
Kyle Walters & Co. have diligently whittled the Winnipeg Blue Bombers list of pending free agents down to 20, but what transpires over the next month will provide a clearer look at the 2025 roster.
The club announced the signing of veteran linebackers Shayne Gauthier and Kyrie Wilson on Tuesday, leaving the following as one day closer to the open bidding market: quarterback Chris Streveler, running backs Johnny Augustine and Bailey Feltmate, receivers Kenny Lawler, Dalton Schoen and Lucky Whitehead, offensive linemen Liam Dobson and Eric Lofton, defensive lineman Miles Fox, TyJuan Garbutt, Celestin Haba and Jake Thomas, linebackers Adam Bighill and Brian Cole, defensive backs Brandon Alexander, Tyrell Ford, Noah Hallett, Evan Holm and Nick Taylor and long-snapper Mike Benson.
We have re-signed linebackers Kyrie Wilson and Shayne Gauthier to one-year extensions.
🗒️ » https://t.co/rSulHT1jqo#ForTheW pic.twitter.com/LnUshTytn8
— Winnipeg Blue Bombers (@Wpg_BlueBombers) January 14, 2025
It’s a given that not all 20 will be back with the club this season but who fits where as management wades through the zaniness leading up to February 11th will be fascinating.
Walters met with the media via Zoom from CFL meetings in Charlotte on Tuesday and his first answer — when asked about the status of contract talks with Lawler, the veteran receiver — offered an early hint of where things stand with all the Blue Bombers pending free agents.
“They’re going,” began Walters. “There will be a lot of answers like that — ongoing conversations right now for the guys that aren’t signed. We’ve talked. We’ll see. Honestly, there will be more information closer to free agency.
“Of the guys we haven’t signed the standard response will be, ‘Yeah, we’re talking.’ We’ll see how it goes but as of right now there’s nothing confirmed, that’s for sure.”
Walters said he did anticipate the Blue Bombers being more active in free agency this year and cited the addition of Dillon Mitchell, signed on Monday, as an example. He also said the organization has ‘some money set aside for some pieces’ but from now to the market opening everything is very fluid.
The Mitchell move is an example of that — not only does his addition bolster the receiver crew, it also gives the team some options with Lawler, Schoen and Whitehead all unsigned and with Ontaria Wilson having landed a job with the New York Jets.

Dillon Mitchell — photo courtesy The Canadian Press
“The Dillon one… when a good player becomes available everybody kicks the tires on it and in the price point it just seemed like a no brainer to protect ourselves,” Walters said. “We’re not exactly sure how everything else is going to go, so securing a very good asset at a reasonable price was the logic behind that.
“As I said, we’ve got some big dollar values allocated to certain players and I’m not sure how it’s going to play out and we’ll have to be ready to move from Plan A to Plan B to Plan C depending on who takes the money or what we think is a reasonable offer or if the agents don’t think it’s reasonable, the allocation that we have.”
And as Blue Bombers fans saw last year when the team re-signed both Brady Oliveira and Dalton Schoen, one signing doesn’t necessarily have to come at the expense of another.
“We went through this last year, if you recall where right up until the last minute you have funds allocated for different spots and sometimes things change quickly,” he said. “Last year it didn’t seem possible (to sign both) Brady and Dalton and then Jermarcus (Hardrick) went to Sask and freed up some money.
“It’s tough to say what’s going to happen over the next few weeks. Anything can happen.”
Walters offered updates on contract talks with two key starting Canadians in all-star cornerback Tyrell Ford and division all-star guard Liam Dobson.
On Ford: “My understanding is they’re going to explore all NFL opportunities right to the end. He’s not even looking to talk CFL offers. I spoke to his agent, and they just want to focus on NFL opportunities right now. We wish him the best of luck. If he can get into an NFL camp that would be great for him. If he doesn’t then he’s clearly going to be a highly sought-after player.”
And Dobson: “I’ve spoken to his agent, and they want to see the offensive line market for Canadians. It’s pretty high for some of these guys and Liam was an all-star and did very well as a starter so his agent, rightfully so, is expecting a very big raise. He’s part of that interesting puzzle on how to make it all work.”
At the same time, Walters noted, the team did start nine Canadians last year, so it does have the ratio flexibility if it had to deal with the potential losses of Ford and/or Dobson.

All-star cornerback Tyrell Ford
As well, here’s what the Blue Bombers GM said about balancing the desire to run it back with as many returnees as possible versus the benefit the team saw a year ago by the influx of new faces.
“What last year proved is it’s not the way you start it’s the way the team grows over (the season). We knew there were going to be some adjustments where we were young and playing new guys and then there were a few injuries which made us play even more new guys. So, by the end of the year some of these new guys became major contributors.
“You sit with your scouting department, and you go over, ‘Well, if this doesn’t work out’ are we comfortable finding a first-year player to play here?’ and making sure we’re all in agreement and moving forward with that plan.
“Last year was the first year in a while where we relied so much on first year players contribute and organizationally, we saw the growth throughout the year. We didn’t come out of the gate like in prior years and hang on for the whole year to get through. We had a growth throughout the year and that was exciting for us to see. We would expect to see the same thing (this) year if we have to add a couple young guys into the starting lineup.”
FYI: Toronto head coach Ryan Dinwiddie confirmed from the CFL meetings that the Blue Bombers were granted permission to speak to Argos QB coach Mike Miller — not the club’s current special teams coordinator — about their vacant offensive coordinator position.
That job has been open since late November when Buck Pierce left to become the new head coach of the B.C. Lions.
“You’ve gotta let your coaches have an opportunity to grow and I’m not going to hold Mike back — obviously, if it’s a coordinator job, he’s gotta take it,” said Dinwiddie. “He’s shown how he can develop (quarterbacks in the CFL). He’s been great to work with, loyal guy — very relatable to the quarterback, so I think he’d be a great hire.”
Miller has been with the Argos since 2022 and has previous experience with the Alouettes (2013) as well as in the NFL with Pittsburgh, Buffalo and Arizona.