Change a cold certainty

More changes could be coming to the CFL.

The league’s annual winter meeting kicked off Monday in Calgary and for the next three days, coaches and general managers from all nine teams, commissioner Stewart Johnston and CFLPA representatives will gather to discuss a long list of topics related to the future of the league.

The CFL made the items on this year’s agenda public and it includes the application of rule changes, a review of the replay centre, the possibility of an American player draft to acquire player rights, possible changes to the playoff format and end-of-season player awards, Olympic guidelines for flag football’s upcoming debut at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles and more.

On Monday, all GMs and head coaches — including Winnipeg Blue Bombers GM Kyle Walters and head coach Mike O’Shea — took turns meeting with the media virtually to speak on some of these ideas and also answer questions on the status of their teams.

Both Walters and O’Shea kept their cards close to their chest during their availability as they didn’t want to dive too deep into anything on the agenda before the meetings took place.

“You have all these discussions, you may find perspectives that you hadn’t really thought of which always interests me,” said O’Shea.

“I’ve been at these meetings where I’ve come in after a pre-read and some discussion amongst a couple peers and I’ve had my mind completely changed because I’ve missed something. So, you know, to say where I stand on it right now, I won’t do it.”

They did, however, share a few interesting nuggets related to the Bombers.

Not retiring

Walters confirmed that both left tackle Stanley Bryant and guard Patrick Neufeld have expressed interest in extending their playing careers.

Bryant turns 40 in May and Neufeld turned 37 on Boxing Day.

The pair of vets are pending free agents who will hit the open market on Feb. 10 if they can’t come to terms on an extension with the blue and gold prior to then.

“Both of them would like to keep playing football and they both had very successful seasons last year so I can see why they would,” said Walters.

Cutting Kolankowski

Even if they do re-sign Bryant and Neufeld, the o-line won’t look entirely the same as the club released veteran centre Chris Kolankowski last week.

Fellow Canadian Tui Eli — a career backup in five seasons with the Bombers — is the favourite to take over at that spot after recently inking a two-year extension.

Kolankowski, 33, appeared in 73 games over five seasons in Winnipeg.

“Chris, first of all, has been a good, loyal Bomber and a great young man and I do anticipate he’ll get picked up,” said Walters.

“Once the decision was made, his agent asked to be released so he can get a jump-start. Organizationally, just the status quo after last season we didn’t think was going to be good enough moving forward. So unfortunately some changes needed to be made. And it was a difficult one. But we’re looking forward to moving forward, and thank Chris for his time here. I’m sure he’ll catch on and do just fine next year as well with a new team.”

Vaval to NFL?

There’s no guarantee Trey Vaval will return for his sophomore campaign.

The dynamic returner has worked out for several NFL teams this off-season, including the New Orleans Saints, Cleveland Browns, Atlanta Falcons and Minnesota Vikings.

“We’re kind of giving (Vaval and his agent) space and I don’t know. There hasn’t been a formal offer put to us asking for his release to sign,” said Walters.

“Obviously we’d be happy for Trey and his family if he gets an NFL offer. But boy we would be excited if he was back in Winnipeg as well.”

Young QBs

The Bombers have made headlines this off-season by signing two intriguing quarterback prospects in Bryce Perkins and Payton Thorne.

Perkins, a former Los Angeles Ram, was the United Football League’s MVP last season. Thorne went unselected in the 2025 NFL Draft out of Auburn before signing with the Cincinnati Bengals and went four-of-seven for 41 yards during the pre-season.

Whether they pan out or not, it’s a clear sign the Bombers are trying to get younger under centre and have a plan in place for when 37-year-old Zach Collaros calls it a career.

“Bryce has a little different pedigree than we’ve seen in our training camp for a while. He’s a little more mature, he’s been around. He was the MVP of the UFL, and we’re excited that he wants to focus on the CFL. We’ll temper expectation,” said Walters.

“With Thorne, again, interesting athlete, played at the big-time school. So we’re excited. But we’ll see. There’s a steep learning curve in that quarterback room. But these guys are coming in with interesting skill sets and they’re excited and ready to come in and learn the Canadian game and we’re excited to have them.”

Nothing has changed regarding the status of Canadian quarterback Taylor Elgersma. The Bombers selected the 23-year-old out of Wilfrid Laurier in the second round of the 2025 CFL Draft but he has yet to report to Winnipeg as he’s still holding out hope he’ll make it in the NFL.

“He’s had some (NFL) workouts and he’s going to see it right through until the bitter end. Hopefully, if he doesn’t have a futures contract in February then they’ll turn their attention to the CFL,” said Walters.

“But they are still 100 per cent focused on getting an NFL contract.”

Later Monday afternoon, the UFL announced the results of its 2026 draft and Elgersma was one of three quarterbacks — former NFLers Matt Corral and Jaren Hall being the others — taken by the Birmingham Stallions.

Schoen and Streveler

It remains to be seen what’s next for receiver Dalton Schoen and quarterback Chris Streveler.

Schoen has torn the ACL in his left knee twice. Streveler also re-tore the ACL in his left knee last season, which also happens to be the knee that he tore the PCL and MCL in back in 2024.

A clear update wasn’t provided on either player, but Walters was a bit more candid when asked if the team would be interested in bringing Streveler back — assuming he still even wants to play — considering he will miss, at the very least, the start of next season.

“There’s a lot of variables for that. Chris is an unbelievable young man and what he brings to the team — you guys probably don’t see it on a day-to-day basis — but it’s impossible to quantify,” said Walters.

“This is something we need to find out if he really wants to do and what his plans are before even worrying about that.”

Jackson’s replacement

Last year’s quarterbacks coach Jarious Jackson left the Bombers to take on the same job with the Calgary Stampeders.

O’Shea shared Monday that they will not be hiring a replacement as offensive co-ordinator Tommy Condell will also handle QB coach duties.

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