Blue Bombers should throw heaps of cash at Heenan

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This article was published 03/10/2014 (4078 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Kyle Walters can try and fix a huge mistake this off-season but it will take money. Lots of it.

The Blue Bombers are still haunted by former GM Joe Mack’s inexplicable decision to let Brendon LaBatte reach free agency and sign with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. But, there’s a path to redemption and its name is Ben Heenan.

LaBatte, as most Bombers fans are painfully aware, is among the best interior linemen in the CFL and was a leading factor in the Riders’ Grey Cup win last season. He should have been a Bomber for life, but Mack let him walk and Riders GM Brendan Taman was waiting with open arms.

Pro sports is kind of like romance. There are no rules when it comes to getting the player a GM wants. Oh, and turnabout is definitely fair play.

Which brings us to Walters and potential free agent and current Riders non-import tackle Heenan. Go get him, Kyle.

Pile up the money. Make him the highest-paid offensive lineman in the CFL. Get Heenan to trade green for blue. Did we mention money? Yeah, give it to him. Lots of it.

Taman will try to get Heenan to sign long before free agency, but as we saw this summer when he signed Weston Dressler coming out of the NFL, the Riders GM must keep balance in his locker-room and making Heenan his highest-priced player after quarterback Darian Durant will be tough to justify.

But Walters can offer Heenan everything and anything but Drew Willy’s salary. And Willy can campaign, too. Don’t think he wouldn’t like to see this battleship standing on his line.

Heenan could make Bombers fans forget LaBatte — maybe even Mack. Okay, the last part is a stretch, but signing Heenan could cure a lot of ills.

The Bombers offensive line is awful. Fixing the line, gaining a running attack and most importantly, protecting Willy, is priority No. 1 for Walters this off-season. A Canadian playing tackle is rare enough in the CFL. One with all-star potential is like the Hope Diamond. They just don’t come along that often.

Every GM in the CFL will want to take a crack at Heenan if he gets to the market. And for a team like the Bombers, he’s a game changer.

Walters needs to take a play out of Taman’s playbook from the winter of 2011-12 when he remade the Riders offensive line with two quick strikes in free agency, a trade and draft. Taman signed LaBatte and Dominic Picard in free agency, traded for Xavier Fulton and drafted Heenan. Voila! The best O-line in the league.

If Walters could snag Heenan and Tyler Holmes out of Toronto, he’d be well on his way to fixing his biggest issue. Easy to say but harder to do. Taman won’t want to let Heenan go and Jim Barker in Toronto will be doing his best to keep Holmes.

This off-season will be the first of the new CBA and rising salary cap. Agents will want their players to test the market. Most of the new money will go to quarterbacks and Canadian offensive lineman. Heenan will be at the top of the class.

“He’s going to hit the mother lode. The highest-paid offensive linemen in the league are older Canadian guys like Josh Bourque in Montreal. If you’re going to ply an old guy $200,000 or so, why wouldn’t you pay a young guy like Heenan, who can really play, even more?” said one CFL GM on Friday.

“The cap is going up and there aren’t many quarterback deals coming up. All the money this winter is going to go to offensive lineman and Heenan is at the top of the list. He should get at least $250,000. Maybe more.”

Riders supporters will immediately point to the fact Heenan was born in Regina, played his CIS football at Saskatchewan and is as homegrown as the wheat sprouting on the back 40. Yup.

All things being equal, Heenan likely isn’t going anywhere. And Taman will be doing everything in his power to get his prized hog locked up long before February and free agency rolls along.

So, Walters needs to tilt the table. And the only way to do this is with cold hard cash. As we know in Canada, there are lots of colours of money and it doesn’t only have to be green. Winnipeg is hosting the Grey Cup next season and there will be lots of cash streaming into the franchise.

Heenan might be a bit of a pipe dream. Holmes, however, has to be looking around the landscape in Toronto and wondering if the grass isn’t greener somewhere else.

A year ago the Bombers didn’t have a chance in free agency. The reputation of the franchise was in tatters and no one knew how the new regime would turn out. Now they have Willy, a coach in Mike O’Shea that players want to play for, the best stadium in the league and Grey Cup money to spend.

So spend it, Mr. Walters.

gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @garylawless