1st & 10: The Blue Bombers at the draft | Part 1

There are seldom any clear-cut first-overall picks in the Canadian Football League Draft. No Joe Burrows or Peyton Mannings; no Michael Jordans or LeBron James, or Connor McDavids or Connor Bedards.

And so, in that respect alone the CFL Draft has long been far from an exact science.

It’s critical in stocking Canadian talent, yes, but there’s hardly a proven blueprint to nailing the first-overall pick — or any of the top selections — which every team in the league follows religiously as some sort of draft bible.

What we have seen in these parts with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, though, is a track record of consistently nailing draft day when it comes to finding talent and getting it on the field — all part of a franchise that has relied heavily on its Canadians to earn berths in the last five Grey Cups and with titles in 2019 and 2021.

The CFL Draft and Global Drafts go this coming Tuesday and in our latest edition of 1st & 10 we thought we’d take a quick peek at the draft history under the current Kyle Walters-Mike O’Shea regime — currently the longest-serving in the CFL — and their approach to the event.

Part 2, FYI, will be posted Monday and serve as a more specific preview to the 2025 CFL Draft.

Just to recap, the Blue Bombers had 10 selections in last year’s draft with half of that class — receiver Kevens Clercius, fullback Michael Chris-Ike, guard Gabe Wallace, defensive tackle Kyle Samson and defensive end Owen Hubert — suiting up for at least one game. Two more of last year’s selections, receiver AK Gassama and long-snapper Ian Leroux, will be in camp this year, while Hubert is now with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Another selection, mammoth O-lineman Giovanni Manu, was also drafted by the Detroit Lions and remains an NFL prospect.

Consider this for context, especially with Clercius having already made 12 starts in his rookie year: the 2013 Blue Bombers collection of picks – the last draft class before 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.

What’s also important to remember here is that getting these picks right isn’t just crucial for what the depth chart looks like on a game-to-game basis, it’s massive in terms of the salary cap.

Kyle Walters and Mike O’Shea at the CFL Combine in Regina in March

“The lifeblood of a CFL team is always the Canadians as they make up half your roster and you get them, primarily, from the draft,” said Walters, the Blue Bombers GM, in a recent chat with bluebombers.com. “We’ve always said it’s much easier to re-sign your Canadians than to go out and get them in free agency. That can be very expensive from a salary cap standpoint.

“When we started, we had to over-play for guys and so I don’t begrudge these teams for doing that. The challenge this year is normally there’s a new regime in the league once a year or once every other year and they go in and make a big splash and over-pay like we did at first. This year you had three teams — B.C., Edmonton and Hamilton — with new regimes saying, ‘Hey, we’re going to show our fan base by making a splash’ and they all did. That drove prices up dramatically.

“That’s why we trust our system and our process. And that’s why you really want to get your young Canadians contributing to winning on the field.

“We’ve seen that over our run here where it’s been our draft guys who have come in and helped on their rookie contracts. So, with them on their rookie contracts and contributing you can afford to pay higher-priced guys and spend your money on players like Willie (Jefferson), Zach (Collaros) or whoever our Americans are that you need to pay to keep them. The only way to do that is to have a certain percentage of your roster on entry-level contracts, whether they be Americans or Canadians.”

The Blue Bombers have all of their picks in the eight-round CFL Draft on Tuesday, plus a bonus selection at the end of the second round as a reward for being one of the two teams — along with the B.C. Lions — with the highest number of snaps by Canadians.

Winnipeg will select 6th, 15th, 18th, 27th, 36th, 45th, 54th, 63rd and 71st overall and will look to offset the losses of two Canadian starters in free agency in guard Liam Dobson (Hamilton) and cornerback Tyrell Ford (Edmonton) — a third, receiver Drew Wolitarsky, was released and signed with the Tiger-Cats — while Hubert, running back Johnny Augustine (Hamilton), receiver Jeremy Murphy (Ottawa, then retired), linebacker Max Charbonneau (released), defensive back Noah Hallett (unsigned), fullback Bailey Feltmate (retired) will also all not be back.

That might seem like a daunting list but, again, the track record of this regime should have Blue Bombers fans backing away from the proverbial panic button.

Over the winter the team made some depth moves in free agency, adding Canadians in defensive backs Josh Hagerty (Edmonton), Enock Makonzo (Hamilton), receiver Gavin Cobb (Edmonton) and defensive end Brock Gowanlock (Montreal), but didn’t chase the high-priced Canadians available.

“We haven’t really gone heavily into the high-end Canadian free agency over the last few years because it’s just so expensive,” Walters explained. “It will be a real test this year after losing Liam and Tyrell and that’s been the case through the years with Sukh (Chungh), with Michael Couture, with Drew Desjarlais.

