Blue Bombers’ Westerman hogs limelight

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This article was published 05/11/2015 (3621 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO — There are two ways of looking at the four Winnipeg Blue Bombers who were recognized Thursday as their team’s nominees for the CFL’s annual player awards:

They are the best of a bad lot, a 5-12 team that will miss the playoffs for the fourth straight year regardless of what they do in their game Friday against the Toronto Argonauts at Rogers Centre.

But the Winnipeg nominees announced by the CFL are also the foundation upon which whatever future this beleaguered Winnipeg franchise has will have to be built upon.

A major cornerstone of that foundation will clearly be Bombers defensive end Jamaal Westerman, who took down one-half of his team’s six nominations, earning nods as Winnipeg’s Most Outstanding Player, top defensive player and top Canadian in 2015.

Westerman is currently second in the league in sacks this season with 15 in his first year in the CFL after a five-year career in the NFL. He also leads the CFL in fines, getting his paycheque docked four times for assorted unsportsmanlike infractions.

Westerman is exactly the kind of angry but effective defender you can build a defence around.

“He’s had a terrific year. And what people don’t see is how hard he works off the field, too,” Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea said shortly after his team arrived here in advance of tonight’s final regular-season contest for both clubs.

The game against the Argos is meaningless in the standings — Winnipeg has already been eliminated from playoff contention, while the Argos, at 9-8, will finish third in the East Division no matter what happens tonight.

But Westerman, who led the league in sacks for much of the second half of the season, does have a chance to get back into the lead for the CFL title. He needs one more sack to tie Montreal’s John Bowman, who leads the league with 16. Montreal plays Saskatchewan on Sunday.

“You know me — I always like getting sacks. So there’s really no extra motivation (this week),” Westerman said. “Of course I’d like to get as many as I can and it’d be great to lead the league in sacks… But I don’t think it changes the way that I play or the way people think about me.”

The Bombers’ other award nominees are Stanley Bryant for top offensive lineman; returner Troy Stoudermire for top special-teams player; and linebacker Khalil Bass as top rookie.

Like Westerman, Bass also has some milestones he’d like to reach tonight. With 93 tackles, Bass has already set a team record for tackles in a single season by a rookie but seven more would also put him at the elusive century mark for the year.

“It means a lot,” Bass said of the nomination.

Stoudermire’s 1,640 combined kick-return yards in 2015 puts him ninth in club history for single-season return yards, right behind No. 8 Charles Roberts, who had 1,798 yards in 2001.

Bryant, who signed as a free agent with the Blue Bombers last winter, has started all 17 games at left tackle.

Voting continues this week as CFL reporters and the league’s nine head coaches select the West and East Division award nominees from the pool of team nominees announced Thursday.

The final league winners will be announced during Grey Cup week in Winnipeg.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @PaulWiecek