Six-year NFL vet Westerman learning CFL game on the fly

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This article was published 04/06/2015 (3961 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The history of the CFL is littered with former NFLers who thought they’d head north to Canada for a quick and easy paycheque, only to discover the game up here is faster and played at a much higher level than they ever imagined.

While an NFL resumé is a reliable way to earn a CFL tryout, the only way to earn a CFL job is with performance on the bigger and wider field and the ex-NFLers who have come up here over the years assuming this game is easy more often than not have found themselves with a pink slip and a return ticket home.

That’s why Bombers fans should be so heartened to hear what veteran defensive tackle Bryant Turner had to say on Wednesday about the team’s newest — and most prominent — former NFLer, defensive end Jamaal Westerman.

“He’s been very humble. If I didn’t read the paper and know that he was in the NFL for six years, I’d have never known it. He never mentions it and he’s really been a true student his whole time here,” Turner said of Westerman.

“He’s trying to learn the game, he asks a lot of questions and he just studies and learns.”

Now, if ever there was an NFLer who could carry some justifiable swagger into his first CFL camp, it would be Westerman. While ex-NFLers are a dime a dozen in the CFL, most are the ‘cup of coffee, cut in training camp’ variety and only a tiny handful can boast the rich NFL resumé Westerman brings to the Bombers.

Westerman played 58 regular-season games in six NFL seasons (three of them with the New York Jets), recording 62 tackles, six sacks, four fumble recoveries, a forced fumble and 27 special-teams tackles along the way.

Those are some serious NFL bona fides and it would have been hard to blame Westerman if he showed up for training camp in Winnipeg feeling like this was a bit of a step down.

“I don’t think it’s a step down at all,” said Westerman, who was born in New York but grew up in Brampton, Ont., and qualifies as a non-import in the CFL.

“I think it’s just a different point in your career. Like I said earlier, I think the competition is high and this is a great organization. You can tell from the stadium and the facilities. That’s why the World Cup is here: because top-notch facilities, top-notch stadium.

“I feel everything is similar to what I saw down there. Of course, it’s two different leagues…But at the end of the year, whichever team is sitting under the confetti or raising the Grey Cup or raising the Super Bowl trophy, you’re the winner and you’re happy.”

Westerman grew up in both Canada and the U.S. — his parents are from Barbados but his mother’s side settled in Canada and his father’s side settled in the U.S.. His younger years were spent in the U.S., but a divorce saw him move to Canada and attend most of his high school in Brampton, which was good enough to qualify him as a CFL non-import.

His younger brother, D-lineman Jabar Westerman, was drafted by the B.C. Lions in 2012 . That year, the Bombers traded up in hopes of selecting the younger Westerman third overall only to see the Lions trade up themselves and take Westerman with the second-overall pick.

Three years after that disappointment (the Bombers settled for OL Tyson Pencer, who proved to be a washout), Winnipeg finally got their Westerman, or at least his brother, when they signed the elder Westerman as a free agent on May 7.

Jamaal Westerman said he can’t wait to get started on his Canadian career.

“I talk to my brother a lot now. He’s kind of giving me tips,” said Westerman. “Even though I’m the older brother, he seems to be giving me a lot more tips now than I gave to him.”

That willingness to put a desire to learn before his pride will serve Westerman well, says Bombers linemate Zach Anderson.

“It’s a whole different game here in Canada,” said Anderson, “and you see a lot of guys from the NFL come here with pedigrees like that. I’m not going to drop names, but we’ve had guys like that come here before and they just don’t cut it because the game is that different.”

The Bombers defence gave up the most yards rushing in the CFL in 2014, while recording just the second-fewest QB sacks and the quick-footed Westerman — he’s remarkably fleet for a man who is 6-3, 260 — could go a long way to addressing both those weaknesses for the Bombers in 2015.

“He’s got a terrific power angle and in those one-on-one pass rushes, boy, he certainly gets underneath guys. And same thing at point of attack in the run game, he can hold an edge down very, very well,” said head coach Mike O’Shea.

“He flies around. He’s easy to work with. He’s smart.”

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @PaulWiecek