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News January 15, 2025

Holm Staying Put

Evan Holm has signed a one-year extension to remain with the Blue Bombers -- photos by Cameron Bartlett

@EdTaitWFC

It wasn’t so much that Evan Holm had arrived at a crossroads, but he did have a decision to make.

Rewind to May of 2022 and Holm, a star defensive back at the University of North Dakota who had a couple mini-camp shots in the National Football League, took a call from Winnipeg and the Blue Bombers to invite him to a training camp already well underway.

The decision? Keep chasing an opportunity with a club already at work, wait for another NFL shot or step away from the game entirely.

Turns out the path Holm took couldn’t have been truer. On Wednesday the 26-year-old Edina, MN product scratched his name on a one-year contract extension with the Blue Bombers rather than test Canadian Football League free agency next month.

Staying put was always Holm’s wish — he and his wife Erica are expecting their first child in March and with the family being based around Minneapolis, Winnipeg is a perfect fit.

“I knew with having a baby and with family being close in Minneapolis I would try to be in Winnipeg as best as I could,” began Holm Wednesday in conversation with bluebombers.com. “The goal is to have Erica up there with me, she hasn’t been since my career started, so once we were comfortable with the numbers we for sure were going to be in Winnipeg.

“It’s the community, it’s the coaches and I like the locker room. It would have taken a lot more for me to go somewhere else.”

Holm’s transformation from prospect to starter to a star in the Blue Bombers secondary has been a straight arrow pointing upward during his three years in Winnipeg. Last season he set a career high in defensive tackles with a team-leading 85, adding a fumble return, four tackles on special teams and nine pass knockdowns while starting every game.

Since his arrival, Holm has appeared in 45 games — 40 of them starts.

Simply put, getting his name on a new contract was critical for the organization.

“I had heard a little bit about the CFL before I first came up here,” he recalled. “I had a couple of mini-camp opportunities with the NFL and one coach suggested I play in the CFL. I wasn’t doing anything else at the time, so I came up with training camp almost over.

“Getting adjusted to the ‘waggle’ (pre-snap motion by the receivers) was so weird at first, but I knew I wanted to keep playing football. There were a ton of DBs in the room at the time and I really didn’t know how things were going to shake out, but a couple guys got injured and that helped me make the practice squad and the team. You just had to be patient, and it ended up working out with J.Y. (Jordan Younger, defensive coordinator) and Richie (Hall, defensive assistant) helping me get adjusted to the game. After that I just felt a lot more confident in my second year going for a starting job. The more comfortable you are on the field the more confident you can play.

“But there was a ton of uncertainty at first,” he added. “It was, ‘Am I done playing football?’ I certainly didn’t want it to be, but you just don’t know. I did have a belief in myself, and I knew I didn’t want to be done and it ended up working out. I’ve made a lot of great friends and connections and it’s been a great experience so far. I’ve found league and a club where I be appreciated and effective.”

A soft-spoken an introspective sort who transforms into a beast defender when he slips on the helmet and shoulder pads, Holm raves about the Blue Bombers locker room and culture.

“The first thing is I really felt I could be myself and that I wasn’t an outlier in that room,” said Holm, who was one of the founders of the Blue Bombers book club two years ago along with Drew Wolitarsky and former QB Dakota Prukop. “Everyone not only accepts you for who you are, they want to hang out outside of football. That makes it so much more fun when you know guys outside of football and they care about you.

“You don’t have to pretend to be something in our locker room. People say early on or when you’re in college you have to be a certain way to play football. But here it’s if you can play football and you want to win, that’s all that matters. The rest… you’re just accepted for who you are because everybody’s got different personalities, and it all comes together in our room.

“It’s pretty special and that’s a huge reason why I wanted to stay in Winnipeg. Obviously that culture was first brought in by Osh (head coach Mike O’Shea) and then the players taking it along. It’s checking in with players in the offseason to see how they are. It really is like a family.”

Holm’s signing knocks the number of pending free agents for the Blue Bombers down to 19. Since the end of last season, the club has re-signed Holm, Stanley Bryant, Pat Neufeld, Tony Jones, Willie Jefferson, Jamal Parker, Jr., Shayne Gauthier and Kyrie Wilson.