Bombers swing deals, send Willy to Argos

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This article was published 11/09/2016 (3310 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After days of speculation about the future of quarterback Drew Willy, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers finally pulled the trigger, shipping their highest-paid player to the Toronto Argonauts in a blockbuster trade Sunday night.

Willy, in his first of two seasons with a price-tag of more than $400,000 per year with incentives, is now a member of the Argos, with Winnipeg getting defensive back TJ Heath and two draft picks — a first-round selection in 2017 and a 2018 third-round pick.

The Bombers didn’t stop there, adding veteran quarterback (and former Bomber) Kevin Glenn from the Montreal Alouettes in exchange for a fourth-round pick in 2017.

“This is a big deal,” GM Kyle Walters said on the team’s website. “It heated up once (Argos QB) Ricky Ray got hurt, and then with Montreal going in a different direction with Kevin, it became a matter of trying to piece it all together.

“If we were going to move away from Drew Willy as our backup, we wanted to get another experienced quarterback in here that’s won some football games in our league.”

The decision to trade Willy, though sure to send a ripple across the CFL, doesn’t come completely out of the blue. Rumours Willy may be headed east first began to heat up on Friday when Toronto announced it would be without Ray from four to six weeks with a fractured rib and a partially deflated lung  suffered in a 49-36 loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Labour Day.

With Toronto the host site of the Grey Cup this year, and still in the race for a playoff spot — tied for second place in a underwhelming East Division with a record of 5-6 — it needed to move quickly.

“By making this trade, not only have we added depth to the quarterback position for this season, but we have added a young, talented and experienced quarterback for the future,” said Argos GM Jim Barker in a statement.

Willy, 29, heads to Toronto after a disappointing season with the Bombers — his third with the Blue and Gold — where after a 1-4 start he was replaced by backup Matt Nichols. Willy, a five-year veteran of the CFL, has made 28 career starts, completing 513 of 781 passes (65.7 per cent) for 6,385 yards with 31 TDs and 24 interceptions.

“Drew has all of the abilities we look for in a quarterback — leadership, poise, accuracy and a strong arm,” said Argos coach Scott Milanovich.

“We have watched Drew play a lot over the years and have liked him for quite some time. We think he has a ton of potential to be a very good player for us for years to come.”

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Talks of a potential trade for Glenn surfaced when news broke earlier this week  Rakeem Cato would replace Glenn as the Als’ starting quarterback for their Week 12 game against B.C.

Glenn, who played five seasons with the Bombers (2004-08), arrives in Winnipeg as the No. 2 behind Nichols, who has yet to lose since taking over from Willy in Week 6.

— with files from The Canadian Press

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jeffkhamilton

Jeff Hamilton
Multimedia producer

Jeff Hamilton is a sports and investigative reporter. Jeff joined the Free Press newsroom in April 2015, and has been covering the local sports scene since graduating from Carleton University’s journalism program in 2012. Read more about Jeff.

Every piece of reporting Jeff produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.