Daniels’ discipline in spite of rough start paying dividends Bombers thrilled to have drafted rookie tight end By: Taylor Allen Posted: 7:42 PM CDT Thursday, May. 28, 2026

Dante Daniels is the epitome of life not being fair.

With his dad out of the picture and his mom battling drug addiction, he often skipped class as a freshman in high school to search for empty beer bottles and cans.

He was willing to do whatever it took to ensure his three younger siblings wouldn’t go hungry.

“I’d sell them for five cents a piece to try to get stuff,” Daniels told the Free Press earlier this week.

“I was trying to be some sort of presence at the house. And I just didn’t have rides to school either so I kind of pushed school aside to focus on my family first.”

No one would blame Daniels if he were bitter about the hand he was dealt. But he isn’t. In fact, he’s grateful for those tumultuous times.

The 24-year-old tight end from Windsor, Ont., was selected in the second round, 10th overall, by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in last month’s CFL Draft.

“If I had everything handed to me growing up and I didn’t go through any struggles, I feel like I wouldn’t have the work ethic that I have today,” said Daniels.

“I want to prove to kids that come from struggles that they can make it. I want people to be like, ‘Hey, look up to him, he’s done it and made a life for himself.’”

Daniels is the third oldest of six children. When he was seven, his biological father, Edward, left the family and moved to Detroit. By the time Daniels started high school, his two oldest siblings had already moved out, and his biological mother, Danielle, was also in the process of relocating to Detroit.

When Joel and Jennifer Fillion heard Daniels had nowhere to call home, they welcomed him into theirs. Their oldest son, Paul, had grown up playing T-ball with Daniels, and the two quickly became close friends.

“I said, ‘Look, you’ve always got a place to stay at our place,’” said Joel.

“The funny thing is we only had a two-bedroom house with two teenage boys in the house. We were like, ‘There’s always room on the couch.’”

When Daniels was 16, the Fillions received a phone call informing them that Danielle was in the hospital after overdosing. Shortly afterward, the Fillions registered to become his legal guardians.

“They definitely didn’t have to do what they did,” said Daniels. “They’re amazing people.”

To make things official, they built a triple-bunk bed to accommodate Daniels, Paul and their youngest son, Joseph.

“I wasn’t going to let his former home life be an obstacle,” said Joel. “‘You have the ultimate control. I’m gonna give you the tools that you need — you’ve got a place to stay, you can do your homework here,’ we got him a cell phone and did all those things – and, ‘You just got to deliver on your end.’

“I consider him my kid.”

Regardless of what was happening in his life, sports became an escape for Daniels. He excelled in baseball — “I say to this day that I was the best pitcher in Windsor,” he claims — and basketball before eventually turning his full attention to football.

“You would never know that he had all these outside distractions going on at that time,” said Matt Bauer, his football coach at F.J. Brennan Catholic High School.

“I can’t tell you how many times he tried to help his mom. And, obviously, it never kind of worked out the way he wanted it to. But he always sees the good in people, and he always wants better for those around him. He makes you realize as an educator that you do have influence on these kids’ lives, and they have an influence on us. You get into coaching, you get into teaching for kids like Dante.

“I would let my daughter marry him,” Bauer added. “He’s that kind of kid.”

Theo Johnson, a tight end for the New York Giants who was born in Winnipeg but grew up in Windsor, encouraged Daniels to take the game more seriously. The two played summer league football together for the Essex Ravens.

“In high school I realized I was actually better than the competition in my hometown,” said Daniels. “And Theo was telling me, ‘Hey, you can take football far. You have the talent and skills, you just need the work ethic.’”

Once under the Fillions’ roof, Daniels became a straight-A student. However, all those earlier absences had damaged his GPA, leading him to take the junior college route.

He spent three years at Butler Community College in El Dorado, Kan., before playing at the NCAA Division I level for North Carolina State (2024-25).

Early in his time at Butler, Daniels told his American host family that he wanted to drop out. A surprise visit from the Fillions quickly changed his outlook. He went on to make the Dean’s Honour Roll with a 90 per cent average.

“Before we left, my wife hugged him and said, ‘You’re not welcome home until you graduate,’” said Joel. “It was one of those things where we wanted him to work it out.”

At N.C. State, Daniels built a reputation as a ferocious blocker.

“I like how I can legally hit someone as hard as I want and force my will on them,” he said. “I think it’s awesome.”

With that mindset — and his size at six-foot-five and more than 270 pounds — the Bombers saw a prospect oozing with potential. Teams rarely trade up in the CFL Draft, but general manager Kyle Walters did just that to land Daniels. Winnipeg sent the No. 13 pick and a second-round selection in 2026 to Ottawa to move up to No. 10 and ensure they got their guy.

In fact, the Bombers even uploaded a video to social media from the team’s draft room in which an enthusiastic Walters dropped more than a few expletives while celebrating the move.

“You just don’t see guys like that, bodies like that (in the CFL Draft),” Walters told reporters afterwards.

For Daniels, it was a surreal moment.

“I got to prove to them that they picked me for a reason,” he said.

He got his first taste of pro action last Saturday in Saskatoon, when the Bombers opened the pre-season with a 31-27 loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders. He’ll get another tune-up tonight when the Bombers host the B.C. Lions in their pre-season finale (7:30 p.m. kickoff).

Daniels’ loved ones proudly watched the stream of his CFL debut, including Edward, with whom he has reconnected, and his grandmother on his mother’s side, who did the best she could to support him and his siblings over the years. He does not currently have a relationship with Danielle, but hopes she can overcome her addiction so they can reconnect in the future.

His grandmother passed away earlier this week.

“She got to watch it before she passed. My dad was telling me that he thinks she was waiting to watch my first pre-season game,” said Daniels, who currently resides in Wichita, Kan., with his wife, Reagan.

“And she commented on my picture (on Facebook) an hour before she passed saying, ‘I love you,’ so I’ll have that to cherish forever.”

The Fillions fully intend on making the trip to Winnipeg in the near future for a game.

“Obviously it’s great and hopefully he makes the team and is considered a pro athlete, but I think the bigger thing for me is the fact he’s been able to persevere,” said Joel.

“That’s what makes me the proudest.”

The selflessness Daniels once showed helping hold his family together is the same mentality he now hopes to bring to the Bombers.

“I want us to win a Grey Cup really bad. I don’t care if I’m on the field, off the field, I want to help this team succeed,” he said.

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