

Just listening to Guilio now one thing that likely would have to happen for Logan and Roberts to both fit in would be for Smart to be moved aside. That may make sense. Roberts has been an effective kick returner in his career too.

That would be a way to get Logan and Roberts on the roster together, and able to freely substitute for each other, but it would be a big risk. Smart leads the league in kickoff return yardage this year and his 26-yard average on 43 kickoffs leads all regular returners. Logan has a 27-yard average but has returned only 3 kickoffs. Roberts hasn't returned any. Smart has been more ordinary on punt returns, so Roberts or Logan could be an option but Logan has only returned one punt.

[Wakesbetterthanyou]

lol, oh well, now u kno for next time.

[TheLionKing]

Maybe a change of environment would do wonders for both Smith and Roberts. I just hope our Offensive Coordinator utilize Robert's skill rather than make a blocker out of him.

[Wakesbetterthanyou]

Just listening to Guilio now one thing that likely would have to happen for Logan and Roberts to both fit in would be for Smart to be moved aside. That may make sense. Roberts has been an effective kick returner in his career too.

That would be a way to get Logan and Roberts on the roster together, and able to freely substitute for each other, but it would be a big risk. Smart leads the league in kickoff return yardage this year and his 26-yard average on 43 kickoffs leads all regular returners. Logan has a 27-yard average but has returned only 3 kickoffs. Roberts hasn't returned any. Smart has been more ordinary on punt returns, so Roberts or Logan could be an option but Logan has only returned one punt.

having watched most of the winnepeg games, roberts has been horrid on returns, both kickoff and punt. he looks like he lost two steps this season.

[ThreeTimesOneMinusOne]

Three smaller backs, if you count Smart, and no bigger ones.

[Toppy Vann]

If this is true it would seem that GM Wally Buono had no choice in the matter. His Head Coach won't play the guy and he got a lot of money from the GM without playing a down - nearly 65% of his cash for the year was in his jeans before the hitting in earnest started. Something about locking the guy up long term. If the GM let Smith go for draft picks there'd be a howl if this season doesn't play out as he hopes. Wally needs to have a talk with his coach who clearly in this case set out to embarrass his GM for re-signing a guy long term and bonusing the incentive out of him to play.

This is more about optics than anything. If Charles Roberts was a free agent, there is no way that he would sign this guy to BC given his high mileage.

The irony is that Charles Roberts seemed to be suffering from the same misuse of his skills this season as was Joe Smith. I also think Charles Roberts wants to be the go to guy with no else to share the workload. What does this mean for Logan as if they couldn't have Smith and Logan, how can he find a way to have Roberts and Logan.

A few years ago, it'd be awesome to have this guy, now I am not sure this is anything but another Running Back victim for Wally to waste a la Warren and Smith. If I were Roberts, I'd be furious with this move unless he is more of an optimist than I think he is.

Look for Roberts to be gone by seasons end. It is also a sad way to see the career of one of the CFL's best end as it would be good for him to retire a Bomber and not just the Buono send off for discarded running backs.

From a Bomber perspective, this trade is terrific if their offence has the schemes that utilize Smith's skills vs what they used to run with Roberts and his skill at breaking tackles. Joe is going without a lot of anger I am sure or if he has any, he hides it better than Roberts might who is built differently.

These trades time to assess but my take is advantage Bombers!

[Dan_Payne_fan!!]

Good Luck Joe!

[cromartie]

Three smaller backs, if you count Smart, and no bigger ones.

I count three fullbacks on the roster I can use if I need them.

As a short term move, I can live with this trade. Roberts may not be what he used to be, or he may have been misused in Winnipeg.

In short, your run game roster now has a composition similar to Montreal. Two scatbacks and three fullbacks you can use in short yardage situations.

If the offense can utilize it's weapons correctly....(a big if, I know).

Anyhow, I also think this signals a shift to Buck at QB. That Montreal game turns out to be a preview of the retooling of the offensive scheming.

Should be interesting.....

[David]

Are we sure this isn't a 3 way deal? Charles Roberts may be flipped to another team that the Bombers perhaps didn't want to deal with in their division (seems hard to believe the Argos would want Roberts with Dorsey but you never know)? I'm just throwing it out there as, on the surface, this deal makes little sense.

DH 8)

[OrangeShoes99]

I don't get this deal either, but lets wait and hear all the details before we make statements like Fateri was right when he said Buono had lost it.

Jesus, anyone remember the 2006 Grey Cup and all the Western Finals? Man how the masses turn sometimes...

[No Ordinary Joe]

:no:

[Hambone]

having watched most of the winnepeg games, roberts has been horrid on returns, both kickoff and punt. he looks like he lost two steps this season.

You might want to watch a bit more closely. Roberts hasn't returned any kickoffs this season but does have 7 punt returns for a 10 yard average. 7 returns isn't much of a gauge but it still is slightly better than Smart's 9.5 punt average. Prior to this year it's been a few seasons since the Bombers have used Chuck Bob for anything more than pinch-hitting duty on kick returns. Personally I'm not a big fan of using a starting go-to RB for double duty as a kick returner as the Bombers did early in his career. Should BC try to utilize both Roberts and Logan on offence the subsequent reduction in RB carries for Roberts makes me more amenable to having him pull return duty.

Roberts has contributed 1737, 2020 and 2098 yards from scrimmage yards over the past 3 years. At the end of the day we have moved Smith and acquired someone who is the same age and almost a shoe-in for the CFL Hall of Fame. Roberts is 15 shy of 10000 according to Bomber fans who seem more disappointed that Roberts won't cross that plateau for them than they are to lose him. He also needs less than 2000 to pass Damon Allen into 3rd place in CFL rushing history. Getting dealt within a game of breaking the 10000 yard plateau will make him a very motivated individual if this deal is completed.

I'm not sure what the deal has been in Winnipeg. After 4 straight seasons of rushing for over 1500 yards Roberts slide all the way down to 1379 last year. Not bad for an off year. He also had the fewest carries (262) since 2003 but his average of 5.3 was right around his career average. This year the numbers are down as he's on pace for only 222 carries and just over 1000 yards. The average is down to 4.7. Given the Bombers struggles it becomes a chicken and egg thing. Is his production down because they aren't using him as much or are they utilizing him less because he isn't as productive? Or are there a whole bunch of other things happening in their offence that are impacting Roberts' effectiveness?

[DanoT]

Smith's no show on the side lines at the Bob Ackles tribute game must have ticked off Wally more than most of us had figured. The only way to get Smith/Logan or Roberts/Logan on the field at the same time is to release Kavil Hill and have one of the RBs play as a receiver in single back formations. Roberts is probably the best receiver of the group and would allow Logan to continue to line up as a RB. Logan did a great job of catching the ball coming out of the backfield against Montreal but is probably not a great pass route runner. I think Roberts has lined up as a wideout before.

[Bosco]

Are we sure this isn't a 3 way deal? Charles Roberts may be flipped to another team that the Bombers perhaps didn't want to deal with in their division (seems hard to believe the Argos would want Roberts with Dorsey but you never know)? I'm just throwing it out there as, on the surface, this deal makes little sense.

DH 8)

You would have to think that there's something more to this proposed deal than what meets the eye. The fact that it hasn't been confirmed yet by either team certainly brings up the possibility that Roberts may be flipped for other assets.