Walters: Blue Bombers CFL Canadian Draft takeaways

All across the Canadian Football League today GMs, head coaches and personnel types are still riding the post CFL Canadian Draft high.

There are high-fives and fist bumps galore and the usual euphoria that comes with rookie camps coming next week and main training camp opening on May 10th.

So, in that regard the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are no different — GM Kyle Walters admitted as much in his media session on Wednesday — yet there is a feeling in Bomberland they put check marks by all the items on their draft to-do list.

Blue Bombers first-round pick Nuer Gatkuoth

“Like every team this morning, we’re feeling good,” began Walters in his opening. “It’s a wide group of guys that touched on a little bit of everything for our roster. We certainly feel that our roster improved after last night and there will be some real strong competition in training camp, for sure.”

The entire media session with Walters is here, FYI:

And here we break it down further with his thoughts on each of the picks and more…

NUER GATKUOTH

Defensive end

Round 1, fourth overall

The Blue Bombers grabbed the Wake Forest defensive end with their first pick and hope to see him around the opening of main camp next week after he attends rookie minicamp with the Denver Broncos.

He does not have a contract with Denver, FYI, and would give the Blue Bombers more defensive ratio flexibility in certain packages. Winnipeg currently starts two Canadians on defence in dime Redha Kramdi and defensive tackle Cam Lawson.

“He’s explosive off the edge,” said Walters. “He can get after the quarterback. We just haven’t had that Canadian edge guy to add in a bit for the ratio purposes. We’re excited to see him.”

DANTE DANIELS

Tight end

Round 2, 10th overall

The pick that has generated the most buzz around the league and with Blue Bombers fans. Winnipeg made a minor deal with Ottawa to move up three spots to get a guy they began studying in detail last fall and clearly fell in love with because of his size (6-5, 272), potential and skillset.

They expect Daniels to drop a bit of weight and still be able to handle defensive ends in their jumbo package and offer more of a receiving threat in that set.

“The ability to have the receiving threat while being able to run the two-back system is pretty interesting for offensive coordinators,” Walters explained. “When we would run Tui (Eli) in as an offensive lineman, teams didn’t give that respect from a pass game and we were pretty predictable.

“The way our offence is built with the best running back in the league and trying to get him as many touches as possible, the ability to be able to run the ball with that type of blocking AND have defences have to honour the passing game more than they have had to in the past is real interesting for us.”

And here’s Walters on why they were aggressive in making the move to move up on a player who had been getting a lot of buzz in the days and hours leading up to draft night:

“You get to that point and there’s just a guy that we really, really, really wanted. We had talks with a bunch of teams in front of us that were willing to jump up and get this guy. It was just one of those moments… it was, ‘F it. Let’s just go get the guy. We’ll worry about it later.’ We’ve picked up extra draft picks in the second round throughout the years. Let’s be aggressive — we’re not normally aggressive in those ways — but we just felt that strongly about this guy and how unique a piece he is because if we didn’t get him and his skillset there really wasn’t another one.”

KEVIN CLINE

Offensive line

Round 2, 20th overall

The big (6-7, 32) offensive tackle from Boston College has signed as an undrafted free agent with the Miami Dolphins so he is essentially a ‘futures’ pick for the club as a guy who may become available in September or, at the latest, next year.

Cline is American by birth, but his mom is Canadian and his father played for Ottawa.

“We really, really liked his film,” said Walters. “The more we talked to him and the more educated he became on the CFL it seemed like an option for him. He’s got some interest from the Dolphins. You do your due diligence on the amount that the players get to sign these deals and where they go and talking to the teams… it just seemed like at that pick it was a pretty good risk/reward.

“If we see him later on this year or even next year it will be well worth the wait for a player who has the ability to play tackle and at the very least with his size and aggression can slide down to a guard for us.”

CHARLES-ELLIOTT BOULIANE

Linebacker

Round 3, 24th overall

He’s been compared to Shayne Gauthier as a player who could get reps on defence but most certainly will make an impact on special teams.

Walters: “He was, in our opinion, the best special-teams player. He plays the right way.”

ETHAN STUART

Defensive back

Round 4, 33rd overall

Smart prospect — engineering student — who popped out for the Blue Bombers at the College Gridiron Showcase over the winter.

Walters: “He’s very interesting. Not a ton of football background by a big athlete. With all that JY (Jordan Younger, defensive coordinator) does, Ethan is a pretty unique piece with his size and the way he moves. I think he’s got a real, real big upside.”

BRODY CLARK

Linebacker

Round 5, 42nd overall

A converted receiver from his junior days who got a high recommendation from his coach at York University, one-time Blue Bomber Dexter Janke.

“Dexter spoke the world of him,” said Walters. “They (York) switch him to DB and the first quarter at York he blocks a punt, makes a special teams tackle and then goes on and plays defence and led the conference in tackles.

“We watched the film and there’s just something different about the way this guy moves. It’s hard to explain but there’s just something unique about the way that guy runs around.”

BEN BRITTON

Receiver

Round 6, 42nd overall

Opted to step away from football last year but his name came up at the CFL Combine in Edmonton last March. The Blue Bombers were intrigued enough to fly him in for a private workout and he showed the skills that made him a Canada West All-Star in 2024.

“We were very impressed with what we saw,” said Walters. “He’s a very interesting guy who, I believe if he had played this year would have been in the mix with the other receivers who got picked a little higher.

“He’s your old-school traditional slotback — a 6-3, 210-pound guy, uses the Waggle very well, he’s physical, he can block. He’s just a big body who reminds me of (Mike) Morreale back in my day — a big guy that maybe doesn’t overwhelm you with anything but just seems to get open and catch footballs.”

JOSH JACK

Receiver

Round 7, 60th overall

Walters: “Steve Sumarah (St. Mary’s Huskies head coach) and I go way back and he said there’s something unique about this guy and he was right. There’s a unique smoothness to him and where we got him, we were really happy.”

BRADY LIDSTER

Kicker

Round 8, 69th overall

Windsor kicker who hails from the same hometown as Walters — St. Thomas, Ont.

Walters: “Strong, strong leg. He can punt and he can kick and being around pros will be really good for him. Being around Serge and Jamieson will be really good for this guy’s development. He does have that strong leg that you cannot coach.”

The Blue Bombers also made two selections in Wednesday’s two-round CFL Global Draft.

Round 1, 4th overall: Edward Vesterinen, DE

Finnish product who played his college ball at West Virginia and will attending rookie minicamp with the Minnesota Vikings.

He appeared in 47 games at West Virginia, making 28 starts, and had 77 tackles, including 28 solo stops, 6.5 sacks, 13.5 tackles for loss and a fumble recovery.

Walters: “His film is really interesting. He reminds me of (Jake) Ceresna — just a 100 miles an hour lunatic, Tasmanian devil in a really positive way for a big man who just plays the right way.

Round 2, 13th overall: Keegan Andrews, P

An Aussie punter who played his college ball at Massachusetts and attended the CFL’s offseason kicking showcase. He was First-Team All-MAC with the Minutemen after transferring from Texas A&M and averaged 46.5 yards per punt while placing 26 of his 69 punts inside the opponent’s 20-yard line.