Let’s call it an anniversary of sorts — a day when the door of opportunity swung open for Tony Jones after a low moment, and his football career went from plateauing to rocketing into the stratosphere.
Oh sure, the Tony Jones we see now — the Winnipeg Blue Bombers wrecking ball middle linebacker who racked up nine tackles and a tackle for a loss in last week’s 34-20 win over the B.C. Lions — is simply what we’ve come to expect week in, week out from the 29-year-old Texas Tech product.
He’s a baller, as they say, and a player who is drawn to the enemy ball carriers like a magnet and arrives with bad intent.
But just over a year ago — June 9th, to be exact — Jones was parachuted into Winnipeg after his sudden and surprising release by the Edmonton Elks. He made his Blue Bombers debut a month later and then started 11 straight games plus the playoffs at both weak-side linebacker and in the middle.
“This couldn’t have turned into a better situation for me than it has,” said Jones in conversation with bluebombers.com this week. “After you get released from a team it’s always, ‘How? Why? Where did this go wrong?’ And especially when you’re told the guy they’re going to go with like it was when I was in Edmonton.
“At the end of the day, when I first got the call from Osh (head coach Mike O’Shea) about coming here it was an absolute no brainer for me. It was, ‘Yes, that’s where I want to be.’ I had heard everything about it here — how it’s run, the team, the culture here. There’s a standard and everyone holds each other to that standard.
“And then when I first got here it was like, ‘Wow. This is really how it’s supposed to be.'”
Blue Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea — a man who knows a thing or three about linebacker play — said that when Jones’ name popped up on the CFL transaction wire last year following his release from Edmonton “there was a discussion immediately. ‘Oh, this guy’s available? OK.'”
The club loved his speed, his energy and his passion for the game and have seen all of that since he first pulled on a Blue Bombers uniform.
A tale that speaks of the maturation of Jones into his role in the middle of the Blue Bombers front six. He spoke last year of lining up beside Adam Bighill and having the future hall of famer quickly bark something into his ear that put him in the exact right spot on that play.
A year later he’s in the role Biggie once held, trying to do the same in a veteran defence that is still not without its new faces.
“I don’t think he’s trying to replace him,” said O’Shea. “They’re each their own man and they play the game their own way and have different attributes that are going to make them successful. Tony has taken on some leadership roles just by his actions and he’ll find his voice, too. It’s not always about that.
“He is certainly a guy that brings a ton of energy. You can just tell how much he enjoys playing the game — like Adam. But they can be different players and that’s OK. We’re not asking them to do everything that Adam did and we’re certainly asking him to do some things we might not have asked Adam to do.”
Again, just over one year removed from touching down in Winnipeg, Jones just seems like a perfect fit — a big reason he put his name on a two-year contract extension last December after finishing third on the team in total tackles in just a dozen games work.
Now that he’s comfortable in his new home, he wants even more.
“Last year was more of a learning phase for me and picking up what I had missed during training camp and then learning the new installs week to week,” Jones recalled. “My brain was moving fast at that time. Now everything has super-slowed down and I’ve learned everything from the start. Now it’s about stacking the days and when you know what you’re doing and everyone else is around you, you can play a lot faster.
“I know what it’s like when you’re out there trying to be as perfect as possible and everything is moving so fast. In those moments everything can feel so hectic. But when you have a guy like Biggie who knows the system, knows everything that’s going on, he can help other people around him or vice-versa.
“I want to be that guy to help. We’re all out there executing one call and everyone has to be on the same page. Once a guy knows the system he can help everyone around him. I want to go out there and be a player that his teammates can rely on every single day. It’s about showing up, being helpful and being a leader and just executing at a high level. I take a lot of pride in trying to be as perfect as I can.”
INJURY REPORTS: All eyes on the injury reports for both the Blue Bombers and Lions for this Saturday’s rematch in Vancouver. The Lions report indicates that QB Nathan Rourke did not participate on Wednesday after being limited on Tuesday following the core injury he suffered in last week’s loss here in Winnipeg.
If Rourke can’t go, the Lions could turn to veteran Jeremiah Masoli or Chase Brice, who has been with the club since 2023 but has only 29 career pass attempts.
“He’s been the main trigger man, the starting quarterback for a number of years for different teams,” said O’Shea of Masoli. “He’s a fiery competitor. He can run the ball. He’s strong. So, there’s a lot of stuff that’s very similar. You’re certainly not going to discount them because Jeremiah Masoli is playing.
“Once again, I don’t think we really worry about who the starting quarterback is because the system is more the system, and you’ve got to defend that.”
Meanwhile, here’s the status report for the Blue Bombers:
Injury Report: June 18, 2025#ForTheW | @DoctorsManitoba pic.twitter.com/G27NHYZQ7N
— Winnipeg Blue Bombers (@Wpg_BlueBombers) June 18, 2025
O’Shea was coy when asked after Wednesday’s closed practice for an update on RB Brady Oliveira.
“I thought he looked good today. I’m always hopeful. Always,” he said.
The Blue Bombers finished last week’s win with Matthew Peterson going off after Oliveira’s exit following the first drive and did dress fullback Michael Chris-Ike, who could be an option. As well, Quinton Cooley had a fair bit of work at Tuesday’s practice in the backfield.
As to how that could work/look with the roster…
“We’ve got lots of ways to move the roster around,” said O’Shea. “We’ve always been pretty comfortable with everybody in our locker room and the belief is if they’re here they’re going to help us win football games this year. The coaching staff has always been excellent at putting their hand up first to say, ‘We can adjust this for you’ so we’re pretty set.”
A good explainer on the CFL’s different roster designations and the confusion that comes from that from TSN’s Dave Naylor:
TSN Football Insider @TSNDaveNaylor examines the need for some rules ‘which are incomprehensible to the average fan,’ to change, including one that halted Friday’s game between the Alouettes and Redblacks: https://t.co/xdUrWeb0mK pic.twitter.com/62NDqJ2Qlf
— CFL on TSN (@CFLonTSN) June 17, 2025
