All across the Canadian Football League today general managers, coaches and personnel types are all parroting the same message about crushing it at the CFL Draft Tuesday night — Kyle Walters of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers included.
“We feel good. Every team, NFL, CFL, the day after the draft is going to say they feel pretty good about the draft because they called those names,” said Walters with a grin in a post-draft zoom call with the media Wednesday. “We went in and we talked about it… we just haven’t replenished our defensive guys. We had some injuries with our Canadians last year on defence.
“We really wanted to give the defensive coaches a few different pieces on defence to play around with and all the packages they do. So that was a success.”
The Blue Bombers selected nine players in Tuesday’s CFL Draft and grabbed two more in the Global Draft — and traded for one prior to it — while signing two free-agent Canadians on Wednesday in McMaster receiver Nick Adair and Montreal centre Alexis Lévesque-Gallant. In total, that’s three O-linemen and three linebackers, two receivers and defensive ends along with one quarterback, punter and defensive back.
ICYMI, our recap of the Blue Bombers 2025 Draft Class is here:
And here are the main takeaways from the Walters session with the media on Wednesday…
LINEBACKERS X 3
Winnipeg’s first two picks Tuesday night were linebackers in Connor Shay sixth overall — he was rated No. 1 on the Blue Bombers’ list — and Jaylen Smith 15th overall. The club entered draft day with two Canadians on the roster in veterans Shayne Gauthier and Tanner Cadwallader and wanted more for defensive depth, as possible future starters and to beef up their special teams.
Connor Shay
“We were targeting a linebacker,” explained Walters. “We had linebackers on the board and were certain we would get one at six. When Connor was there at six, for us, it was a no brainer to get the pick in — we thought very highly of him and had him as one of the top guys on the board. We were looking to add two linebackers. With the way our roster was going and being built, we needed an influx of youth linebackers playing some special teams and running around. Jaylen Smith is a guy I’ve liked all along. I’ve liked his versatility
“With JY (Jordan Younger, defensive coordinator) and our defence that’s a strength, that versatility. Maybe he’s not a true WIL (weak side linebacker), maybe he’s not a true DB but with all the packaging and all the different stuff our defensive coaches do he seemed like a really interesting skillset for us. Then after the interview — he was such an out-going and great kid — I knew he would fit into our locker room here, which is important.
“Did we think we would go linebacker-linebacker? No. It was just too two good football players on our board to pass up.”
The Blue Bombers then grabbed another in the fifth round, 45th overall, in Saskatchewan’s Lane Novak.
“We loved everything about him,” Walters said. “The idea of drafting a third linebacker probably doesn’t make much sense other than the fact that we love that kid. He’s just too good a football player. Our special teams coach is pretty pumped. I was texting with Mike (Miller) last night and he’s pretty excited about the draft and having this influx of linebacker body types that can run around and do some things for him.”
THE CANADIAN CANNON
Too early to slap a nickname on Taylor Elgersma, the Wilfrid Laurier QB the Blue Bombers selected at the end of the second round, 18th overall, so this is a trial balloon — especially with him heading to rookie minicamps in Green Bay and Buffalo and his future in Winnipeg still uncertain.
Read about that here:
However this shakes out — whether he becomes a futures pick should he land an NFL contract or is in Blue Bombers camp soon — it will be a huge storyline to track.
“Danny (McManus, Assistant GM/Director of U.S. Scouting) — our resident quarterback guru — had seen him at the Senior Bowl and we had good conversations as where he would fit,” said Walters. “And all along we had thought that second pick, that extra pick at the end of the second round, was a good spot for him and if he was there, he would be a hard name to turn down. It just so happened on our board he was the guy that really stood out after we took Jaylen — if Taylor was going to be there, we were going to make the move because he’s a good football player and with the position he plays.
“He’s just going to come in and learn. It’s one thing to show well at an all-star game setting for a few days, this is a grind now. You’re going to come in, you’re going to have the playbook, you’re going to learn… you’re playing against professional football players. We expect him to come in and learn and grow like all the young guys. The Canadians, regardless of the position, it’s a big jump coming from a U-Sports school to a professional training camp at any position.
“We’ll just take it slow with Taylor. I don’t want to project or put too much pressure on him. There will be enough media — I don’t want to say scrutiny, but excitement about having a Canadian quarterback in the building and we just want to temper expectations before annoiting that this is the future of the organization at this point. Let’s just let him get in and learn to be a pro.”
A UNIQUE TRADE
Early Tuesday morning the Blue Bombers made a deal to move up six spots in the Global Draft. That deal saw Winnipeg land the second spot in the Global Draft and Canadian running back Matthew Peterson from Hamilton for defensive tackle Kyle Samson, the club’s eighth pick in the Global Draft, while the teams swapped picks 36 (from Winnipeg) and 39.
“Once we agreed I said this is the first time there’s been a Global pick, a Canadian pick and players involved in a trade,” Walters said with a chuckle. “It was fairly unique. When there’s so few players in that Global Draft when there’s one you’ve really targeted and want to get, we thought it was worth popping up to grab him to make sure we got the defensive end in the morning which allowed us to strategize in the evening.”
That defensive end is Kemari Munier-Bailey, an Englishman who last year played at Weber State and was on the Blue Bombers radar before they knew he would be a Global Draft prospect.
“He’s an explosive edge player,” Walters said. “A few months ago, Danny had him on our neg list before he became a Global through an appeal process. So, we did think highly of him as a football player and then the ability to get him… we certainly weren’t going to get him at pick #8 so we made the move, and it worked out.
“A twitchy edge guy that can come off and runs around and smashes people”
FYI
Some quick thoughts from Walters on the other picks:
-OL Ethan Vibert: “He’s a good match with us. A big physical guy who needs to work on his pass pro (protection) like a lot of young guys, but he can certainly move people.”
-WR Joey Corcoran: “We wanted to add a receiver. The Canadian receivers we have (after Nic Demski and Kevens Clercius in AK Gassama and Gavin Cobb) are smaller-stature guys and he’s a bigger body that can maybe do some stuff.”
-DB Ethan Ball: “Ethan Ball is just our kind of guy. He plays hard. We saw him running around on special teams at North Dakota. A really nice young man and he’ll come in and hope to be a Nick-Hallett type guy who plays hard on special teams while he tries to figure out where he fits on defence.”
-DE Trey Laing: “There’s just something interesting about him with the way he gets off the ball and plays with a reckless abandonment and aggression that sometimes gets him in trouble on the field. But you’d rather have the guys that err on the side of being too aggressive.”
-OL Iwinosa Uwubanmwen: “He’s been injured the last couple of years. But the little bit of film you have on him, he is a big, big man that moves differently and looks differently. He’s not coming to our camp but he participated in Alberta’s spring camp, so his rehab is coming along.”
-P James Evans: “Mike really enjoys going on the kicking circuits and studying the punters and he really liked James. He’; come in and compete with Jamieson.”
