Walters likes look of new Big Blue

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/02/2025 (229 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The ink is barely dry on new contracts, the dust hasn’t completely settled when it comes to free agency, snow is covering Princess Auto Stadium and the start of the 2025 season is a few months away.

Still, it’s not too early to ask an all-important question: Are the Winnipeg Blue Bombers a better team on paper today than they were when a busy week began?

The man tasked with signing the cheques and building the roster — one which has seen several key departures but also some intriguing additions — is banking on that being the case as the Blue and Gold bid for a sixth consecutive Grey Cup appearance.

“We were looking for maybe not the big free agent, dollar-value splash where we’ve had to use (money) in the past to re-sign our own guys, but to spread it out and add pieces we hope work out that are a little bit more cost-effective and provide a little more depth with CFL experience,” general manager Kyle Walters said Thursday on a Zoom call with media.

“In years past whereby the time we got our own guys signed there was nothing left and we’d have to fill it with first-year players. That was little bit different this year with the strategy.”

He believes the result will be the most competitive training camp they’ve had in years.

“Only time will tell, but I do like our roster,” said Walters. “We do have still such a veteran team and yes, we’ve lost some great leadership qualities. But we still have a good group, and it’s next for some of the younger guys to step up and take on more of a leadership role for the guys that have left.”

There have been plenty of headlines about who they’ve lost, including receiver Kenny Lawler (Hamilton), OL Liam Dobson (Hamilton) and DB Tyrell Ford (Edmonton) leaving big holes in the lineup. Walters discussed each of those failed negotiations.

“Obviously losing Tyrell is tough, he’s an all-star. But we’re confident in the scouting department that we’ll be able to find an American DB to come in and play corner, that’s obviously priority No. 1,” said Walters, who admits the Bombers didn’t stand much of a chance of bringing him back in the fold.

“We put an offer in, thought it was decent, but the deciding factor I think with Tyrell is his goal was to go play with his brother, and if Edmonton was able to figure out a way to make it work financially, that was his choice. We knew that, or we saw that coming I guess. So not much of a surprise.”

It was a similar story with Lawler and Dobson, who both got financial offers from the Tiger-Cats that the Bombers weren’t able to match.

‘It’s just business’

“They had a number in mind, and I had a number in mind, and they ended up getting the number. It was above what we thought and above what we could do,” Walters said of Lawler’s camp.

“Liam, same thing, we had an offer for Liam and thought it was a fair offer. It’s the same thing I said to Kenny, when a team comes in with a number like that, it’s great for Liam, it’s great for his family and that’s just part of free agency. Things like that happen. We’ve been in that position. It’s just business.”

Same goes for the decision not to bring back some other free agents such as beloved LB Adam Bighill, safety Brandon Alexander and receiver Lucky Whitehead.

“That is the challenging part of the job,” said Walters.

“The way we’re set up here, it’s tougher on Mike (O’Shea). Mike builds strong relationships with the players and one of the reasons we’ve been so successful is the relationships he’s built. I try to take a step back and deal mostly with the agents.”

Walters was busier than usual on that front, faced with plenty of holes to fill.

He signed three new receivers — Canadian Gavin Cobb and Americans Jerreth Sterns and Reggie White Jr. — to go along with the likes of returning core pass catchers such as Dalton Schoen (who was a pending UFA but signed a new deal) and Nic Demski. Winnipeg also added WR Dillon Mitchell last month after he was released by Edmonton.

“We’ve added some veteran guys that we think have big upside and are ready for some breakouts,” said Walters.

“We’ve got a group of guys in that receiving room that are hungry and are ready to get back to where they were and break out. It will be an interesting competition, for sure, in that receiving group. We’re excited. It will be a little different vibe in that receiver group but a dynamic group and a bunch of different skillsets. We anticipate it working out quite well for us.”

The Bombers also signed quarterback Shea Patterson to compete with the returning Chris Streveler for the backup job behind Collaros. Jake Dolegala and Terry Wilson are back, too.

“We’re having guys with CFL experience kind of compete for roles on the team this year than in years past, where we just haven’t been able to do that. We’ve just had to plug in rookies more from a salary standpoint than anything else,” said Walters.

“We’re going to have a legitimate battle in there for quarterback reps.”

He also singled out the signing of running back/kick returner Peyton Logan and a pair of Canadians in DB Josh Hagerty and DL Brock Gowanlock as meaningful additions.

“I think defensively we’re a little bit deeper. Whether we’re better or not, I guess we’ll see,” said Walters.

“And offensively, we’re bringing back Dalton, Dalton didn’t play (much) last year so that’s like a new addition. Brady’s (Oliveira) back, so we’ve got some talent. Time will tell. Adding Peyton Logan is an interesting piece. We had a bunch of different returners back there trying things. I think he brings some consistency back there and some proven success.”

One interesting curveball that came just before free agency opened on Tuesday was late-breaking news the salary cap would increase by $412,265, bringing it to $6.06 million. At that point, most of the existing deals involving players across the league had already been struck during the negotiating window.

“It certainly was surprising and caught most people off guard, I think,” said Walters. “Organizationally, we operating as normal — as if nothing has changed and until further that’s our plan, to keep plugging along as we were. Until further notice, we’re just going to operate to the original cap and wait and see what happens.”

Walters isn’t putting his feet up just yet, with further adds still possible in the coming days or weeks and some money still to potentially spend in a year when Winnipeg will be hosting the Grey Cup.

“We’re going through the list now and try and see if we can find maybe some guys that we like that maybe we can add for decent value. We’re still looking,” he said.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @mikemcintyrewpg