“Now we need to replenish our stock with young players. Last year we added Gabe (Wallace) and he’s ready to have more of a role this year. We need Michael Chris-Ike to take a step, too. And you saw Kevens (Clercius) come on and help and we can pencil him in as a starter this year.

“Over the years that’s been our motto: we draft guys, we develop them, they play and then they tend to get gigantic contracts from other teams, and we draft and replace. It’s good for them. As much as it sucks for us sometimes when they move on, you have to wear it as a badge of honour about our draft process — this is what we do, this is how we roll.

“That’s the way it is with Mike and our coaching staff — they’ll play our Canadians. They don’t care what year they’re in, they’ll get on the field and show what they can do and then they can capitalize for them and their families down the road.

“All of this is why, for us, the draft is critically important.”

THE BLUE BOMBERS AT THE DRAFT

A look at the 11 previous draft classes of the current Bombers management regime:

2014

Matthias Goossen (61)

Notes:

• Traded second-round selection (11^th overall) and DE Alex Hall to Saskatchewan for OL Pat Neufeld and a fourth-round pick in 2015.
• Acquired Saskatchewan’s second-round pick (17^th overall) for the 20^th and 26^th overall selections.
• Acquired Toronto’s third-round selection (24^th overall) and OL Marc Parenteau for RB Anthony Woodson and a fifth-round pick in 2014 (38^th overall).
• Traded third-round selection (24^th overall) to Calgary for CB Chris Randle and the Stampeders third-round selection (26^th overall).

2015

Sukh Chungh

Notes:

• Acquired Saskatchewan’s second-round selection (15^th overall) and WR Kris Bastien for WR Cory Watson and a third-round selection (26^th overall) in this draft.
• Traded third-round selection (20^th overall) to Hamilton for DB Abraham Kromah.
• Acquired fourth-round pick (33^rd overall) along with OL Patrick Neufeld in an October 2013 trade with Saskatchewan for DE Alex Hall and a second-round pick in 2014 (11^th overall).
• Traded conditional pick (own fourth-round selection; 29^th overall) to Hamilton for QB Brian Brohm in March of 2014.
• Traded a conditional pick (which became the 7^th-round selection in this draft; 55^th overall) for QB Josh Portis.

2016

Shayne Gauthier

Notes:

• Forfeited first-round pick following selection of Garrett Waggoner, DB, Dartmouth, in 2015 CFL Supplemental Draft.
• Acquired Edmonton’s second-round selection (9^th overall) and DB Selvish Capers in a trade for OL Chris Greaves.

2017

Geoff Gray (68)

Notes:

• Acquired Toronto’s first-round selection (1^st overall), along with the Argos’ third-round selection in the 2018 draft (26^th 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 34^th overall selection (Menard-Briere).
• Traded fourth-round selection (32^nd 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

Daniel Petermann

Notes:

• Traded the seventh and 16^th overall selections in the 2018 draft to B.C. for the 12^th 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

Brady Oliveira

Notes:

• Acquired B.C.’s first-round selection in this draft (4^th overall) and a second-round pick in 2018 (12^th overall) for the 7^th and 16^th overall selections in 2018.

2020

Tanner Cadwallader

Notes:

• Traded first-round pick (9^th overall) and third-round selection (28^th overall) to Toronto for QB Zach Collaros and a fifth-round pick (39^th overall).

2021

Redha Kramdi

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 52^nd overall selection and the rights to OL Cody Speller for the 48^th overall pick.

2022

Tyrell Ford

Notes:

• Ford played his rookie year with the Blue Bombers in 2022, then signed with the Green Bay Packers. He returned to the club in 2024 and was a CFL All-Star and has since signed with the Edmonton Elks to play with his twin brother, Tre.
• Traded the ninth and 18^th overall selections to Montreal for defensive tackle Cameron Lawson and the 13^th 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 afterwards.

2023

Tanner Schmekel

Notes:

• Bennett played in all 18 games and the playoffs as a rookie for the Blue Bombers in 2023 but missed the entire 2024 season with an injury. He signed with the Montreal Alouettes this winter.

2024

Kevens Clercius

Notes:

• The Blue Bombers traded their first-round pick, 8th overall, and their third-round selection, 28th overall to Calgary for the 13th and 14th picks.
• The 20th overall selection at the end of the second round was earned by the Blue Bombers for being one of two teams with the highest number of Canadian player snaps in 2023.
• Winnipeg secured an extra fifth-round pick (used to select Ethan Kalra) as part of the deal that sent QB Dru Brown’s negotiation rights to Ottawa prior to him becoming a free agent.