GM Kyle Walters | Wrapping Up 2017

It’s some five days after his football team was eliminated from the Grey Cup derby, and Winnipeg Blue Bombers GM Kyle Walters still has some issues stuck in his craw.

The Bombers boss spoke to the media for 38 minutes on Friday – less than a week after the West Semi-Final loss to the Edmonton Eskimos – and clearly will need more time to put the ending to a once-promising 2017 campaign in his rearview mirror.

Walters spoke candidly in his session about, among other things, the season that was, what is on the horizon, the troubles on defence and the East-West divisional format.

He began with an overall assessment of the year and spoke of the 12-win season, the fact the team came together and grew and the individual performances. But…

“Ultimately, we fell short,” said Walters. “If we were where we needed to be, we wouldn’t be here right now, we’d be prepping for another playoff game. But we’re not.

“Yes, organizationally we’re making strides, hosting a playoff game and back-to-back double-digit win seasons is good. But falling short again in the playoffs is concerning. Obviously, for us to take the next step organizationally we need to win a playoff game and keep playing down the stretch.”

Here are some of the snippets that jumped out from the session:

On the defence and the yards (ranked 8^th) and points surrendered (5^th) this year:

“Mike (O’Shea) addressed it and it’s the big concern: the defence not playing at a championship level and sustaining that championship level week in and week out. Too many highs and lows. The yards and the points need to be addressed and will be addressed.”

On finding a dominant middle linebacker and more on the defence:

“That would be more for Mike to comment on the specific play of the linebackers. But yeah, from where I see it, the amount of rotations and substitutions and all that stuff we do on defence to try and get preferred matchups and the right personnel… I’m a believer that you find your 12 guys and let them play. If you’re having to make so many substitutions, as we were… you’re going to have your nickel packages, you’re going to have guys running in and out. Trent Corney is going to play at some point because he’s going to rush the passer. But I would like to see us move to ‘here’s our core group of guys, here’s our 12 or 13 or 14 and just let them play’ and believe that these guys can play and just let them go.

“Sam won the job out of training camp. Sam does what he’s supposed to do. You hear Mike talk about Sam and what he thinks about him… but the need for overall athleticism… when we stand up here and talk about the defence, we can talk across the board about the stats and the points. The turnovers are fantastic and they’re a ball-hawking group that won us some games with our turnovers.

“But as Mike said, the need to improve that side of the ball is a paramount concern. That’s evaluating the talent and we need to get better across the board with everything we do on that side of the ball or it’s not going to improve where we are organizationally.”

Walters said the team was not over the salary cap and that some of the residual money will be used to re-sign players before the end of the calendar year. That means a player who might, for example, earn $100,000 next season may re-sign early and have a portion of the money – $20,000 – allocated to the 2017 cap and not 2018. Here’s Walters on the signings of O-linemen Jermarcus Hardrick and Pat Neufeld this week:

“Getting Jermarcus and Paddy signed… we’re trying to keep that offensive line intact and that was the strength of our team this year. They were a good unit and we were able to run the ball fairly effectively and were able to protect Matt for the most part. You don’t have to be too smart to say we have to keep the core of this group together moving forward and you saw that with the first two signings.”

On the long list of free agents and how the club prioritizes who might and might not come back for 2018:

“There’s a long list, which is the way it is in the CFL now. We talked about it last year and our number is up over 20. You put all the names on the board… we have a good core and we have a good team that’s won 23 games over the last two years and they’re growing as a team, which is critically important. Mike’s leadership team and continuity is very important and I believe in that.

“That being said, the salary cap goes up $50,000 next year and that’s gone with the increase on salaries for some of the key guys who are under contract for next year. There will be some tough decisions and we need to evaluate it and make sure that list of free agents and how we want to look next year, and it’s impossible to bring everybody back for the amount of money their agents want.”

On the move toward one-year contracts and how it impacts building a team:

“These one-year contracts, at the start, were viewed as ‘Boy, these players are going to be free agents every single year.’ But now, from a management standpoint it’s ‘You play well, you get a new contract.’ We have their contractual rights through to the middle of February so generally we can get a deal done if a guy wants to be here vs a guy who is maybe under contract for next year that you might not want back. That’s a much more difficult decision-making process: to release a player vs. ‘Here’s what we think you’re worth. Would you like to re-sign?’ It’s just a different dynamic. It’s not harder or easier, just different.”

On whether the club ‘kicked the tires’ – looked at acquiring other talent – the way Edmonton, for example, added running back C.J. Gable before the trade deadline (when the Bombers were 10-4):

“There was certainly kicking tires. But when you’re having the season we were having, where up until the trade deadline we were rolling along and healthy… we’re looking at developing the practice roster guys, we’re looking at getting the guys in house on the field.

“The reality of all sports is teams are going to take their hits injury-wise. When a team like Edmonton takes their hits at the beginning of the year or in the second third of the year, they can take their lumps with that losing streak that they had and they’re forced to acquire some assets and fill some holes out of necessity. And then when they get their group healthy at the end of the year, you see the result. That’s a good football team that rolled in here that was healthy. Conversely a team that gets hit at the back end of the year, there’s just not as much time to make any sort of moves and the guys that get thrown in the fire haven’t had a chance to develop.

“Unfortunately, for our season, when you get dinged with injuries at the end you’re dealt with the cards you’re dealt with and you have to roll with it.”

