Kyle Walters has done a good chunk of his free agent shopping early and, in the process, crossed off the top item on his wish list.
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers announced the addition of defensive end Tristan Okpalaugo on Thursday and the club’s GM confirmed he has been in his crosshairs for months.
“I’ve been talking about upgrading our pass rush, our defensive end spot. He was the guy we’ve been targeting all along,” said Walters in a conference call with local and national football media. “We went after him.”
“We expect him to be very good. The young man we saw in 2014 playing with Toronto was, at times, dominant. And in a league like ours where rushing the quarterback is paramount and pass rushers are harder to come by… this is the guy we wanted all along.”
The story of Okpalaugo and his decision to sign with the Bombers can be found here.
The money allotted to him – along with quarterback Matt Nichols, Darvin Adams and new receiver Kenny Stafford – means the Bombers’ approach to free agency when it opens on Tuesday will dramatically contrast that of the previous couple of years.
There is less desperation to fill holes, although there will be some jobs up for grabs when training camp opens in late May.
“We’ve done a lot of our work, just the way it shaped up this year, versus waiting to start the day free agency started,” said Walters. “We were able to get Kenny and Tristan and with their situations, we were able to get this done before free agency, which is nice.
“So, yes, I anticipate on the 14th it will be nothing like it’s been in prior years.”
Walters confirmed that middle linebacker Khalil Bass, defensive tackle Euclid Cummings, receiver Rory Kohlert and offensive lineman Jeff Keeping will not be offered new deals. All but Keeping were starters in 2016.
The other pending Bomber free agents are linebackers Jesse Briggs, Sam Hurl and Tony Burnett, receivers Clarence Denmark and Tori Gurley, defensive backs Teague Sherman and fullback James Tuck.
The Bombers won’t be chasing any of the CFL’s big name free agents next Tuesday, but could be looking to augment their Canadian depth or kick the tires on some possible affordable fits to the question marks on their depth chart.
“We’ll see how that works out over the next week. We’ll see what happens on the second or third day of free agency,” said Walters. “Certainly if we can find a guy at any position that we think is a solid football player that fits financially with what we’re doing then we’ll make a play at that. But I don’t see us going after any of the high-end guys.”
Some other notes from the Walters’ press conference:
- The coaching staff sees Bass as more of a weak-side linebacker than a middle, and have Ian Wild locked in to the weak-side spot. Kyle Knox was mentioned as a possible replacement in the middle and the club will also rely on its scouting staff to unearth more candidates from the U.S.
- The team will not be kicking the tires on any of the other CFL quarterbacks who hit free agency next week – Dan LeFevour, Danny O’Brien, Jacory Harris, Jeff Mathews, Mitchell Gale or Rakeem Cato – as they are comfortable with Dom Davis as the No. 2 man to Nichols, even though he didn’t throw a pass last year.
“There’s not a lot of veteran quarterbacks out there who are willing to come in for No. 2-No. 3 type money,” said Walters. “We’ve developed Dom for a couple of years and for these young guys, you’re not going to know until they get thrown into a game and play. We’re comfortable with Dom’s development, comfortable enough to bring him back and want him back. But the reality is until he gets in and plays, you’re not going to know.” - Candidates to replace Quincy McDuffie, who has signed with the Dallas Cowboys, include Kevin Fogg – primarily a punt returner last year – and Kieren Duncan, who was added to the practice roster last fall.
- Walters on the filling the void in the interior of the defensive line with the recent release of Keith Shologan and the fact Cummings is headed to free agency:
“Jake (Thomas) played half the snaps (with Shologan) last year and will play more of a role and we believe between the young guys and through a draft pick that we will be able to shore that up. It’s give and take… you can’t re-sign everybody and Euclid was solid for us, but with us deciding to spend that amount of money of the defensive line on the outside instead of the inside we just flip it. We have a scouting department and that’s what they’re paid to do.”
