Jake Thomas has made the move from player to coach as the team's new defensive line boss; photos by Cameron Bartlett
Long-time Winnipeg Blue Bombers defensive tackle Stan Mikawos — a hall of famer, it should be added — once said that slugging it out in the middle of the defensive line was akin to playing the role of the slab of beef in ‘Rocky’, where the Italian Stallion trains by breaking ribs hanging in a frozen meat locker.
Needless to say, it’s hardly a glamorous gig and the pounding from offensive guards, centres and tackles can leave a man feeling pulverized from the opening kickoff to the final whistle.
That, in part, is what makes the career of Jake Thomas so remarkable. It’s not just that the likeable product of Douglas, NB quietly and efficiently did his thing on the interior of the Blue Bombers defensive line for 223 regular season games and five Grey Cups over a remarkable 13-year career. It was that he survived at first and then thrived in the role while morphing from a longshot to a mentor.
And now — as was announced by the club on Monday — the 35-year-old will be trading in his helmet and shoulder pads to become the new defensive line coach, replacing the retiring Darrell Patterson.
“It happened fairly organically,” said Thomas of the decision to retire to become a coach in a media Zoom call Tuesday afternoon. “I had a really good exit meeting with Osh (head coach Mike O’Shea). At that point, I was still kind of planning on continuing playing if that was possible. Then a few weeks went by after the Grey Cup and we just kind of continued our conversation and he let me know there was a chance that this opportunity would be available.
“It’s one of those jobs where if you don’t take it now, it’s not going to be there forever. I had a few days to talk it over with my wife and I was shocked at how supportive she was and here we are. I don’t think at the end of year meeting when I was talking to you guys, this wasn’t a plan. But I’m very happy how it worked out, and usually the best things in life aren’t overly planned too much.”
The decision wasn’t just organic, it was sudden — so much so that just prior to the press release being sent out on Monday Thomas got on the phone with three of his long-standing friends in the locker room in Zach Collaros, Pat Neufeld and Stanley Bryant to tell them of the news.
“I played a lot of years with a few of the guys here, so it was a tough conversation,” he said. “There were two or three guys I really wanted to have a conversation with and just be like, ‘Hey, I’m moving on to the next chapter in my football career.’ I kind of felt bad telling them. It was almost as if I was letting them down, that I wasn’t staying to go on one more run. But that’s life. You’ve got to roll with the punches.
“… Just us three being older guys and had gone to those five Grey Cups together. I owe a lot of my career — I say it all the time to Zach, ‘if we didn’t win all these games once you got here my career would have been over a long time ago.’ Obviously, with Paddy and Stan, they’ve been with me the longest. It was definitely tough but they’re great guys. The initial shock… I think I told them one minute before the announcement came out. I wanted them to hear it from me before they were scrolling on X.”
Thomas now joins a defensive staff that features Jordan Younger, Richie Hall and James Stanley and will be working in a scheme that often rushes just three defensive linemen while dropping eight-nine players into coverage. That scheme has also seen the Blue Bombers yield the fewest points against last season and over the last few years. The sacrifice is in the quarterback sack totals for D-linemen.
“I don’t think anyone in that locker room is too worried about their numbers. If they were, I don’t think that’s overly the fit,” said Thomas. “The biggest thing guys want to do is just win games. So, if we have to drop 11 and only rush Willie Jefferson, the guys in that room would be willing to do that. If we need to bring five to win a game, we’re willing to do that.
“I think JY’s been the top defence the last two years, or at least in the top two. So, it definitely seems to be working. It’s just, like anything, it’s fine-tuning things, and we’ll see if we can just make it a little bit better.”
O’Shea said Monday Thomas could be a GM in this league one day — he acted as his own agent since 2018 and often had teammates asking him for advice, leading to the nickname ‘GM Jake’ — but the transition to coaching is also appealing because it keeps him in the game.
It’s also worked out successfully for one of his best friends on the team and fellow New Brunswicker Mike Miller.
Never a yeller or a screamer as a player, Thomas said his mentors in coaching are the men who helped him along the way, from Jeff Cummins and Pete Fraser at Acadia to Will Plemons, Mike Scheper, Glen Young, Todd Howard, Gary Etcheverry, Todd Howard and Patterson, the man he is replacing.
“I’ll probably try to take a little bit from each D-line coach that I had,” he said. “Obviously, for myself next year, it’ll be awesome to still have Richie Hall on staff who is a longtime coach in this league on the defensive side of the ball and someone who has really mentored me over the years. And I should be able to lean on Mike Miller a little bit for what he’s gone through switching from being a player into coaching. And obviously, Osh had to go through the same thing.”
In many ways, Thomas has already been coaching. He’s long been an avid film student because he had to grind to find an edge for so long. And as his career unfolded he morphed from being the young 21-year-old just trying to earn a roster spot to the grizzled vet offering advice.
“I really won’t know the prep work until I get into it, but I think a part of the reason I had a career for as long as I did was when Gary Etcheverry was our coach he said you learn best by teaching,” said Thomas. “I really took that to heart, especially with us having a lot of young Canadian D tackles the last few years, I definitely tried to take them under my wing.
“DP (Darrell Patterson) did a great job in enabling at times to try and coach the guys up on the field. I did get to work with the D tackles a lot. There will definitely be a transition working with the defensive ends, just because my style of game and Willie Jefferson’s game are a little bit different, I would say. I’m really looking forward to it and I do think I have a bit of the base knowledge as to how to use a computer. But I’m sure there will definitely be a steep learning curve.
“That’s the one nice thing about getting this announced to early — I have a few months to try and get a jumpstart on everything.”
The full Thomas media conference call be viewed here:
