Winnipeg Blue Bombers general manager Kyle Walters during the game at New Mosaic Stadium in Regina, SK, Saturday, July 1st, 2017. (Photo: Johany Jutras)
It is both a significant and juicy number — especially so in a business so rife with change and the accompanying ‘win-right-now-or-else’ pressures.
It’s also a number which is representative of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers rebuild from Canadian Football League punching bag in 2014 to a twice-crowned Grey Cup champion over the last three years.
This coming Tuesday the current management regime will oversee its 10th CFL Draft and given the indicators evident from the past nine classes, the Blue Bombers are certain to select some homegrown talent who will help this squad both in the short and long term.
Let’s consider this, for context: the 2013 Blue Bombers collection of picks – the last draft class before GM Kyle Walters & Co. took control – combined to play 30 CFL games, none of them starts. All of them, it’s worth noting, were played by fullback Carl Fitzgerald who was drafted in the third round after Andy Mulumba and Kris Robertson and ahead of Mike DiCroce, Stephen Alli and Billy Pavlopoulos.
The 2014 class, by comparison, featured Matthias Goossen, Jesse Briggs and Derek Jones with the first three picks and that group is at 296 games played – and counting, with Briggs still on the club – including 75 starts.
“It’s interesting, because back when we started it was about acquiring picks, thinking long term and about building this up,” said Walters in a chat with bluebombers.com. “And now you’ve seen in the last few years how we’ve been aggressive, how we haven’t been afraid to trade a first-round pick to acquire Zach (Collaros, in 2019) or trading to acquire Sergio (Castillo, in 2021)) and maneuvering to win right now.
“So, organizationally the strategy went from building for the future to winning right now. It’s been fun to see it evolve. It’s been a huge part of our building process around here.”
The Blue Bombers Canadian talent cupboard was thin back in 2014 especially after two poor draft classes in 2012-13. In the nine years since the club has made 62 draft selections and of that 16 are still on the roster while Jonathan Kongbo is now with the Denver Broncos, Drew Desjarlais with the Ottawa RedBlacks, Sukh Chungh, Michael Couture and Daniel Petermann in B.C. with the Lions and Nick Dheilly with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Tyrell Ford, FYI, is now with the Green Bay Packers but his rights are still owned by the Blue Bombers.
By the way, 36 of those 62 selections played at least one CFL game with 18 making at least one start. Given all the uncertainties in any draft in any league but particularly in the CFL, those are solid numbers.
The Blue Bombers, like all their CFL counterparts, put thousands of man hours into preparing for each draft. Ted Goveia, Assistant GM/Director of Player Personnel, is based in Ontario and scouts, Canadian prospects in the East; Walters handles Canada West while both study film of NCAA talent, along with Assistant GM/Director of U.S. Scouting Danny McManus. Head coach Mike O’Shea is also heavily involved in the process, especially in the offseason, and the position coaches are asked to offer evaluations as well.
Winnipeg will have all eight of its picks in Tuesday’s draft, beginning with its first selection, eighth overall.
“Back in the early days we really didn’t look anywhere else but at the O-line,” Walters said. “Matthias and Sukh, it was, ‘Well, we don’t have any O-linemen. We need to draft them and they’re going to have to get on the field and help us win right away.’
“We still try to focus on the offensive line and build that, but it’s not longer, ‘Oh my goodness, we have to draft there because we need them to play.’
“We’re much better off now.”
THE BOMBERS AT THE DRAFT
A look at the nine previous draft classes of the current Bombers management regime:
2014
Rd # Player Pos School
1 2 Matthias Goossen OL Simon Fraser
2 17 Jesse Briggs LB McGill
3 29 Derek Jones DB Simon Fraser
4 47 Quinn Everett DE Mount Allison
5 56 Eisho Aram LB McMaster
Notes:
-Traded second-round selection (11th overall) and DE Alex Hall to Saskatchewan for OL Pat Neufeld and a fourth-round pick in 2015.
-Acquired Saskatchewan’s second-round pick (17th overall) for the 20th and 26th overall selections.
-Acquired Toronto’s third-round selection (24th overall) and OL Marc Parenteau for RB Anthony Woodson and a fifth-round pick in 2014 (38th overall).
-Traded third-round selection (24th overall) to Calgary for CB Chris Randle and the Stampeders third-round selection (26th overall).
2015
Rd # Player Pos School
1 2 Sukh Chungh OL Calgary
2 11 Addison Richards WR Regina
2 15 Brendan Morgan DB Queen’s
4 33 Christophe Normand FB Laval
5 38 Ettore Lattanzio DL Ottawa
6 46 Justin Warden LB Bishop’s
Notes:
-Acquired Saskatchewan’s second-round selection (15th overall), and WR Kris Bastien for WR Cory Watson and a third-round selection (26th overall) in this draft.
-Traded third-round selection (20th overall) to Hamilton for DB Abraham Kromah.
-Acquired fourth-round pick (33rd overall) along with OL Patrick Neufeld in an October 2013 trade with Saskatchewan for DE Alex Hall and a second-round pick in 2014 (11th overall).
-Traded conditional pick (own fourth-round selection; 29th overall) to Hamilton for QB Brian Brohm in March of 2014.
-Traded a conditional pick (which became the 7th-round selection in this draft; 55th overall) for QB Josh Portis.
2016
Rd # Player Pos School
2 9 Trent Corney DE Virginia
2 10 Michael Couture OL Simon Fraser
3 19 Taylor Loffler DB UBC
4 28 Shayne Gauthier LB Laval
5 37 Zach Intzandt OL McMaster
6 46 Rupert Butcher DL Western
7 55 Alex Vitt WR Manitoba
8 63 Frank Renaud LB Windsor
Notes:
-Forfeited first-round pick following selection of Garrett Waggoner, DB, Dartmouth, in 2015 CFL Supplemental Draft.
-Acquired Edmonton’s second-round selection (9th overall) and DB Selvish Capers in a trade for OL Chris Greaves.
2017
Rd # Player Pos School
1 1 Faith Ekakitie DT Iowa
1 8 Geoff Gray OL Manitoba
2 15 Qadr Spooner OL McGill
3 23 Abubakar Conteh DB Grambling State
4 34 Felix Menard-Briere K Montreal
6 50 Ian Marouf DL Guelph
7 59 Brendan Thera-Plamondon WR Calgary
8 68 Tylor Henry WR Alberta
Notes:
-Acquired Toronto’s first-round selection (1st overall), along with the Argos’ third-round selection in the 2018 draft (26th overall; used to select Daniel Petermann) and DB T.J. Heath in September of 2016 trade for QB Drew Willy.
-Traded sixth overall pick to Calgary for the eighth overall selection (Gray) and the 34th overall selection (Menard-Briere).
-Traded fourth-round selection (32nd overall) to Montreal in September of 2016 for QB Kevin Glenn.
-Traded a conditional seventh-round selection to Edmonton in September of 2015 as part of the trade for QB Matt Nichols. The pick became a fifth rounder when Nichols became the Bombers starting QB.
2018
Rd # Player Pos School
2 12 Rashaun Simonise WR Calgary
3 26 Daniel Petermann WR McMaster
4 33 Arnaud Gendron-Dumouchel OL Montreal
5 41 Tyrone Pierre WR Laval
6 49 Matthew Ouellet De Carlo OL Bishop’s
7 58 Jake Firlotte DB Queen’s
8 67 Ben Koczwara OL Waterloo
Notes:
-Traded the seventh and 16th overall selections in the 2018 draft to B.C. for the 12th overall selection and the Lions’ original first-round pick in 2019.
–Forfeited third-round selection following selection of Drew Wolitarsky, WR, Minnesota, in the 2017 CFL Supplemental Draft.
-Acquired Toronto’s third-round selection in the 2018 draft, used to select Daniel Petermann, as part of the 2016 Drew Willy trade, along with DB T.J. Heath, the Argonauts’ first-round pick in 2017 (Faith Ekakitie).
2019
Rd # Player Pos School
1 4 Drew Desjarlais OL Windsor
1 5 Jonathan Kongbo DE Tennessee
2 14 Brady Oliveira RB North Dakota
3 25 Connor Griffiths DL UBC
4 34 Tui Eli OL Hawaii
5 43 Malik Richards WR Mount Allison
6 52 Tariq LaChance DL Manitoba
7 61 Nick Hallett DB Toronto
8 70 Kerfalla Exumé DB Montreal
Notes:
-Acquired B.C.’s first-round selection in this draft (4th overall) and a second-round pick in 2018 (12th overall) for the 7th and 16th overall selections in 2018.
—
2020
Rd # Player Pos School
2 18 Noah Hallett DB McMaster
4 37 Brendan O’Leary-Orange WR Nevada
5 39 Marc Liegghio K Western
5 46 Nicholas Dheilly DL Saskatchewan
6 55 Kyle Rodger LB Ottawa
7 64 Tanner Cadwallader LB Wilfrid Laurier
8 73 Bleska Kambamba DB Western
Notes:
-Traded first-round pick (9th overall) and third-round selection (28th overall) to Toronto for QB Zach Collaros and a fifth-round pick (39th overall).
—
2021
Rd # Player Pos School
1 3 Liam Dobson OL Maine
2 16 Redha Kramdi DB Montreal
3 21 Patrice Rene DB North Carolina
4 34 Robbie Lowes LB Regina
5 39 Kyle Borsa RB Regina
6 48 Shae Weekes DB Manitoba
Notes:
-The cancellation of the 2020 CFL season due to the COVID-19 pandemic led to changes for the draft, including the order of selection as there were no standings from ’20. The draft order was set by a random draw, with Winnipeg landing third overall selection.
In the even-numbered rounds the reverse order was used for more balance in the selections.
-The number of rounds was reduced to six from eight because two draft classes – 2020 and 2021 would be in camp that spring.
-Traded the 52nd overall selection and the rights to OL Cody Speller for the 48th overall pick.
—
2022
Rd # Player Pos School
2 13 Tyrell Ford DB Waterloo
4 38 Cole Adamson DL Manitoba
5 47 Chris Ciguineau DB Ottawa
6 56 Jeremy Kapelanski DL Guelph
7 65 Cedrick Lavigne DB Carleton
8 74 Konner Burtenshaw FB Queen’s
Notes:
-Ford signed a reserve/futures deal with the Green Bay Packers in January and will attend their camp this summer.
-Traded the ninth and 18th overall selections to Montreal for defensive tackle Cameron Lawson and the 13th overall selection (Ford) in the draft.
-Round three selection was traded as part of the deal with B.C. in 2021 for kicker Sergio Castillo. Pick was a conditional fourth rounder but upgraded to a third after
