They won’t stop at Dressler: Blue Bombers plan to be very active in free agency

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This article was published 26/01/2016 (3535 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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It is exactly the kind of big, splashy signing of a proven veteran CFLer the Winnipeg Blue Bombers don’t usually make.

And it is precisely because they did make it this time around that Tuesday’s announcement the Bombers have signed former Saskatchewan Roughriders all-star receiver Weston Dressler should be cause for some real optimism — dare we say even hope — for beleaguered Bombers fans.

And it’s not just because Dressler makes the Bombers offence instantly better.

Major players

What the signing of Dressler means in the bigger picture is what I reported in this space Saturday — the Bombers are going to be major players in free agency this winter and have a plan that sounds pretty interesting.

Dressler is just the first of what promises to be multiple signings for the CFL club in the coming weeks.

Don’t be surprised if sometime after free agency opens Feb. 9, the Bombers announce they’ve also signed all-star kicker Justin Medlock away from the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and added another former Riders receiver in Ryan Smith, who had a breakout season in 2015, and actually had even more receiving yards than Dressler, 991 vs. 941. And if not Smith, the Bombers are also looking at Edmonton Eskimos receiver Kenny Stafford.

Add to all that the previous announcement the Bombers had inked backup quarterback Matt Nichols to a contract extension — meaning, for once, the Bombers aren’t going all-in on the health of their starting QB — and it says here the team that opens the 2016 season will be markedly improved on the sad sacks who bumbled their way to a 5-13 record in 2015.

But first things first — Dressler. He’s a big-play guy, who has registered 25 100-yard games in his eight-year CFL career.

And he’s also a remarkably consistent player, notching five 1,000-yard-plus seasons and just missing a sixth in 2015.

But maybe best of all is Dressler’s a Prairie boy — a guy who grew up in Bismarck, N.D., played at the University of North Dakota and spent the last eight years in Regina. This is a man who has played in the snow and in -20 C and who will not whine — as so many others before him have — when November rolls around and the football really matters.

The same is also true of Smith, who also grew up in North Dakota, just over the border in Wahpeton.

Put Smith and Dressler together in Winnipeg and a city that already has Jets and Bombers will add the North Dakota Air Force to the local air command.

Dressler’s engaged to a Saskatchewan woman and in Regina was a player the Riders could always count on to get out into the community and wave the green flag.

Expect more of the same from him in Winnipeg, where he is going to help the Bombers sell tickets as much by what he does off the field as he does on it.

And the fact Dressler seems to have some hard feelings towards the Riders, who unceremoniously dumped him and his big contract earlier this month? That can only work in Winnipeg’s favour in a Prairie rivalry that has been hopelessly tilted westward for the better part of the last decade.

Now, it bears noting the Bombers also signed some pricey free agents the last two off-seasons and still missed the playoffs. Last year, it was offensive tackle Stanley Bryant. Two years ago, it was slotback Nick Moore, whose contract is going to be allowed to expire next month to make room for Dressler.

Walters acknowledged as much, telling reporters free agency is just one item on a very long list of things this club needs to get better at if a four-year playoff drought is going to end in 2016.

“Our scouting department also has to improve and find better young players to come in,” said Walters. “And overall organizationally, we just need better players. Simple as that.”

If it was simple, this franchise wouldn’t be measuring a championship drought in quarter-centuries. But full marks to the Bombers braintrust on this one — they did the simple thing this week and signed one of the best players in the league.

It’s a start.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @PaulWiecek