Future will tell how smart Blue are

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This article was published 09/05/2011 (5503 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PUT down the sharp objects, Blue Bomber Nation. And all those CIS/NCAA experts who somehow equate bench-press totals and 40-yard times into football immortality should stop pounding the keyboard and littering chat rooms while eviscerating Winnipeg’s handiwork on draft day.

No, an honest evaluation of the talent the Bombers hauled in during Sunday’s CFL Canadian Draft can’t be made today, tomorrow or next week. It probably won’t be made this season, either, but likely two or three years from now when first-round choices Henoc Muamba and Jade Etienne — this is where the Joe Mack/Paul LaPolice regime has its fingers crossed — are regulars in the starting lineup and any of the other four picks are still in the club’s colours.

“We think from a draft standpoint it was a great day for the Bombers,” said Mack, the Bombers GM. “We got a lot of depth and some real quality. We were very excited to get Henoc Muamba with the first pick and Jade Etienne, the receiver from Saskatchewan, we were very high on. We got some depth at the offensive line and at the receiver spot. Overall, at least on paper anyway, we think it was a productive day.

“Obviously we don’t know until they get on the field and they start to play. If you consider that going into this year we only had three picks and we came out with six, including two in the first round… we hope that’s going to add a lot of depth and value to our team.”

That’s the big-picture spin from the club. Grabbing Muamba, the St. Francis Xavier linebacker and top defensive player in the country, first overall was by most accounts a solid pick.

But eyebrows were raised when the Bombers selected Etienne, a budding prospect from the U of S, fourth overall and ahead of highly-rated receivers Nathan Coehoorn of the University of Calgary and Harvard’s Marco Iannuzzi. Consider, too, that the Etienne selection will be forever linked — along with a conditional pick next year — to the trade that sent quarterback Steven Jyles to the Toronto Argonauts.

“Etienne was not really on anybody’s radar screen, but we really kind of liked him at the evaluation camp,” said Mack. “He’s got great flexibility, he’s actually much taller than you think — he’s 6-3, he’s growing into his body, as he was 165 during the season but came in at 185. He can bang, he has good body control, he has change of direction. Paul and I both thought, as well as (offensive coordinator) Jamie (Baressi) and (receivers coach) Chris Wiesehan, that he adjusted well to the ball in the air, he made some tough catches and he averaged over 20 yards per catch.

“We think he has the mental makeup to grow into the position and be a tough receiver for us. He has a lot of upside.”

The Bombers did address their concerns about depth on the O-line with their third and fourth selections, grabbing Brendan Dunn from the University of Western Ontario and the University of Calgary’s Paul Swiston.

Winnipeg rounded out its selections by taking Central Michigan running back Carl Volny in the fifth round and Concordia’s Liam Mahoney, a CIS second-team all-Canadian receiver, with its final choice.

The six selections the Bombers made Sunday marked just the second time since 1996 they were this busy. And, quite clearly, Muamba is the key as the Bombers haven’t picked first overall since selecting Steve Scully in 1975.

“We really felt, with no disrespect to anybody else in the draft, that he was definitely the best player in the draft for the ability to come up and play in the CFL right now,” said Mack.

“In my years watching defensive players in the draft, he’s one of the more explosive players,” added LaPolice. “He’s a force on defence. We think he’s a guy who can immediately play special teams. This kid gives us an opportunity, as a guy who can compete, to change the ratio.”

Mack said he hoped a deal with Muamba would be in place as early as this week. As well, the Bombers aren’t done augmenting their Canadian talent corps just yet — speculation is the team will add Western linebacker John Surla and Concordia kicker Rene Parades, who passed through the draft without hearing their names called, in the next few days.

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca