Blue Bombers GM Kyle Walters met with the media on Tuesday -- photos by Cameron Bartlett
Nobody in Bomberland wants to be doing the silver-lining thing right now, especially after three straight Grey Cup losses.
The aching pain still lingers from the 41-24 setback to the Toronto Argonauts in the 111th Grey Cup and yet the wheels must start churning forward toward 2025 — especially in a year in which the championship game will be held at Princess Auto Stadium.
Yet, as Blue Bombers GM Kyle Walters met with the media for 25 minutes on Tuesday to touch on a variety of subjects, at one point he was asked if it was important to remember the success the franchise has had over the last few years while heading into the offseason.
And his answer provided some context not everyone is clearly ready to swallow right now.
Still…
“That’s a good point. And rare for you guys to approach it with a glass-half-full approach to a question. I appreciate that,” Walters said. “You know, when you take a step back and go, ‘You know what? Of course, the last three final games were very frustrating.’ And you can’t lump them all together, there’s three individual losses. But, yeah, the idea that going to five Grey Cups and let’s take a deep breath, and we went 9-1 down the stretch. We’ve got a good football team here. I expect us to be good. I said that at the Grey Cup. I’m excited for next year.
“I was excited for next year based on what I’m looking at, compared to years past, where we’ve got more young guys that have contributed that are under contract, we’ve got more young players in the building. So, the idea of, ‘This is the end of the road. The team is in a free-for-all downward,’ I don’t think is accurate. We have a good group of guys, and we were a one-point game with 10 minutes left (in the Grey Cup)… before things went downhill.
“… I do think the pieces are here and we’re just going to keep doing what we’ve been doing.”
You can watch the Walters press conference in its entirety here:
And what follows are some key talking points to chew on based on what was said on Tuesday…
BEWARE AN INCOMING POACHING?
Over the last few winters, the CFL coaching/management carousel has largely spun without it pulling any Blue Bomber coaches, scouts or football operations folks into its orbit. That could change this offseason.
Walters indicated that offensive coordinator Buck Pierce has been given permission to speak to both the B.C. Lions and Edmonton Elks about their vacant head coaching positions, with long-time assistant coach Richie Hall on the radar of the Ottawa RedBlacks for their open defensive coordinator gig. As well, assistant GMs Danny McManus and Ted Goveia have both had their names linked to the GM job with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
All that could potentially impact the Blue Bombers coaching and management structure significantly as Pierce could bring staff with him if he lands a head-coaching job and ditto for McManus or Goveia if they move on to Hamilton. Walters said Tuesday it he was surprised McManus and/or Goveia don’t already have GM jobs elsewhere in the CFL given the Blue Bombers success over the last eight seasons — the last five featuring Grey Cup appearances.
In the meantime, waiting on all that does screech to a halt some of the usual happenings at this time of year, including contract negotiations with potential free agents.
“We’ve got coaches interviewing for jobs. We’ve got Ted and Danny interviewing for jobs,” said Walters. “So, Mike (O’Shea) and I have had a couple preliminary conversations on this sort of stuff. But it’s an interesting year that until we get our staff settled… at some point we’ll have a little bit more in-depth discussions. It’s been a little bit different this year from a in-depth detail roster conversations and input from everybody.
“You’re hesitant to have too much conversation with people who may not be in the organization next year, so it’s just been me and Mike in this moment huddled together and talking about next year.”
ONE DOWN, SO MANY TO GO…
We told you last week of the new deal signed by kicker Sergio Castillo, a move which shrinks the Blue Bombers list of prospective free agents to 27.
That list includes QB Chris Streveler; running backs/fullbacks Johnny Augustine and Bailey Feltmate; receivers Kenny Lawler, Dalton Schoen and Lucky Whitehead; offensive linemen Stanley Bryant, Pat Neufeld, Liam Dobson and Eric Lofton; defensive linemen Willie Jefferson, Jake Thomas, Miles Fox, TyJuan Garbutt and Celestin Haba; linebackers Adam Bighill, Brian Cole, Shayne Gauthier, Tony Jones and Kyrie Wilson; defensive backs Brandon Alexander, Noah Hallett, Tyrell Ford, Evan Holm, Jamal Parker and Nick Taylor and long-snapper Mike Benson.
None of the above, Walters indicated, currently have contract offers for 2025 just yet.
“Mike and I have talked, and you all are smart enough to look at our roster and probably pinpoint a handful of, ‘Well these free agents probably should be the ones they go after first,'” said Walters. “So, we’ll start getting the ball rolling on those. And then once you get your guys targeted that you want first and get those price points set and what’s that going to cost, and then there’s the domino effect of what did that cost and what do you have left to fill out the rest of things. Same as every year.”
Even with all the significant injuries this year — Bighill, Streveler and Schoen were lost in season, Parker and defensive tackle Cam Lawson never played a snap — Walters said he expects the club to be under the salary cap this year.
What’s interesting now is whether pending free agents and, particularly those coming off injury, can find some sort of common ground on a new deal here in Winnipeg or if they’ll have to look elsewhere.
“I mean when you look at it, nobody’s interested in taking pay cuts,” said Walters. “That’s the first one right there. Every single agent and every single player at the very least would expect to come back for what they’ve made. That’s the bare minimum, from their end, starting point.
“Now organizationally we may have a different view of, ‘At this point in your career we no longer see you at this price point, but we see you at this price point.’ And that’s when the fun starts, I guess.”
THE POTENTIALLY INTRIGUING QB FREE AGENT MARKET
The CFL saw a blockbuster deal shake down on Tuesday with the Calgary Stampeders and B.C. Lions making a trade that sends quarterback Vernon Adams, Jr. to Cowtown in an exchange of draft picks.
The impending decisions made elsewhere could flood the market with pivots and offer the Blue Bombers some options behind Zach Collaros and along with Jake Dolegala and Terry Wilson, all three of whom are under contract.
What happens to Jake Maier now that Calgary has landed Adams, Jr.? The Montreal Alouettes will be squeezed to keep both Cody Fajardo and Davis Alexander. Will Bo Levi Mitchell be back in Hamilton? What happens to Trevor Harris in Saskatchewan? Who will Edmonton’s new head coach hand the No. 1 chores to with Tre Ford and McLeod Bethel-Thompson in house?
Walters on whether they want an experienced vet behind Collaros or if the No. 2 QB job is a spot at which they need to get younger:
Jake Dolegala, Zach Collaros, Chris Streveler, Buck Pierce and Terry Wilson
“That’s a good question. We’ll have to find out who our offensive coordinator is, first,” he said. “Again, there’s the point of these type of very interesting discussions, as far as what does our quarterback room look like next year.
“It’ll be interesting. We’ll see how the Vernon Adams (situation) shakes down (Walters spoke before the trade was announced), and the domino effect in Montreal. It’ll be an interesting off-season from a quarterback standpoint, of Tre, McLeod, where do all these free agents end up, and who’s kind of the odd man out in regards to a starting position. And then can you add an experienced player maybe as a No. 2 in your room that’s won some games, that’s started some games.
“That’ll be very interesting over the next couple of months how that quarterback in our league, how that all shakes down and who ends up where.”
Further to that, Walters was asked if this offseason offered the chance for the organization to be prepared for a transition at QB with Collaros entering the final year of his contract in 2025 and turning 37 next season.
“A hundred percent. Your scenario would be ideal,” he said, “And then it’s just can you make it work financially. Because we’re still focused on winning a Grey Cup next year, putting the best possible team together to win next year.
“Can your young guys on your roster develop? Like a Dru Brown, can he develop into a starter, or do you have to go out in free agency and potentially pay more for an experienced backup that you think can take over in the future? Those are challenging questions that we’ll have organizationally.
“But primary focus is putting a roster together to win the Grey Cup next year. And then worrying about the following year. Which is interesting in our league with all the one-year contracts. You’ve seen teams have massive turnaround on their roster. All the frustration of one-year contracts, there is certainly the option for a quick fix for lack of a better term. It does allow you to focus year-to-year at times.”
THE ‘GREY CUP PUSH’ NARRATIVE
So often fans will hear owners/management talk about being ‘all-in’ on a push for a championship when a team is hosting the Grey Cup that coming season.
That came up Tuesday in Walters’ session and he gave this answer that speaks volumes of the team’s approach every year:
“As far as hosting the Grey Cup… in my opinion, an organization shouldn’t say, ‘Because we’re hosting, we’re really going to give it our all this year,’ because then the response from the players and coaches would be, ‘Well, why wouldn’t we do that every year?’
“There’s no secret to we’re really going to try this year because we’re hosting the Grey Cup. I mean, it’s no different from year-to-year, and once we get settled in the offseason and start putting our roster together that we think can win the Grey Cup.”
Later, he was asked about treating the salary cap ‘differently’ (i.e. full speed ahead on spending to win) in a year in which the team is hosting the Grey Cup.
“No. Again, because if we wanted to win then we should be talking about going over the salary cap every year,” he said. “It was interesting the last couple of years because we went over (the cap_ in that last game where we ended up resting some players. So, we rested a bunch of players, activating a bunch of young guys and go over by 15 or 20 grand.
“This year we’ll be under the salary cap — projected to be under — we’re going to carve out, to the cent, I think, how much money we have just to use a signing bonus on somebody this year. But Wade (Miller, Blue Bombers President & CEO) and Mike are very supportive.
“If we were to say (‘Let’s exceed the salary cap’) they would probably be all for it, but, no, we haven’t talked about that.”
THE SILVER LINING
Let’s all agree on this: the Blue Bombers fell completely flat in the Grey Cup game. No sense arguing that at all.
Yet, the transition of this team over the course of the season — from an 0-4 start to winning nine of its last 10 to clinch first in the West Division — does count for something. And especially so in a year in which the roster underwent change before camp and then was forced to further adapt on the fly with all the injuries during the season.
“We saw this coming last year and were going to transition into some guys this year which is now, at certain positions, what you’re seeing it while still keeping some of the core together for sure,” said Walters. “That process started this year and combined with some of the injuries we had early and the transition to some younger players that certainly contributed to the struggle, but it also was different this year that you saw our team improve as the year went on and as these younger players that were contributing got a bit more comfortable with the league.
“So, we’ll continue that process next year but with the young guys we have under contract that contributed, I’m feeling probably better now than in years past in regards to the transition to youth heading into the next season.”