On the status of negotiations with Canadian defensive end Andy Mulumba, who has spent the last five seasons bouncing around the NFL after being drafted second overall by the Bombers in 2013:

“We’ve called him for two years and he had zero interest in coming to the CFL. Zero interest. This year they decide that they’ll listen, but they only want to come for one year. It really doesn’t work like that, truth be told. If you want to come up here for a couple of games this year and be a free agent after next year, here’s the offer. This is standard procedure. Do your research, this is the way it works.

“I put an offer out on whatever the day it was and have heard nothing. Absolutely no counter offer, nothing back. The next thing I heard through media was they wanted to be traded or he was going to retire. I said, ‘This is your negotiating ploy? I don’t quite understand that. Why don’t you send me what you’d like?’ I’ve yet to hear a counter offer. But now Andy Mulumba (if he signs) is committed for 2018 and 2019, regardless of where he goes. His idea of signing for the remainder of ’17 and getting out of his contract for ’18, which seemed to me was their top priority, is no longer an option. He’s now committed to an ’18-’19 contract if he wants to play in the CFL. So… that’s that.”

On the East-West Division format and how it impacted the club. (In a one-division format, as many are now pushing, the Bombers would have had a bye in the first-round and be playing this weekend):

“It’s frustrating, if I can be perfectly honest. It’s frustrating from an organizational standpoint where we finished with 11 wins last year and were awarded with a trip to a 12-win football team (B.C.). We finished with 12 wins this year, second-best record in the CFL, and our reward is playing another 12-win team that is rolling and completely healthy and a damn good football team.

“If you were to rank it or we were to be in the East, we would be hosting the Eastern Final the last two years. Yes, it’s frustrating, especially when organizationally – and rightfully so – we’re being held accountable for not winning a playoff game. People are potentially going to be losing their jobs because of our inability to win Grey Cups, for example. You look at it and you go, ‘Yeah, but we were the second-best team in the CFL this year and we’re hosting a playoff game…’ Back in 2011, if things were the same (as then) we would have hosted the last two Eastern Finals.

“So… it is what it is. It’s not complaining. Our job is to go beat Edmonton and then go on the road and beat Calgary. But yeah, with the second-best record in the CFL it’s frustrating. If you look at the overall rankings of the season right now you’ll have the No. 1 team hosting the No. 3 team (Calgary-Edmonton); and the No. 5 team hosting the No. 4 team (Toronto-Saskatchewan). “So, when you’re not playing you get a little pissy about it and a week after losing you’re still a little grumpy about it. It is what it is. ‘Frustrating’ would be the word. You play the schedule and you go where you go… we put together 12 wins and the hand we drew in the playoffs was to play Edmonton at home and we didn’t get the job done and that’s that.”

Further to that, Walters when asked if he was a traditionalist and liked the East-West format or would like to see a change:

“Selfishly, I like hosting a division final with a bye week prior as the second-best team in the CFL this year.

“These discussions are for smarter guys than me, up top. We’re just football guys and you do what you’re told and play who you are supposed to play. It doesn’t matter where you play or who you play. We’re supposed to win the football game and we didn’t, that’s the bottom line. You can still be a little frustrated about it when you’re thinking about it, big-picture wise, when I’m held accountable, what Mike’s held accountable for, what his staff is held accountable for… which is wins, playoff wins.

“This is why we have these meetings. That level (management) has their reasons and a lot of it has to do with what’s for the good of the league, what the league wants for the fan base, the butts in stands, monetary value… that trumps me saying ‘I wish we had a bye this week.’ For what’s for the good of the league, you do what you’re told. My comments here are based out of frustration than what I care about for the good of the league, truth be told.

“That’s why the commissioner and the guys at that level will make decisions on what’s good for the league. And if that’s what’s good for the league, then we should have just beat Edmonton.”

On development quarterbacks, like Josh Straughan and Philip Nelson, who were brought in as part of the practice roster expansion at the end of the season:

“Both those guys signed futures contracts. They came in, had the coaches evaluate them and work with them after practice. They both made very good impressions. Both of them, it was ‘Let’s get them back to mini-camp and get them a little bit more work.’ Out here, realistically, when we’re trying week to week to win a football game… they go out and stay and throw and you watch the way they work and their study habits and the physical skills and the way they throw the ball. But until you get into a training camp setting where you’re running live team periods, you’ll see their development.”

On whether his approach to free agency changes with the team not a contender, perhaps opting to fill holes with veteran pieces rather than using CFL rookies:

“The first couple of years when we weren’t very good, I’ll tell you the decisions were much easier than with approaching what we did with our roster at this time of year. At that time, it would have been, ‘Yeah, we’re not very good and our record indicates we’re not very good. We need to overhaul everything and we need to go get free agents and we need to have better scouts, we need to have better draft picks. We need help everywhere.’

“You look at this group now and the offseason plan… we have a solid group. We’re really close and I think the players believe it. I believe it. I hope the fans believe it, that this is a close team to get to where we need to be, which means the decisions become harder when you look at your roster because there’s fewer of them. There’s this core group and it’s who plugs in where and why and you’ve got your list of potential free agents, for example, and with any of them it’s ‘Yeah, we’ll be better.’

“Now it’s, ‘Yeah, let’s be right and target one or two of them that we really want that can really help us get to that next level.’ The decision making process is much more difficult because there are fewer (needs) and less room for error.”

On Justin Medlock and whether bringing him back is a priority:

“Not getting into specifics… but Justin Medlock is the guy we want. We like Justin. Justin has won football games for us over the last two years and the way our team is built, which is a grind-it-out type of team… we’d like to kick less field goals and score more touchdowns, that would be a big help. But you saw him bounce back after he had that little blip for the first time in his career and was unbelievable down the stretch for us.

“That’s who he is and yeah, we want Justin Medlock back.”