Yantz feels he didn’t get legitimate chance

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This article was published 23/06/2015 (3757 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

JORDAN Yantz feels he was left in the dark during his time with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. The club’s general manager says in the end he just wasn’t good enough.

The former University of Bisons star quarterback was cut Saturday night as CFL teams shaved their rosters ahead of the opening week of the 2015 CFL season. While all the normal emotions of being let go are all present and accounted for, the added frustration of not feeling he was given a shot lingers, too.

“Personally, from what (Blue Bombers GM) Kyle Walters said from the beginning is that I did have a legitimate shot,” Yantz said. “Going through camp, I wasn’t really involved. I was getting between one and three reps the entire practice — sometimes none. I was in the dark. I never knew what was going on.

“It kind of makes me think that the whole time I was there, it didn’t really matter what I did. It goes back to me not getting any experience. But I’m not going to get any experience if I’m not put in a position to gain it. I wasn’t involved in any of the pre-season games, so how could I gain any experience?”

Walters said Yantz was made aware he was the fifth quarterback on the depth chart heading into camp and making the club in any capacity would prove difficult.

“Organizationally, we felt that Jordan could come in and compete. If we didn’t think Jordan could come in with a fair opportunity to make the team, we wouldn’t have done it,” Walters said. “I feel bad he felt like that, but unfortunately for Jordan, he came into the depth chart where we needed to figure out the three guys in front of him and where they fit in. He was the low man on the totem pole.

“Without a doubt we made it known to Jordan it would be difficult to make the club. What I told him was that I thought he was better than the Americans at the Florida mini-camp. And that’s the truth. It would have been the exact same situation for any fifth quarterback.”

The Bombers kept Brian Brohm and Robert Marve on the 46-man roster, while Josh Portis was added to the one-game injured list.

Yantz was in Bombers training camp in 2014 and the B.C. Lions camp the year before. The Regina native was signed to a contract by Winnipeg just days after going undrafted in the 2015 CFL Draft.

Walters said it’s not uncommon for released players to feel the way Yantz does.

“They’re kind of annoyed, kind of pissed off, and they have a right to be,” Walters said. “They were just told they were just not good enough to be a part of our team and that’s tough to hear.”

Yantz, meanwhile, insists he doesn’t feel any ill will toward the Bombers.

“At the end of the day, they got to do what they got to do,” he said. “It’s a business. At the end of the day, I just feel they knew from the beginning what they were going to do with me. But everyone has to make the right business choice.”

For now, Yantz said he’s throwing and training every day. He hopes to receive a call from another team, but is also looking down the road.

“When one door closes, another opens. Maybe this is the beginning of the rest of my life,” he said. “I plan to chase an electrical career, go down the apprenticeship road. At the same, if I do get a phone call, I’d be more than glad to go and pursue it.

“But I can’t stay at home and twiddle my thumbs. I have to take care of myself, too.”

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca

Scott Billeck
Reporter

Scott Billeck is a general assignment reporter for the Free Press. A Creative Communications graduate from Red River College, Scott has more than a decade’s worth of experience covering hockey, football and global pandemics. He joined the Free Press in 2024.  Read more about Scott.

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