Kyle Walters is scrolling through page after page of player evaluations, the information quickly flickering on the monitor in the Winnipeg Blue Bomber GM’s office like a picture flip book.
To his right is an enormous white board, featuring the names of some of the players the Bombers are tracking heading into next Tuesday’s Canadian Football League Draft. There are numbers in brackets, representing player evaluations and grades. There are notations scribbled in as updates. And, frankly, the whole mess looks like something only the Enigma machine could decode.
Now, make no mistake, this is hardly something the Bombers GM has hurriedly slapped together in an attempt to cram for the annual talent grab that is the draft. The draft has always been one of Walters’ passions, dating back to his days as an assistant coach with the Bombers. He’s been through it now from all angles, first as a second-round pick (10th overall) of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 1996, then as an assistant coach and assistant GM with the Bombers and now as the man steering the ship on draft night.
And, as much work as it is, he absolutely loves every minute of it.
“It’s awesome. It’s very exciting,” said Walters in an interview with bluebombers.com this week. “It’s a lot of work. I mean, the day after the draft next week I’m flying to Montreal for the East-West Bowl, which showcases players for next year’s draft.
“I remember going home for the holidays this winter and my film work started Dec. 20th. And it took a long time to get through it all.”
Getting through it all represents the bulk of the work, covering months and months of research.
During a 45-minute chat this week, Walters broke down how the club prepped for next Tuesday’s draft:
-The work for the draft begins, as Walters explained, at the annual East-West Game that features CIS players heading into their CFL draft year. This year’s game is at Molson Stadium in Montreal and includes three days of practices, a combine for those participating and a CFL free-agent camp. That’s where the evaluation process really begins in earnest.
-In September, the CFL will provide a list of every player who is draft eligible. This year’s number was 594 and CFL teams then begin whittling through those names to see which players are still active on a CIS or NCAA roster. After that process, the list had been cut almost in half, down to 300.
-Walters and Ted Goveia, the club’s Assistant GM & Director of Player Personnel, then work their schedules so that during the fall, they are watching all the CIS players they can, taking in at least one live game of every CIS team. Danny McManus, the Assistant GM & Director of U.S. Scouting, and Drew Morris, the National Scout, will do the same for the Canadians playing in the NCAA.
Along the way, they are conducting as many interviews as possible with college coaches and pro liaisons – NCAA schools have staff strictly to handle inquiries from NFL and CFL teams about their players – as well as athletic therapists, teammates, etc. all in an effort to compile as much information as possible about a prospect.
-After watching at least three games of each prospect live or on film, Walters then puts together a 25-play video clip of all 300 players on their list which shows both the good and the bad, strengths and weaknesses. That begins a grading process (out of five) that the Bombers use which works like this:
4.9-5: first-round talent, potential first-year starter
4.7-4.8: first or second-round talent who is going to make team
4.4-4.6: third or fourth-round talent – strong possibility to make team
4.0-4.3: fifth round or lower – outside shot to make team, potentially back to school
Below 4: not good enough to make team
That process then pares the list even further and the Bombers develop a Top 50 list from which Walters, Goveia, and Head Coach Mike O’Shea put together written reports, an example of which is shown below.
That ranking process takes into account a player’s ability, but also some of the intangibles like character/leadership and injury concerns.
Those grades are adjusted after the annual CFL Evaluation Camp held in Toronto which includes player testing, interviews and drills.
The process hardly stops there. As the list is adjusted, the Bombers’ brain trust begins digging even more for answers. Follow-up interviews with college coaches are conducted and, if there are injury concerns, more questions are asked. Just how diligent are the Bombers in all this? Last week, the club flew in four prospects they are interested in to have their own medical staff conduct examinations.
“The time and energy spent on this is unbelievable,” said Walters. “Obviously, we want to find out as much about a player as possible. No stone left unturned.”
This year’s draft is especially deep along the offensive line – the Bombers have seven O-linemen ranked with first-round grades of 4.9-5.0 – and has good talent at the receiver and linebacker positions as well.
The Bombers have seven selections in the draft: 9th, 10th, 28th, 37th, 46th, 55th and 64th. Their first-round selection, which would have been second overall, was forfeited when they grabbed linebacker Garrett Waggoner in the supplemental draft. Asked if he felt any differently about forfeiting that pick to add Waggoner, Walters said:
“I’m cautiously optimistic on him coming back and improving. He played all the games last year and showed he was pretty good. Relative to the other first-round players drafted last year, he had a similar impact. We also knew that Graig Newman was likely headed to free agency (he signed with Saskatchewan this winter). I still think Garrett Waggoner’s athleticism is still something to watch.”
Surrendering their first-round pick means that for the first time since 2010, the club will not have a pick in the top 3. But they do pick back-to-back to start the second round, at the 9th and 10th spots. The 9th pick came as part of the trade that sent Chris Greaves to the Edmonton Eskimos last year.
“With two picks in the top 10, we know we’re going to get two guys we like,” said Walters.
As well, the additions of Matthias Goossen and Sukh Chungh through the draft (both are starters on the offensive line now) as well as depth guys like Jesse Briggs, Derek Jones, Brendan Morgan and Chris Normand (plus, a possibly healthy Addison Richards this year), means the Canadian talent cupboard is no longer barren.
Still, the draft is always a search not only for depth players who can compete on special teams, but for potential homegrown stars.
“There’s much less desperation this year for us,” Walters said. “You always want to add to your O-line depth. Every single team every single year is going to say that. But in the last couple of years we were saying, ‘Boy, we need a kid to come in and dress and play at some point.’
“We’re deeper in certain areas, now we’re looking at upgrades who can maybe beat somebody out. That’s kinda nice rather than we have to draft this position because we don’t have a guy there.”
